Poker Hands Rankings: What Hand Beats What in Poker?
One of the first steps towards learning how to play poker is ♠ to learn the poker hand rankings. If you want to know what beats what in poker, you can use our ♠ OFFICIAL poker hands rankings chart and see all poker hands ranked from best to worst!
Poker Hands in Order Best To ♠ Worst
Poker Hands From Best To Worst 1. Royal Flush 10♠ J♠ Q♠ K♠ A♠ The best possible hand in Texas ♠ hold'em is the combination of ten, jack, queen, king, ace, all of the same suit 2. Straight Flush 5♥ 6♥ ♠ 7♥ 8♥ 9♥ Five cards of the same suit in sequential order 3. Four of a kind 3♣ 3♠ 3♦ ♠ 3♥ 4♦ Any four numerically matching cards 4. Full house J♠ J♥ J♣ K♣ K♦ Combination of three of a ♠ kind and a pair in the same hand 5. Flush 2♦ 4♦ 5♦ 9♦ K♦ Five cards of the same ♠ suit, in any order 6. Straight A♦ 2♣ 3♦ 4♠ 5♣ Five cards of any suit, in sequential order 7. ♠ Three of a kind 7♣ 7♦ 7♠ 4♣ 5♦ Any three numerically matching cards 8. Two pair 9♦ 9♠ K♦ ♠ K♥ 4♣ Two different pairs in the same hand 9. One pair 10♦ 10♠ 3♠ Q♦ K♣ Any two numerically ♠ matching cards 10. High card K♣ 2♥ 4♦ 8♦ Q♠ The highest ranked card in your hand with an ace ♠ being the highest and two being the lowest
Poker Hand Rankings - Download our FREE printable PDF guide
From a royal flush ♠ to high card, understand what beats what in Poker with our free Poker Hand Rankings Guide. Use as a reference ♠ for yourself, or download and print to give them out at your Home Games. Free Download
Here's everything you need to ♠ host your own poker game!
What Beats What in Poker?
Many consider poker less of a gambling game than other casino games. ♠ For that to be true, players need to improve their understanding of game play and the strategy required to be ♠ a winning player.
The first step toward learning how to play poker is to learn the poker hand rankings.
Most poker players ♠ have these rankings memorized, which allows them to think about other things at the table when deciding the best way ♠ to play their hands.
The good news is these hand rankings tend to be the same among a wide variety of ♠ poker variants, whether it is Texas Hold'em, Omaha, seven-card stud, or other games.
All of those games use the same traditional ♠ poker hand rankings that were first developed way back in the 19th century when five-card draw first started to be ♠ played.
On this page, you find a complete list of poker hand rankings going from the highest possible hand (the Royal ♠ Flush), down to the lowest hand in which there is no pair among the five cards.
Hand rankings in poker correspond ♠ to the likelihood of making such hands.
A royal flush, consisting of the cards ranked ace through ten all being the ♠ same suit, is extremely rare — in fact, some players go their entire lives without making a royal flush.
A regular ♠ straight flush with any five consecutive cards of the same suit is a little less rare, four of a kind ♠ occurs slightly more frequently, and so on.
Notice that a full house is ranked higher than a flush.
That's because a full ♠ house comes just a little less frequently than a flush, thereby making it the higher-ranked hand of the two.
Additional readings ♠ for beginners: Poker Tips : A collection of tips " to bring your game from 'meh' to amazing " created ♠ to help beginners become better players.
: A collection of tips " " created to help beginners become better players. Texas ♠ Hold'em Strategy: a complete manual to read as soon as you start to remember what beats what in poker.
a complete ♠ manual to read as soon as you start to remember what beats what in poker. Poker starting hands chart: the ♠ only article you need to read to learn how to use your cards to the fullest.
Understanding Winning Poker Hands
Players new ♠ to the game of Texas hold'em often struggle, at least at first, with what the best poker hands are.
Once they ♠ have read this easy-to-digest guide that will no longer be the case.
The aim of Texas hold'em is to make the ♠ best five-card poker hand at showdown.
You can win without having to show your cards if you force someone to fold ♠ before the river. Nonetheless, for the purpose of this article, we'll pretend that we've gone to showdown and need to ♠ know what beats what in poker.
Download the PokerNews Quick Guide to Texas Hold’em Understand the Texas Holdem Poker Rules with ♠ the 1-page handout and join the other players and get involved in the game for your chance to win. Free ♠ Download
Winning Poker Hands: What Are The Best Hands In Poker?
First up is the weakest possible holding you can make in ♠ poker, a hand that can still win you the pot, although the likelihood of that happening decreases in a pot ♠ involving multiple players.
We are of course talking about high card.
As the name suggests, you don't even hold a pair here ♠ and instead are using the highest card among the five you are playing.
Example: You have Q♥10♠ and the board has ♠ come 7♣6♣2♥9♦5♣. Your best five-card hand would be Q♥10♠9♦6♣5♣ where you would hold queen-high.
Next up is one pair, one of ♠ the more common Texas hold'em hands and one that will win you plenty of pots.
