Poker hand rankings: what beats what

Updated November 11, 2026

Poker hands are ranked by how hard they are to make. 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 same order is used in Texas Hold'em, Omaha and most other poker games.

The hand ranking chart

Faded cards are kickers: leftover cards that don't form the hand but still count when two players tie.

Each hand, explained

1. Royal flush

A-K-Q-J-10 all in the same suit. It is simply the best possible straight flush, and nothing beats it. Most people who play for years never get one.

2. Straight flush

Five cards in a row, all the same suit, like 9-8-7-6-5 of hearts. Between two straight flushes, the one with the higher top card wins.

3. Four of a kind

All four cards of one rank, also called quads. Higher quads beat lower quads. In Hold'em the four cards can be on the board for everyone, and then the fifth card (the kicker) decides it.

4. Full house

Three of one rank and two of another: "jacks full of eights". Compare the three-card part first. J-J-J-8-8 beats 10-10-10-A-A, because jacks beat tens and the pair only matters if the trips are the same.

5. Flush

Any five cards of one suit. They don't need to be in order. Between two flushes, compare the highest card, then the next, and so on. An ace-high flush is often called the nut flush because no other flush can beat it.

6. Straight

Five cards in a row in mixed suits. The ace plays high (A-K-Q-J-10, called Broadway) or low (5-4-3-2-A, called the wheel), but a straight can't wrap around the ace. The wheel counts as a five-high straight, so a 6-5-4-3-2 straight beats it.

7. Three of a kind

Three cards of one rank. Players call it a set when you hold a pocket pair and one more comes on the board, and trips when you hold one and two are on the board. Both rank the same.

8. Two pair

Two different pairs. Compare the higher pair first, then the lower pair, then the kicker. Aces and twos beat kings and queens, because the top pair is what counts first.

9. One pair

Two cards of the same rank and three unrelated cards. If two players have the same pair, the three kickers are compared from the top down.

10. High card

No pair, no straight, no flush. The hand is named for its top card ("ace high"). When nobody makes a pair, the highest card wins, then the next highest.

How ties are broken

• Same type of hand: the higher ranks win. A pair of kings beats a pair of tens. A king-high flush beats a jack-high flush.
• Same ranks: compare kickers, highest first. With A♠K♦ against A♣9♥ on a board with an ace, both have a pair of aces, and the king kicker wins.
• Only five cards count. A sixth card never breaks a tie. If both players' best five cards are the same ranks, they split the pot.
• Suits don't matter. Spades are not better than hearts. Two flushes in different suits with the same ranks would tie.

How often each hand comes up

These are the chances of ending up with each hand in Texas Hold'em if you stay to the river, using the best five of your seven cards.

Two things stand out. One pair is the most common result by far, so a single pair is rarely a monster. And with seven cards to choose from, you'll finish with at least a pair more than four times out of five.

Mistakes new players make

• Thinking a straight beats a flush. It's the other way round.
• Thinking two pair beats three of a kind. Three of a kind wins.
• Counting a "three pair" hand. Only five cards play, so with three pairs you have your best two pair and one kicker.
• Forgetting the kicker. A-K and A-7 both make a pair of aces on an ace-high board, but the king wins most of the time.
• Missing a hand on the board. When four cards to a straight or flush are showing, anyone holding one matching card has it.

A quick way to remember the order

Split the list in three. The bottom is about matching ranks: high card, pair, two pair, three of a kind. The middle is the five-card shapes: straight, then flush, then full house. The top is the rare stuff: four of a kind, straight flush, royal flush. If you only memorise one line, make it "straight, flush, full house", because that's where most arguments at the table start.

You don't need to memorise it before you play. On One Room Games the table tells you your current hand as the cards come out ("Pair of Kings", "Flush, Ace high"), so you can learn the order by playing a few hands. New to the game itself? Read how to play Texas Hold'em next.