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Win More Games With This Guide - Recommended by Professional Poker Players

• Poker Hands Chart
• Best Hands In Poker In Order
• Printable Poker Hands Chart

Download and print out our poker hands ranking chart, or save it to your phone.Keep it nearby when playing so that you always know the ranking of hands frombest to worst.

The best poker players in the world understand what hands are possible based on the cards they have and the cards that are sitting on the table. If you are keeping track of the cards you have seen, you can imagine the hands you will not see. If you’ve ever watched a movie in which people play texas holdem poker, it seems like the best hands — full houses, royal flushes, and four of a kind — just seem to pop up all over the place. The truth is that they are extremely rare — so let’s take a look at some of the real odds for some of the best poker hands.

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Official Poker Hands Ranked From Highest to Lowest

Learn the order of poker hand rankings quickly so you can improve your game

Poker Hand Combinations Explained

Poker hands fall into one of ten categories. The highest is a royal flush, followed by a straight flush, then four of a kind, a full house, a flush, a straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and finally a high card.

The highest hands are the least common, with a royal flush and straight flush with the highest value cards, being exceedingly rare.

What Are Poker Suits?

A deck of cards is divided into four suits. All card suits have the same value in most poker games, but there are rare exceptions. For example, if you’re splitting an uneven pot in a high-low game where you tied your hand with another player, the remaining chip can be given to the player whose suit ranks higher. Usually spades ♠ rank highest and clubs ♣ rank lowest.

The four suits can vary from country to country - German decks contains bells instead of diamonds ♦, for example - but traditionally the four suits are as follows (in descending order of usual value for games that rank suits):

Black suit, depicting a medieval weapon.

Red suit, showing a heart.

Red suit, represented by a geometric diamond shape.

Black suit, represented by a three-leaf symbol.

Video Tutorial: Poker Hand Rankings

Top 10 Best Starting Hands In Texas Hold'em Poker

The key to being good at Texas Hold'em is knowing your hands and knowing what's playable.

This one is a poker classic. The strongest starting hand in poker, pocket aces are a strong pre-flop favorite over any other two cards and a 4:1 favorite over almost any hand. You will be dealt 'pocket rockets', as they are also known, on average once every 221 hands, so it makes sense to get excited about them pre-flop. However, it's worth remembering that their likelihood of winning goes down as more players enter the pot, so the fewer opponents you're up against the better.

Other Nicknames: Pocket Rockets, Bullets, American Airlines, Snake Eyes, Batteries, Needles, Two Pips

Pocket Kings, also known as 'cowboys', are a favorite against any hand (except aces). There are not many flops that should make you too worried - however, it is worth remembering that kings will only win against a hand with one ace just over two thirds of the time. You will almost always be happy to get your money in pre-flop with pocket kings.

Other Nicknames: Cowboys, King Kong, Kevin Keegan, Krispy Kreme, Ace Magnets, Elvis Presley

If you get dealt pocket queens, you are safe in the knowledge that only eight overcards are left in the deck, or even fewer if you get your money in against an opponent with an ace, a king, or ace king. You will want to play this hand strongly before the flop, raising or re-raising from any position almost all of the time, and you will still frequently run into plenty of opponents prepared to commit their money with weaker hands.

This hand is often nicknamed 'Anna Kournikova' by recreational players - it's pretty to look at, but doesn't win as much as you think it should. It is easy to fall in love with ace-king suited, and it is by no means a weak hand, winning against all pocket pairs half of the time (except for pocket aces and pocket kings). However, it is also worth bearing in mind that if you don't connect with the flop, then you just have ace-high.

Other Nicknames: Big Slick, Santa Barbara, Anna Kournikova, Big Ugly, King Arthur, Korean Airlines, Mike Haven, Walking Back To Houston

It's a classic poker saying that there are three ways to play pocket jacks, and all of them are wrong. However, this is a bit of a cliché, and the hand is a favorite or coin-flip (50:50) against any unpaired hand and a strong pre-flop favorite over any lower pocket pair. It is still a very strong hand, particularly if the pot is unraised and you look down at jacks in late-position, though you can be a little more careful if an opponent has come in for an early-position raise.

