A straight in poker is five cards of consecutive rank in any mix of suits, such as 5♦ 6♣ 7♠ 8♥ 9♦. It is the sixth-strongest hand in Texas Hold’em: it beats three of a kind, two pair and anything lower, and loses to a flush, a full house, four of a kind and a straight flush. If all five cards share a suit, the hand stops being a straight and becomes a straight flush.
In short
- Five ranks in a row, suits don’t matter; the higher top card wins
What counts as a straight
There are exactly ten straights. The highest runs from ten to ace, T♠ J♦ Q♣ K♥ A♠, and is called Broadway. The lowest is A♣ 2♦ 3♥ 4♠ 5♣, the wheel. Every other straight sits between them, named after its top card: a seven-high straight is 3-4-5-6-7, a queen-high straight is 8-9-T-J-Q.
The ace is the only card that plays at both ends. It can sit above the king or below the two, but never in the middle, so a straight can’t wrap around the corner. Q♠ K♦ A♣ 2♥ 3♠ is not a straight; it is just ace-high.
Straights are rare when you only have five cards: 10,200 of the 2,598,960 possible five-card hands, about 0.39%. In Hold’em you choose the best five of seven cards, and a straight becomes the final hand in about 4.6% of deals that go to the river. Connected cards help: 8-7 ends up with a straight about 9% of the time, A-K under 1%. The full order of hands is in our poker hand rankings.
Broadway and the nuts
Broadway is the highest straight, but that doesn’t make it the best possible hand on every board. It is the nuts only when no flush, full house or straight flush can be made. Here is a common spot where it isn’t:
On three hearts, a player holding 9♥ 4♥ has a flush, and K♥ 9♥ has a straight flush. Your straight is still a strong hand, but how strong depends on the action: a check-raise on this flop from a tight player represents the flush much more often than it does on a rainbow board.
The wheel: the five-high straight
A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest straight in high-hand games, so it loses to 2-3-4-5-6 and every straight above that. Hands like K-A-2-3-4 don’t count, for the same reason as above: the ace can’t connect a king to a two.
In low games the same five cards are gold. In Razz straights are ignored and 5-4-3-2-A is the best possible low. In Omaha hi-lo and stud hi-lo the wheel can win both halves of the pot at once, as the high straight and the best low.
How ties between straights are broken
When two players both have a straight, the one with the higher top card wins. On a board of K♠ 9♦ 8♣ 7♥ 2♦, a player with T♣ 6♦ has a ten-high straight and a player with J♥ T♠ has a jack-high straight, so the jack-high wins. Suits never break a tie: if both players hold J-T, they have the same 7-8-9-T-J and split the pot.
The trickiest version is a straight on the board itself. Everyone still in the hand can use it, so it often ends in a split.
Pocket aces don’t help here, because the best five cards for both players are the five on the board. The only hand that wins outright is one holding a ten, which makes 6-7-8-9-T. Holding a four doesn’t help either: 4-5-6-7-8 is lower than the nine-high straight already on the board.
Straight draws: outs and odds
Many straights are made on the turn or river from a draw. How often you hit depends on how many cards complete the hand, your outs. The two basic draws differ only in where the missing card sits.
With an open-ended straight draw you hold four cards in a row, and a card at either end completes it. Four jacks and four sixes give you eight outs.
A gutshot needs one card in the middle, so only four cards help. It hits half as often as an open-ender. A double gutshot, for example 9-7 on a J-8-5 board, where either a ten or a six fills one of two gaps, has eight outs, the same as an open-ender.
| Draw | Outs | Flop to river | Turn to river |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open-ended | 8 | 31.5% | 17.4% |
| Double gutshot | 8 | 31.5% | 17.4% |
| Gutshot | 4 | 16.5% | 8.7% |
| Backdoor straight | runner-runner | about 4.4% | — |
At the table, the rule of 2 and 4 gets you close enough: multiply your outs by 4 on the flop, when two cards are to come, or by 2 on the turn. Eight outs × 4 = 32%, against an exact 31.5%. The backdoor line is for a hand like 8-7 on a 6-K-2 flop, where you need both the turn and the river; our guide to backdoor draws covers those, and counting outs goes through the full outs table.
