Poker hand rankings: which hand wins and how likely it is

In Texas Hold'em each player makes the best five-card hand they can from their two cards and the five community cards on the board. You can use both of yours, one or neither: if the best hand is entirely on the table, you "play the board" and the pot is split.

The 10 hands, from best to worst

1. 1
   Royal flushAce, king, queen, jack and ten of the same suit.
   A♥K♥Q♥J♥10♥
   0.0032%1 in 30,940
2. 2
   Straight flushFive cards in a row of the same suit.
   9♠8♠7♠6♠5♠
   0.0279%1 in 3,591
3. 3
   Four of a kindFour cards of the same rank.
   Q♣Q♦Q♥Q♠4♦
   0.17%1 in 595
4. 4
   Full houseThree of a kind plus a pair.
   10♣10♦10♠7♥7♣
   2.6%1 in 39
5. 5
   FlushFive cards of the same suit, not in a row.
   A♦J♦8♦5♦3♦
   3.03%1 in 33
6. 6
   StraightFive cards in a row of mixed suits. The ace plays high (A-K-Q-J-10) or low (5-4-3-2-A).
   8♣7♦6♥5♠4♣
   4.62%1 in 22
7. 7
   Three of a kindThree cards of the same rank.
   6♥6♦6♣K♠2♦
   4.83%1 in 21
8. 8
   Two pairTwo different pairs.
   J♠J♦4♣4♥A♠
   23.5%1 in 4
9. 9
   One pairTwo cards of the same rank.
   9♥9♣A♦J♠3♠
   43.8%1 in 2
10. 10
    High cardNone of the above: the highest card plays.
    A♣J♦8♠6♥2♣
    17.4%1 in 6

Probability of ending up with that hand as your best hand using all 7 cards (your two and the five on the board), out of 133,784,560 possible combinations.

The probabilities are those of ending up with that hand by the river, counting all seven cards. That's why one pair (44%) is more common than high card (17%): with seven cards it's hard not to pair anything.

How ties are broken

When two players have the same kind of hand, the cards that make it are compared first, and then the side cards:

• One pair, two pair, three of a kind and four of a kind: the higher-ranked hand wins (a pair of kings beats a pair of queens). If it's the same, the kicker decides: the highest of the cards that complete the five.
• Straight and straight flush: the one that ends higher wins. The ace-low straight (5-4-3-2-A) is the lowest of all.
• Flush: the cards are compared one by one, from highest to lowest.
• Full house: the three of a kind decides; if it's the same, the pair.

Suits never break ties: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs are all worth the same. If all five cards are identical in rank, the pot is split.

A kicker example

You have A♠ J♦ and your opponent A♣ 9♣ on a K♥ A♦ 7♠ 4♣ 2♥ board. You both have a pair of aces, but your five cards are A-A-K-J-7 and theirs are A-A-K-9-7: your jack beats their nine. That's called winning "on the kicker", and it's why AJ is worth much more than A9.

And with exactly five cards

If you only count five-card hands (as in classic five-card poker), the numbers change: a royal flush comes up once in 649,740 hands. These are the exact combinations in a 52-card deck:

In the Flopmortem replayer you can see, street by street, which hand Hero makes and what each opponent has at showdown.