What Beats a Straight in Poker?

A straight is beaten by exactly five hands: a flush, a full house, four of a kind, a straight flush, and a royal flush. Everything ranked below a straight — three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card — loses to it. So a straight sits comfortably in the middle of the ladder: strong enough to win most pots, but far from unbeatable.

The five hands that beat a straight

Working up from a straight, here is everything that outranks it:

Rank	Hand	Why it beats a straight
Higher	Flush	Five cards of one suit — rarer than a straight
Higher	Full house	Three of a kind plus a pair
Higher	Four of a kind	Four cards of the same rank
Higher	Straight flush	A straight and a flush together
Highest	Royal flush	The ace-high straight flush

If your opponent shows any of these, your straight loses. If they show anything else, your straight wins.

What a straight beats

Just as important is knowing what a straight is ahead of. A straight outranks:

• Three of a kind (trips or a set)
• Two pair
• One pair
• High card

So if you hold a straight and your opponent turns over three of a kind, you win. This trips up new players because a set can feel powerful — but a completed straight is the stronger hand every time. See what is a straight in poker for how the hand is built.

Why a flush beats a straight

The most common question is whether a flush beats a straight — and it does. Poker ranks hands by how rare they are. In a 52-card deck there are 10,200 possible straights but only 5,108 flushes. Because a flush is roughly twice as hard to make, it ranks one step higher. The rule is absolute: even a low, unconnected flush beats even an ace-high straight.

Two straights against each other

If two players both make a straight, the higher top card wins. 10-J-Q-K-A (an ace-high straight, or “Broadway”) beats 9-10-J-Q-K. Suits are irrelevant. The one oddity is the wheel — A-2-3-4-5 — where the ace plays low, making five the top card, so the wheel is the lowest possible straight.

Worked example

The board is 7♦ 8♣ 9♥ 2♠ 2♦.

• Player A holds 10♠ 6♦, making a straight 6-7-8-9-10.
• Player B holds A♥ 9♣, making three of a kind — trip nines? No — a pair of nines only pairs the board; with the board’s pair of deuces, B actually has two pair, nines and deuces.

Player A’s straight beats Player B’s two pair easily. But if a third heart had landed and B held two hearts, B’s flush would have flipped the result. That’s the constant tension: a straight beats most hands, yet folds to any flush or better.

How likely is a straight to be beaten?

A straight is a mid-strength hand, so the odds of being outdrawn depend heavily on the board. In a straight five-card deal, the hands that beat a straight are all rarer than it: there are 10,200 straights, 5,108 flushes, 3,744 full houses, 624 four-of-a-kinds, and only 40 straight flushes. So in a vacuum a straight is stronger than most made hands. The danger is board-dependent — a flush or full house only threatens you when the community cards make them possible.

Practically, watch two textures. A three-suited board means a flush may already be out, and a flush beats you. A paired board means a full house or quads is possible, and both beat you. On a rainbow, unpaired board, a straight is often the effective nuts and can be played aggressively.

Quick reference

• Beaten by: flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush, royal flush.
• Beats: three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card.
• Ties: decided by the highest card in the run — never by suit.
• A flush always beats a straight, however low the flush.

Bottom line

A straight loses only to a flush or anything above it, and beats everything below it. Memorize those five hands that outrank it — flush, full house, quads, straight flush, royal flush — and you’ll always know where your straight stands. For the complete ladder, see what beats what in poker and the hand rankings hub, then take it to the Texas Hold’em tables.