Poker Hand Rankings: All 10 Hands, Highest to Lowest

There are exactly ten poker hands, and every one of them ranks in the same order no matter what variant you’re playing. This guide lists all ten from strongest to weakest, explains what each hand actually looks like with real card examples, and gives you the true odds of being dealt each one. Use it as your reference table during a session, or read straight through if you’re still learning the order. For direct match-ups like flush versus straight, see our what beats what in poker guide instead.

Poker Hand Rankings, Highest to Lowest

Here are all ten poker hands in order, with an example and the odds of being dealt each one from a fresh five-card hand.

Rank	Hand	Example	Odds of being dealt
1	Royal Flush	A-K-Q-J-10, all hearts	1 in 649,740
2	Straight Flush	9-8-7-6-5, all clubs	1 in 72,193
3	Four of a Kind	7-7-7-7-2	1 in 4,165
4	Full House	K-K-K-4-4	1 in 694
5	Flush	K-9-7-4-2, all spades	1 in 508
6	Straight	10-9-8-7-6, mixed suits	1 in 255
7	Three of a Kind	Q-Q-Q-8-3	1 in 47
8	Two Pair	J-J-6-6-2	1 in 21
9	One Pair	9-9-K-6-2	1 in 2.4
10	High Card	A-J-8-5-3, mixed suits	1 in 2

These odds are for a single five-card hand dealt from a full 52-card deck, the same figures used in five-card draw. In Texas Hold’em you build your best five-card hand from seven cards (two hole cards plus five community cards), which raises the chance of hitting most of these hands, but the ranking order and the hands themselves never change.

How to Read the Rankings

Every poker hand is the best five-card combination you can make. In games with hole cards and community cards, you pick five cards total out of whatever you’re holding and seeing on the board. A stronger hand type always beats a weaker one regardless of the specific cards involved: any full house beats any flush, even a full house of low cards against a flush topped by an ace.

Suits have no ranking against each other. A flush in spades is exactly as strong as a flush in hearts; if two players both hold a flush, the one with the higher top card wins. Suits only matter for determining whether you have a flush or straight flush in the first place.

When two players hold the same hand type, a kicker breaks the tie. A kicker is a card that isn’t part of the hand’s core combination but still counts toward your best five. If two players both hold a pair of kings, the player with the higher third, fourth, or fifth card wins the pot. Kickers matter most with one pair, two pair, and high card hands, since those hands use the fewest cards to form the actual combination.

In Texas Hold’em specifically, it’s possible for the five community cards to already form the best available hand, a situation players call “playing the board.” If the board reads A-A-K-K-Q and neither player’s hole cards improve on that, both players hold the same two pair with the same queen kicker, and the pot splits. This is one of the few cases where hand rankings alone won’t produce a winner; the five-card combination itself is simply identical for both hands.

The order itself is not arbitrary. Each hand outranks the one below it because it’s harder to be dealt. There are 1,302,540 ways to make a high card hand out of a 52-card deck but only 4 ways to make a royal flush, and every rank in between follows that same logic: rarer combination, higher rank. That’s also why a full house (3,744 ways) beats a flush (5,108 ways) even though both can look intimidating across the felt; the full house is the scarcer hand.

These ten rankings apply to Texas Hold’em, seven-card stud, and five-card draw. Omaha uses the same ten hands, but the rule for which cards you’re allowed to use is different (you must use exactly two hole cards, not one or three), which changes what’s realistic to hold. See our Omaha hand rankings guide for that distinction if you play pot-limit Omaha.

The 10 Poker Hands Explained

1. Royal Flush

A royal flush is A-K-Q-J-10 of a single suit. It’s the highest hand in poker and cannot be tied, since there’s only one royal flush per suit. There are only 4 possible royal flushes in a 52-card deck, one for each suit, making it a 1 in 649,740 shot on any given five-card hand.

2. Straight Flush

A straight flush is five consecutive cards of the same suit, such as 9-8-7-6-5 of clubs. It loses only to a higher straight flush or the royal flush. There are 36 possible straight flush combinations excluding royals, giving odds of about 1 in 72,193. Because a straight flush is ranked by its highest card, 9-high beats 8-high, and so on down to the lowest straight flush, A-2-3-4-5 (the ace plays as a 1 here, sometimes called the wheel).

3. Four of a Kind

Four of a kind, also called quads, is four cards of the same rank plus one unrelated card, for example 7-7-7-7-2. There are 624 distinct four-of-a-kind hands, giving odds of 1 in 4,165. If two players both have four of a kind (possible when the board itself pairs heavily), the higher-ranked quad wins; if the four cards are on the board and both players use the same quad, the fifth card acts as the kicker.

