What is the best hand in poker?

The royal flush — A, K, Q, J, 10 all in the same suit. It occurs once in 649,740 five-card deals and cannot be beaten, only tied by a royal flush in another suit in some games.

Who wins if two players have the same hand?

Ties are broken by the ranks inside the hand first (higher pair, higher straight, etc.), then by kickers — the unpaired side cards. Suits are never used to break ties in standard poker; if all five cards tie, the pot is split.

Do suits matter in poker hand rankings?

No suit outranks another in standard poker. A flush in clubs is exactly equal to a flush in spades with the same card ranks; identical hands split the pot.

Poker Hand Rankings

Q: Does a flush beat a straight?

Yes. A flush (five cards of the same suit) beats a straight (five consecutive cards of mixed suits) because it is statistically harder to make: 0.197% vs 0.392% of five-card hands.

The 10 hands every player must know, ranked strongest to weakest

Every form of high-hand poker — Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Five Card Draw — uses the same ladder of ten hands. Memorize this order and you'll never misread a showdown again. Odds shown are the chance of being dealt each hand in five random cards.

Royal Flush A, K, Q, J, 10 — all the same suit. The unbeatable hand.

1 in 649,740

Straight Flush Five consecutive cards of the same suit.

1 in 72,193

Four of a Kind All four cards of one rank, plus a kicker.

1 in 4,165

Full House Three of a kind plus a pair.

1 in 694

Flush Any five cards of the same suit, not in sequence.

1 in 509

Straight Five consecutive cards of mixed suits.

1 in 255

Three of a Kind Three cards of one rank plus two unmatched cards.

1 in 47

Two Pair Two different pairs plus a kicker.

1 in 21

One Pair Two cards of the same rank.

1 in 2.4

High Card No combination — the highest card plays.

1 in 2

Exact probabilities of each hand

There are exactly 2,598,960 possible five-card hands from a 52-card deck. The ranking order exists because rarer hands beat more common ones:

Hand	Combinations	Probability	Odds against
Royal flush	4	0.000154%	649,739 : 1
Straight flush	36	0.00139%	72,192 : 1
Four of a kind	624	0.0240%	4,164 : 1
Full house	3,744	0.144%	693 : 1
Flush	5,108	0.197%	508 : 1
Straight	10,200	0.392%	254 : 1
Three of a kind	54,912	2.11%	46.3 : 1
Two pair	123,552	4.75%	20.0 : 1
One pair	1,098,240	42.3%	1.37 : 1
High card	1,302,540	50.1%	0.995 : 1

How ties are broken

Pairs, trips, quads: higher set wins (Q-Q beats 9-9). If equal, compare kickers one by one.
Two pair: compare the higher pair, then the lower pair, then the kicker.
Straights and flushes: the hand with the higher top card wins. In straights, the ace can play low (A-2-3-4-5, the "wheel") — there, the five is the top card.
Full houses: compare the three-of-a-kind first ("kings full" beats "queens full"), then the pair.
Suits never break ties. Identical hands split the pot.

Frequently asked questions

Does a flush beat a straight?

Yes — a flush is roughly twice as hard to make (0.197% vs 0.392%), so it ranks above a straight. This is the single most common ranking mix-up at casual tables.

Does a straight beat three of a kind?

Yes. Trips come in at 2.11% of hands, straights at 0.392% — the straight is about five times rarer and wins.

What beats a full house?

Only three hands: four of a kind, a straight flush, and a royal flush.

Is A-K-Q-J-10 offsuit a special hand?

It's called "Broadway" — the highest possible straight. Make it in one suit and it becomes the royal flush.

Next step: see how often your hand actually wins with the free poker odds calculator, or learn which hands to play before the flop with the preflop chart.