Skip to content
Zossoz

Poker basics

Poker hand rankings, from royal flush to high card

The ten poker hands in order, with an example of each, how often you are dealt it, and what happens when two players hold the same type of hand. Keep this tab open at your next game.

The rankingProbabilitiesTies and kickersCommon confusions

Best to worst

The ten poker hands

Poker hands are always made from five cards. In Texas Hold'em you pick the best five from your two hole cards and the five shared cards. Here they are from strongest to weakest.

  1. Rank 1

    Royal flush

    Ace, king, queen, jack and ten, all of the same suit. The best hand in poker, and the highest straight flush there is.

    Breaking ties: Two royal flushes can only happen when the shared cards make it, and then they tie and split the pot.

  2. Rank 2

    Straight flush

    Five cards in sequence, all of the same suit.

    Breaking ties: The higher top card wins. A nine-high straight flush beats a seven-high one.

  3. Rank 3

    Four of a kind

    Four cards of the same rank, plus one other card (the kicker).

    Breaking ties: Higher four of a kind wins. If two players share the same four (possible when it is on the board), the higher kicker wins.

  4. Rank 4

    Full house

    Three cards of one rank and two of another. Said as "kings full of sevens".

    Breaking ties: Compare the three of a kind first, then the pair. Kings full of twos beats queens full of aces.

  5. Rank 5

    Flush

    Any five cards of the same suit, not in sequence.

    Breaking ties: Compare the highest card first, then the next, and so on down. A♦ J♦ 9♦ 6♦ 3♦ beats K♣ Q♣ J♣ 9♣ 8♣ because the ace is higher than the king.

  6. Rank 6

    Straight

    Five cards in sequence, mixed suits. The ace can be high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low (A-2-3-4-5), but never in the middle.

    Breaking ties: The higher top card wins. The lowest straight, A-2-3-4-5 (the wheel), counts as five-high.

  7. Rank 7

    Three of a kind

    Three cards of the same rank and two unrelated cards. When you hold a pocket pair and one more appears on the board, it is called a set. When the pair is on the board and you hold the third, it is trips.

    Breaking ties: Higher three of a kind wins. If those match, the higher of the two other cards decides, then the lower.

  8. Rank 8

    Two pair

    Two cards of one rank, two of another, and one extra card.

    Breaking ties: Compare the higher pair, then the lower pair, then the fifth card (the kicker).

  9. Rank 9

    One pair

    Two cards of the same rank and three unrelated cards.

    Breaking ties: Higher pair wins. If the pairs match, compare the three kickers in order, highest first.

  10. Rank 10

    High card

    Nothing else: no pair, no straight, no flush. The hand is named for its highest card.

    Breaking ties: Compare the highest card, then the second highest, and so on through all five.

Once the order feels familiar, the Texas Hold'em rules show how these hands come together at a real table.

Probabilities

How often you are dealt each hand

These are the chances of being dealt each type of hand in a five-card deal from a standard deck, out of 2,598,960 possible hands. Each row counts hands of exactly that type, so the flush row leaves out straight flushes.

Number of ways, percentage and odds for each five-card poker hand
HandWaysChanceRoughly
Royal flush40.000154%1 in 649,740
Straight flush360.00139%1 in 72,193
Four of a kind6240.0240%1 in 4,165
Full house3,7440.1441%1 in 694
Flush5,1080.1965%1 in 509
Straight10,2000.3925%1 in 255
Three of a kind54,9122.113%1 in 47
Two pair123,5524.754%1 in 21
One pair1,098,24042.26%1 in 2.4
High card1,302,54050.12%1 in 2

In Hold'em you see seven cards and pick the best five, so made hands show up more often than this table suggests. More than four in five seven-card hands contain at least a pair, and a flush turns up about 3 percent of the time. For a specific draw, such as the chance of hitting on the next card, use the odds calculator.

Settling a showdown

Ties, kickers and splitting the pot

When two players have the same type of hand, you compare the cards inside it:

  1. Compare the made hand first. The higher pair, the higher three of a kind, the higher top card of a straight.
  2. Then compare the leftover cards, highest first. These are kickers. Only the five cards that make your hand count. A sixth or seventh card never helps you.
  3. If all five cards match in rank, the pot is split. Suits never break a tie.

Here is a kicker in action. Both players have a pair of aces. Player one plays A-A-K-9-6 and player two plays A-A-Q-9-6, so the king kicker wins.

Board

Player one

Wins with a king kicker

Player two

Loses with a queen kicker

Sometimes the board is the best hand for everyone. If the five shared cards make a straight and nobody holds a card that improves it, the pot is split evenly. Chips that cannot be divided equally go to the player closest to the left of the dealer button.

Mix-ups

Common confusions

Straight or flush: which is higher?
A flush beats a straight. Flushes are rarer, about 0.20 percent of deals against 0.39 percent, and the ranking follows rarity. A straight flush, which is both at once, beats both.
Is A-2-3-4-5 a straight?
Yes, and it is the lowest straight, called the wheel. It is five-high, so even 2-3-4-5-6 beats it. Ace-high, 10-J-Q-K-A, is the highest straight. Q-K-A-2-3 does not count.
Do any suits rank higher?
No. In standard poker all suits are equal, so a flush in hearts is exactly as strong as a flush in clubs when the ranks match. Only the ranks of the cards matter.
Does my highest card always matter?
Only when the hand needs it. A flush compares card by card. Two pair uses just the two pairs and one kicker. For a straight only the top card counts.
Three of a kind or two pair?
Three of a kind wins. It is rarer: two pair turns up about twice as often in a five-card deal.
Pair of aces, or pair of kings with an ace kicker?
The pair of aces. The pair is compared first, and aces are higher than kings. Kickers only come into play when the pairs are the same.

Questions

Quick answers

Does a flush beat a straight?
Yes. A flush (five cards of one suit) is rarer than a straight, so it ranks higher. A full house beats both, and a straight flush beats everything except a royal flush, which is just the highest straight flush.
Is A-2-3-4-5 a straight in poker?
Yes. It is called the wheel, and the ace plays low, making it a five-high straight, the lowest one. Wrap-around hands like Q-K-A-2-3 are not straights in standard poker.
Do suits break ties in poker?
Not in standard poker. All four suits are equal, so two hands that are identical except for suit tie and split the pot. A few games use suits to decide who acts first or who gets a card, but never to rank a hand.
What is a kicker?
A kicker is an unpaired side card that breaks ties between otherwise equal hands. If you hold A-K and your opponent holds A-Q on a board of A-7-4-3-2, you both have a pair of aces, but your king kicker beats their queen.
What happens if two players have exactly the same hand?
They split the pot. When the best five cards for both players are the same ranks, as when the board itself is the best hand, nobody wins outright. If a chip cannot be divided evenly, the extra chip goes to the player closest to the left of the dealer button.

Keep reading

More poker guides