Poker Game Hand Rankings: Rules, Odds and How to Play
Every poker game hand is made of five cards, and the same ranking decides the winner whether you play Texas Hold'em with friends, a casino table game against the dealer or a video poker machine. Learn the order once and you can sit down at almost any version of the game.
This guide covers the hand rankings with their exact mathematical odds, how hands are built and compared, which casino poker games pay out on your hand, and how to practise with free poker before you stake real money. 18+ only.
How a poker hand works
A poker hand is always the best five cards available to you. In five-card games you hold exactly five; in Texas Hold'em you choose the best five from seven (two private cards plus five shared cards on the board). Unused cards play no part in the result.
Hands are compared by category first: any flush beats any straight, any full house beats any flush, and so on. If two players share a category, the higher cards decide it. For example, a pair of kings beats a pair of nines, and if both players hold a pair of kings, the highest unpaired card (the kicker) settles it.
A few rules catch beginners out:
- Suits have no rank in standard poker. Two identical flushes in different suits split the pot.
- The ace plays high or low. A-K-Q-J-10 is the top straight, and 5-4-3-2-A is the lowest, but you cannot wrap around (Q-K-A-2-3 is not a straight).
- Only five cards count. A sixth or seventh card can never break a tie.
Poker hand rankings with exact odds
The table lists every poker game hand from strongest to weakest. The five-card column shows how often each hand is dealt from a 52-card deck (2,598,960 possible hands). The seven-card column shows how often it appears as the best five of seven cards, which is the situation in Texas Hold'em when you see all the board cards.
| Hand | Example | 5-card probability | 7-card probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| Royal flush | A-K-Q-J-10, same suit | 0.000154% | 0.0032% |
| Straight flush | 9-8-7-6-5, same suit | 0.00139% | 0.0279% |
| Four of a kind | Q-Q-Q-Q-4 | 0.024% | 0.168% |
| Full house | 8-8-8-K-K | 0.144% | 2.60% |
| Flush | Five cards of one suit | 0.197% | 3.03% |
| Straight | 7-6-5-4-3, mixed suits | 0.392% | 4.62% |
| Three of a kind | J-J-J-9-2 | 2.11% | 4.83% |
| Two pair | 10-10-6-6-A | 4.75% | 23.5% |
| One pair | A-A-9-7-3 | 42.26% | 43.8% |
| High card | K-J-8-5-2, no pair | 50.12% | 17.4% |
Two things stand out. With five cards, half of all hands contain nothing better than a high card. With seven cards, that drops to about 17%, which is why a single pair is often not enough to win a Hold'em showdown. For a printable version, see our poker cheat sheet.
How hands play out in Texas Hold'em, step by step
Texas Hold'em is the most widely played card game poker format online, so it is the best place to see hand rankings in action.
- Blinds: the two players to the left of the dealer button post forced bets (small and big blind).
- Pre-flop: each player receives two face-down hole cards, then a round of betting. You can fold, call or raise.
- Flop: three community cards are dealt face up, followed by betting.
- Turn: a fourth community card, then another betting round.
- River: the fifth and final community card, then the last betting round.
- Showdown: remaining players reveal their cards. Each makes the best five-card hand from their two hole cards and the five on the board, using any combination, including both, one or none of their hole cards.
If everyone else folds before showdown, the last player left wins without showing. That is why betting skill matters as much as the hand itself. Our full guide to playing poker and Texas Hold'em basics covers betting rounds in more depth.