4. Full House

A full house combines three of a kind with a separate pair, such as K-K-K-4-4 (commonly said as “kings full of fours”). There are 3,744 ways to make a full house, giving odds of 1 in 694. When two players both hold a full house, the three-of-a-kind portion decides the winner first; K-K-K-4-4 beats Q-Q-Q-A-A because kings outrank queens, even though the second hand’s pair is aces.

5. Flush

A flush is five cards of one suit that aren’t in sequence, for example K-9-7-4-2 all in spades. There are 5,108 possible flushes once straight flushes are excluded, giving odds of 1 in 508. Flushes are ranked card by card from the top down: if both players have a flush, compare the highest card in each, then the second-highest if there’s a tie, and so on.

6. Straight

A straight is five cards in sequence across at least two suits, such as 10-9-8-7-6. There are 10,200 possible straights once straight flushes are excluded, giving odds of 1 in 255. A straight is ranked by its top card, so a jack-high straight (J-10-9-8-7) beats a 10-high straight (10-9-8-7-6). The ace can play high (A-K-Q-J-10) or low (A-2-3-4-5), but it can’t wrap around the top and bottom at the same time, so a hand like Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight.

7. Three of a Kind

Three of a kind, often called trips or a set depending on how it’s formed, is three cards of the same rank plus two unrelated cards, for example Q-Q-Q-8-3. There are 54,912 distinct three-of-a-kind hands, giving odds of 1 in 47. When it beats another three of a kind, the higher rank of the trip wins; if both players share the same trip from the board, the remaining kickers decide it.

8. Two Pair

Two pair is exactly two different pairs plus one unrelated card, such as J-J-6-6-2. There are 123,552 distinct two-pair hands, giving odds of 1 in 21, which makes two pair one of the more common hands you’ll see reach showdown. There’s no such thing as “three pair” in poker; if you technically hold three different pairs across your cards and the board, only your two highest pairs count toward your hand, and the best remaining card becomes the kicker.

9. One Pair

One pair is two cards of matching rank plus three unrelated cards, for example 9-9-K-6-2. There are 1,098,240 distinct one-pair hands, the second-highest count of any hand type, giving odds of about 1 in 2.4. Because a pair uses only two of your five cards, the other three often decide close hands as kickers; a pair of nines with a king kicker beats the same pair of nines with a jack kicker.

10. High Card

High card means you have no pair, no straight, and no flush; your hand is simply ranked by its highest card, then the next-highest, and so on, for example A-J-8-5-3 of mixed suits. With 1,302,540 distinct combinations, it’s the single most frequent outcome in five-card poker at roughly even odds (1 in 2), and it’s also the weakest hand. Between two high-card hands, the ace-high beats the king-high, and ties get broken card by card down the line.

Common Beginner Mistakes with Hand Rankings

• Treating “three pair” as a real hand. Poker hands are always five cards. If you have three pairs available, only the top two count, and your best remaining card fills in as the kicker.
• Assuming one suit beats another. Spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs carry no inherent rank. A flush wins on its highest card, not its suit.
• Missing that a straight can’t wrap around. A-2-3-4-5 and 10-J-Q-K-A are both valid straights, but Q-K-A-2-3 is not, since the ace can only anchor one end of the sequence at a time.
• Confusing “trips” and “a set.” Both are three of a kind, and they rank identically; the terms just describe how the hand was formed (a pocket pair hitting a third card on the board versus two matching community cards paired with one hole card).
• Overvaluing two pair on a paired board. When the community cards themselves contain a pair, it’s easy for an opponent to be sitting on three of a kind or a full house. Two pair looks strong in isolation but weakens fast once the board pairs.
• Forgetting kickers on one pair and high card hands. These two hands use the fewest cards to form the actual combination, so the remaining cards decide more ties than players expect.
• Assuming there’s always a winner. When both players’ best five cards are truly identical, including every kicker, the pot splits. This happens most often when the community cards themselves already form the strongest hand available.

Putting the Rankings to Work

Knowing the order of these ten hands is the starting point, not the finish line. Once you can recognize a hand instantly, the next skill is estimating how it holds up against what your opponent might be holding. Our hand equity calculator runs the exact percentages for any two hands, so you can see how much better pocket kings really are than ace-queen before you commit chips. And when you want a side-by-side breakdown of specific match-ups, like why a flush beats a straight or what happens when two players both have two pair, our what beats what in poker page walks through those comparisons directly.