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There are 10 poker hands. From highest to lowest they are: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair and high card. You always play your best five cards, and the rarer a hand is, the higher it ranks. The same order is used in Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Seven Card Stud and almost every other form of poker. The exceptions are lowball games and Short Deck, covered at the end of this guide.
| Number of hands | 10 categories |
|---|---|
| Best hand | Royal flush: A K Q J 10 of the same suit |
| Lowest hand | High card |
| Cards that count | Your best five cards, never more |
| Do suits rank? | No. Two hands that differ only by suit split the pot |
| Possible five-card hands | 2,598,960 [1] |
The 10 poker hands, from highest to lowest
1. Royal flush
Ace, king, queen, jack and ten, all of the same suit. It is a straight flush with the ace on top, and it cannot be beaten. There are only 4 royal flushes in a deck, one per suit, so the chance of being dealt one in five cards is 1 in 649,740. [1] In Hold’em, two players can only both hold a royal flush when all five cards are on the board, and then the pot is split.
2. Straight flush
Five cards in sequence and of the same suit, such as 10♥ 9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥. Between two straight flushes, the one with the higher top card wins. The lowest is 5-4-3-2-A, because the ace can play low to complete a straight. In five cards the odds are 1 in 72,193. [1]
3. Four of a kind (quads)
Four cards of the same rank plus any fifth card, called the kicker. Q-Q-Q-Q-5 is four queens with a five kicker. Higher quads beat lower quads. If both players share the same four of a kind on the board, the kicker decides.
4. Full house
Three cards of one rank and two of another, also called a boat. A-A-A-7-7 is read as “aces full of sevens”. The three of a kind decides first, so 8-8-8-2-2 beats 7-7-7-A-A. Only if the trips are equal does the pair decide.
5. Flush
Any five cards of the same suit that are not in sequence. Two flushes are compared card by card from the top: A-J-8-7-5 beats A-J-8-7-4. The suit itself never matters, so a flush in spades is not better than a flush in hearts.
6. Straight
Five cards in sequence, in at least two suits. The ace can be the top card (A-K-Q-J-10, called Broadway) or the bottom card (5-4-3-2-A, called the wheel), but it cannot wrap around: Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight. The higher top card wins, and two straights with the same top card split the pot.
7. Three of a kind (trips or set)
Three cards of the same rank and two unrelated cards. In Hold’em, players use two words for it: a set is a pocket pair plus one matching card on the board, and trips is one card in your hand plus a pair on the board. The ranking is the same; the names only describe how the hand was made.
8. Two pair
Two cards of one rank, two of another and a kicker. Compare the higher pair first, then the lower pair, then the kicker: J-J-9-9-2 beats J-J-8-8-A, and J-J-9-9-5 beats J-J-9-9-2.
9. One pair
Two cards of the same rank and three unrelated cards. Higher pairs win, and between equal pairs the three side cards are compared one at a time, from the highest down.
10. High card
Five cards that make none of the hands above. The hand is named after its top card, so A-Q-10-6-5 is “ace high”. Against another high-card hand, compare the top cards, then the next ones, down to the fifth.
Poker hand rankings chart with odds
Each hand ranks higher because it is harder to make. The WPF calculated these figures by checking every possible combination of a standard 52-card deck: all 2,598,960 five-card hands and all 133,784,560 seven-card combinations, which is what a Texas Hold’em player sees by the river with two hole cards and five on the board. [1] They match the published tables. [2]
| Hand | Example | Combos | 5 cards | 7 cards |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Royal flush | A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠ | 4 | 1 in 649,740 | 0.003% |
| 2. Straight flush | 10♥ 9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ | 36 | 1 in 72,193 | 0.028% |
| 3. Four of a kind | Q♥ Q♠ Q♦ Q♣ 5♦ | 624 | 1 in 4,165 | 0.168% |
| 4. Full house | A♦ A♠ A♥ 7♣ 7♦ | 3,744 | 1 in 694 | 2.60% |
| 5. Flush | A♦ J♦ 8♦ 7♦ 5♦ | 5,108 | 1 in 509 | 3.03% |
| 6. Straight | 10♥ 9♠ 8♦ 7♣ 6♠ | 10,200 | 1 in 255 | 4.62% |
| 7. Three of a kind | Q♥ Q♠ Q♦ 7♣ 6♠ | 54,912 | 1 in 47 | 4.83% |
| 8. Two pair | J♥ J♣ 9♦ 9♣ 2♦ | 123,552 | 1 in 21 | 23.5% |
| 9. One pair | Q♠ Q♥ 9♣ 6♥ 2♦ | 1,098,240 | 1 in 2.4 | 43.8% |
| 10. High card | A♥ Q♠ 10♣ 6♠ 5♦ | 1,302,540 | 1 in 2.0 | 17.4% |
Two results in the table stand out. With seven cards, a high-card hand (17.4%) is less likely than two pair (23.5%), because with seven cards you usually pair something. And the gap between a straight and three of a kind almost disappears: 4.62% against 4.83%. The order stays the same anyway, because Hold’em uses the standard five-card rankings.