Other Nicknames: Fishhooks, Brothers, Jaybirds, Kid Dy-No-Mite, The Two Jakes, Suckers

Pocket tens are a strong starting hand and a real poker classic. They're strong enough that you don't need to hit a third ten on the flop to continue. They will still win against overcards every other time, though there are far more combinations where it is not as strong a favorite as pocket jacks. If there is a lot of action before you, it is sometimes easy to fold tens before the flop.

While this hand is an underdog against an offsuit Ace-King, it ranks higher due to its relative strength against other starting hands. Sometimes, you will find yourself in a spot where you need to fold, even after hitting a pair on the flop. However, if you completely miss the flop, it's easier to stay out of trouble with an Ace-Queen.

Other Nicknames: Big Chick, Little Slick, Mrs. Click, Antony & Cleopatra, Mrs. Slick, Rocket Queen

Weaker than its suited counterpart due to its decreased likelihood of hitting a flush, an offsuit ace-king will still win at least 40% of the time against any hand other than aces or kings. Sometimes, it is worth calling in position with this hand before the flop to keep the pot small and still get paid if you pair one of your two hole cards.

Other Nicknames: Big Slick, Santa Barbara, Anna Kournikova, Big Ugly, King Arthur, Korean Airlines, Mike Haven, Walking Back To Houston

Like a suited ace-king or ace-queen, this hand can make a royal flush. However, it is one that is worth playing more carefully; especially if a player has raised from early position. Any ace-king or ace-queen combination still has you beat if you pair your ace, so you don't want to fall in love with an ace-jack.

Other Nicknames: Ajax, Armani Jeans, Hijack, Jackass, Apple Jacks, Blackjack

Just edging out ace-ten suited and pocket nines, king-queen suited is a hand that is said to 'flop well'. It can make a large number of straights and flushes, while just hitting one pair will sometimes give you the best hand. However, you should be able to fold this hand fairly easily if the action before you suggests other players are entering the pot with a strong hand.

Poker Guides

Poker Hands Explained

Royal Flush

This is the best hand in poker. It's always A♥ K♥ Q♥ J♥ 10♥. It doesn't matter what suit it is, but all cards must be of the same suit. It's basically an ace-high straight flush.

Straight Flush

A straight flush is any other hand made up of five cards of sequential rank in the same suit, such as 7♠ 6♠ 5♠ 4♠ 3♠ or Q♥ J♥ 10♥ 9♥ 8♥. If two players get a straight flush, the hand with the highest-ranking card wins. A straight flush beats four of a kind.

Four of a kind

A four of a kind is made up of four cards in one rank, and the last card (or 'kicker') in another rank, such as 3♣ 3♠ 3♦ 3♥ 8♥. If two players have a four of a kind, the hand with the highest-ranking four of a kind wins. If two players have the same four of a kind, the winner will be the player with the highest kicker card. A four of a kind beats a full house.

Full House

A full house consists of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank, such as 9♣ 9♠ 9♦ 5♣ 5♠ (nines over fives) or Q♦ Q♠ Q♣ 2♣ 2♦ (queens over twos). If two players have a full house, the person with the highest triplet wins. If the triplet is the same, the person with the highest pair wins. A full house beats a flush.

Flush

Also called a full boat, a flush is any hand where all five cards are of the same suit. They do not need to be in sequential order. For example, K♣ 9♣ 4♣ A♣ 2♣ or 5♦ J♦ 3♦ K♦ 4♦. A flush is ranked first by the highest card, then by the second highest card, and so on. A flush beats a straight.

