Poker hands rank, from best to worst: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair and high card. This one-page card shows each hand with an example and how often it appears in a five-card deal.
Print it and keep it by the table while you learn. For other poker topics, see our poker hub.
What are the poker hand rankings from best to worst?
The rarer a hand is, the higher it ranks. There are 2,598,960 possible five-card hands, and a royal flush is only 4 of them. A hand of a higher category always beats a lower one, whatever the card values. The table gives every category with its count and chance.
| Rank | Hand | What it is | Number of hands | Chance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal flush | A K Q J 10, all one suit | 4 | 0.0002% |
| 2 | Straight flush | Five in a row, one suit | 36 | 0.0014% |
| 3 | Four of a kind | Four cards of one rank | 624 | 0.0240% |
| 4 | Full house | Three of a rank plus a pair | 3,744 | 0.1441% |
| 5 | Flush | Five cards of one suit | 5,108 | 0.1965% |
| 6 | Straight | Five in a row, mixed suits | 10,200 | 0.3925% |
| 7 | Three of a kind | Three cards of one rank | 54,912 | 2.11% |
| 8 | Two pair | Two different pairs | 123,552 | 4.75% |
| 9 | One pair | Two cards of one rank | 1,098,240 | 42.26% |
| 10 | High card | None of the above | 1,302,540 | 50.12% |
How rare is each poker hand?
A royal flush turns up about once in 649,740 five-card hands. A full house is about 1 in 694 and a flush about 1 in 509. At the other end, you are dealt one pair or high card about 92 times in 100. Most five-card hands are weak, which is why the strong ones rank so high.
- Royal flush: about 1 in 649,740
- Straight flush: about 1 in 72,193
- Four of a kind: about 1 in 4,165
- Full house: about 1 in 694
- Flush: about 1 in 509
- Straight: about 1 in 255
- Three of a kind: about 1 in 47
- Two pair: about 1 in 21
How do you break a tie between the same hand?
Compare the cards that make up the hand, highest first. For two pairs, compare the higher pair, then the lower pair, then the fifth card, called the kicker. Suits are never ranked in standard poker, so hands that differ only by suit are equal in rank.
Does an ace count high or low in a straight?
An ace can be high, in 10 J Q K A, or low, in A 2 3 4 5, but not both at once. The A 2 3 4 5 straight is called the wheel and is the lowest straight. A hand like K A 2 3 4 does not count, because a straight cannot wrap around.
Do the same rankings apply in Texas hold’em and other games?
In Texas hold’em, Omaha and seven-card games, you make the best five-card hand from the cards available, using the same ranks. The frequencies on this card are for a five-card deal, so they do not give the chance of making a hand from seven cards. Some variants use a different order: in ace-to-five lowball, for example, the wheel is the best hand.
What do the rankings tell you about cost and risk?
The rankings tell you which hand wins, not whether to play. In poker you play against other players, not the house, but the venue or site still takes a fee. To learn the maths behind a call, try our pot odds calculator. If you want to set a spending limit, use the safer play toolkit.
How to read the result
Read the card from the top: a hand higher on the list always beats a lower one. The numbers show how many of the 2,598,960 five-card hands make each category and the chance of being dealt it. Rarer hands rank higher. The odds are for five cards, not seven.
How it is calculated
Counts come from combinations of a 52-card deck. Total hands = C(52,5) = 2,598,960. Four of a kind = 13 x 48 = 624. Full house = 13 x 4 x 12 x 6 = 3,744. Flush = 4 x C(13,5) - 40 = 5,108. Straight = 10 x 4^5 - 40 = 10,200. Chance = number of hands / 2,598,960. The ten counts add up to the total, which was checked in code.
Worked example
Worked example
How many five-card hands are a full house? Choose the rank of the three of a kind (13 ways) and which 3 of its 4 suits (4 ways), then the rank of the pair (12 ways) and which 2 of its 4 suits (6 ways): 13 x 4 x 12 x 6 = 3,744. Chance = 3,744 / 2,598,960 = 0.1441%, about 1 in 694.
Limits
The card covers standard five-card high-hand ranking only. It does not give the chance of making a hand from seven cards, odds of improving a hand, or rankings for lowball, split-pot or other variants. Tie-break rules can differ by house rules, so check the table. Odds are averages over many deals, not predictions.