That is all you need to know about hand ranks. Three of a kind (sometimes called “trips” or “a set”) Straight; Flush; Full house; Four of a kind (sometimes called “quads”) Straight flush. A high card is the very least you can have in the game of poker. If you have no pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, etc., then the.


Overall General Rules

- Cards are individually ranked A (high), K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A (low, for straights or low games).
- Suits have no value. The suits of a card are used to determine of a hand qualifies for a flush or not. If two players have two hands that are the same, except for the suits, the hand is considered a tie, and the pot is split.
- A hand is always a five card hand. In games that used more than five card, a player will pick the five cards that make the best five card hand.
- Hands are ranked first by category, and then by the card rank. That is to say, even the lowest qualifying hand of a rank is better than the highest hand of a lower rank. So a hand that has two pair, 2's and 3's will be better than a pair of aces.

Poker Hand Rankings

Royal Flush>Straight Flush>Four of a kind>Full House>Flush>Straight>Three of a kind>Two Pair>One Pair>High Card

Royal Flush

A Royal Flush is made up of all the 'broadways cards' and they must all be of the same suit. This is also an Ace High Straight Flush. But that isn't quite as sexy as a Royal. Generally this pays a big bonus at your local card room!


Straight Flush

A straight flush is a hand that contains five cards in numerical sequence, all of the same suit. If two people have straight flushes, the hand with the card of a highest rank (i.e. highest card) is considered the winner, so Ks Qs Js 10s 9s would defeat Jh 10h 9h 8h 7h. The low ace rule applys for the five high straight flush (also known as the wheel). An ace high straight flush, such as Ad Kd Qd Jd 10d is called a royal flush, and is the highest ranked hand in standard poker, without wild cards.


Four of a kind

Also known as quads, four of a kind is a hand like 7h 7s 7c 7d 2s, that has four cards of the same rank, and one other card. Quads is better than a full house, and worse than a straight flush. Higher ranked quads will defeat lower ranked quads, so Quad tens are better than quad 2's. In games with wildcards, or games with community cards (like Texas Hold'em), where more than one person can have the same quad hand, ties are broken by remaining fifth card.


Full house

Also know as a full boat or sometimes just boat, a full house such as 3d 3h 3s 4c 4d (threes full of fours), is a hand that has three cards all of the same rank, plus an additional two different cards of the same rank. A full house is better than a flush, but worse than four of a kind. In judging which full house is the best full house, the full house with the highest ranking set of three cards wins. If two or more hands have the same set of three cards (possible in wild card games or community card games like Hold'em), the hand with the highest pair wins. In the example above, the hand would be described 'sevens over queens,' 'sevens full of queens,' or 'sevens full.'


Flush

A flush is a hand that contains five cards, all of the same suit, but not in sequential rank, such as Ks 10s 8s 6s 2s. A flush is better than a straight, and worse than a full house. If two or more hands have a flush, hands are compared by their high cards to determine the winner. If more than one hand has the same high card, the second highest card is used - then the third, then the fourth and finally the fifth. Keeping in mind that suits have no value, if two flushes use five cards of the same rank, but different suits, the hands are considered tied. When declaring a flush, they are described by their highest card, such as 'Ace-high flush.'


Straight


A straight is a hand which has five cards of sequential rank, but of more than one suit, such as 6h 5s 4h 3s 2d. A straight is better than three of a kind, and worse than a flush. In determining which straight is better, the highest ranked card of each straight are compared, and the highest is the winner. If two straights are of the same rank, the pot is split between the two. In community card games, straights are the most commonly tied hands. When declaring a straight, they are described by their highest card. The example above would be a seven high straight. An ace can be used for both high, in an ace high straight (As Ks Qh Jd 10s) and for a low in a five high straight ( 5s 4h 3d 2d Ac). A five high straight is also known as a wheel or bicycle and is the lowest ranked straight. In most games, the ace does not 'wrap around', so a 'three high' straight (3h 2d As Ks Qd) is not a legal straight, but instead is an ace-high, no-pair hand.


Three of a kind


Also known as trips or a set, three of a kind is a poker hand that contains three cards of the same rank, plus two additional unpaired cards, for example Ah Ac As Ks Jc. Three of a kind is better than two pair, but worse than a straight. In comparing hands, the highest ranked three of a kind defeats lower ranked three of a kinds. If two hands have the same three of a kind (possible in wildcard games or in community card games like Hold'em), the kickers are compared to break the tie.


Two Pair


A hand that contains two cards of the same rank, plus two other cards of another matching rank, plus one unpaired card is called two pair, for example Ah Ac Kh Ks 2d. Two pair is better than one pair and worse than three of a kind. In comparing two or more hands that contain two pair, the higher ranking pair is first compared, and the highest is the winner. If two hands contain the same higher pair, than the second pair is compared. Finally, if two hands have the same two pair, than the kick, or rank of the fifth card, of each hand determines the winner. When declaring a two pair hand, the hand is described higher pair over lower pair. So in the example above, the hand could be described 'aces over kings,' 'aces and kings,' or 'aces up.'


One pair

One pair is a poker hand that contains two cards of the same rank, plus three unpaired cards. It is better than any high-card, no-pair hand, but it is worse than two pair. Pairs of the higher rank defeat pairs of the lower rank. If two hands have the same rank of pair, the ranks of the unpaired cards determine the winner.

High Card

Also known as a no-pair hand, a high card hand has five cards all of different ranks that are not in sequence and are not of the same suit, for example Ac Qd 9h 7c 5s. High card hands rank below all other poker hands. When comparing two or more high card hands, the highest card of each hand is compared first, and the higher card is the winning hand. If the highest card is the same, then the next highest ranked cards are judged, then the third highest ranked card and so on. The lowest possible high card hand is 7 5 4 3 2.

