Poker Hands Ranked: The Complete Guide to Every Hand, Odds and Kickers

Standard poker uses ten ranked hand categories. Rarer hands rank higher, which is why a Royal Flush — the hardest to make — sits at the top and High Card sits at the bottom. Here is the full chart from best to worst:

The sub-sections below define each hand in plain English. Save or screenshot this chart — it's the single most useful cheat sheet in poker.

The best possible hand in standard poker: A-K-Q-J-10, all of the same suit. It's really just the highest straight flush, but it gets its own name because it's the peak of the rankings. There is no such thing as a "higher" royal flush — all four (one per suit) are equal, so two royal flushes would split the pot. In practice you'll go a long time between sightings; this is the rarest made hand you can hold.

Five consecutive cards of the same suit, such as 9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 5♥. It ranks second only to the royal flush. Between two straight flushes, the one with the higher top card wins. The lowest possible straight flush is 5-4-3-2-A of one suit, sometimes called a "steel wheel."

Also called quads, this is four cards of the same rank — for example four queens, Q♣ Q♦ Q♥ Q♠, plus any fifth card. It ranks third. Higher quads beat lower quads (four aces beats four kings). If two players somehow hold the same quads, the fifth card (the kicker) decides it.

Known as a boat or full boat: three of a kind combined with a pair, such as J-J-J-7-7. It ranks fourth. The three-of-a-kind portion decides which full house wins first — jacks-full beats tens-full regardless of the pair. Only if the trips are equal does the pair break the tie.

Five cards of the same suit that are not in sequence, for example K♦ J♦ 8♦ 5♦ 2♦. It ranks fifth. When two players both have a flush, you compare the highest card, then the next, and so on down the five cards. Suit itself never breaks the tie — no suit outranks another.

Five consecutive cards of mixed suits, such as 8-7-6-5-4. It ranks sixth. The ace can play high (A-K-Q-J-10) or low (5-4-3-2-A, nicknamed "the wheel"), but it can't wrap around — Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight. The higher top card wins between two straights.

Three cards of the same rank plus two unrelated cards — for example 5-5-5-K-2. It ranks seventh. It's called trips when two of the three come from shared community cards and a set when you hold a pocket pair that matches one board card; the distinction matters for strategy but not for ranking.

Two distinct pairs plus one side card, such as A-A-9-9-4. It ranks eighth. Compare the higher pair first, then the lower pair, then the kicker. Aces-and-nines beats kings-and-queens because the top pair is what counts first.

Two cards of the same rank plus three unrelated cards, for example 10-10-K-7-3. It ranks ninth and is by far the most common "made" hand you'll finish with. When two players hold the same pair, the highest side card (kicker) decides the winner.

When you make no combination at all, your hand is judged on its highest card — for example ace-high, A-J-8-6-2. It's the lowest-ranking hand, tenth on the chart, and it's also the most likely outcome of five random cards. If two players both have high card only, you compare cards from the top down until one is higher.

Five of a Kind — five cards of one rank — only exists in games that use wild cards (such as jokers or a designated wild). When wild cards are in play, five of a kind ranks above a straight flush, making it the top hand in those games. It does not appear on the standard, no-wild ten-category chart, so in most casino and online poker (Hold'em, Omaha, Stud) you'll never see it.

Every poker hand is exactly five cards, even in games where you're dealt or can see more. In Texas Hold'em you make your best five-card hand from your two hole cards plus five community cards; in five-card draw your whole hand is your five cards. To read the chart, you work top-down by category first: the category (say, a flush) always beats every lower category (a straight, three of a kind, and so on) no matter how pretty the lower hand looks.

The key thing beginners miss: a hand's type is decided before its individual cards ever matter. The lowest flush beats the highest straight. The lowest full house beats the best possible flush. Only when two hands are in the same category do you compare card values to find a winner. Learn the order of the ten categories cold, and you've learned 90% of what you need to know what beats what.

