Poker hand rankings

The winning poker hands in order, from the royal flush down to high card, with the chance of being dealt each one in five cards and of making it by the river in Texas Hold'em. Below the list, the Who wins? tool names every hand at a and says which one takes the pot.

Lesson: Seven cards, best five (needs an invite). In the glossary: Hand rankings, Kicker, Split pot. How the numbers are made.

Last updated October 18, 2026

#		Example	Dealt in 5 cards	Made with 7 cards
1	Royal flushAce to ten, all one suit.	AKQJ10	0.0002%1 in 649,740	0.0032%1 in 30,940
2	Straight flushFive in a row, all one suit.	98765	0.0014%1 in 72,193	0.028%1 in 3,591
3	Four of a kindAll four cards of one rank.	QQQQ7	0.024%1 in 4,165	0.168%1 in 595
4	Full houseThree of one rank and a pair of another.	KKK99	0.144%1 in 694	2.60%1 in 39
5	FlushFive cards of one suit.	AJ863	0.197%1 in 509	3.03%1 in 33
6	StraightFive ranks in a row; the ace plays high or low.	109876	0.392%1 in 255	4.62%1 in 22
7	Three of a kindThree cards of one rank.	777K2	2.11%1 in 47	4.83%1 in 21
8	Two pairTwo different pairs.	JJ10104	4.75%1 in 21	23.50%1 in 4
9	One pairTwo cards of one rank.	AA963	42.26%1 in 2	43.82%1 in 2
10	High cardNone of the above; the highest card plays.	AJ853	50.12%1 in 2	17.41%1 in 6

Exact counts: all 2,598,960 five-card hands, and all 133,784,560 seven-card deals scored by their best five cards. In Hold'em you make a hand from seven cards, so every hand above high card is more likely by the river than in a five-card deal.

Who wins?

Board

Player 1

Two pair, kings and nines, winsAKK99

Player 2

Two pair, kings and ninesKQK99

Press a card slot to pick its card from the deck.

: Same two pair, so the kicker decides: an ace beats a queen.

Does a full house beat a flush?

Yes. A full house ranks above a flush because it is rarer: 3,744 of the five-card hands are full houses and 5,108 are flushes. By the river in Hold'em the gap narrows (2.60% against 3.03%) but the order never changes.

Does a full house beat a straight?

Yes, and a flush beats a straight too. Straights are the most common of the three: 10,200 five-card hands, and 4.6% of Hold'em deals by the river.

Does four of a kind beat a full house?

Yes. Four of a kind is the third-best hand, behind only the straight flush and the royal flush, and you make it by the river about once in 595 deals. When two players have the same kind of hand, the higher ranks win: kings full of nines beat queens full of aces. When those match too, the , the best unpaired card, decides. If all five cards tie, the pot is split; suits never break a tie.

The odds of a royal flush

You are dealt a royal flush in five cards once in 649,740 hands. In Hold'em, with seven cards to choose from, you make one by the river once in 30,940 deals. To see how often your own hand improves, use the poker odds calculator, which shows what each hand makes by the river, or the outs calculator for a draw.