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poker hand strengths, ranking & ratings
Updated In March, 2025 - In the game of poker each card has two properties, Suit and Rank. The suits are (in no particular order) Spades, Hearts, Clubs, and Diamonds. There are thirteen ranks, and they are (from lowest to highest) 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace. There are different types of poker games as well. Some have different objectives from what you may be used to so this is not a universal guide to online poker hand strengths. Any Hi-Lo or lowball poker game will have different hand rankings. Stud 8/b, Razz, 2-7 Triple Draw, Omaha HL, Badugi, 2-7 Single Draw and A-5 Triple Draw are good examples of games that used different rankings for hands. The two Hi-Lo or 8 or better games will partially use the poker hand ratings listing below, for the high aspect of the game. All other games use the poker hand strengths listed below to determine the winner of the hand.The standard ranking of poker hands for most poker games
1. Royal Flush - consists of Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten. All cards must be of the same suit. example: A♦, K♦, Q♦, J♦, 10♦ ((Odds of making a Royal Flush in a 7 Card game (like Texas Hold'em) - 1 in 30,940) Odds of making a Royal Flush in a 5 Card game - 1 in 649,740)
2. Straight Flush - consists of 5 cards of the same suit, that are in sequence. Cards are not allowed to "wrap around" the ranks. For example, King, Ace, Two, Three, Four of hearts is NOT considered a straight flush. Nor is it considered a straight of any kind. example: 2♣, 3♣, 4♣, 5♣, 6♣ (Odds of making a Straight Flush in a 7 Card game - 1 in 3,591) (Odds of making a Straight Flush in a 5 Card game - 1 in 72,193)
3. Four of a Kind - consists a four cards of the same rank and any fifth card (referred to as a "kicker"). example: 7♦, 7♥, 7♣, 7♠, A♠ (Odds of making a Four of a Kind in a 7 Card game - 1 in 595) (Odds of making a Four of a Kind in a 5 Card game - 1 in 4,165)
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4. Full House - consists of three cards of one rank and two cards of a different rank. example: 9♥, 9♣, 9♠, 3♥, 3♠ (Odds of making a Full House in a 7 Card game - 1 in 39) (Odds of making a Full House in a 5 Card game - 1 in 694)
5. Flush - consists of five cards, all of the same suit. example: Q♣, T♣, 9♣, 4♣, 2♣ (Odds of making a Flush in a 7 Card game - 1 in 33) (Odds of making a Flush in a 5 Card game - 1 in 509)
6. Straight - consists of five cards in sequence. example: 7♥, 8♦, 9♣, T♥, J♠ (Odds of making a Straight in a 7 Card game - 1 in 22) (Odds of making a Straight in a 5 Card game - 1 in 255)
7. Three of a Kind - consists of three cards of the same rank and any two other cards (also referred to as "kickers"). example: 5♥, 5♦, 5♣, 3♥, K♠ (Odds of making a Three of a Kind in a 7 Card game - 1 in 21) (Odds of making a Three of a Kind in a 5 Card game - 1 in 47)
8. Two Pair - Two cards of the same rank is considered a pair. A hand with 2 sets of 2 cards of the same rank is known as Two Pair. The remaining card is the "kicker". example:8♣, 8♠, 2♥, 2♦, K♥ (Odds of making Two Pair in a 7 Card game - 1 in 4.26) (Odds of making Two Pair in a 5 Card game - 1 in 21)
9. One Pair - consists of a hand with two cards of the same rank and any other three cards. example: T♦, T♥, A♣, K♠, 4♠ (Odds of making One Pair in a 7 Card game - 1 in 2.28) (Odds of making One Pair in a 5 Card game - 1 in 2.37)
10. High Card - when a poker hand cannot be arranged into any of the above combinations, the highest ranking card from the hand is presented as High Card. example: J♠, T♥, 7♣, 5♠, 4♠ (Odds of making One Pair in a 7 Card game - 1 in 5.74) (Odds of making One Pair in a 5 Card game - 1 in 2.00)
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