Poker Hand Rankings: What Beats What

In Texas Hold'em and most high-hand poker games, the player with the best five-card combination wins the pot. This page gives the order of hands from strongest to weakest, explains how ties are broken, and shows how often each hand actually appears.

The ranking, strongest to weakest

How to remember the order

• Five of one suit (flush) beats five in a row (straight).
• A full house beats a flush, and four of a kind beats a full house.
• The more cards of a kind you hold, the stronger: four > three > two.
• Straight flush is the "double" of straight and flush, so it sits at the top.

How ties are decided

Suits never break ties in Hold'em. When two players hold the same type of hand, the ranks decide:

• Straight: the higher top card wins. 9-8-7-6-5 beats 8-7-6-5-4. The lowest straight is A-2-3-4-5 (the "wheel"), and its top card counts as the 5.
• Flush: compare the highest cards one by one. A-J-8-6-3 beats A-10-9-8-7 because of the J against the 10.
• Full house: the three-of-a-kind rank decides first. 10-10-10-4-4 beats 9-9-9-A-A.
• Two pair: the higher pair wins; if equal, the second pair; then the kicker. A-A-5-5-9 beats K-K-Q-Q-A.
• One pair: the higher pair wins; if equal, the kickers are compared in order.

Kickers

A kicker is the highest card that is not part of your combination. It decides when two hands are otherwise equal.

Example: the board is A♦ 8♣ 5♠ 3♥ 2♣. Player 1 holds A♠ K♦ and player 2 holds A♥ Q♣. Both have a pair of aces. Player 1's best five cards are A-A-K-8-5 and player 2's are A-A-Q-8-5. The king beats the queen, so player 1 wins.

Split pots

If the best five cards are identical for two or more players, the pot is split. This happens when the board itself is the best hand for everyone ("playing the board"). For example, a board of 10♠ J♠ Q♠ K♠ A♠ is a royal flush, so nobody can beat it and all remaining players split the pot.

How often each hand appears

With seven cards (two hole cards plus five board cards), the best five-card hand you end up with is, approximately:

• High card: 17.4%
• One pair: 43.8%
• Two pair: 23.5%
• Three of a kind: 4.8%
• Straight: 4.6%
• Flush: 3.0%
• Full house: 2.6%
• Four of a kind: 0.17%
• Straight flush (including royal): 0.03%

The rarity of a hand is why it ranks higher. It is also why a pair of aces or a good draw is often strong enough to win a pot: most hands in a showdown are only one pair or two pair.

Common mistakes

• Thinking a straight beats a flush. It does not: a flush is stronger.
• Forgetting that the ace is both high and low. A-2-3-4-5 is a straight; Q-K-A-2-3 is not, because the ranks cannot wrap around.
• Ignoring the kicker. Many pots are decided by the second-best card, not by the pair.
• Counting suits as ranks. In Hold'em, spades are not better than hearts.
• Using the wrong number of cards. In Omaha you must use exactly two of your hole cards and three board cards; in Hold'em you may use any combination. See Omaha.

Try the calculator

See how the ranking works in practice: enter two hands and a board in the equity calculator to see which one wins more often and by how much.

What to read next

• How to play poker: the flow of a hand.
• Poker rules cheat sheet: a one-page reference.
• Starting hands: which hands to play.
• Poker glossary: the terms at the table.