Poker Hand Rankings
There are exactly ten hand types in poker, ranked by rarity: the harder a hand is to make, the more it beats. The interactive list below runs from royal flush down to high card, with real examples, exact odds, and how ties break — everything the phrase "what beats what" contains. Free, no signup.
A, K, Q, J, 10, all the same suit. The best possible hand — an ace-high straight flush.
Ties: Two royal flushes of different suits split the pot — suits have no rank in poker.
4 of 2,598,960 five-card combos · 0.000154% in 5 cards · 0.003200% by the river in hold'em
"By the river" = your best 5 cards from 7 in Texas Hold'em. Suits never break ties — identical hands split the pot.
This site also has a free practice mode — play hands against AI opponents. No signup. Try the practice table →
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The full rankings table
Odds shown two ways: the chance of the hand in five random cards, and the chance your best five of seven cards make it by the river in Texas Hold'em.
| # | Hand | Example | 5-card combos | In 5 cards | By river (hold'em) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal flush | A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ T♠ | 4 | 0.000154% | 0.003200% |
| 2 | Straight flush | 9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 5♥ | 36 | 0.001390% | 0.028% |
| 3 | Four of a kind | Q♣ Q♦ Q♥ Q♠ 7♦ | 624 | 0.024% | 0.168% |
| 4 | Full house | J♠ J♦ J♥ 4♣ 4♠ | 3,744 | 0.144% | 2.6% |
| 5 | Flush | A♦ J♦ 8♦ 6♦ 2♦ | 5,108 | 0.197% | 3.0% |
| 6 | Straight | T♣ 9♦ 8♠ 7♥ 6♣ | 10,200 | 0.392% | 4.6% |
| 7 | Three of a kind | 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ K♣ 2♥ | 54,912 | 2.1% | 4.8% |
| 8 | Two pair | A♣ A♦ 9♠ 9♥ 5♣ | 123,552 | 4.8% | 23.5% |
| 9 | One pair | K♥ K♦ Q♠ 8♣ 3♦ | 1,098,240 | 42.3% | 43.8% |
| 10 | High card | A♠ Q♦ T♣ 6♥ 3♠ | 1,302,540 | 50.1% | 17.4% |
Why kickers decide more pots than monsters
Look at the by-the-river column: two-thirds of hold'em hands end as one pair, two pair, or high card. Royal flushes make highlight reels, but real money changes hands in kicker battles — K-Q against K-J on a king-high board is the pot that repeats all night. That's why memorizing this list is step one and internalizing it is different: the fastest way to make the order automatic is watching hands play out at speed. The free practice table shows every showdown's winning hand, named, hand after hand — no signup.
Hand rankings FAQ
What is the order of poker hands 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 order follows rarity: a flush beats a straight because five suited cards are harder to make than five consecutive ones.
Does a flush beat a straight?
Yes. A flush (five cards of one suit) beats a straight (five consecutive cards of mixed suits). In five random cards a flush appears 0.197% of the time versus 0.392% for a straight — rarer hand, higher rank. A straight flush, which is both at once, beats everything except a royal flush.
What happens if two players have the same hand?
The tie breaks inside the rank: higher pair, higher top card, then kickers — the unpaired side cards — compared one by one. If all five cards are equal in rank, the pot splits. Suits never decide a winner in standard poker.
What are the odds of getting a royal flush?
In five random cards: 4 in 2,598,960, or 0.000154% — about 1 in 650,000. In Texas Hold'em, with seven cards to choose from by the river, it improves to roughly 0.0032%, about 1 in 30,900. Most players see a handful in a lifetime.
Do suits have a ranking in poker?
No. In standard poker no suit outranks another — a spade flush and a heart flush with the same card ranks split the pot. Suit orderings only appear in rare procedural spots like assigning the bring-in in stud games.
Is an ace high or low in a straight?
Both, but never at once. The ace plays high in T-J-Q-K-A (Broadway, the best straight) and low in A-2-3-4-5 (the wheel, the lowest straight). 'Around the corner' straights like Q-K-A-2-3 don't exist in standard poker.