Poker Hand Rankings: The Complete Order (And What Beats What)

It's the first thing you learn in poker — and yet “who wins here?” arguments still fill tables every day: which hands exist, in what order, and what happens when two players make the same one. Here's the complete ranking, the tie-breaker cases that trap everyone, and — for one level deeper — the real combo math behind every hand.

The official hand rankings, strongest to weakest

1. Royal flush: 10-J-Q-K-A, all the same suit. Unbeatable — you'll see a few in your lifetime.
2. Straight flush: five consecutive cards of the same suit (like 5-6-7-8-9 of hearts).
3. Four of a kind (quads): four identical cards (four kings).
4. Full house: three of a kind plus a pair (three queens and two sevens — “queens full of sevens”).
5. Flush: five cards of the same suit, not consecutive.
6. Straight: five consecutive cards of mixed suits. The ace plays high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low (A-2-3-4-5), never “around the corner”.
7. Three of a kind: three identical cards.
8. Two pair: two distinct pairs plus a fifth card.
9. One pair: two identical cards.
10. High card: none of the above — the highest card plays.

What is the best hand in poker — and the worst?

The best possible hand in poker is the royal flush: it can never be beaten, only tied. The worst starting hand in Texas Hold'em is the infamous 7-2 offsuit: the two lowest cards that can neither connect for a straight nor share a suit for a flush. Everything in between is context — which is exactly what our preflop ranges guide covers.

What beats what: the cases that cause arguments

• Flush versus flush: the highest card decides (the ace of spades doesn't “beat” the ace of hearts — all suits are equal).
• Full house versus full house: compare the three of a kind first, the pair second. Nines full of aces loses to tens full of twos.
• Straight versus straight: the highest card of the straight wins; the “wheel” A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest straight, not the highest.
• Same pair for two players: the kicker (best side card) decides — then the second kicker if needed.
• Two pair versus two pair: highest pair first, then the second pair, then the kicker.

Ties and split pots

A poker hand is ALWAYS your best five cards — not four, not six. If two players' best five cards are strictly identical, the pot is split, end of story. Classic case: the board shows a straight higher than anything either player improves on — everyone “plays the board” and chops. A kicker only counts if it's part of the five cards that make the hand.

How many combinations are there, really?

There are 1,326 possible starting combinations, grouping into 169 distinct hands. And they don't arrive equally often: any given pair has just 6 combos, a suited hand 4, an offsuit hand 12. That detail becomes a weapon: when you count an opponent's possible holdings, you count combos — he has three times as many ways to hold ace-king offsuit as ace-king suited. This counting, called combinatorics, is the foundation of range-based thinking.

From rankings to ranges: the logical next step

Knowing the rankings is the entry ticket; knowing WHICH hands to play from WHICH seat is the actual game. That's what preflop ranges are for — we've written a complete guide on them, and our positions article explains why the same hand is a raise from one seat and a fold from another.

Make it stick, once and for all

The ranking takes ten minutes to learn and one pressure moment to forget. What anchors it permanently is playing: in the PokGenius Trainer, every hand you play shows what you've made and why it wins or loses — the hierarchy burns in by playing real hands instead of reciting a list.