Straight

A straight is a hand that contains five cards in sequential rank, but they can be of any suit. For example, Q♦ J♦ 10♣ 9♠ 8♥ is a straight, as is 5♣ 4♠ 3♠ 2♥ A♦. If two players have a straight, the player with the highest-ranking card wins. A straight beats a three of a kind.

Three of a kind

Sometimes called trips or a set, a three of a kind is a hand consisting of three cards of the same rank, such as 8♦ 8♠ 8♣ K♠ A♠ or Q♥ Q♠ Q♦ 2♥ 8♥. If two players have a three of a kind, the player with the highest-ranking three of a kind wins. A three of a kind beats a two pair.

Two Pair

A two pair is a hand consisting of two cards of one rank, two cards of another rank, and the last card of another rank, such as 9♠ 9♥ 5♦ 5♥ A♠. If two players have a two-pair, the player with the highest-ranking pairs win. For example, a pair of queens and a pair of fives would beat a pair of threes and a pair of fives. If one pair is the same, the winner is determined by the second pair. If both pairs are the same, the winner of the hand is determined by the kicker. A two pair beats a one pair.

One Pair

A one pair is simply a hand that contains two cards of the same rank, such as 6♦ 6♥ 2♥ 5♠ K♣. If both players have a one pair, the player with the highest-ranking pair wins. If both pairs are the same, the player with the highest-ranking kicker wins. A one pair only beats a high card.

High Card

A high card means you haven't got any of the previous hands, and so your hand will be determined by the single highest-ranking card you have. For example, if you had Q♠ 5♣ 4♦ 3♦ 2♣, you would be betting with a queen-high.

Ties And kickers

With only ten possible outcomes for a poker hand, it is of course possible that the best hand at the table (a pair of 9s, for example) will be held by more than one player. In this case, the tie is broken using a kicker.

Let's say two players at a five-card poker game have a pair of 9s, and this is the best hand of the round.

Example

The hand goes to Player A, who has a pair of 9s with an A kicker (kicker meaning the highest card not involved in the pair), which beats player B's pair of 9s with a J kicker.

In the rare event that both players have the exact same hand, 9, 9, A, 7, 5 for example, the pot would be split.

Poker Hand Trainer

Use our brand new poker hand training tool to go from fish to shark in no time!

• Hit the 'Deal' button to get started
• Rank each of the hands, from strongest to weakest, by clicking on the + icon next to each player
• Hit 'Check Order' to see if you were correct
  In the event that you're wrong, you can choose to either try again or see the correct rankings
• Hit 'Deal' again and you'll see the next round of cards and repeat the ranking process
• Once the hand is complete you can start again with another hand

Happy ranking and good luck!

Poker Hand Rankings FAQ

The best hand in poker is a Royal Flush.It's made up of an ace, king, queen, jack and 10 in the same suit.

You can see the poker hand rankingsabove. A one pair beats a high card, a two pair beats a one pair, a three of akind beats a two pair, a straight beats a three of a kind, a flush beats astraight, a full house beats a flush, a four of a kind beats a full house, astraight flush beats a four or a kind, a royal flush beats a straight flush.Nothing beats a royal flush.

You can beat a straight with aflush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush and royal flush.

A full house is a strong hand,but you can beat it with a four of a kind, straight flush and royal flush.

A full house, four of a kind, straight flush and royal flush all beat a flush.

There is no highest suit in poker. They are all ranked equally.

There are 10 possible poker hands. The most valuable hand is a Royal Flush, a Straight Flush made of the highest value cards in the game.

The highest value poker hand is a Royal Flush, while the lowest is a high card. The full ranking order is royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, a full house, a flush, a straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card.

The ranking order of suits is spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs. In popular poker games such as Texas Hold'em, there is no ranking of card suits, however suits are sometimes ranked in other games like Bridge.

The best hand in poker is a Royal Flush, which is the highest value straight flush. The worst hand in poker is a high card. The lowest possible high card five-card poker hand (if Aces are high) is 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 with no flush present.

