KEY TAKEAWAYS
A poker hand ranking chart settles one question: which of two five-card hands wins at showdown. The order is the same in nearly every high poker game, from Texas Hold’em to Omaha to seven-card stud, and it follows rarity, so the less common a hand is, the higher it ranks. This reference sets out the ten hand categories from best to worst, shows how many of the 2,598,960 possible five-card hands fall into each, explains how ties are broken, and lists the games where the order is reversed or changed. Every count in the tables was calculated from the deck and checked by listing all five-card hands. Where a rule varies by game, the tables say so. The reference describes how hands are ranked and how often they occur, and it does not suggest how to play them.
Poker Hand Rankings Chart (Best to Worst)
Standard high poker uses ten hand categories. A hand always beats every category below it, and hands in the same category are compared card by card.
| Rank | Hand | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal flush | A-K-Q-J-10, all of one suit | A, K, Q, J, 10 of hearts |
| 2 | Straight flush | Five consecutive ranks, all of one suit | 9, 8, 7, 6, 5 of clubs |
| 3 | Four of a kind | Four cards of the same rank plus one other card | 7-7-7-7-K |
| 4 | Full house | Three cards of one rank and two of another | K-K-K-4-4 |
| 5 | Flush | Five cards of one suit, not in sequence | A, J, 8, 5, 2 of diamonds |
| 6 | Straight | Five consecutive ranks, not all of one suit | 9-8-7-6-5 in mixed suits |
| 7 | Three of a kind | Three cards of the same rank plus two unrelated cards | Q-Q-Q-9-4 |
| 8 | Two pair | Two cards of one rank, two of another, and a fifth card | J-J-4-4-A |
| 9 | One pair | Two cards of the same rank plus three unrelated cards | 10-10-A-8-3 |
| 10 | High card | None of the above; the highest card plays | A-J-8-5-2 in mixed suits |
In a straight, an ace may count high, as in A-K-Q-J-10, or low, as in 5-4-3-2-A. A straight cannot wrap around, so K-A-2-3-4 is not a straight. A royal flush is simply the highest possible straight flush, listed on its own because it cannot be beaten, and it can only be tied by another royal flush on a shared board. In games such as Texas Hold’em, where a player holds more than five cards, the hand is the best five-card combination available.
How Many Ways to Make Each Hand
A 52-card deck produces 2,598,960 different five-card hands (52 choose 5). The table counts how many of those belong to each category. Straight flushes are removed from the flush and straight rows so that every hand is counted once.
| Hand | How it is counted | Combinations | Probability | About 1 in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 4 suits × 1 | 4 | 0.000154% | 649,740 |
| Straight flush (not royal) | 9 top cards × 4 suits | 36 | 0.001385% | 72,193 |
| Four of a kind | 13 ranks × 48 fifth cards | 624 | 0.0240% | 4,165 |
| Full house | 13 × 4 × 12 × 6 | 3,744 | 0.1441% | 694 |
| Flush (not straight flush) | 4 × 1,287 − 40 | 5,108 | 0.1965% | 509 |
| Straight (not straight flush) | 10 × 45 − 40 | 10,200 | 0.3925% | 255 |
| Three of a kind | 13 × 4 × 66 × 16 | 54,912 | 2.1128% | 47 |
| Two pair | 78 × 36 × 44 | 123,552 | 4.7539% | 21 |
| One pair | 13 × 6 × 220 × 64 | 1,098,240 | 42.2569% | 2.4 |
| High card | 1,277 × 1,020 | 1,302,540 | 50.1177% | 2.0 |
| Total | 52 choose 5 | 2,598,960 | 100% | — |
The counts explain the ranking. Four of a kind can be made in 624 ways and a flush in 5,108, so four of a kind is the rarer hand and ranks higher. The rows add up to 2,598,960. A royal flush is the best straight flush, and counting it with straight flushes gives 40 hands in all. Hands of straight or better total 19,716, or about 0.76% of all hands, so most five-card hands are one pair or high card.
