private int checkBetterPairedHand(List<Card> cards1, List<Card> cards2) {
        cards1 = pairedHandSorter(cards1);
        cards2 = pairedHandSorter(cards2);        
        
        CardAce14Comparator ace14Comparator = new CardAce14Comparator();        

        /* Since pairedHandSorter sorts the cards of a paired hand
         * by relevance, we can just loop through the cards to determine the winner.
         */
        
        for (int i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
            Card hand1Card = cards1.get(i);
            Card hand2Card = cards2.get(i);
            if (hand1Card.getRank() != hand2Card.getRank()) {
                return ace14Comparator.compare(hand1Card, hand2Card);                
            }      
        }
        
        return 0;
    }