Poker hand rankings
The ten categories in order, and how often each actually turns up in the seven cards you see in Texas Hold’em — counted, not estimated.
The ten hands, best first
Every hand in Texas Hold’em is the best five cards you can make out of your two and the five on the board. The list below is the order those five-card hands beat each other, strongest first, with the official name of each one.
Hand rankings and how often they happen
| Hand | Example | What it is | How often in 7 cards | Roughly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Royal flush | Aof spadesKof spadesQof spadesJof spades10of spades | Ten to ace, all of one suit. | 0.0032% | 1 in 30,900 |
| 2. Straight flush | 9of hearts8of hearts7of hearts6of hearts5of hearts | Five cards in a row, all of one suit. | 0.0279% | 1 in 3,600 |
| 3. Four of a kind | 7of spades7of hearts7of diamonds7of clubsKof spades | All four cards of one rank. | 0.17% | 1 in 595 |
| 4. Full house | Jof spadesJof heartsJof diamonds4of spades4of hearts | Three of one rank and two of another. | 2.6% | 1 in 39 |
| 5. Flush | Aof diamondsJof diamonds8of diamonds5of diamonds2of diamonds | Five cards of one suit, in any order. | 3.0% | 1 in 33 |
| 6. Straight | 10of clubs9of diamonds8of spades7of hearts6of clubs | Five cards in a row, suits mixed. | 4.6% | 1 in 22 |
| 7. Three of a kind | Qof spadesQof heartsQof diamonds9of clubs3of spades | Three cards of the same rank. | 4.8% | 1 in 21 |
| 8. Two pair | Kof spadesKof hearts6of diamonds6of clubs2of spades | Two cards of one rank and two of another. | 23.5% | 1 in 4.3 |
| 9. One pair | 5of spades5of heartsAof diamondsJof clubs7of spades | Two cards of the same rank. | 43.8% | 1 in 2.3 |
| 10. High card | Aof spadesJof diamonds9of hearts6of clubs3of spades | None of the above; the highest card decides. | 17.4% | 1 in 5.7 |
Why these numbers surprise people
Most rankings tables count five-card hands dealt straight from the deck. Hold’em does not work that way: you pick the best five out of seven, so everything happens far more often. Three of a kind shows up in 2.1% of five-card hands but 4.8% of seven-card hands. A flush goes from 0.2% to 3.0%, a full house from 0.1% to 2.6%.
That is also why one pair is not a strong hand in Hold’em even though it looks like one on the list. 43.8% of seven-card hands are exactly one pair and another 23.5% are two pair, so at a full table somebody usually has better.
When two players have the same hand
The category is compared first, then the ranks inside it. Two players with a pair of kings are separated by their next-highest card, the kicker, then the one after that. If all five cards are equal in rank the pot is split, and that happens more often than people expect: when the best five cards are the five on the board, everybody still in the hand shares the pot.