Official Hand Rankings Chart
The 10 hold'em hand ranks from royal flush to high card, with combinatorics for each, the probability of being dealt each pre-river, and the worst-case beat for each.
Official Hand Rankings Chart
The 10 hold'em hand ranks from royal flush to high card, with combinatorics for each, the probability of being dealt each pre-river, and the worst-case beat for each.
The ten hand ranks
- Royal flush, A♥K♥Q♥J♥T♥. 4 combinations. 1 in 649,740.
- Straight flush, 5 sequential suited. 36 combinations. 1 in 72,193.
- Four of a kind, 624 combinations. 1 in 4,165.
- Full house, Three + pair. 3,744 combinations. 1 in 694.
- Flush, Any five suited. 5,108 combinations. 1 in 509.
- Straight, Five sequential. 10,200 combinations. 1 in 255.
- Three of a kind, 54,912 combinations. 1 in 47.
- Two pair, 123,552 combinations. 1 in 21.
- One pair, 1,098,240 combinations. 1 in 2.4.
- High card, Everything else.
In community-card games like Hold'em the probabilities are different because you see seven cards. The probability of being dealt any of these by the river (best 5 of 7):
| Hand | P(make by river) |
|---|---|
| Royal flush | 0.0032% |
| Straight flush | 0.0279% |
| Four of a kind | 0.168% |
| Full house | 2.60% |
| Flush | 3.03% |
| Straight | 4.62% |
| Three of a kind | 4.83% |
| Two pair | 23.5% |
| One pair | 43.8% |
| High card | 17.4% |
The hierarchy is fixed; knowing why it's fixed matters
Poker hand rankings are not arbitrary. They follow directly from the frequency with which each hand category appears in a random five-card deal. Rarer hands beat more common ones. Royal flush beats straight flush because it is a subset of straight flushes and therefore less frequent. Full house beats flush because full houses appear less often in a random deal. Memorizing the order is necessary; understanding why it's ordered that way is what prevents confusion when variant rules come up.
The ten categories with probabilities
In a 52-card deck, there are C(52,5) = 2,598,960 possible five-card hands. The frequency of each category (5-card deal):
- Royal Flush: 4 combinations. Probability:
0.000154%. The ace-high straight flush in one suit. - Straight Flush: 36 combinations (excluding royal). Probability:
0.00139%. Five consecutive ranks, same suit, non-ace-high top card. - Four of a Kind: 624 combinations. Probability:
0.024%. Four cards of the same rank plus any fifth card. - Full House: 3,744 combinations. Probability:
0.144%. Three of one rank plus a pair of another. - Flush: 5,108 combinations. Probability:
0.197%. Five cards of the same suit, non-consecutive ranks. - Straight: 10,200 combinations. Probability:
0.392%. Five consecutive ranks, mixed suits. - Three of a Kind: 54,912 combinations. Probability:
2.11%. Three cards of the same rank plus two unrelated cards. - Two Pair: 123,552 combinations. Probability:
4.75%. Two pairs of different ranks plus one unrelated card. - One Pair: 1,098,240 combinations. Probability:
42.3%. One pair of the same rank plus three unrelated cards. - High Card: 1,302,540 combinations. Probability:
50.1%. None of the above; best card plays.
Texas Hold'em probabilities
In Texas Hold'em, you have seven cards to make the best five-card hand. The probabilities shift significantly because you see more cards:
- Probability of making at least a pair: approximately 83%
- Probability of making two pair or better: approximately 49%
- Probability of making a flush: approximately 3%
- Probability of making a full house: approximately 2.6%
- Probability of making four of a kind: approximately 0.17%
Tiebreakers
Within each category, tiebreakers resolve in rank order from the highest card down. For two pair, the higher of the two pairs wins first; if identical, the second pair; if still tied, the kicker. For a full house, the triple rank wins first; if identical (impossible in a single-deck game but possible with multiple decks or community cards), the pair rank decides. Kicker rules are a consistent source of errors at low stakes: a player with A-K on a K-7-2 board beats one with K-9 despite both having top pair, because the ace kicker outkicks the nine.
Short Deck hold'em
Short Deck (6-Plus hold'em) removes all cards of rank 2-5. This changes the hand frequencies: flushes become less common than full houses because there are fewer suited cards available. Accordingly, in Short Deck the ranking reverses: flush beats full house. Straights are also adjusted because the ace can now function as a 5 (A-6-7-8-9 is a straight). Players familiar only with standard rankings who encounter Short Deck on major sites will misread hand strengths in precisely the spots that cost the most chips. GGPoker and WPT Global both spread Short Deck, making this a practical knowledge gap, not a theoretical one.
Omaha note
Pot-Limit Omaha uses the same ranking hierarchy but with a mandatory constraint: the player must use exactly two of their four hole cards and exactly three community cards to form their best five-card hand. The apparent strength of an Omaha holding is routinely overestimated by new players who read all four hole cards plus any board combination. The hand rankings themselves do not change; only the rule for which five cards are eligible changes.
For working out how specific hands match up in equity, use the hold'em odds calculator. For studying whether your hand is strong enough to push all-in, see the Sklansky-Chubukov rankings.