If two poker hands are the same, the winner is decided by a kicker. A kicker is the highest value card outside of the pair/three-of-a-kind etc. For example, a pair of 8s with a K kicker beats a pair of 8s with a 10 kicker. If two hands are identical, the pot is split.

Table Of Contents

Do you want to know what beats what in poker? Use the official poker hands rankings chart and seem them from best to worst!

Whether you play live at your local casino or card room, you have your home game going, or you prefer the online action at websites like PokerStars, 888Poker, or partypoker, you need to learn the order of poker hands from best to worse.

Use the list of poker hands below to know what beats what in poker.

Commit this poker hands ranking list to memory today and print it if you need it (there's a button for it at the bottom). Knowing the correct poker hands rank is key to start making winning poker hands.

Poker Hands From Best To Worst

Poker Hands From Best To Worst

Not Sure What Beats What in Poker?

Many consider poker less of a gambling game than other casino games. For that to be true, players need to improve their understanding of game play and the strategy required to be a winning player.

The first step toward learning how to play poker is to learn the poker hand rankings.

Most poker players have these rankings memorized, which allows them to think about other things at the table when deciding the best way to play their hands.

The good news is these hand rankings tend to be the same among a wide variety of poker variants, whether it is Texas Hold'em, Omaha, seven-card stud, or other games.

All of those games use the same traditional poker hand rankings that were first developed way back in the 19th century when five-card draw first started to be played.

On this page, you find a complete list of poker hand rankings going from the highest possible hand (the Royal Flush), down to the lowest hand in which there is no pair among the five cards.

Hand rankings in poker correspond to the likelihood of making such hands.

A royal flush, consisting of the cards ranked ace through ten all being the same suit, is extremely rare — in fact, some players go their entire lives without making a royal flush.

A regular straight flush with any five consecutive cards of the same suit is a little less rare, four of a kind occurs slightly more frequently, and so on.

Notice that a full house is ranked higher than a flush.

That's because a full house comes just a little less frequently than a flush, thereby making it the higher-ranked hand of the two.

Additional readings for beginners:

• Poker Tips: A collection of tips 'to bring your game from 'meh' to amazing' created to help beginners become better players.
• Texas Hold'em Strategy: a complete manual to read as soon as you start to remember what beats what in poker.
• Poker starting hands chart: the only article you need to read to learn how to use your cards to the fullest.

Understanding Winning Poker Hands

Players new to the game of Texas hold'em often struggle, at least at first, with what the best poker hands are.

Once they have read this easy-to-digest guide that will no longer be the case.

The aim of Texas hold'em is to make the best five-card poker hand at showdown.

You can win without having to show your cards if you force someone to fold before the river. Nonetheless, for the purpose of this article, we'll pretend that we've gone to showdown and need to know what beats what in poker.

Winning Poker Hands: What Are The Best Hands In Poker?

First up is the weakest possible holding you can make in poker, a hand that can still win you the pot, although the likelihood of that happening decreases in a pot involving multiple players.

We are of course talking about high card.

As the name suggests, you don't even hold a pair here and instead are using the highest card among the five you are playing.

Example:

You have and the board has come .

Your best five-card hand would be where you would hold queen-high.

Next up is one pair, one of the more common Texas hold'em hands and one that will win you plenty of pots.

Example:

You have and the board comes .

Your five-card hand is — you have a pair of aces. Nice poker hand!

One place higher up on the poker hands chart is two pair.

Example:

You have and the five community cards are .

Your best five-card hand at showdown is or two pair, tens and nines.

One note of warning on this specific poker hand: if you are verbally declaring your hand, try to announce the higher pair first as to help avoid confusion.

Good Poker Hands

Now we're getting into the realm of the best poker hands because once you make three-of-a-kind (sometimes called a set or trips), you are much more likely to win the pot than with any of the previously mentioned hands.

