@BradM could you write that refactored random part into a answer?

thank you, the null-coalescing operator is a great approach

thank you for this, I'll take this into my code, the ace in position 14 makes it easier to compare in the next step so 14 > 13 evaluates the winning hand more natural. First i thought of a enum enum face { two = 2, three = 3 ... ace = 14}

@PieterWitvoet I think there is no reason to use a Linked List productive. The performance is worse in almost every case - I've benchmaked a lot and the only method that's faster compared to a List: inserting items always at the first possition :)