Poker Hand Rankings Guide: Chart, Probabilities & Tips

If you are going to sit down at the poker table and play for real money, there is one thing that’s not optional: you need to know the poker hands and rankings. Knowing how your hand stacks up against your opponents’ hand is critical to understanding the game.

In this easy but comprehensive poker hands rankings guide, we will show you the poker hands in order, probabilities of making those hands, and how to think in terms of relative hand strength.

You can also follow our poker hands cheat sheet for a simple visual aid.

All You Need to Know

Playing premium Broadway cards and high pairs keeps you ahead of dominated holdings preflop.
Medium-strength holdings play profitably from late positions but become liabilities from early seats.
Hands that win heads-up often lose value when facing multiple opponents with wider ranges.
Lowball variants flip the script entirely – in Deuce-to-Seven, straights and flushes hurt you, making 7-5-4-3-2 the premium holding.

The Official Hand Ranking Order

When learning how to play poker, knowing the poker hands hierarchy is the only way to tell if you have the winning or losing hand; you don’t want to rely on the dealer for that.

You can use this poker hand rankings guide to learn the order and strength of hands.

Royal Flush

The Royal Flush is the absolute best hand in poker. It is the highest five cards in running order, all of the same suit, A-K-Q-J-T. This is the rarest combination you can achieve in poker.

Straight Flush

A Straight Flush is five cards in consecutive order of the same suit. It is the second-highest-ranked of all poker hands.

Four of a Kind

Four of a kind contains four cards of the same rank and one unrelated card as the kicker. It’s the third strongest combination on the poker hand chart.

Full House

A Full House consists of three cards of a single rank and two cards of another rank. It beats a Flush but loses to Four of a Kind.

Flush

A flush is any five cards of the same suit that are not in sequence. The highest top card wins the hand if more than one player has a flush. Suits are all the same in terms of strength.

Straight

A straight is five consecutive offsuit cards. The highest straight available is A-K-Q-J-10. The lowest is 5-4-3-2-A (called a “wheel”).

Three of a Kind

Three cards of the same rank and two unrelated cards. Can be made using a pocket pair and one board card, known as a set, or one hole card on a paired board, known as trips. It’s mid-level on the poker hand cheat sheet.

Two Pair

Two cards with the same rank, and two cards of another rank, with an unrelated kicker. The higher two pair wins in the event of a tie.

One Pair

Two cards of the same rank and three independent cards. One pair is not high in the poker hand rankings charts, but it’s one of the most common combinations that you will have.

High Card

When a hand lacks any of the above combos, without even a pair, it is known as a High Card hand and is defined by the top card. This is the lowest-ranked card in the poker hand rankings.

How to Read a Poker Hand Rankings Chart

Poker hand rankings charts are very easy to read.

The hands are in rank order, from the very best poker hand at the top (Royal Flush) to the worst-ranked hand at the bottom (High Card), with an example combination for each. Hands beat everything below and lose to all hands above in the chart.

More complex poker hand ranking cheat sheets may also include probabilities and odds, showing you the likelihood of making each hand.

How to Memorize Poker Hand Rankings Quickly

If you are playing online, you can download our poker hand ranking cheat sheet image (below) and use it for reference until you have learned the rankings. However, be cautious, as this is frowned upon in a live casino setting and may also be perceived as an indication of inexperience.

Either way, we recommend that you memorize poker hand rankings as soon as possible. You don’t want to have to consciously think about it or refer to charts every time you’re in a hand.

There are only 10 categories of poker hand strengths to remember, and some of them are very intuitive.

For example, it’s easy enough to figure out that two pair beats one pair, and that one pair beats a high card. Likewise, almost everybody knows that a Royal Flush is the absolute best poker hand.

For most players, the confusion comes somewhere in the middle.

To quickly memorize poker hand rankings, focus on memorizing the following: A Straight Flush beats Four of a Kind, which beats a Full House, which beats a Flush, which beats a Straight.

Tie-Breaker Rules Explained

In Texas Hold’em and many other games, poker hand rankings use the highest card to determine hand strength when two players have the same rank of hand.

For example, a pair of aces beats a pair of kings, and a queen-high flush beats a jack-high flush.

