Poker hand rankings
From best to worst: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card. The rarer the hand, the higher it ranks, and suits never break a tie.
The rarer hand wins. That's the whole list, really.
The ten poker hands, best to worst
Odds are for a five-card hand dealt from a full deck, and for the best five of seven cards, which is what you hold in Texas hold'em if you see the river. Faded cards are kickers: they don't make the hand, and only count in a tie.
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A♠︎K♠︎Q♠︎J♠︎10♠︎
1 Royal flush
Ace, king, queen, jack and ten, all one suit. The best hand in the game, and there are only four of them.
Five cards: 1 in 649,740 · Hold'em, by the river: 1 in 30,940
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9♥︎8♥︎7♥︎6♥︎5♥︎
2 Straight flush
Five cards in a row, all one suit. The higher top card wins. The lowest is 5-4-3-2-A, where the ace plays low.
Five cards: 1 in 72,193 · Hold'em, by the river: 1 in 3,591
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Q♣︎Q♦︎Q♥︎Q♠︎7♦︎
3 Four of a kind
All four cards of one rank. The higher four wins. When everyone shares the same four on the board, the fifth card decides.
Five cards: 1 in 4,165 · Hold'em, by the river: 1 in 595
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K♠︎K♥︎K♦︎4♣︎4♠︎
4 Full house
Three of one rank and two of another. It's ranked by the three first: kings full of fours beats queens full of aces.
Five cards: 1 in 694 · Hold'em, by the river: 1 in 39
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A♦︎J♦︎8♦︎6♦︎2♦︎
5 Flush
Any five cards of one suit, not in a row. Two flushes compare by their highest card, then the next, down to the fifth.
Five cards: 1 in 509 · Hold'em, by the river: 1 in 33
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10♣︎9♦︎8♠︎7♥︎6♣︎
6 Straight
Five cards in a row, any suits. The ace plays high (A-K-Q-J-10) or low (5-4-3-2-A), but a straight can't wrap around: Q-K-A-2-3 is just ace high.
Five cards: 1 in 255 · Hold'em, by the river: 1 in 22
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7♠︎7♥︎7♦︎K♣︎3♦︎
7 Three of a kind
Three cards of one rank. The higher three wins, then the two other cards, highest first.
Five cards: 1 in 47 · Hold'em, by the river: 1 in 21
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J♥︎J♣︎4♦︎4♠︎A♣︎
8 Two pair
Two pairs of different ranks. Compare the higher pair first, then the lower pair, then the fifth card.
Five cards: 1 in 21 · Hold'em, by the river: 1 in 4.3
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10♦︎10♠︎K♥︎6♣︎3♠︎
9 One pair
Two cards of one rank. The higher pair wins. With the same pair, the other three cards decide, highest first.
Five cards: 1 in 2.4 · Hold'em, by the river: 1 in 2.3
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A♣︎Q♦︎9♠︎6♥︎3♣︎
10 High card
None of the above. The highest card plays, then the next, and so on down.
Five cards: 1 in 2.0 · Hold'em, by the river: 1 in 5.7
Which hand wins?
Two hands, dealt from one deck. Pick the winner, or call a split pot.
Hand A
Hand B
Two hands. Pick the winner.
How rare is each poker hand?
There are 2,598,960 different five-card hands in a 52-card deck. The table counts how many of them make each hand. The ranking follows those counts: every hand is rarer than the one below it.
In hold'em you see seven cards by the river, your two and the five on the board, and play the best five of them. Every hand gets more common, and the bottom of the list turns over: you'll finish with at least a pair 82.6% of the time, and two pair (23.5%) comes up more often than high card (17.4%). The ranking doesn't change. It's set by five-card hands.
| Hand | Five-card hands | Share | Seven-card hands | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 4 | 0.00015% | 4,324 | 0.00323% |
| Straight flush | 36 | 0.00139% | 37,260 | 0.028% |
| Four of a kind | 624 | 0.024% | 224,848 | 0.168% |
| Full house | 3,744 | 0.144% | 3,473,184 | 2.6% |
| Flush | 5,108 | 0.197% | 4,047,644 | 3.0% |
| Straight | 10,200 | 0.392% | 6,180,020 | 4.6% |
| Three of a kind | 54,912 | 2.1% | 6,461,620 | 4.8% |
| Two pair | 123,552 | 4.8% | 31,433,400 | 23.5% |
| One pair | 1,098,240 | 42.3% | 58,627,800 | 43.8% |
| High card | 1,302,540 | 50.1% | 23,294,460 | 17.4% |
| All hands | 2,598,960 | 100% | 133,784,560 | 100% |
These count every hand that could be dealt, before anyone folds. At a real table most hands are folded long before the river, so you'll see fewer of everything at showdown.
How are ties broken in poker?
- Only five cards count. In hold'em your hand is the best five of your seven. A sixth card never breaks a tie.
- Kickers decide equal hands. If two players have the same pair, two pair or three of a kind, the highest of the other cards decides, then the next.
- Suits never rank. Two hands with the same ranks card for card split the pot, whatever their suits.
- You can play the board. In hold'em you can use both your cards, one of them, or neither. If the five on the board are your best hand, you play the board, and anyone who can't beat it splits the pot with you.
Common mix-ups
Does a flush beat a straight?
Yes. A flush is rarer: there are 5,108 five-card flushes and 10,200 straights.
Does a full house beat a flush?
Yes. A full house beats a flush, and four of a kind beats both.
Is ace-two-three-four-five a straight?
Yes, the lowest one. The ace can play low there, but a straight can't run around the corner from king to two.
Which two pair is higher?
The one with the higher top pair. Aces and twos beats kings and queens.
Is there a best suit?
No. In standard poker, spades are no better than hearts. Identical ranks split the pot.
How we know: every count on this page is computed by Ridotto's site builder, by working through every combination of cards; the five-card counts are also checked by dealing out all 2,598,960 hands one by one. They agree with the published figures, for example Wikipedia's poker probability tables. Standard rankings, no wild cards.
Knowing what wins is the easy part. Knowing when to let go of it is the game.
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