Casino poker games: bets, payouts and house edge
At an online casino you often play your hand against the dealer rather than other players. Here the casino has a built-in edge, and some hands earn bonus payouts. The figures below assume the most common paytables and correct strategy.
| Game / bet | Key payouts | Dealer qualifies with | House edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casino Hold'em (Ante + Call) | Royal flush 100:1, straight flush 20:1, four of a kind 10:1, full house 3:1, flush 2:1, straight or lower 1:1 | Pair of fours or better | About 2.16% |
| Casino Hold'em AA Bonus | Pair of aces to straight 7:1, up to royal flush 100:1 | Not relevant | Considerably higher than the main game |
| Three Card Poker (Ante + Play) | Even money, plus Ante Bonus: straight flush 5, three of a kind 4, straight 1 | Queen high or better | 3.37% |
| Three Card Poker Pairplus | Straight flush 40, three of a kind 30, straight 6, flush 3, pair 1 | Not relevant | 7.28% |
| Jacks or Better video poker (9/6) | Royal flush 800 (max coins), full house 9, flush 6, pair of jacks+ 1 | No dealer | 0.46% (99.54% return) |
In Casino Hold'em you call with a bet of twice your ante. If the dealer does not qualify, the ante is paid from the paytable and the call bet pushes. Paytables vary between casinos and providers, and house edges for Casino Hold'em generally range from just under 2% to around 2.5%, so check the game's help screen before playing.
Note that in Three Card Poker a straight beats a flush, because with only three cards a straight is the rarer hand.
Strategy tips for playing your hand
Knowing the rankings is step one. Making good decisions with them is what separates a casual player from a careful one.
- Be selective before the flop. In Hold'em, any specific pocket pair such as aces arrives once in 221 hands, and you are dealt some pocket pair about once in 17. Most starting hands should be folded.
- Think about the board, not just your cards. A pair of aces looks strong, but if four hearts are showing, any player holding one heart has a flush.
- Watch your kicker. A-K and A-7 both make top pair on an ace-high flop, but the weaker kicker loses to the stronger one.
- Follow simple rules against the dealer. In Three Card Poker, play with Queen-6-4 or better and fold weaker hands. In video poker, use a strategy chart for your exact paytable; our video poker guides explain how.
- Skip most side bets. Pairplus and the AA Bonus carry noticeably higher house edges than the main bets.
No strategy removes the house edge in casino poker games. Good play only reduces how much you lose on average over time.
Poker variants and how hand rules change
The ranking stays largely the same across variants, but the way you build your hand changes:
- Texas Hold'em: best five from two hole cards plus five community cards.
- Omaha: four hole cards, and you must use exactly two of them with exactly three from the board. Players often misread hands because of this rule.
- Five Card Draw: five private cards, one chance to swap some of them.
- Three Card Poker: three-card hands with a different order (straight above flush, no full house or four of a kind).
- Video poker: five-card draw against a paytable on poker machine games, with no opponents or bluffing.
- Live dealer poker: Casino Hold'em and similar games streamed from a studio. See our live dealer guides for how these tables work.
Free poker vs real money
We do not host a playable game, but trying poker online for free is easy. Most licensed casinos offer demo (free-play) versions of video poker, Casino Hold'em and Three Card Poker, played with virtual credits. Many let you open a demo from the game lobby; some require you to be logged in, and UK-licensed sites generally require age verification before any play, including free games.
Free poker machine games and free to play poker tables are ideal for:
- learning to read a poker game hand quickly;
- testing a video poker strategy chart without risk;
- checking the paytable and qualifier rules of a specific game.
Remember that demo play has limits. Virtual credits do not change how people feel about losses, and free poker rooms against other players tend to be looser than real-money tables. Most browser-based games need no download. When you are ready for real money, choose a casino holding a recognised gambling licence; our guide to choosing an online poker casino lists what to check.
Playing poker responsibly
Poker is entertainment, not a way to make money. Every casino poker game has a house edge, and even skilled players in player-versus-player games face swings and rake.
- Set a budget and session time before you start, and stop when you reach either.
- Never chase losses by raising your stakes.
- Use the deposit limits, reality checks and time-outs offered by licensed casinos.
- If gambling stops being fun, take a break and seek support from a recognised help service in your country.
You must be 18 or over (or the legal age where you live) to gamble. For other table games and their rules, browse our casino games section.