Go Back to POKER RULES

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Poker is a popular card game. You can play it for large sums of money. Or you can play poker for fun with friends and family with no chips or real money. But in all poker games there are a set of rules in place, so you know every time who wins and who doesn’t.

Straight Flush Beat A 4 Of A Kind

For a newcomer, all the rules in poker might be confusing. But soon when you master all the rules, you realize there is a lot more to poker than just that. The deep strategy to outplay opponents and knowing when to lay down strong but not strong enough hands is what makes you a winner.

That takes many hours to master. But first things first, you need to understand basic rules first, and in this article, I will tell you why a flush beats trips (3 of a kind).

Why does a flush beat 3 of a kind (trips)? Flush beats three of a kind (trips) because it is harder to hit. Not only that, but flush also beats a straight, two pairs and one pair type of hands. It wouldn’t make much sense if a certain hand combination would be worth more but also more likely to hit. It would defeat the purpose of the poker game.

What is the probability to hit a flush and what is the chance to hit 3 of a kind

The probability to hit three of a kind (trips) is around 2.1% of the time. This means that you will hit 3 of a kind around once every 50 hands.

You will hit a flush less often. Actually a lot less often. The probability to hit a flush is only 0.2%.

You will hit a flush around once every 500 hands. In between is a straight with 0.4% chance to be hit, or around once every 250 hands.

That is why a flush wins in poker against 3 of a kind.

In my poker career, I played more than 5,000,000 Texas Holdem No limit hands. During that time I have gotten quite a sample of winrates I get with three of a kind and what kind of a winrate I will have with a flush.

Straight Flush Beat 4 Aces

Expected winrate with 3 of a kind

They both make me a decent amount of money, but of course, a flush performs a lot better. If you are winning more with 3 of a kind than a flush, then you have a leak in your strategy when you hit a flush. Or your sample just isn’t big enough yet.

Straight

As you can see from the graph, the winnings are pretty consistent. Like with all hands in poker, also when it comes to sets, it is better to have higher hands. Either higher pairs or higher kicker in your hand, once the board comes paired, and you hit 3 of a kind.

You will hit trips most often when you have a pocket pair in your hand already and you will get paid the most on those.

Expected winrate of a flush

A Flush is a better hand than 3 of a kind. You should also make more money with it.

You might think that the best hand to hit the flush is AKs. But that actually isn’t the case.

It is true that nut flush will make you the most money, but you are better off if your other side card is lower than a queen. You want the opponent to have a K high flush or Q high flush, as you are more likely to get paid off.

That is why having a K or a Q in your hand is not the best idea. Of course, you still prefer playing AKs than AJs for example. AK will make you more money. Just when you hit a flush you will make more money if someone can have the second nuts.

But you will hit a flush so rarely, and you will hit a top pair a lot more often. And with AK every time you hit a top pair, you will have a top kicker. In poker, you will have a pair 42% of the time. So those times having a top kicker to go with your top pair will enable you to go for more value bets than with AJ, that doesn’t give you the top kicker all the time.

Looking at the graph you can see that also the flush winrate is very consistent. Maybe I could be folding a little more, to some passive players who bet large, when I don’t have the nut flush, and of course, when they bet hard, they have the nuts. Other than that, winrate is still pretty good.

Once again, it is better to have higher hands which can give you nut flush, than just having a low or mid-high flush. The difference in winrate will be huge, especially when you hit a nut flush and the opponent hits a lower one. In such a scenario, it is hard for anyone to let go off their hand.

What is the order of poker hands? What beats what in poker?

One of the basic rules is also hand rankings. In Texas Holdem ranks of cards at showdown increase depending on how hard it is to hit a certain hand combination.

You will have a high card, with no pair, 50% of the time, and royal flush slightly less than once every 650,000 hands.

To see what beats what have a look at a table below. The hand that is listed higher beats all the hands below it.

Order of poker hands goes as follows from worst (bottom) to best (top):

What beats a straight?

We can see that a straight is beaten by any flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush, and a royal flush. This might sound like many hands, but we still get paid off nicely by all sets, two pairs and stubborn players unwilling to let go of a pair.

If there is a flush or full house possible on top of straight, and you face huge bets, then you should consider letting go of your straight.

What beats a straight flush?

A straight flush is beaten by any higher straight flush and by a royal flush. Don’t expect this to happen that often in Texas Holdem. Therefore in almost all cases, you should be happy to stack off with a straight flush. One exception might be you having 9s on TsJsQsKsx. Then if someone holds an Ace of spades would have a royal flush, but this happens so rarely, you shouldn’t be concerned about.

You will make most money with a straight flush when someone holds the nut flush. Or if the board is paired and the opponent has a full house

What beats four of a kind?

Four of a kind is also a very strong hand. In fact, you will hit four of a kind less often than once every 4,000 hands. It is beaten by only a handful of poker hands. Those are straight flush and a royal flush.

What is the best hand in poker?

Best hand in poker is royal flush and you will hit it once every 650,000 hands.

Getting it the first time it feels really exciting. I felt like a true poker player once I got my first. The only way you can influence getting dealt a royal flush faster is by playing more poker and of course, playing broadway suited cards (T – A).

I wouldn’t stress over it too much, as, in the end, it comes down to random hand generators when you get your first. It could happen you will play over 1 million hands to get one, or you can be lucky and hit it in first 1,000 hands.

Poker Flush Beats A Straight

Conclusion

Now you know why a flush beats 3 of a kind. From here on you should have no problems recognizing the winning hand. The next step is to keep learning something new each day, and eventually, you too can become a good winning player at poker.

Useful Links:

Wikipedia: Hand rankings

Article: Is a straight or flush more likely to hit? – this one might surprise you, it is not what many people think