When players have the same ranked hand with the same high card, the next highest card, known as the kicker, is used as a tiebreaker.

For example:

Player A has A♥ K♠.
Player B has A♦ Q♣.
The board is A♣ 5♠ T♣ 7♦ 2♦.
Both players have a pair of aces, but Player A wins the pot because their king kicker is higher than Player B’s queen kicker.

Suits are completely irrelevant in this situation. Only the value of cards matters when deciding tiebreakers.

Poker Hand Probability & Odds

Understanding poker hand odds can give you a real edge at the table, especially if your opponents have no idea about the math behind different poker hands.

Some hands, like the Royal Flush, are so rare you could play for years and never see one. Real poker is not like the movies, where people hit royal flushes on the regular. This hand is valuable because it’s incredibly rare.

Some of the lowest hand rankings, like one pair or a high card, will show up all the time and may even be good enough to win pots at showdown.

Have a look at the poker hands and rankings probabilities for making each hand by the river when dealt a random starting hand in Hold’em:

Royal Flush: ~0.0032%
Straight Flush: ~0.027%
Four of a Kind: ~0.17%
Full House: ~2.6%
Flush: ~3.0%
Straight: ~4.6%
Three of a Kind: ~4.8%
Two Pair: ~23.5%
One Pair: ~43.8%
High Card: ~17.4%

As you can see, the odds of making a Straight Flush are extraordinarily low. When you do, though, it will almost always be the best hand at the table. The stronger the hand, the less likely it is that you’ll make it.

Now let’s get more realistic.

When trying your hand at live poker or online poker sites, one pair hands are very common. With a random hand, there’s around a 40% chance you’ll be dealt a pair by the river and more than an 80% chance that you’ll have something better than a high card.

Often, a pot is won or lost on one pair of hands. Remember, though, with only a high card or one pair, all other hands beat you, and the chance someone has a better hand is quite high, especially if there are multiple opponents in the pot.

Real poker success is not about being a hero and hanging on for dear life, trying to catch someone’s bluff, and refusing to fold. It is about finesse. You need to be able to expertly navigate when your opponent has you just the slightest bit outranked.

Of course, your chances of hitting some of the best poker hands increase with a favourable board texture. For example, suppose the board shows 8♥9♥10♥ and you have the J♥. Now, your chance of hitting a straight flush goes up from 0.027% to 8.4%.

Absolute vs Relative Hand Strength in Poker

Now that you know the poker hand rankings for Texas Hold’em and have an idea of how often each hand shows up, it’s really important to know the difference between absolute hand strength and relative hand strength.

Essentially, it doesn’t matter so much whether your hand tops the poker hand rankings. What matters more is how your hand compares to your opponent’s hand or range.

Absolute hand strength is the pure ranking of a poker hand.

A Flush always beats a Straight, and a Full House always beats a Flush – it’s just facts, plain and simple. However, poker is a nuanced game, and what actually matters is relative hand strength.

Relative hand strength is the term poker players use to describe how the value of their hand changes depending on their opponent’s range, the board, and the action.

It doesn’t matter if a Flush is high up in the poker hand rankings. Is it a good hand against the guy who is sitting next to you, or do they have you beat? That’s the question.

For example, in Texas Hold’em, holding A♣K♣ on a flop of K♥ 7♦ 2♠ is a very strong hand. Why? Not a lot beats you. You have the highest pair with the highest kicker, and it’s impossible for someone else to have a Flush, Straight, or Full House.

But what about A♣K♣ on K♥Q♥-J♥? Not so fast. Now the same hand is relatively much worse. There are flushes, straights, and two pair combinations that have you crushed that your opponent may or may not realistically have in their range.

You can see here how a hand’s relative strength changes wildly depending on the situation. In the first spot, you’d usually be looking to stack off against weaker top pair hands. In the second, you’ll need to control the pot and be willing to fold if the action heats up.

As another example, pocket aces play really well heads up, but if you are against five opponents and the board is draw-heavy, even aces will begin to look vulnerable. Along with knowing the poker hand ranks, relative hand strength will help you to figure out whether to play for value, slow down, or fold.