Example:

Your five-card poker hand is — you have three-of-a-kind kings, often a very powerful hand in hold'em.

To beat three-of-a-kind you're going to need at least a straight.

A straight is five consecutive cards where at least one of them is a different suit from the others.

Example:
Should your hand read you would hold a six-high straight.

If someone held a seven-high straight, then that player would win the hand.

There are two straights that have nicknames that are worth remembering.

A wheel is a straight that runs from ace-to-five, and a Broadway straight — the strongest straight — runs from ten-to-ace.

A flush is one of the most powerful Texas hold'em hands because it is only beaten by a handful of others.

Any hand that that has five cards of the same suit is a flush.

Aces are always high when it comes to flushes, which means a hand such as beats .

There are few hands that can beat a flush — one that does is a full house. Also called a 'boat,' a full house is when your five-card hand is made up of three of a kind plus a pair.

Example:

With you have kings full of deuces, while is fives full of queens.

When it comes to full houses, the higher three of a kind determines which hand wins, so in this case 'kings full' would beat 'fives full.'

The Stronger Hands in Poker

The next three holdings are so rare that if you hold them, you can almost guarantee that they are winning poker hands.

Four of a kind is the minimum holding you'll need to beat someone with a full house.

Again, as the name suggests, four of a kind means having four cards of the same rank.

Example:

is four-of-a-kind tens and an extremely powerful holding.

Your only way to beat four of a kind, or 'quads' as they are often called, is to hold either a straight flush or a Royal Flush.

The former is five consecutive cards all of the same suit, so would be an eight-high straight flush and practically unbeatable.

If you manage to make (or the same holding in any of the other three suits), you have a Royal Flush and the only way to lose the hand would be to fold by accident!

Poker Hands Probability

If you are into numbers (most poker players are), you might be wondering about the probability of poker hands.

We said that she platers might go entire lives without ever getting the highest hand in poker but, looking at the numbers, what are the odds of a Royal Flush?

In this section of our complete analysis of the poker hand ranking and what beats what in poker, you get a clear overview of the probability of poker hands.

How to calculate the probability of poker hands?

When you know that there are 52 cards in play and 2,598,960 possible combinations, the calculation is easy.

You just need to divide the number of possibilities to build a specific poker hand by the number of total poker hands.

Let's run a few examples:

What are the odds of a Royal Flush? 0.000,001,539
(4/2,598,960)

What are the odds of a Straight Flush? 0.000,015,39
(40/2,598,960)

Use the table below to calculate the probabilities of all poker hands.

Absolute Value vs. Relative Value of Poker Hands

It should be noted also that while poker hand rankings never change, sometimes circumstances can make a good hand less valuable and a poor hand more valuable.

In other words, when it comes to poker hands there's a difference between absolute value (reflected in the list of poker hands above) and relative value.

For instance, in a game of Texas hold'em, if you have two pair that might seem like a good hand.

But if your opponent keeps betting into you and it's possible he could have a straight or flush, your two pair is no longer looking so good.

Meanwhile, if you have just one pair but your opponent keeps checking to give you a free play at the pot, you might well have the strongest hand and should bet your hand.

The 'absolute' value of your hand may not be great, but in that case the 'relative' value very well could be.

Also worth mentioning is the fact that in some games like razz, deuce-to-seven triple draw, Badugi, and others you might encounter when playing online poker, the hand rankings listed below do not apply.

These hand rankings are for regular or 'high-card' games, not 'lowball' games with alternate hand rankings.

Poker Hand Rankings F.A.Q.

What is the order of poker hands?

As shown in the poker hand rankings chart, the order of poker rankings (from the highest to the lowest) is: Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-of-a-Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, High Card.

What is the best hand in poker?

The Royal Flush is the best hand in poker. To have a Royal Flush, you need an Ace, a King, a Queen, a Jack, and a 10. All the cards that compose the hand need to be of the same suit.

What beats what in poker?

