# Poker hand rankings: every hand in order Source: https://flopnight.com/en/poker-hand-rankings/ Updated: 2026-11-03 Language: en In German: https://flopnight.com/de/pokerblaetter/index.md License: CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Free to use if you credit Flopnight and link this page. > All ten poker hands from royal flush to high card, with an example and what each one beats. Plus kickers, flush against flush and the ace in a straight. The poker hands 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.** Each hand beats every hand below it. The order follows how rare a hand of five cards is. It always comes down to exactly five cards. In Texas hold'em you pick the best five from your two cards and the five in the middle. If two players have the same kind of hand, the remaining cards decide, and only when all five are equal do you split the pot. How a whole hand plays out is in the [poker rules](https://flopnight.com/en/texas-holdem-rules/), and the [poker night](https://flopnight.com/en/poker-night/) checklist has everything else you need for the evening. ## The ten hands from best to worst | Rank | Hand | Example | Beats | Frequency (5 cards) | With 7 cards | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Royal Flush | As Ks Qs Js Ts | Everything. In hold'em two players only have one at the same time when all five cards are on the board, then they split the pot. | 4 (0.00015%) | 0.0032% | | 2 | Straight Flush | 9h 8h 7h 6h 5h | Four of a kind and everything below. With two straight flushes, the higher top card wins. | 36 (0.00139%) | 0.028% | | 3 | Four of a Kind | Qc Qd Qh Qs 7d | Full house and everything below. | 624 (0.024%) | 0.17% | | 4 | Full House | Kh Kd Ks 4c 4h | Flush and everything below. Two full houses are compared by the three of a kind first, then by the pair. | 3,744 (0.144%) | 2.6% | | 5 | Flush | Ad Jd 8d 6d 2d | Straight and everything below. | 5,108 (0.197%) | 3.0% | | 6 | Straight | Tc 9d 8h 7s 6c | Three of a kind and everything below. | 10,200 (0.392%) | 4.6% | | 7 | Three of a Kind | 8s 8h 8d Kc 3s | Two pair and everything below. | 54,912 (2.1%) | 4.8% | | 8 | Two Pair | Jh Jc 5s 5d Ac | One pair and high card. | 123,552 (4.8%) | 23.5% | | 9 | One Pair | Th Ts Ad 7c 4h | High card. | 1,098,240 (42.3%) | 43.8% | | 10 | High Card | Ah Qc 9d 6s 3h | Nothing. It only wins against a weaker high card. | 1,302,540 (50.1%) | 17.4% | Card codes: A ace, K king, Q queen, J jack, T ten; s spades, h hearts, d diamonds, c clubs. With seven cards as in hold'em, the frequencies shift: having nothing at all, so just a high card, is then rarer than one pair or two pair. That does not change the order. It always applies to the best five cards. ## Cheat sheet as a PDF and image - Cheat sheet as PDF (A4): https://flopnight.com/en/poker-hand-rankings.pdf - Cheat sheet as image (PNG, 1200 x 1592 pixels): https://flopnight.com/en/poker-hand-rankings.png - Free to use under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Attribution: Image: Poker hand rankings by Flopnight, https://flopnight.com/en/poker-hand-rankings/ Code to embed: ```html
The ten poker hands from best to worst, each with an example: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, High Card
Image: Poker hand rankings by Flopnight, CC BY 4.0
``` ## Card ranks The ace is the highest card, followed by king, queen, jack, ten and so on down to the two. Only in a straight can the ace also be the lowest card. The suits spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs have no rank in Texas hold'em. ## Special cases ### Same pair: the kicker decides If two players have the same pair, the one with the higher side card wins. That card is the **kicker**. If the first kicker is the same, the second one counts, then the third. - Board: J♣ 9♦ 6♠ 4♥ 2♣ - You: A♠ J♦ - Opponent: K♥ J♥ You both have a pair of jacks. Your best five are jack, jack, ace, nine, six. Your opponent has jack, jack, king, nine, six. Your ace beats their king, you win. The kicker only helps if it is part of the best five cards. If there is a pair on the board and both players hold small cards, the five cards in the middle can be the best hand for both. Then you split. ### Two pair against two pair First you compare the higher pair. If it is the same, the second pair. If that is the same too, the fifth card decides. Kings and threes beat queens and jacks, because the kings are higher than the queens. ### Full house against full house The three of a kind counts first, then the pair. Three eights with two twos beat three sevens with two aces. ### Flush against flush With two flushes, the player with the highest card in the flush wins. If that card is the same, you compare the second highest, and so on down to the fifth. The suit itself does not matter. - Board: K♥ 9♥ 6♥ 2♥ 3♣ - You: A♥ 5♣ - Opponent: Q♥ J♥ You both have a flush in hearts. Yours runs ace, king, nine, six, two, theirs king, queen, jack, nine, six. The ace beats the king, you win, even though they hold two hearts and you only one. ### The ace in a straight The ace can sit at the top or the bottom of a straight, but not in the middle: - **Ten, jack, queen, king, ace** is the highest straight. - **Ace, two, three, four, five** is the lowest. Here the ace counts as a one, so this straight is called five high. - **Queen, king, ace, two, three** is not a straight. With two straights, the one with the higher top card wins. Two, three, four, five, six beats ace, two, three, four, five, even though the second one has an ace in it. ### Hands of equal strength If the best five cards of two players are worth exactly the same, the pot is split. That is a **split pot**. In Texas hold'em it happens when the best straight or the best flush lies on the board, for example. What happens to a chip that is left over is in the [poker rules under split pot](https://flopnight.com/en/texas-holdem-rules/#split-pot). ## How to find your hand Go through the list from the top: are there five cards of the same suit? Five in a row? Four of the same rank, three, two? The first hand that fits is your hand. Then fill it up to five with your highest other cards. When in doubt, check the list above. For the chips you play with, there is our guide to [poker chip values](https://flopnight.com/en/poker-chip-values/), and the [tournament clock](https://flopnight.com/en/poker-tournament-clock/) runs the blinds for your home game. All our English pages are on the [home page](https://flopnight.com/en/). ## Questions and answers **What is the order of poker hands?** 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. That holds for Texas hold'em, Omaha and every other game where the best hand wins. **Does a full house beat a flush?** Yes. The full house sits right above the flush. The flush in turn beats a straight. **Do suits matter in poker?** No, not in Texas hold'em. Spades are worth no more than hearts. If two players have five cards of exactly the same value, they split the pot. **Is ace, two, three, four, five a straight?** Yes, it is the lowest straight. The ace counts as a one there. A straight around the corner like queen, king, ace, two, three does not exist. ## Sources - Poker probability, frequencies of the hands (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_probability - Texas hold 'em, the ace in a straight and suits without rank (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_hold_%27em - Poker TDA Rules 2026, Version 1.1 (Tournament Directors Association): https://www.pokertda.com/view-poker-tda-rules/ --- Flopnight: no real money, no prizes. Gambling can be addictive. Free, confidential help in the US: 1-800-MY-RESET (National Problem Gambling Helpline).