Poker Winning Hands

Poker hands are compared using the standard ranking system below and the player with the highest ranking hand wins.

The strength of a hand is based on having multiple cards of the same rank, all the cards being from the same suit, or by having all the cards with consecutive values.

In order of ranking, you have:

Royal Flush
Straight Flush
Four Of A Kind
Full House
Flush
Straight
Three Of A Kind
Two Pair
One Pair
High Card

A Royal Flush is the best hand you can have in poker while a single High Card is the worst.

Odds and card combinations below are for five card poker. Odds are approximate.

Royal Flush
An Ace-high straight flush is known as a Royal Flush and is the highest ranking standard poker hand. A Royal Flush comprises of the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of the same suit.

Possible card combinations: four
Odds of having a Royal Flush: 650,000-1

Straight Flush
A straight flush is a poker hand which contains five cards in sequence all of the same suit. Two straight flushes are compared by their highest card, but two identical straight flushes tie irrespective of suit. Aces can be low in a Straight Flush to allow for Five, Four, Three, Two, Ace flushes.

Possible card combinations (excluding Royal Flushes): 36
Odds of having a Straight Flush: 72,000-1

Four Of A Kind
Four Of A Kind is a poker hand containing four cards of one rank (four eights or four threes for example) and an unmatched card of another rank. Four Of A Kind is also known as Quads and the odd card sometimes called a kicker card. Higher ranking Four Of A Kind defeat lower ranking ones. If two or more players have the same ranking Four Of A Kind, then the kicker card is used to decide the winner. If kicker cards are of the same rank, the pot is shared.

Possible card combinations: 624
Odds of having Four Of A Kind: 4,150-1

Full House
A Full House is a hand which contains three matching cards of one rank, and two matching cards of another rank. Between two Full Houses, the one with the higher ranking set of three wins. If two hands have the same set of three, the hand with the higher pair wins. If the pairs are also identical value the pot is shared.

Possible card combinations: 3,744
Odds of having a Full House: 690-1

Flush
A Flush is a poker hand which contains five cards of the same suit, but not in rank sequence. If two players have Flushes, the highest ranking card of each is compared to determine the winner. If both hands have the same highest card, then the second-highest ranking card is compared, and so on until a difference is found. If the two flushes contain the same five ranks of cards, the pot is shared.

Possible card combinations: 5,108
Odds of having a Flush: 510-1

Straight
A Straight is a poker hand that has five cards in sequence drawn from different suits. Two straights are ranked by comparing the highest card of each. Two straights with the same high card are of equal value.

Possible card combinations: 10,200
Odds of having a Straight: 250-1

Three Of A Kind
Three Of A Kind is a poker hand which contains three cards of the same rank, plus two unmatched cards. It is sometimes called Trips. If two hands contain threes of a kind of the same value, the kickers are compared to decide the winner.

Possible card combinations: 54,912
Odds of having a Straight: 46-1

Two Pair
Two Pair is a poker hand which contains two cards of the same rank plus another two cards of another rank that match each other but not the first pair, and one unmatched card. If two players have Two Pair, the higher ranking pair of each is first compared, with the higher pair winning. If both hands have the same top pair, then the second pair of each is compared. If they too are the same, the kicker card decides the winner.

Possible card combinations: 123,552
Odds of having Two Pair: 20-1

One Pair
One Pair is a poker hand which contains two cards of the same rank, plus three unmatched cards. Higher ranking pairs defeat lower ranking pairs and if two hands have the same pair, the unmatched kicker cards are compared in descending order to decide the winner.

Possible card combinations: 1,098,240
Odds of having One Card: 1.4-1

High Card
A High Card hand is a poker hand in which no two cards have the same rank, the five cards are not in sequence, and the five cards are not all the same suit. Two High Card hands are ranked by comparing the highest ranking card. If those cards are equal, then the next highest ranking card from each hand is compared, and so on until a difference is found.

Possible card combinations: 1,302,540
Odds of having a Straight: evens (1-1)