As you can see in our poker hand rankings chart, the hands in poker follow a clear hierarchy.

Poker Hands Chart

In a game of poker, the hand rankings work as follows:

• a pair beats a high card;
• a two pair beats a one pair;
• a three-of-a-kind beats a two pair;
• a straight beats a three-of-a-kind;
• a flush beats a straight;
• a full house beats a flush;
• a four-of-a-kind beats a full house;
• a straight flush beats a four-of-a-kind;
• a Royal Flush beats a straight flush.

The Royal Flush is the best hand in poker, so no one other hands beat this one.

What is a straight in poker?

You have a straight when all the five cards that compose your poker hand are consecutive ones. E.g. 5-6-7-8-9.

If the cards are of the same suit, you have a straight flush, which is a considerably stronger hand compare d to the simple straight.

What beats a straight in poker?

Best Hands In Poker In Order

Although many see the straight as a stronger hand, there are many other poker hands that beat it.

The list of hands that beat a straight includes:

• a flush;
• a full house;
• a four-of-a-kind;
• a straight flush;
• a Royal Flush.

What beats a flush in poker?

Printable Poker Hands Chart

The list of hands that beat a flush includes:

• a full house;
• a four-of-a-kind;
• a straight flush;
• a Royal Flush.

What beats a full house in poker?

The list of hands that beat a full house includes:

• a four-of-a-kind;
• a straight flush;
• a Royal Flush.

What is the highest suit in poker?

All the suits in poker have the same value. In some games, different suits can be assigned different values.

When that happens, the value is as follow (from the lowest to the highest): clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. In that case, spades is the highest suit.

How many poker hands are there?

The total number of poker hands in a game of poker is 2,598,960. Since a game of poker uses a 52-card deck of French cards, there are 2,598,960 different possible combinations (aka. poker hands).

What hands to play in poker?

The type of hands to play in a poker game depends on the game you play and other factors like your position in the hand, your stack, and the action at the table.

In a famous poker strategy article, professional player Jonathan Little shared which hands to play in poker and how to play marginal hands.

Can you make three pairs?

Although it is possible to hold a pair in your hand and then have another two pair appear among the five community cards, you can only use a total of five cards to make your poker hand, so you don't win anything for three pairs.

Which is better, a set or trips?

They are both essentially the same hand because they are both three of a kind.

The terminology 'set' is used when you have a pair as your hole cards and then catch another one of those cards on the board.

'Trips' is when there is a pair on the board and you have another of those cards as one of your hole cards.

Sets are easier to disguise than trips so many consider them to be a better hand, although they both rank the same.

What is a chopped or split pot?

If you and an opponent have the same five-card poker hand, then the pot is divided equally between you.

Say you have and your opponent has , and the board comes .

You both would be playing the same five-card hands in terms of their value (A-J-T-8-3), and so would split the pot.

If there is four of a kind on the board, who wins?

Because the aim is to make a five-card poker hand, whoever has the highest fifth card in this case wins.

If the board reads and you have in your hand and your opponent has , then you win because you hand is 7-7-7-7-A and your opponent's is 7-7-7-7-K.

You would also win even if your opponent holding was in this example.

Are the suits ranked in Texas hold'em?

No, they are not. Some poker variants have different ranks for suits, but hold'em is not one of them.

Why did my 4-4-4-T-T lose to my opponent's 7-7-7-8-8?

As mentioned earlier, it is the three-of-a-kind element of a full house that dictates the winner.

If you're new to the game and want a reference of all of Texas hold'em hands, you can keep this page open or you could always download and print our poker hands ranking chart and keep it next to you while you're playing poker.

Useful Poker Tools

• Poker Odds Calculator: Add your cards to the calculator to discover your chances to win the hand.
• How to use PokerStars Tools to Your Advantage: As a beginner, this article can save your life! Let us show you how you can use all the tools available on the PokerStars client to become an outstanding poker player!

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