Jennifer | January 10, 2023 | Updated on: March 11th, 2025
If you have dreams of becoming a good poker player then you must know and understand the different poker hands found in the game. The overall aim of the game is to beat the dealer and/or other players by building the best possible hand. To do this, you must know what the different poker hands look like and where they rank in terms of value.
If you are new to the game then this guide is perfect for you. Seasoned players are able to use this guide as a refresher course or simply for reference in the game. We explain the different poker hands and list them from strongest to weakest. We also discuss the odds of achieving each and how to go about playing these hands in online poker.
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Poker Hand Rankings
Playing poker at an online casino is all about building the best hand. When you are holding cards in your hands, you need to know the value of the hand relative to all the other poker hands. There are best and worst poker hands, and then there are hands ranked in between. You must be able to tell each apart. Fortunately, we are here to help you with that. Below we detail each poker hand ordered from highest to lowest.
1. Royal Flush
The number one spot goes to a royal flush. This is the best possible hand in the game and it pays the most too. A royal flush is in essence a straight flush and a flush combined into one. It consists of a hand that includes the top five cards: Ace, K, Q, J, and a number 10 all in the same suit. This is a very rare occurrence. Statistics show that the odds of a royal flush coming up is 1 in every 649,739 hands.
2. Straight Flush
A straight flush is the second highest-ranked poker hand and is a good of a hand as any. A straight flush is made up of five cards that run in consecutive order and belong to the same suit. This hand doesn’t necessarily consist of high cards but should follow the same order and suit as is the case with a royal flush. E.g K-Q-J-10-9 in diamonds can be a straight flush, and so is 2-3-4-5-6 in hearts.
3. Four of a Kind
And then you get what we call a four of a kind. This is the third highest-ranked poker hand and consists of four cards of the same kind. See the example below. The likelihood of getting this hand is better than the likelihood of getting a royal flush. The odds are 1 in every 4,164 hands.
4. Full House
A full house is a five-card hand that’s split between 3 cards of one kind, and two cards of another kind. I.E if you have 3 Queens and 2 Kings, it qualifies as a full house. If you get three number 5s and two number 7s that also qualifies as a full house. The odds here are 1 in 694 and are likely to come up once in every 75 hands if you’re lucky.
5. Flush Poker Hands
We mention a flush above when we explained what a royal flush consists of. A flush is simply five different cards that share the same suit. A flush is not the same poker hand as a straight flush or a royal flush. A typical five-card poker hand might look something like J, Q, 6, 5, and 8 in clubs. The odds here are 1in 508.
6. Straight Poker Hands
A straight poker hand is any five cards that run in consecutive order, but don’t belong to the same suit. There are tons of possible card combinations for a hand like this. E.g. Ace, 2,3,4 and 5. It’s worth mentioning that Aces are versatile and can be considered high or low card depending on the hand.
7. Three of a Kind
Three-of-a-kind poker hand is similar to the four-of-a-kind poker hand mentioned above. The only difference is we have three of the same kind, not four. So, you will have three cards with the same face value and two cards out. E.g. triple 7s and two number 4s. The likelihood of this coming up is 1 in 46.3
8. Two Pair
We’ve come to the bottom three lowest hand rankings in poker. The first one is a two-pair poker hand which consists of two sets of like cards and one odd card out. The odds of you getting this kind of poker hand is quite high at 1 in 20. This is also one of the reasons why it pays so little.
9. One pair
Similar to the hand above, one pair poker hand is one that holds only one pair of cards and three odd cards. Regardless of where its placed in ranking, many players consider this to be a strong poker hand to start off with. But you must always be mindful of the fact that a stronger pair might exist elsewhere. The likelihood of you getting one pair is 1 in 1.36.
10. High Card
And finally, the lowest ranked poker hand is a high card with no pair. So, out of the five cards you did manage to rake together, the overall strength of your hand is weighed against the highest card you have in your pack. If your pack consist of an Ace, 4,6,7 and 9 then your hand is valued at Ace high. If you have a 4,5,2,8 and 3 then your hand is valued at 8 high and so forth. You are also most likely to achieve this kind of hand, sadly.
Poker Hand Odds
For every poker hand found in the game, there are odds attached. The odds of a particular poker hand refer to the likelihood of you achieving that hand in the game. We’ve presented that information in table format for you below.
| Poker Hand | Example | Odds | Possible Combinations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal Flush | image | 1 in 649,737 | 4 |
| Straight Flush | image | 1 in 649,737 | 36 |
| Four of a kind | image | 1 in 4,164 | 624 |
| Full house | image | 1in 4,164 | 3744 |
| Flush | image | 1 in 508 | 5108 |
| Straight | image | 1 in 253 | 10200 |
| Three of a kind | image | 1 in 46 | 54912 |
| Two pair | image | 1 in 20 | 123552 |
| One pair | image | 1 in 1.36 | 1098240 |
| High card | image | 1 in 0.99 | 1302540 |
Poker Hands FAQs
- What are the different poker hands?
- What’s a bad hand in poker called?
- What is the ranking of poker hands?
- What is the rarest hand in poker?
- What is the strongest hand in poker?
- What is the order of winning hands in poker?
- What are the different poker hands?
- What is the strongest card in poker?
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