Comparing two hands is a two-step process:

1. Compare categories. The higher category on the ten-hand chart wins outright. A flush beats a straight; a full house beats a flush; four of a kind beats a full house. Done — the individual cards don't come into it.
2. If the categories match, compare the cards. Two flushes? Highest card down. Two full houses? Trips first, then the pair. Two straights? Highest top card.

A few match-ups people ask about constantly:

• Does a flush beat a straight? Yes. A flush (five of one suit) is rarer than a straight, so it ranks higher.
• Does a full house beat a flush? Yes — a boat outranks a flush.
• Does three of a kind beat two pair? Yes, three of a kind ranks above two pair.

When in doubt, remember the guiding principle: rarer hands win, and the ten-category order already reflects that rarity.

A kicker is a card that isn't part of your main combination but is still used to break ties when two players hold the same category. Suits never break ties — no suit outranks another — so kickers do the heavy lifting.

Worked example 1 — one pair, kicker decides. You hold A-Q and your opponent holds A-J on a board of A-8-6-3-2. You both have a pair of aces. Your best five cards are A-A-Q-8-6; theirs are A-A-J-8-6. Your queen kicker beats their jack. You win.

Worked example 2 — a split pot. You hold K-Q, opponent holds K-J, board is A-A-A-10-9. You both play the board's three aces plus the A... actually both of you play A-A-A-10-9 (the board itself is the best five cards for both). Neither hole card improves on a 10 or 9, so the pot is split.

Worked example 3 — two pair with kicker. Board is 9-9-5-5-K. You hold A-2, opponent holds Q-J. You both have two pair, nines and fives, and the fifth card is where it's decided: your ace outkicks their king. You take it.

The lesson: a strong-looking pair with a weak kicker (say A-4) can quietly lose to the same pair with a better kicker. Kickers matter more than newcomers expect.

The rankings aren't arbitrary — categories are ordered by how often they occur in a five-card hand drawn from a 52-card deck, with rarer hands ranking higher. There are 2,598,960 possible five-card combinations, and each category makes up a known slice of them. The approximate probabilities below are standard, well-established poker mathematics for a random five-card hand:

What this means for you as a player: more than 92% of random five-card hands are one pair or high card. Premium hands are genuinely rare, which is exactly why they win big pots. In games like Texas Hold'em with community cards and seven cards to choose from, your chances of making the stronger hands improve versus a raw five-card deal — but the ranking order stays identical.

To estimate live odds mid-hand, players count outs (cards that complete their hand) and apply the shortcut known as the "rule of 4 and 2": multiply your outs by 4 with two cards to come, or by 2 with one card to come, for a rough percentage. It's an approximation, not a guarantee, and it never turns a losing session into a winning one over the long run — the point is smarter decisions, not beating variance.

• "A flush beats a full house." It doesn't. A full house outranks a flush. This is one of the most common beginner mix-ups.
• "My suit is higher, so I win the tie." No suit outranks another. Suits only matter for whether a hand qualifies as a flush or straight flush — never for breaking ties between equal ranks.
• "Three pairs beats two pair." You can only use five cards, so "three pair" is just two pair plus a kicker.
• "A-K-Q is a straight if I add any two cards." A straight needs five consecutive cards, and the ace can't wrap around (Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight).
• "Kickers don't matter." They routinely decide pots. The same pair with a weaker side card loses.
• "Five of a kind is a normal poker hand." It exists only in games with wild cards and never appears on the standard ten-category chart.
• "Learning the rankings means I'll win." Knowing what beats what is table stakes, not an edge. Poker involves skill and chance, and no knowledge guarantees a winning session.

Poker has its own vocabulary. Knowing the slang helps you follow commentary, dealers and other players:

• Boat / full boat — a full house
• Quads — four of a kind
• Trips / set — three of a kind (a set specifically means a pocket pair matching one board card)
• The nuts — the best possible hand given the board
• Pocket rockets — a pair of aces (A-A) in the hole
• Cowboys — a pair of kings (K-K)
• The wheel — the A-2-3-4-5 straight

These are conversational nicknames, not official ranking terms, but you'll hear them constantly in any card room or stream.