Example: You have A♠K♠ and the ♠ board comes A♦8♣5♠3♥2♣. Your five-card hand is A♠A♦K♠8♣5♠ — you have a pair of aces. Nice poker hand!
One place higher ♠ up on the poker hands chart is two pair.
Example: You have 10♦9♠ and the five community cards are 10♣9♦5♣A♦3♣. Your ♠ best five-card hand at showdown is 10♦10♣9♠9♦A♦ or two pair, tens and nines.
One note of warning on this specific poker ♠ hand: if you are verbally declaring your hand, try to announce the higher pair first as to help avoid confusion.
Good ♠ Poker Hands
Now we're getting into the realm of the best poker hands because once you make three-of-a-kind (sometimes called a ♠ set or trips), you are much more likely to win the pot than with any of the previously mentioned hands.
Example: ♠ Your five-card poker hand is K♣K♦K♥J♣7♦ — you have three-of-a-kind kings, often a very powerful hand in hold'em.
To beat three-of-a-kind ♠ you're going to need at least a straight.
A straight is five consecutive cards where at least one of them is ♠ a different suit from the others.
Example:
Should your hand read 6♠5♣4♦3♥2♠ you would hold a six-high straight.
If someone held a seven-high ♠ straight, then that player would win the hand.
There are two straights that have nicknames that are worth remembering.
A wheel is ♠ a straight that runs from ace-to-five, and a Broadway straight — the strongest straight — runs from ten-to-ace.
A flush is ♠ one of the most powerful Texas hold'em hands because it is only beaten by a handful of others.
Any hand that ♠ that has five cards of the same suit is a flush.
Aces are always high when it comes to flushes, which ♠ means a hand such as A♥Q♥7♥4♥2♥ beats K♥Q♥7♥4♥2♥.
There are few hands that can beat a flush — one that does ♠ is a full house. Also called a "boat," a full house is when your five-card hand is made up of ♠ three of a kind plus a pair.
Example: With K♠K♦K♣2♥2♣ you have kings full of deuces, while 5♣5♦5♥Q♠Q♥ is fives full ♠ of queens.
When it comes to full houses, the higher three of a kind determines which hand wins, so in this ♠ case "kings full" would beat "fives full."
The Stronger Hands in Poker
The next three holdings are so rare that if you ♠ hold them, you can almost guarantee that they are winning poker hands.
Four of a kind is the minimum holding you'll ♠ need to beat someone with a full house.
Again, as the name suggests, four of a kind means having four cards ♠ of the same rank.
Example: 10♠10♦10♥10♣7♦ is four-of-a-kind tens and an extremely powerful holding.
Your only way to beat four of a ♠ kind, or "quads" as they are often called, is to hold either a straight flush or a Royal Flush.
The former ♠ is five consecutive cards all of the same suit, so 8♣7♣6♣5♣4♣ would be an eight-high straight flush and practically unbeatable.
If ♠ you manage to make A♥K♥Q♥10♥J♥ (or the same holding in any of the other three suits), you have a Royal ♠ Flush and the only way to lose the hand would be to fold by accident!
Poker Hands Probability
If you are into ♠ numbers (most poker players are), you might be wondering about the probability of poker hands.
We said that some players might ♠ go their entire life without ever getting the highest hand in poker but, looking at the numbers, what are the ♠ odds of a Royal Flush?
In this section of our complete analysis of the poker hand ranking and what beats what ♠ in poker, you get a clear overview of the probability of poker hands.
How to calculate the probability of poker hands?
When ♠ you know that there are 52 cards in play and 2,598,960 possible combinations, the calculation is easy.
You just need to ♠ divide the number of possibilities to build a specific poker hand by the number of total poker hands.
Let's run a ♠ few examples:
What are the odds of a Royal Flush? 0.000,001,539
(4/2,598,960)
What are the odds of a Straight Flush? 0.000,015,39
(40/2,598,960)
Use the table ♠ below to calculate the probabilities of all poker hands.
Poker Hands Odds Table
As mentioned above, there are 2,598,960 possible combinations to ♠ make in poker. Below are the odds of making a poker hand in a game of five-card draw.
Poker Hand No. ♠ Ways Probability Odds against Royal Flush 4 0.000154% 649,739 to 1 Straight Flush 40 0.00139% 72,192 to 1 Four-of-a-Kind 624 ♠ 0.02401% 4,165 to 1 Full House 3,744 0.1441% 694 to 1 Flush 5,108 0.1965% 509 to 1 Straight 10,200 0.3925% ♠ 255 to 1 Three-of-a-Kind 54,912 2.1128% 46 to 1 Two Pair 123,552 4.7539% 20 to 1 One Pair 1,098,240 42.2569% ♠ 1.37 to 1 No pair / High card 1,302,540 50.1177% roughly 1 to 1
Poker Hand Absolute Value vs. Relative Value ♠ of Poker Hands
It should be noted also that while poker hand rankings never change, sometimes circumstances can make a good ♠ hand less valuable and a poor hand more valuable.
In other words, when it comes to poker hands there's a difference ♠ between absolute value (reflected in the list of poker hands above) and relative value.
