Poker Hand Rankings

What beats what in Texas Hold'em and every other kind of poker, best hand first. Only five cards count, and suits never rank: a flush in hearts ties a flush in spades with the same cards.

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The ten hands

"How often" is the share of all 133,784,560 possible seven-card hands (your two cards and the five on the board) whose best five cards make that hand. We counted every one of them.

Poker hand rankings, best first, with how often each is the best hand in seven cards
#	Hand	Looks like	How often
1	Royal flush	A♠K♠Q♠J♠10♠Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten, all one suit.	0.0032%1 in 30,940
2	Straight flush	9♥8♥7♥6♥5♥Five in a row, all one suit.	0.028%1 in 3,591
3	Four of a kind	7♣7♦7♥7♠K♦All four cards of one rank.	0.17%1 in 595
4	Full house	J♠J♥J♦4♣4♠Three of one rank and a pair of another.	2.60%1 in 39
5	Flush	K♣10♣7♣4♣2♣Five of one suit, in any order.	3.03%1 in 33
6	Straight	10♦9♠8♥7♣6♦Five in a row, any suits. The Ace can be high or low.	4.62%1 in 22
7	Three of a kind	Q♠Q♥Q♦9♣2♠Three cards of one rank.	4.83%1 in 21
8	Two pair	K♠K♥7♦7♣2♠Two different pairs.	23.5%1 in 4.3
9	One pair	J♠J♥9♦6♣2♠Two cards of one rank.	43.8%1 in 2.3
10	High card	A♠J♥9♦6♣2♠None of the above: the highest card plays.	17.4%1 in 5.7

When two players have the same hand

Higher cards win. A pair of Kings beats a pair of Queens; a flush to the King beats a flush to the Queen.
Then the kickers. With the same pair, the highest side card decides, then the next, up to five cards in all. A-A-K-7-2 beats A-A-Q-J-10.
Full houses go by the three of a kind first: Jacks full of Fours beats Tens full of Aces.
Two pair goes by the higher pair, then the lower pair, then the fifth card.
Straights go by their top card. A-2-3-4-5 (the wheel) is the lowest straight; 10-J-Q-K-A the highest. Q-K-A-2-3 doesn't count.
A true tie splits the pot. In Hold'em that often happens when the five cards on the board are the best hand for everyone ("playing the board").

Questions

Does a flush beat a straight?

Yes. A flush beats a straight, and a full house beats a flush.

Does three of a kind beat two pair?

Yes. Three of a kind is the rarer hand, so it ranks higher.

Is the Ace high or low?

Both, but only one at a time: high in A-K-Q-J-10, low in A-2-3-4-5. It never wraps around the corner.

Do suits ever matter?

Not in Texas Hold'em. Spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs are all equal; only a flush needs them to match.

What is the best hand in poker?

A royal flush: A-K-Q-J-10 of one suit. In seven cards it comes up about once in 30,940 hands.

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