Every poker game, from Texas Hold’em to five card draw, uses the same order of hands. The rarer a hand, the higher it ranks. Type any five, six or seven cards above to see the best five-card hand they make, which cards count, and how often that hand turns up — then use the full table and tie-break rules below.
How to use the hand evaluator
- Enter 5 to 7 cards separated by spaces: the rank (A, K, Q, J, 10 or T, 9 … 2) followed by the suit (s, h, d, c). For example
Ah Kh Qh Jh 10h. Suit symbols like K♠ work too. - The result names the best hand, such as “Full house, sevens over twos”, and its place in the ranking.
- With 6 or 7 cards (as in Hold’em, with two hole cards and five on the board), unused cards are faded so you can see the five that play.
Hand rankings and probabilities
| Rank | Hand | Example | 5-card combos | Probability | 7-card probability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal flush | A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠ | 4 | 0.000154% | 0.0032% |
| 2 | Straight flush | 9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 5♥ | 36 | 0.00139% | 0.0279% |
| 3 | Four of a kind | Q Q Q Q 5 | 624 | 0.0240% | 0.168% |
| 4 | Full house | 8 8 8 K K | 3,744 | 0.144% | 2.60% |
| 5 | Flush | A♦ J♦ 8♦ 4♦ 2♦ | 5,108 | 0.197% | 3.03% |
| 6 | Straight | 10 9 8 7 6 | 10,200 | 0.392% | 4.62% |
| 7 | Three of a kind | 7 7 7 K 2 | 54,912 | 2.11% | 4.83% |
| 8 | Two pair | J J 4 4 A | 123,552 | 4.75% | 23.5% |
| 9 | One pair | 10 10 K 6 3 | 1,098,240 | 42.3% | 43.8% |
| 10 | High card | A Q 9 6 3 | 1,302,540 | 50.1% | 17.4% |
The five-card counts add up to C(52, 5) = 2,598,960. The seven-card column gives the chance that the best five of seven cards forms each hand, out of C(52, 7) = 133,784,560 — every count in this table has been checked by enumerating all hands.
Notice that in seven-card games, high card is less likely than one pair or two pair. With seven cards you usually have something.
How the counts are derived
Each count is a product of combinations. Four of a kind, for example:
A full house chooses a rank and three suits for the trips, then a different rank and two suits for the pair:
Straights are 10 rank sequences (A-high down to 5-high) × 4⁵ suit choices = 10,240, minus the 40 straight flushes, giving 10,200. You can reproduce any of these with the combinations calculator.
Breaking ties
When two players have the same type of hand, compare cards in this order:
- Straight or straight flush: the highest card wins; the wheel (5-high) is the lowest.
- Four of a kind: the higher quads win, then the kicker.
- Full house: the three of a kind decides first (“kings over sevens” beats “queens over aces”).
- Flush or high card: compare the highest card, then the next, down to the fifth.
- Three of a kind, two pair, one pair: compare the matched ranks first, then the kickers in order.
If all five cards tie, the hands split the pot. Suits never break ties.
Worked example: two pair against two pair
Player A shows J♣ J♦ 4♠ 4♥ A♦; player B shows J♠ J♥ 4♣ 4♦ 9♠. Both have jacks and fours, so the kicker decides: A’s ace beats B’s nine, and player A wins. Had both kickers been aces, the pot would be split.
Common mix-ups
- A flush beats a straight even though both use five cards: flushes are rarer (5,108 vs 10,200).
- “Wraparound” straights such as K-A-2-3-4 are not straights.
- In Hold’em the board plays for everyone; if the best hand is the five community cards, all remaining players split.
- Three Card Poker uses a different order, where a straight beats a flush — see Three Card Poker.
Put the rankings to work at the Texas Hold’em or five card draw tables, or deal random hands with the random card generator.
Frequently asked questions
What beats what in poker?
From best to worst: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card. A flush beats a straight, and a full house beats a flush.
How many five-card poker hands are there?
C(52, 5) = 2,598,960. Of those, 4 are royal flushes, 624 are four of a kind and 1,302,540 — just over half — are high-card hands with nothing better.
Do suits matter in poker?
Not in standard poker rankings. Hands that differ only by suit tie and split the pot; a heart flush and a club flush with the same ranks are equal.
Is an ace high or low in a straight?
Either, but not both at once. A-K-Q-J-10 is the highest straight and 5-4-3-2-A (the wheel) is the lowest. Q-K-A-2-3 does not count as a straight.
What is a kicker?
A kicker is a side card that breaks ties between hands of the same type. With pairs of kings, K-K-A-7-3 beats K-K-Q-J-10 because the ace kicker outranks the queen.