Guide · Texas Hold'em
Poker hand rankings: what beats what, and ties
The ten poker hands from royal flush to high card, with pictures, how often each one comes up in Texas Hold'em, and how ties and kickers are settled.
- 6 min read
KARDX is a free card table for your TV: everyone plays on their own phone.
Every poker hand is five cards, and there are ten kinds. A higher kind always beats a lower kind: the smallest flush beats the biggest straight. When two players have the same kind, the ranks of the cards decide, and that's where most arguments start.
This page has the order, then the rules for ties. If you're new to the game, Texas Hold'em for beginners explains how a hand is played. If you only need the list during a game, the Texas Hold'em rules have the short version, one tap from every KARDX table.
The ten hands, best first
1. Royal flush
Ace, king, queen, jack and ten, all one suit. It's the best straight flush there is, and nothing beats it. Most players go years without holding one.
2. Straight flush
Five cards in a row, all one suit. Between two straight flushes, the one with the higher top card wins.
3. Four of a kind
Four cards of one rank, and any fifth card. Higher fours beat lower fours.
4. Full house
Three of one rank and two of another. The three decide it: tens full of threes beats nines full of aces.
5. Flush
Five cards of one suit, in any order. Between two flushes the highest card wins; if those match, the next highest, and so on down.
6. Straight
Five cards in a row, in any suits. The higher top card wins. An ace can sit at either end:
7. Three of a kind
Three cards of one rank, and two that don't match.
8. Two pair
Two cards of one rank, two of another, and a fifth card.
9. Pair
Two cards of one rank, and three that don't match.
10. High card
None of the above. The hand is named for its highest card: this one is "ace high".
How often each hand comes up
In Texas Hold'em you choose your best five from seven cards: your two and the five on the table. If you stayed in to the end of every hand, this is how often you'd finish with each one.
| Hand | Chance by the river | About once in |
|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | 0.003% | 31,000 hands |
| Straight flush | 0.03% | 3,600 hands |
| Four of a kind | 0.17% | 600 hands |
| Full house | 2.6% | 39 hands |
| Flush | 3.0% | 33 hands |
| Straight | 4.6% | 22 hands |
| Three of a kind | 4.8% | 21 hands |
| Two pair | 23.5% | 4 hands |
| Pair | 43.8% | 2 hands |
| High card | 17.4% | 6 hands |
Two things stand out. A pair or two pair is what you'll hold two times out of three, so most pots are won with modest hands. And with seven cards to choose from, ending with nothing at all is less common than ending with a pair.
The order of the hands comes from five-card poker, where each hand is rarer than the one below it. With seven cards to pick from the numbers shift, but the ranking stays the same.
Whether a hand is worth playing in the first place is a different question: see Texas Hold'em starting hands.
Your best five cards
You can use both of your cards, one, or neither. The table always counts the best five out of the seven, whichever they are.
Two things follow from that:
- A sixth card never counts. If you and another player have the same best five, you split the pot, even if your other two cards are higher than theirs.
- The board can be the hand. If the five cards in the middle make a straight and nobody can beat it, everyone still in has that straight, and they share the pot. This is called playing the board.
Ties, and what a kicker is
When two players have the same kind of hand, compare the cards in this order until one is higher.
| Hand | Compare |
|---|---|
| Straight flush, straight | The top card |
| Four of a kind | The four, then the fifth card |
| Full house | The three, then the pair |
| Flush, high card | The highest card, then the next, down to the fifth |
| Three of a kind | The three, then the higher of the other two, then the last |
| Two pair | The higher pair, then the lower pair, then the fifth card |
| Pair | The pair, then the other three cards from the top down |
The cards that aren't part of the pair, the three or the four are called kickers. They only matter in a tie, but ties are common in Hold'em because everyone shares the board.
An example. The board is:
You both have a pair of kings, and your best five cards are:
Your queen beats their ten, so you win the whole pot. People say you "out-kicked" them.
If all five cards match in rank, the hands are equal and the pot is split. On KARDX the table works out kickers, split pots and side pots, and the TV says who won and with what.
Suits don't rank
In Texas Hold'em no suit is better than another. A flush in hearts and a flush in spades with the same five ranks tie. Suits only matter for making a flush in the first place.
Some other card games do rank the suits. Big Two is one: in the usual Hong Kong rules, which KARDX plays, spades beat hearts, hearts beat clubs and clubs beat diamonds.
The ones people get wrong
Does a flush beat a straight? Yes. And a full house beats both.
Does three of a kind beat two pair? Yes. Two pair sounds like more, but it's much more common.
Is 3 2 A K Q a straight? No, not in Hold'em. A straight can't go "around the corner". The ace is high or low, never in the middle.
I have three pairs. Is that anything? A hand is five cards, so only your best two pairs count, plus your highest other card.
We both have a flush. Who wins? Whoever has the highest card in their flush. Having more cards of the suit doesn't help: a flush is five cards. Chasing one? Poker odds for beginners shows how to tell if it's worth the call.
We both have a full house. Who wins? The three of a kind decides first. Only if those match does the pair matter.
Is an ace high or low? High, except in the straight 5 4 3 2 A, where it plays as a one. That straight is the lowest, and it loses to 6 5 4 3 2.
My pocket pair got "counterfeited". What happened? You held a small pair, say threes, and the board came with two higher pairs on it. Now everyone has those two pairs, and your pair of threes no longer counts: your best five cards are the two pairs on the board and one kicker.
Try it
Open a Texas Hold'em table and add a few bots. At every showdown, before you read what the TV says, name each hand still in, and its kicker if it comes down to one. Then check yourself against the TV.
Texas Hold'em on KARDX
Open a table on the TV and everyone joins from their phone. Free, no accounts, and the chips are play money.
Keep reading
- Rules Texas Hold'em rules Texas Hold'em rules at a glance: how a hand goes from the blinds to the showdown, and the ten poker hands in order, best first, with pictures.
- Tutorial Host a poker night Run a Texas Hold'em night with no chips to count and no cards to shuffle. The TV is the table and each player's phone holds their cards. Free, no accounts.
- Tutorial Hold'em for beginners Learn Texas Hold'em in ten minutes: the blinds, the four betting rounds, what you can do on your turn and who wins at the showdown, with a hand played out.