Poker hand rankings run from the royal flush at the top down to high card at the bottom, and a hand of five cards beats every type of hand below it. It's the same order in Texas Hold'em, Omaha, draw and stud, it uses a standard 52 card deck, and when two hands are the same type the higher cards, then the kickers, decide the winner.
If you've got a deck on the table and someone has just asked whether a flush beats a straight, this is the page to keep open. I've put the full order first, then the tie rules people argue about, then the odds, so you can settle the question and get back to the game.
The ten hands from strongest to weakest
| Rank | Hand | What makes it | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal flush | Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 of one suit | A, K, Q, J, 10 of spades |
| 2 | Straight flush | Five cards in sequence, all one suit | 10, 9, 8, 7, 6 of hearts |
| 3 | Four of a kind | Four cards of one rank plus any fifth card | Q, Q, Q, Q, 7 |
| 4 | Full house | Three of one rank and a pair of another | 8, 8, 8, 4, 4 |
| 5 | Flush | Five cards of one suit, not in sequence | Q, 10, 7, 6, 2 of clubs |
| 6 | Straight | Five cards in sequence, mixed suits | 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 |
| 7 | Three of a kind | Three cards of one rank plus two odd cards | J, J, J, 7, 4 |
| 8 | Two pair | Two different pairs plus a fifth card | Q, Q, 7, 7, 4 |
| 9 | One pair | Two cards of one rank plus three odd cards | 10, 10, K, 4, 3 |
| 10 | High card | No combination at all | A, J, 8, 5, 3 |
The examples above come from the Bicycle and WSOP rule pages. Four of a kind is also called quads, and three of a kind is called trips or a set. A royal flush is simply the highest straight flush, so some rule books list it as a straight flush rather than its own rank.
Straights, the wheel and the ace
The ace is the only card that can play high or low, but pagat.com is clear that it can't do both at once. A, K, Q, J, 10 is a straight and so is 5, 4, 3, 2, A, which players call the wheel. The wheel is the lowest straight of all, because its top card is the five. A run that wraps round the corner, such as 2, A, K, Q, J, isn't a straight in standard poker.
Kickers and tie breakers
When two players hold the same type of hand, you compare the cards that make the hand first, then the leftover cards, one at a time from the highest down. Those leftover cards are the kickers. The Bicycle rules give two neat examples: 9, 9, 7, 4, 2 beats 9, 9, 5, 3, 2 because the seven beats the five, and Q, Q, 6, 6, J beats Q, Q, 6, 6, 10 because the fifth card decides it.
- Check which hand type each player has. The higher type wins outright.
- If the type matches, compare the main cards: the higher pair, set or four of a kind wins.
- For two pair, compare the top pair first, then the second pair.
- For a full house, the three of a kind decides it before the pair.
- For flushes, straights and high card hands, compare the highest card, then the next, and so on.
- If all five cards match in rank, the hands tie and the pot is split equally.
Do suits ever count?
This is the rule that causes the most rows at home. In standard poker the suits have no rank at all, so two hands that differ only by suit are a tie. Pagat.com notes that a suit order of spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs does exist, but only for side jobs: drawing cards for seats, deciding who bets first in stud, and handing out an odd chip left over when a pot can't be split exactly. If your group wants suits to break ties, agree it before the first deal, because there's no standard answer for how it should work.
How often each hand turns up
The order isn't random. Hands rank higher because they're rarer. There are 2,598,960 possible five card hands from one deck, and the exact counts below come from the standard probability tables.
| Hand | Ways to make it | Chance in a five card deal |
|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 4 | 0.000154% |
| Straight flush (not royal) | 36 | 0.00139% |
| Four of a kind | 624 | 0.02401% |
| Full house | 3,744 | 0.1441% |
| Flush | 5,108 | 0.1965% |
| Straight | 10,200 | 0.3925% |
| Three of a kind | 54,912 | 2.1128% |
| Two pair | 123,552 | 4.7539% |
| One pair | 1,098,240 | 42.2569% |
| High card | 1,302,540 | 50.1177% |
Here's the part that surprised me. In a seven card game like Texas Hold'em, where you pick your best five from seven, ending up with nothing is rarer than ending up with a pair or two pair. The seven card table puts one pair at 43.8%, two pair at 23.5% and no pair at only 17.4%. So in Hold'em, a lone pair is a very ordinary hand, and that changes how excited you should be about it.
Wild cards and five of a kind
Add a joker or call deuces wild and a new top hand appears: five of a kind, such as four 10s and a wild card. It beats a royal flush. Bicycle also describes the bug, a joker that only counts as an ace or fills a straight or flush. With the bug, five aces is the only five of a kind you can make.
Lowball and other regional twists
- Lowball games turn the order upside down so the lowest hand wins. In ace to five low the best hand is 5, 4, 3, 2, A, and in deuce to seven it's 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 in mixed suits.
- In parts of continental Europe poker is played with a stripped deck, and pagat.com says a flush can rank above a full house because it gets harder to make.
- In Greece, where hearts is the top suit, a royal flush in hearts is called an Imperial Flush.
- Everywhere else, including the UK, US, Canada and Australia, card rooms use the standard order above, which pagat.com calls the formal casino and tournament game played internationally.
My advice for learning the order
Don't try to memorise ten hands at once. Learn them as pairs of rivals: flush beats straight, full house beats flush, four of a kind beats full house. Then print the ranking table and leave it on the table for the first few games, because there's no rule against checking it. And if you're playing with kids or a work team, use chips, matchsticks or sweets, not anything you'd mind losing, and set a finish time before you start.
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Once the order is second nature, it carries over to plenty of other games. If you're looking for more to play with one deck, try these card games for two players, or switch to something with no betting at all, like the rules of Hearts.
Frequently asked questions
Does a flush beat a straight?
Yes. A flush beats a straight, and a full house beats a flush. A straight beats three of a kind.
What beats a royal flush?
Nothing in standard poker. Only five of a kind, which needs a wild card, ranks above it.
What is a kicker in poker?
A kicker is a side card that isn't part of your made hand but breaks a tie between two hands of the same type, such as two players with a pair of kings.
Do suits matter in poker hand rankings?
No. In standard poker all suits are equal, so two hands that differ only by suit tie and split the pot.
Is A, 2, 3, 4, 5 a straight?
Yes. It's called the wheel and it's the lowest straight, because the ace counts low and the top card is the five.
What is the lowest hand in poker?
The weakest high card hand is 7, 5, 4, 3, 2 in mixed suits, according to WSOP's ranking guide.
