Poker Hand Rankings

Standard high poker ranks hands by the strongest five-card combination. Memorizing this order is one of the first steps in learning Texas Hold’em.

Quick answer

From highest to lowest: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card.

Hand rankings from strongest to weakest

1Royal flushA-K-Q-J-10 of one suit

2Straight flushFive consecutive cards of one suit

3Four of a kindFour cards of the same rank

4Full houseThree of a kind plus a pair

5FlushFive cards of one suit, not consecutive

6StraightFive consecutive ranks, not all one suit

7Three of a kindThree cards of the same rank

8Two pairTwo different pairs

9One pairTwo cards of the same rank

10High cardNo stronger made hand

How ties are broken

Ties are decided by the ranks that make up the five-card hand. For example, a pair of kings beats a pair of queens. If both players have the same pair, remaining kickers can decide the winner. Suits do not normally break ties in standard Hold’em.

Ace-low straights

An ace can play low in the five-high straight A-2-3-4-5. In that construction the ace is low; it does not “wrap” around, so Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight.

Reading the board correctly

Hold’em always evaluates the best five-card hand available from the seven cards you can see at showdown: two hole cards plus five community cards. You are not required to use either hole card. This is why the board can sometimes play for everyone and why apparent “extra” cards do not become sixth-card kickers.

Compare hands by category, then by rank

First determine the hand category—pair, straight, flush and so on. If both players share that category, compare the ranks that define it. With one pair, compare the pair first and then the kickers in descending order. With a flush, compare the highest flush card, then the next, until the tie breaks.

Use rankings as a foundation, not strategy

Knowing that a flush beats a straight tells you how a showdown is settled; it does not tell you whether a bet is profitable. Strategy also depends on how likely each hand is within an opponent's range, the price of calling, stack depth and future action. Rankings are the vocabulary layer beneath those decisions.

Last updated: August 26, 2026 · Publisher: Double Up Poker