Poker Hands Strength

Understanding the strength and rankings of poker hands is crucial to success in the game. Knowing which hands beat others is essential for making strategic decisions. A poker hand consists of the best five cards from your available options. For instance, in a Texas Hold’em game, you have seven cards to choose from at the river stage: five community cards and your two hole cards. BLITZPOKER offers an exceptional online poker experience with intuitive gameplay and a user-friendly interface, making it a great platform for every player regardless of their level of experience.

Your best hand is made up of any combination of these five cards. Even if your hole cards aren’t strong, you can still form a winning hand using just the community cards, often referred to as “playing the board.” Below, you’ll find the strength of poker hands, listed from strongest to weakest. In case of a tie, the hand with the highest-ranking cards wins. 

The 10 Poker Hands Listed According To Their Strength

To succeed in poker, you need to know how different hands rank in terms of strength. From the high-ranking royal flush to the lowly high card, understanding these hand rankings is essential for making the best decisions in the game. Here’s a list of the 10 poker hands in order of their strength, from the most powerful combinations to the least.

Poker Hands Strength

Understanding which poker hand has the upper hand and which one beats another according to their poker strength is essential for improving your gameplay in poker. Knowing hand rankings is key to success in poker. Let’s break down each poker hand from strongest to weakest.

Royal Flush

Royal flush is the best poker hand, including 10-J-Q-K-A of any of the four same suits. The chance of getting a royal flush is tiny, at 0.000154%, making it unbeatable in any situation.

Example: (A♥️ K♥️ Q♥️ J♥️ 10♥️)

What does royal flush beat?

Royal flush is unbeatable. It beats all other poker hands, such as straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card. It has a poker strength of 100%.

Straight Flush

Straight flush is the second-strongest poker hand, with the highest being 9-10-J-Q-K and the lowest being A-2-3-4-5. The probability of landing a straight flush is 0.00139%.

Example: (9♦️ 8♦️ 7♦️ 6♦️ 5♦️)

What does a straight flush beat?

Straight flush beats four-of-a-kind, full house, flush, straight, three-of-a-kind, two pair, one pair, and high card. Only a royal flush can beat a straight flush.

Four of a Kind

A four-of-a-kind hand has the same card in all four suits. When players tie, the highest-ranking four-of-a-kind wins. The fifth card is called the kicker. If the community cards show four of a kind, the player with the highest fifth card, or kicker, wins.

Example: (A♣ A♦ A♥ A♠ Q♥)

What does four of a kind beat?

Four of a kind beats full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card. Royal flush and straight flush beat four of a kind.

Full House

A full house has comprise of 3 cards of 1 rank and 2 cards of another. For example, three Kings and two Queens make a full house. It is considered to be one of the hands having the most poker strength.

Example: (K♠ K♥ K♣ Q♦️ Q♦)

What does full house beat?

A Full house poker hand has the ability to beat flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card. But it loses to royal flush, four of a kind, and straight flush.

Flush

Flush consists of five cards of the same suit in any order. If there is a tie, the player with the highest-ranked card wins. If needed, the next highest cards can be used to break the tie. In a situation where all five cards are exactly the same, the pot is split.

Example: (3♥️ 4♥️ 6♥️ Q♥️ A♥️)

What does a flush beat?

Flush beats straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card. But royal flush, four of a kind, straight flush, and full house beat a flush.

Straight

A straight is five cards in sequence from any of the four suits. An Ace can be used as both high or low card.

Example: (6♦ 7♣ 8♦ 9♠ 10♣)

What does straight beat?

Straight beats three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card. However, royal flush, four of a kind, straight flush, full house, and flush beat a straight.

Three of a Kind

Three of a kind has three cards of the same rank in different suits and two unrelated side cards. If there is a tie, the highest-ranking three of a kind wins. If players tie in three of a kind, the highest side card and, if needed, the second-highest side card wins.

Example: (10♣ 10♦ 10♠ 9♣ Q♦)

What does three of a kind beat?

Three of a kind beats two pair, one pair, and high card. But royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, and straight beat three of a kind.

Two Pair

Two pair is a hand with two pairs of cards. Each pair consists of two cards that have the same rank. For instance, two tens and two Queens make two pair. In a tie, the highest pair wins.

Example: (10♦ 10♠ Q♦ Q♥ 6♣)

What do two pair beat?

Two pair beats one pair and high card. But royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, and three of a kind beat two pair.

A Pair

A pair in poker is two cards of the same rank in different suits. In a tie, the highest pair wins. If players have the same highest pair, the highest second pair wins. If both players have identical pairs, the highest second card wins.

Example: (A♦ A♠ 6♠ 9♦ K♣)

What does one pair beat?

One pair can beat high card and other low-ranking pairs. Most hands like the Royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, and two pair beat one pair.

High Card

High card is the lowest-ranked poker hand. High card wins if you don’t make any of the other hands. It relies on the highest-ranked card in your hand.

Example: (A♣ 10♥ 9♦ Q♦ K♠)

What does a high card beat?

A high card hand only beats other high cards with a lower ranking. Royal flush to one pair beats high card.

Poker Hand Probability

The poker hand probability of a specific hand is found by taking the ways you can draw that hand (frequency) and dividing it by the total possible 5-card hands, which is 2,598,960. For instance, we have 4 ways in which we can draw a royal flush (one for each suit), so the poker hand probability is 4 out of 2,598,960, or 1 in 649,740. That means you’d expect to draw this hand once in every 649,740 attempts, or about 0.000154% of the time.

Cumulative poker hand probability is the chance of drawing a hand that’s as good as or better than the one you want. For instance, the possibility of drawing three of a kind is around 2.11%, while the possibility of drawing a hand at least as good as three of a kind is about 2.87%. The cumulative probability is calculated by adding the opportunity of one hand to the chances of all the better hands.