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What Are the Poker Hand Rankings? Which Hand Beats Which

Master poker hand rankings from Royal Flush to High Card. Learn how kickers and tiebreakers work so you always know who wins.

Poker hand ranking stops being simple the moment two players show the same pair of eights, and neither one knows who actually takes the pot. Beginners get stuck at exactly this point, and it usually ends with someone calling over the dealer or walking away sure they lost a hand they should have won.

You know a pair beats a high card, and that doesn't help you right now. Your eights are face up next to theirs, the dealer is waiting, and you're trying to look calm while you work out who gets the chips. The answer is in the kicker, your highest side card outside the pair, plus a couple of tiebreak rules that only make sense once you understand the poker hand ranking in your head. So before you take a seat at SG88WIN, start with the royal flush and work down.

Poker Hand Rankings

Every hand in this chart beats the ones below it, so the order runs from the Royal Flush down to High Card.

A royal flush is the best straight flush you can make, so nothing outranks it at a Singapore live casinopoker table.

How Do You Compare Two Poker Hands?

Once the cards are shown, compare the type of hand first. Hold a Full House against a Flush and the pot is yours, whatever the card values are.

If you both end up with a pair of aces, it gets closer:

You: A-A-9-7-3

Opponent: A-A-9-6-3

Your aces match theirs, and so do the 9s, so you move on to the next card. You have a 7, and they have a 6, which means your hand wins. A leftover card that breaks a tie like this is called a kicker.

This all happens at the showdown, the last step of a round after the final bet. The steps before it, from the deal to the betting rounds, are in our guide onhow to play poker step by step.

Which Poker Hand Wins When Both Players Have the Same Type?

• Two pair: Check the higher pair first. A-A-4-4-8 beats K-K-Q-Q-A, since the aces outrank the kings and nothing else gets looked at. When both hands share the same top pair, the lower pairs decide it.
• Full house: The three of a kind decides it, and the pair never matters. Q-Q-Q-2-2 beats J-J-J-A-A, since three queens rank above three jacks.
• Four of a kind: Quads rank by the card that forms them, so four Jacks take the pot from four 9s.
• Straight: The top card of each sequence decides it. J-10-9-8-7 outranks 8-7-6-5-4, and the same check settles two Straight Flushes.

Does a Flush Beat a Straight?

When a Flush and a Straight reach showdown, the Flush takes the pot. Sequence is what a Straight needs, and suit is what a Flush needs: 9-8-7-6-5 in mixed suits qualifies as the first, and any five hearts qualify as the second. Flushes are harder to make, so they sit higher on the chart.

Suits never rank against each other in poker, so a heart Flush has no edge over a spade Flush. Two players who end up with the same five-card hand split the pot.

What Happens When Neither Player Has a Pair?

When neither hand has a pair, you read the cards from the top down.

You: A-J-8-5-2

Opponent: A-10-8-5-2

Both hands start with an Ace, so go to the second card. Your Jack is higher than their 10, and you win the pot. Jack against 10 is a win for you; therefore, the pot is yours. Your Jack is higher than their 10, and you win the pot. If the Jacks matched as well, the comparison would continue down the hand, and a hand where all five cards match is a split pot.

What Should You Remember About Poker Hand Rankings?

A higher-ranking hand beats a lower-ranking one, so a Flush wins against a Straight even when the Straight holds the bigger cards. New players second-guess this one a lot.

When two players hold the same type of hand, each type has its own comparison method. Full Houses are compared by the three-of-a-kind rank first. Whoever has the higher pair between the two hands takes the win, and the lower pairs only matter if the top pairs match.

In Texas Hold ‘em, you see up to seven cards, but the final hand uses only five. If the board already shows a Straight, you can play it without using either hole card. A few hands of Game of Poker on SG88WIN will show you how often that situation comes up at a real table.

FAQs:

Why Does a Flush Rank Above a Straight?

A Flush is rarer than a Straight in seven-card Texas Hold ‘em. In Texas Hold ‘em, 3.03% of seven-card hands contain a Flush, and 4.62% contain a Straight.

Is A-2-3-4-5 a Real Straight?

Yes. It is called the wheel, and the Ace counts as the low card. It is the lowest Straight possible, so 2-3-4-5-6 beats it.

What Could Beat My Flush at Showdown?

Rank your Flush by its biggest card. An Ace-high Flush beats a King-high Flush. If the board is paired, another player may also hold a Full House, which beats any Flush.

What Are My Odds of Hitting a Flush After the Flop?

With four suited cards on the flop, nine matching cards remain among the 47 you can't see. The turn gives you about a 19% shot at one. If you see both the turn and the river, the total is about 35%.