How ties are broken: kickers and split pots
When two players have the same category of hand, the cards that make the hand are compared first and the remaining cards, the kickers, decide next. Only five cards ever count. If all five cards are equal in rank, the pot is split, because suits are never used to rank hands. [3]
- Pair, two pair, trips and quads: compare the matched cards first, then the kickers in order.
- Full house: the three of a kind first, then the pair.
- Flush and high card: card by card from the top.
- Straight and straight flush: only the top card matters.
Example 1, the kicker decides. Player A holds 10♣ A♣ and Player B holds 10♦ Q♠. The board is 10♠ 10♥ 7♠ 6♣ 2♣. Both players have three tens. Player A’s best five cards are 10-10-10-A-7 and Player B’s are 10-10-10-Q-7, so Player A wins with the ace kicker.
Example 2, the kicker does not play. Player A holds A♣ 3♦ and Player B holds A♥ 2♠. The board is A♠ K♦ K♣ Q♥ J♠. Both players have two pair, aces and kings, and the fifth card for both is the queen on the board. Their small cards are not among the best five, so the pot is split.
Example 3, the board plays. The board is 9♠ 8♦ 7♣ 6♥ 5♠, a straight. If no player can make a higher hand, everyone still in the hand shares the pot. Under the Poker TDA rules, which many tournaments use, a player who wants to play the board must still show both hole cards to claim a share. [3]
One more rule matters at showdown: cards speak. The winner is decided by the cards shown, not by what a player says, so announcing the wrong hand by mistake does not change the result. Deliberately miscalling a hand, however, can be penalized. [3]
Common questions at the table
Does a flush beat a straight?
Yes. A flush ranks above a straight because it is harder to make: 5,108 five-card flushes against 10,200 straights. [1]
Does a full house beat a flush?
Yes. In high-hand games the only common exception is Short Deck, where the flush ranks above the full house.
Is the ace high or low?
In high-hand games the ace is always the highest card, except at the bottom of a straight: A-K-Q-J-10 is the highest straight and 5-4-3-2-A is the lowest. In ace-to-five low games such as Razz, the ace is always low.
Is one suit better than another?
No. Suits have no rank when deciding who wins a pot. Some games use suits for other purposes, such as deciding who pays the bring-in in Stud or who gets an odd chip, but never to break a tie between hands. [3]
Can I use six or seven cards?
No. A poker hand is always five cards. In Hold’em you choose the best five of seven; in Omaha you must use exactly two of your hole cards with three from the board. Badugi is the exception: it uses four-card hands.
How many different poker hands are there?
There are 2,598,960 ways to deal five cards from a 52-card deck, which collapse into 7,462 distinct hand values once suits that do not matter are ignored, all grouped into the 10 categories above. [1][2]
Hand rankings in other poker games
Short Deck (Six Plus Hold’em)
Short Deck removes the twos, threes, fours and fives, leaving 36 cards. With fewer cards per suit, flushes become harder to make than full houses, so a flush beats a full house. The ace still plays low, which makes A-6-7-8-9 the lowest straight. [5] Venues differ on one point: some rank three of a kind above a straight, others keep the straight higher. Always check the house rules before you play. [5]
Lowball and hi-lo games
In lowball games the lowest hand wins, and in hi-lo games the pot is split between the best high hand and the best low hand. There are two main ways of ranking low hands (a third, ace-to-six, is rarely played): [4]
| System | Ace | Straights, flushes | Best low | Games |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ace-to-five | Low | Ignored | 5-4-3-2-A (the wheel) | Razz, Omaha Hi-Lo, Stud Hi-Lo |
| Deuce-to-seven | High | Count against you | 7-5-4-3-2, not all of one suit | 2-7 Single Draw, 2-7 Triple Draw |
In hi-lo games such as Omaha Hi-Lo and Stud Hi-Lo, a low hand only qualifies if its five cards are all eight or lower and unpaired, the “8 or better” rule. If nobody qualifies, the high hand takes the whole pot. [4] Badugi uses its own four-card ranking, explained in its guide.
Download the hand rankings cheat sheet
Download the cheat sheet (PDF) to print, or save the image and keep it on your phone while you learn.
Keep learning
- Poker basic rules and gameplay: blinds, betting rounds and how a hand is played.
- How to play Texas Hold’em, step by step.
- Pot odds in poker: how to use the odds of making a hand in your decisions.
- Poker terms and slang, from “boat” to “wheel”.
Sources
- World Poker Federation, enumeration of all five-card and seven-card combinations of a 52-card deck, October 5, 2026.
- Wikipedia, Poker probability, accessed October 5, 2026.
- Poker Tournament Directors Association, 2026 Poker TDA Rules, Version 1.0, September 7, 2026 (Rules 13, 20 and 21).
- Wikipedia, Lowball (poker), accessed October 5, 2026.
- Wikipedia, Six-plus hold ’em, accessed October 5, 2026.
Written by the WPF Editorial Team with the help of AI tools, then checked and edited by our team. Odds were calculated by the WPF and compared with published tables. Last verified: October 5, 2026. Poker should be played for fun and within your means; you must be of legal age in your country to play for money.