The ten-category chart applies to standard "high" poker — Texas Hold'em, Omaha high, seven-card stud. Some variants change the rules:

• Lowball (e.g. 2-7 or A-5) — the worst traditional hand wins. Rankings are inverted, and in some formats straights and flushes count against you, so the ideal hand is a low, unpaired, non-flushing five-card holding.
• Hi-Lo split (e.g. Omaha Hi-Lo, Stud Hi-Lo) — the pot is split between the best high hand and the best qualifying low hand.
• Short Deck (Six Plus Hold'em) — the deck removes twos through fives (36 cards). Because flushes become rarer than full houses in this deck, many rooms rank a flush above a full house, and a set above a straight. Always confirm the ranking rules for the specific game you're joining — the standard chart is the default, but variants adjust it.

And remember: Five of a Kind only appears in games using wild cards, where it ranks above a straight flush.

Rankings tell you what wins at showdown; starting-hand selection tells you which two cards are worth playing before the flop in Hold'em. As a rough beginner framework:

• Premium hands — pocket aces (pocket rockets), kings (cowboys), queens, and ace-king. Almost always worth raising.
• Strong hands — pocket jacks and tens, ace-queen, and suited connectors like king-queen suited.
• Speculative hands — small pocket pairs and suited connectors (e.g. 7♥ 6♥) that can make straights or flushes but need the right price and position.
• Trash — offsuit unconnected low cards; fold these most of the time.

Position matters as much as cards. Acting later in the betting order gives you more information, so you can profitably play a wider range from late position and a tighter range from early position. Even the best starting hand loses sometimes — hand selection reduces how often you're in trouble; it doesn't eliminate variance.

A few reliable ways to lock the order into memory:

• Learn it by rarity. The harder a hand is to make, the higher it ranks. If you remember the odds table, the order falls out naturally.
• Group them. Three "suited/sequence" hands at the top (royal flush, straight flush, flush lives lower), the "matching" hands in the middle (quads, full house, trips, pairs), and high card at the bottom.
• Use a cheat sheet. Keep the chart above open or printed for your first few sessions — there's no shame in it, and casinos won't object to you knowing the rules.
• Play free-play tables first. Repetition in low-stakes or play-money games cements the order far faster than reading alone.
• Say the ten out loud in order until you can recite High Card up to Royal Flush without pausing.

If you want to practice these hands for real, choosing a trustworthy site matters more than any single bonus. Look for these criteria:

• A valid license from a recognized regulator for your locale (for example the UK Gambling Commission, Malta Gaming Authority, or your relevant state/national regulator). Licensing details are usually in the site footer.
• Certified fairness. Reputable poker and casino games use audited random number generators (RNGs) or, for live-dealer tables, transparent physical dealing. Look for third-party testing seals from labs such as eCOGRA or iTech Labs.
• Live-dealer quality if you prefer real dealers — clear streams, professional croupiers and clear rules displayed at the table.
• Responsible-gambling tools built in: deposit limits, session reminders, self-exclusion and cooling-off options.
• Transparent terms — read the T&Cs before depositing, and check the game is available and legal in your region.

Eligibility and available games vary by location, so confirm the site accepts players from your area before signing up. 18+ only, and T&Cs always apply.

Knowing the rankings makes you a smarter player, not a guaranteed winner — poker involves real chance and the house or rake always takes its cut. Protect yourself with a few habits:

• Set a budget you can afford to lose before you sit down, and treat it as the cost of entertainment.
• Set deposit, loss and time limits using the tools your site provides, and stick to them.
• Never chase losses by increasing stakes to "win it back."
• Take breaks and don't play tired, upset or under the influence.

If gambling stops being fun or feels hard to control, support is available. In the UK you can contact GamCare (0808 8020 133) or BeGambleAware.org; in the US, call the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-GAMBLER. You must be 18 or over (or the legal age in your jurisdiction) to gamble. T&Cs apply.