How Ties Are Decided
When two players hold the same category, the cards inside the hand decide the winner. An unpaired side card used to break a tie is called a kicker.
| Hand | How a tie is broken |
|---|---|
| Royal flush | Never broken; suits do not rank, so equal royal flushes split the pot |
| Straight flush, straight | The highest card in the sequence wins; ace-high beats king-high, and 5-4-3-2-A is the lowest |
| Four of a kind | Higher four-card rank wins, then the fifth card |
| Full house | Higher three-card rank wins, then the higher pair |
| Flush, high card | Compare the highest card, then the next highest, and so on down the hand |
| Three of a kind | Higher three-card rank wins, then the higher kicker |
| Two pair | Higher pair, then the lower pair, then the fifth card |
| One pair | Higher pair, then the three side cards in order |
Suits never break a tie for winning a pot. Spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs are ranked only for tasks such as drawing for the button or awarding an odd chip, and equal hands split the pot. At showdown, the cards speak for themselves, so the dealer reads the hand from the cards on the table.
Rankings That Change by Game
Not every poker game uses the high-hand order. Lowball games and razz award the pot to the lowest hand, and split games add a low qualifier.
| Game | Best hand | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| High poker (hold’em, Omaha, stud, draw) | Royal flush | The order in the first table applies |
| Ace-to-five lowball | 5-4-3-2-A | Ace is low; straights and flushes do not count against a hand |
| Deuce-to-seven lowball | 7-5-4-3-2, not all of one suit | Ace is high only; straights and flushes count against a hand |
| Razz | 5-4-3-2-A | Aces are low only, and the lowest hand wins |
| Eight-or-better low | Five cards of different ranks, eight or lower | A qualifier for the low half in high-low split games |
The standard rules documents describe the low games in detail. Because rules vary by cardroom and event, the posted rules of the game being played decide which ranking applies.
Worked Comparisons
Short examples show how the rankings and tie-breaks work at showdown.
- Flush against straight: a flush of A, J, 8, 5, 2 in hearts beats a straight of 9-8-7-6-5, because a flush ranks higher.
- Two full houses: K-K-K-4-4 beats Q-Q-Q-A-A, because the three-card ranks are compared first, and kings outrank queens.
- Two pair, same top pair: J-J-9-9-2 beats J-J-4-4-A, because the second pair is compared before the fifth card.
- Pair with kickers: 10-10-A-8-3 beats 10-10-A-7-6, because the side cards are compared in order and 8 outranks 7.
- Identical ranks: K-K-7-5-2 against K-K-7-5-2 in different suits is a tie, and the pot is split.
How to Use This Reference
Use the first table to find where a hand sits in the order, and the second to see how common it is. If two players hold the same category, use the tie-break table to find who wins. If the game is lowball, razz or a split game, check the last table first, because the order may be reversed.
The counts in this reference are for five-card hands drawn from a full 52-card deck. Texas Hold’em and seven-card stud deal more than five cards to each player, so the chance of holding a particular hand at showdown is higher than the percentages shown here. These figures describe five cards only.
The “about 1 in” column turns each probability into a rough frequency. A hand listed as 1 in 255 is expected about once in every 255 five-card hands dealt, over a very large number of deals. It does not mean the hand arrives on a schedule, and a short run of deals can look very different from the long-run average.
A ranking only compares finished five-card hands. It says nothing about which starting cards are worth playing, how to bet, or what an opponent holds, and it does not change the odds of any wager.
Related
Poker vocabulary is defined in Poker Betting Terms: 24 Definitions With Examples, and the names players give to starting hands appear in Poker Hand Nicknames: 26 Starting Hands and Their Names. The counting behind these percentages is explained in Gambling Probability Terms: 28 Definitions, and another table-game reference is Blackjack Hand Signals: Face-Up and Hand-Held Games.
Frequently Asked Questions
