Poker Hand Rankings in Texas Hold’em, Strongest to Weakest

Poker hand rankings are the fixed order of the ten possible five-card hands, from the royal flush at the top down to a lone high card at the bottom. At showdown, the player with the higher-ranked hand wins — nothing about how you got there matters. Learn this order first, because every other decision in Texas Hold’em depends on knowing where your hand sits.

Two rules explain the whole list. The rarer a hand is to make, the stronger it ranks — that’s why four of a kind beats a flush. And suits carry no value of their own: a flush in spades is exactly as strong as a flush in hearts. In Hold’em you build your hand from the best five cards available out of seven — your two hole cards and the five community cards. Here is the full ranking, strongest first.

How poker hands are ranked

Every ranked hand is exactly five cards, and rarity sets the order. Combinations that are harder to make sit higher, so a straight (fairly common) loses to a flush (rarer), which in turn loses to a full house. If two players make the same type of hand, the higher version wins — and if even that ties, a side card called a kicker settles it.

Suits never break a tie in standard poker. There is no “spades beat hearts,” and holding all one colour means nothing on its own. When two hands are genuinely identical, the pot is split. For the exact odds behind why rarer hands rank higher, our guide to poker odds and probabilities lays out how often each one hits.

These rankings are all but universal — they hold in Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Seven-Card Stud and most other variants. The main exception is Short Deck (6+ Hold’em), played without the 2s through 5s: because flushes are harder to make with a 36-card deck, a flush there outranks a full house.

The poker hands, strongest to weakest

Royal flush

Five consecutive cards of the same suit, running ten to ace: 10-J-Q-K-A. It is the best hand in the game and cannot be beaten — only four of them exist in the entire deck, which makes it the rarest hand you’ll ever hold. We cover it in full in our guide to the royal flush.

Straight flush

Five cards in sequence, all the same suit, such as 6-7-8-9-10 of hearts. Only a royal flush outranks it, making it the second-strongest hand in Hold’em. More detail in our breakdown of the straight flush.

Four of a kind

All four cards of one rank, like four nines, plus any fifth card. Also called “quads,” it loses only to a straight flush or royal flush. If two players hold quads, the higher four wins; on a shared board, the kicker decides. See our guide to four of a kind.

Full house

Three of a kind plus a pair — for example, three aces and two tens. When two players both make one, the higher three of a kind wins; if those match, the higher pair decides. More in our guide to the full house.

Flush

Any five cards of the same suit, in any order. The highest card in the flush sets its strength, so an ace-high flush beats a king-high flush. Learn more in our guide to the flush.

Straight

Five consecutive cards of mixed suits, such as 4-5-6-7-8. The highest straight is 10-J-Q-K-A, known as Broadway; the ace can also play low in the 5-high “wheel” (A-2-3-4-5). More in our guides to the straight and the ace-high straight.

Three of a kind

Three cards of the same rank plus two unrelated cards. When the pair comes from your hole cards and the third card is on the board, it’s a “set” — well disguised and often very profitable. See our guide to the set.

Two pair

Two cards of one rank and two of another, like kings and sevens. The higher of the two pairs is compared first, then the lower pair, then the kicker. It carries real value, but it’s a hand to treat carefully once the board gets coordinated.

One pair

Two cards of the same rank alongside three others. It’s the weakest made hand that still wins pots regularly, though your kicker matters a great deal — top pair with a strong kicker is far more comfortable than a middle pair with a weak one.

High card

No pair and no combination — your hand is worth only its single highest card, with ties broken by the next card down. Ace-high is the best version, and eight-high or lower is close to unplayable at showdown.

How often do you actually make each hand?

Rarity is what sets the order, so it helps to see the numbers behind it. Below are your chances of finishing with each hand by the river in Texas Hold’em, using the best five of your seven cards. They track the ranking almost perfectly — as a rule, the stronger the hand, the less often it lands.

One figure looks out of place, and it’s worth understanding: high card is rarer than two pair. With seven cards to draw your best five from, you’ll pair up so often that ending with nothing but a high card actually happens less than making two pair. In Hold’em, one pair is comfortably the most common result you’ll take to showdown.

How ties are broken

Most showdowns are decided by the ranking alone, but plenty come down to the finer rules. When two players share the same hand type, you compare the ranked cards in order, then fall back on the kicker — the highest unused card in the five. A pair of aces with a king kicker beats a pair of aces with a queen kicker.

If your best five cards are identical to your opponent’s, the pot is split evenly. That includes the case where the five community cards make the best hand and nobody’s hole cards improve on it — everyone still in the pot chops.

Absolute strength versus what the board allows

The ranking never changes, but a hand’s real worth depends on the situation. Three aces is a monster on a dry board and a liability on one showing four to a flush or an obvious straight. This is the gap between a hand’s absolute rank and its relative value on the day.

In our view, the most expensive beginner mistake is trusting the ranking blindly. A strong hand like two pair or a set can still be beaten, so read the board before you commit chips — a coordinated flop where straights and flushes are possible calls for caution, not confidence.

Quick answers to the common mix-ups

A handful of questions come up again and again, and getting them straight saves real money:

Does a flush beat a straight? Yes. A flush is rarer than a straight, so it always ranks higher in standard Hold’em. A straight flush, which is both at once, beats them both.

Beyond that: three of a kind always beats two pair; there is no such thing as “three pair,” since only your best five cards count; and colour is irrelevant — “all reds” is not a hand. Suits are equal, full stop.

How you make a hand in Texas Hold’em

You are dealt two private hole cards, and five community cards are shared in the middle. Your hand is the best five-card combination you can assemble from those seven, using either, one, or none of your hole cards. Sometimes the board itself makes your best hand, and your hole cards add nothing.

A quick example makes it concrete. Say you hold J♠ 10♠ and the board comes Q♠ 9♠ 4♦ K♥ 2♣. Your best five cards are K-Q-J-10-9 — a king-high straight, using both hole cards. You’re also holding three spades, but a flush needs five, so it doesn’t count; only your single strongest five-card hand plays. Spot the straight and you’ve read the hand correctly.

Reading the board against your hole cards is a skill in its own right, and it starts on the flop — we cover that in our guide to the flop. For how a full hand plays from the deal to showdown, see our Texas Hold’em rules.

The bottom line

Memorise the ten hands strongest to weakest and you have the backbone of every poker decision you’ll make. Keep the two organising ideas in mind — rarer beats common, and suits are equal — then lean on kickers and board texture to settle the close spots. Print the table above if you need to, and the order will be second nature before long.