What Beats What in Poker?

In poker, the rarer hand wins — so the order runs from the near-impossible royal flush down to a plain high card. Here’s exactly what beats what, top to bottom.

Why the order is what it is

The ranking isn’t arbitrary — it’s pure probability. The fewer ways a hand can be made from a 52-card deck, the higher it ranks. That’s the whole logic:

Hand	Ways to make it	Rarer = stronger
Royal flush	4	Rarest
Straight flush	36
Four of a kind	624
Full house	3,744
Flush	5,108
Straight	10,200
Three of a kind	54,912
Two pair	123,552
One pair	1,098,240
High card	1,302,540	Most common

This is why the two matchups that confuse beginners go the way they do: a flush beats a straight (5,108 vs 10,200 ways) and a full house beats a flush (3,744 vs 5,108). Rarer always wins. See the deep dives on does a flush beat a straight and what beats a full house.

Each hand in one line

• Royal flush — A-K-Q-J-10, all one suit. The unbeatable nuts.
• Straight flush — five suited cards in sequence.
• Four of a kind — all four cards of one rank (“quads”).
• Full house — three of a kind plus a pair.
• Flush — five cards of one suit, any order.
• Straight — five cards in sequence, mixed suits.
• Three of a kind — three cards of one rank (“trips” or a “set”).
• Two pair — two different pairs.
• One pair — two cards of the same rank.
• High card — no combination; highest card plays.

When two players have the same hand

Sharing a category doesn’t mean a tie — the kickers (leftover cards) decide it, compared highest to lowest.

Example: both players have one pair of kings on a K♦ K♠ 9♣ 4♦ 2♠ board.

• Player A holds A♥ 10♣ → plays K-K-A-10-9.
• Player B holds Q♥ J♣ → plays K-K-Q-J-9.

A’s ace kicker beats B’s queen, so A wins. Only if every one of the five cards matched would they split the pot.

The two matchups people always ask about

Almost every “what beats what” search comes down to two spots in the middle of the chart:

• Does a flush beat a straight? Yes — always. A flush (5,108 combos) is rarer than a straight (10,200), so it ranks higher. Full detail: does a flush beat a straight.
• Does a full house beat a flush? Yes. A full house (3,744 combos) is rarer than a flush, so it wins. Only quads or better beat a full house: what beats a full house.

Lock in those two and you’ve mastered the part of the ranking that trips up almost everyone.

Does the order ever change?

For standard “high” poker — Texas Hold’em, Omaha, seven-card stud — this order is universal. A few variants flip it: lowball games (razz, 2-7) reward the worst hand, and hi-lo split games award half the pot to the best qualifying low. But unless you’re specifically playing one of those, the chart above is the one that applies at every table.

For the full breakdown of each hand and more tie-break rules, see the complete poker hand rankings.