For instance, in a game of Texas ♠ hold'em, if you have two pair that might seem like a good hand.
But if your opponent keeps betting into you ♠ and it's possible he could have a straight or flush, your two pair is no longer looking so good.
Meanwhile, if ♠ you have just one pair but your opponent keeps checking to give you a free play at the pot, you ♠ might well have the strongest hand and should bet your hand.
The "absolute" value of your hand may not be great, ♠ but in that case the "relative" value very well could be.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that in some games ♠ like razz, deuce-to-seven triple draw, Badugi, and others you might encounter when playing online poker, the hand rankings listed below ♠ do not apply.
These hand rankings are for regular or "high-card" games, not "lowball" games with alternate hand rankings.
Poker Hands - ♠ What Beats What in Poker FAQs
What is the order of poker hands? As shown in the poker hand rankings chart, ♠ the order of poker rankings (from the highest to the lowest) is: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, ♠ Straight, Three-of-a-Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, High Card. What is the best hand in poker? The Royal Flush is the ♠ best hand in poker. To have a Royal Flush, you need an Ace, a King, a Queen, a Jack, and ♠ a 10. All the cards that compose the hand need to be of the same suit. What beats what in ♠ poker? As you can see in our poker hand rankings chart, the hands in poker follow a clear hierarchy. In ♠ a game of poker, the hand rankings work as follows: a pair beats a high card; a two pair beats ♠ a one pair; a three-of-a-kind beats a two pair; a straight beats a three-of-a-kind; a flush beats a straight; a ♠ full house beats a flush; a four-of-a-kind beats a full house; a straight flush beats a four-of-a-kind; a Royal Flush ♠ beats a straight flush. The Royal Flush is the best hand in poker, so no one other hands beat this ♠ one. What is a straight in poker? You have a straight when all the five cards that compose your poker ♠ hand are consecutive ones. E.g. 5-6-7-8-9.
If the cards are of the same suit, you have a straight flush, which is ♠ a considerably stronger hand compare d to the simple straight. What beats a straight in poker? Although many see the ♠ straight as a stronger hand, there are many other poker hands that beat it. The list of hands that beat ♠ a straight includes: a flush; a full house; a four-of-a-kind; a straight flush; a Royal Flush. What beats a flush ♠ in poker? The list of hands that beat a flush includes: a full house; a four-of-a-kind; a straight flush; a ♠ Royal Flush. What beats a full house in poker? The list of hands that beat a full house includes: four-of-a-kind; ♠ a straight flush; a Royal Flush. What is the highest suit in poker? All the suits in poker have the ♠ same value. In some games, different suits can be assigned different values. When that happens, the value is as follows ♠ (from the lowest to the highest): clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. In that case, spades is the highest suit. How many ♠ poker hands are there? The total number of poker hands in a game of poker is 2,598,960. Since a game ♠ of poker uses a 52-card deck of French cards, there are 2,598,960 different possible combinations (aka. poker hands). What hands ♠ to play in poker? The type of hands to play in a poker game depends on the game you play ♠ and other factors like your position in the hand, your stack, and the action at the table. In a famous ♠ poker strategy article, professional player Jonathan Little shared which hands to play in poker and how to play marginal hands. ♠ Can you make three pairs? Although it is possible to hold a pair in your hand and then have another ♠ two pair appear among the five community cards, you can only use a total of five cards to make your ♠ poker hand, so you don't win anything for three pairs. Which is better, a set or trips? They are both ♠ essentially the same hand because they are both three of a kind. The terminology "set" is used when you have ♠ a pair as your hole cards and then catch another one of those cards on the board. "Trips" is when ♠ there is a pair on the board and you have another of those cards as one of your hole cards. ♠ Sets are easier to disguise than trips so many consider them to be a better hand, although they both rank ♠ the same. What is a chopped or split pot? If you and an opponent have the same five-card poker hand, ♠ then the pot is divided equally between you. Say you have A♦J♣ and your opponent has A♠J♦, and the board ♠ comes A♣8♦2♣3♥10♥. You both would be playing the same five-card hands in terms of their value (A-J-T-8-3), and so would ♠ split the pot. If there is four of a kind on the board, who wins? Because the aim is to ♠ make a five-card poker hand, whoever has the highest fifth card in this case wins. If the board reads 7♣7♠7♦7♥3♣ ♠ and you have A♠Q♠ in your hand and your opponent has K♣Q♣, then you win because you hand is 7-7-7-7-A ♠ and your opponent's is 7-7-7-7-K. You would also win even if your opponent holding was K♣K♠ in this example. Why ♠ did my 4-4-4-T-T lose to my opponent's 7-7-7-8-8? It is the three-of-a-kind element of a full house that dictates the ♠ winner. If you're new to the game and want a reference of all of Texas hold'em hands, you can keep ♠ this page open or you could always download and print our poker hands ranking chart that you can find higher ♠ up this page and keep it next to you while you're playing poker.
Download the PokerNews Ultimate Guide to Texas Hold’em ♠ An intro to Texas Holdem, strategy, rules and styles of play, all combined for you to understand Texas Holdem with ♠ this ultimate guide. Free Download