Playing a straight draw on the flop
The odds only tell you how often the draw gets there. The other half is what you do with it before it does. Here is a typical spot from a $1/$2 game.
The hijack opens to $6, you call on the button with 9♣ 8♣, and the blinds fold. Pot: $15. The flop gives you an open-ender, any jack or six, and your opponent checks. You can check behind and take a free card, or bet. Betting a draw like this is called a semi-bluff, and it can win in two ways:
- Your opponent folds. You take the $15 now. A $10 bet into $15 breaks even as a pure bluff if it works 40% of the time.
- Your opponent calls. The pot grows to $35 and you still have eight outs: about 17% to hit on the turn and 31.5% by the river if you see both cards.
Because the call isn’t a disaster, the bet needs fewer folds than a pure bluff to make money. The equity of the draw covers part of the cost.
When he calls the flop bet and the jack comes, you have 7-8-9-T-J, and the bet on the flop has already built a bigger pot to win. A player who called with a ten will often call again.
This play has conditions. It works best heads-up, in position, against someone who can fold a weak pair or ace-high. Against two or three opponents, someone usually has a hand worth calling. Against a player who never folds, the bluff part of the bet is wasted; see playing against calling stations. If you have the gutshot rather than the open-ender, the same bet needs much more fold equity, because the call leaves you only four outs.
When your straight isn’t good enough
Making a straight doesn’t end the hand. Three situations turn it from a strong hand into a risky one.
- The low end of the straight. Also called the idiot end. Your 6-7-8-9-T loses to any player holding a jack with the right second card, and a jack on the turn puts 7-8-9-T-J in play for anyone with a seven. When the betting gets heavy from a player who called preflop, the higher straight is a real part of their range.
- Three cards of one suit on the board. As in the Broadway example, any two cards of that suit beat you. If a fourth card of the suit arrives, one card of that suit is enough to beat you.
- A paired board. Once the board pairs, full houses and four of a kind are possible. A straight on a J-J-9-8-7 board is still often good, but a large raise from a cautious player often means a full house.
None of these is a reason to fold every time. They are reasons to look at how the board changed and what your opponent’s bets have been telling you before you put in a lot of chips.
Straights in Omaha and short deck
In Omaha you must use exactly two of your four hole cards and three from the board. A board of 5♠ 6♦ 7♣ 8♥ Q♠ gives you nothing with a single nine in your hand; you need two cards, such as 9-T or 3-4.
Four hole cards also make much bigger draws possible. Holding J-T-7-6 on a 9-8-2 flop, any queen, jack, ten, seven, six or five completes a straight. That is 20 outs, called a wrap, and it hits by the river about 70% of the time. Smaller wraps with 13 or 17 outs are common.
In short deck, where the twos through fives are removed, the ace plays low below the six: A-6-7-8-9 is the lowest straight. Rule sets differ on whether three of a kind beats a straight there, so check the house rules before you play.
Straight in poker FAQ
Is A-2-3-4-5 a straight?
Yes. It is the lowest straight, called the wheel or five-high straight.
Can a straight wrap around from king to two?
No. The ace can be high or low, but not both at once, so Q-K-A-2-3 and K-A-2-3-4 are not straights.
Does a flush beat a straight?
Yes. A flush ranks one place above a straight in Hold’em and Omaha.
Who wins if two players have a straight?
The player whose straight has the higher top card. If both straights are the same, the pot is split; suits don’t matter.
Is a straight better than three of a kind?
Yes, in standard poker. Some short deck rule sets reverse the order, so check the rules there.
What is the highest straight in poker?
Ten to ace, called Broadway. In one suit, the same five cards are a royal flush.
What are the odds of making a straight in Texas Hold’em?
A straight is the final hand in about 4.6% of deals that reach the river. With an open-ended draw on the flop, you hit by the river 31.5% of the time.