Best Starting Hands in Texas Hold’em

The absolute best poker starting hand in Texas Hold’em is pocket aces, which is ahead of every other hand preflop. The second best is pocket kings. Other premium pairs, such as queens and jacks, are also very highly ranked starting hands.

Outside of the big pairs, suited Broadway hands are among the best starting hands, particularly AK and AQ suited, which often dominate other strong hands.

Here’s a poker starting hand chart of the top ten hole card combinations you can be dealt:

6 Strategy Tips Based on Poker Hand Rankings

Here are some strategy tips for beginners based on understanding poker hand rankings:

Play for value and build pots with the best poker hands.
Don’t overplay weak or medium-strength hands, such as a one-pair hand.
Learn about drawing hands and how they can improve to make hands that are highly ranked.
Understand the value of kickers and avoid playing hands that are easily dominated.
Always think about relative hand strength and consider your opponent’s range, the board texture, and action so far when making decisions.
Play only a very tight selection of starting hands from early position and play more hands from late position.

Lowball Poker Hand Rankings

Not every form of poker rewards the highest poker hand rankings – there is lowball poker to consider, too. Here, the pot, or in split pot games like Omaha Hi-Lo, half the pot, is awarded to the player with the best qualifying “low” hand, usually eight high or lower.

Let’s look at the poker hand rankings in the two most common lowball games:

Ace-to-Five (California) Low

The best poker hand is A-2-3-4-5, known as “the wheel.” The Ace is acting as the lowest card in the deck here.
To compare two hands, look at the highest card in each. The hand with the lower card wins.
Pairs count against you, but flushes and straights do not.
Example: 5-4-3-2-A beats 6-4-3-2-A because 5 is lower than 6.

Deuce-to-Seven (Standard) Low

The best poker hand is A-2-3-4-5, known as “the wheel.” The Ace is acting as the lowest card in the deck here.
To compare two hands, look at the highest card in each. The hand with the lower card wins.
Pairs count against you, but flushes and straights do not.
Example: 5-4-3-2-A beats 6-4-3-2-A because 5 is lower than 6.

Deuce-to-Seven (Standard) Low

The best poker hand is 7-5-4-3-2 offsuit.
Straights and flushes count against you, as do pairs. If your cards make any of these hands, you can’t win the low pot.
Aces are always high, so A-2-3-4-5 is actually a straight here and not a qualifying low hand.
Example: 7-5-4-3-2 (offsuit) beats 8-4-3-2-A because 7 is lower than 8, and the ace counts high.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

When memorizing and mastering poker hands and rankings, players tend to make common mistakes.

Here are several pitfalls to avoid so you don’t give away your chips for free:

❌ Mixing up Straights and Flushes: Remember, a Flush (five cards of the same suit) always beats a Straight (five cards in a row of mixed suits).

❌ Forgetting “three before two” in a Full House: In the rankings, the three-of-a-kind part of a Full House decides the winner, not the pair. This is really important and a common pitfall to avoid.

❌ Overvaluing High Card or One Pair in big pots: Ace-high or a middle pair type hand might win in a small heads-up pot, but in multiway action when the bets are flying and people are calling or raising, they’re pretty much always losers.

❌ Ignoring kicker strength: When two players share the same pair, the higher kicker takes the pot. This is why you don’t want to play hands like K6 offsuit. When it comes to K-9-5, your opponent, who’s betting, can easily have a better King like AK/KQ/KJ and take you to Valuetown.

Master Poker Hand Rankings

If you want to win more pots, start by studying poker hand charts and mastering poker hand rankings. A solid grasp of the different types of poker hands is the foundation and basic requirement of play.

Absolute hand strength, based on the poker hands ranked in order, along with relative hand strength, which is a comparison to other players’ cards, is the bedrock of every smart move you make at the table.

Use the resources in this poker hand rankings guide to train yourself to be able to recall poker hand strengths instantly, know the odds of making various hands, and understand lowball variations so you can adapt to any format.

Below, you can find a poker hands cheat sheet that shows all poker hands from best to worst, along with examples.

Bonus: Free Poker Hands Cheat Sheet (Download & Print)

Download our poker hands cheat sheet as a high-resolution image you can save to your device or print for quick reference at the table. This visual guide presents all hand rankings in order, accompanied by clear examples, making it perfect for beginners learning the game.