Poker Hands Ranked

Which hand beats which?

Does a flush beat a straight?

A flush beats a straight. A straight flush combines both patterns and beats four of a kind. Compare the hand type before looking at individual ranks: an ace-high straight still loses to any flush.

Does three of a kind beat two pair?

Three of a kind beats two pair.

Can an ace wrap a straight?

A straight follows a single consecutive sequence. Q–K–A–2–3 crosses the ace from high to low and is not a straight.

Kickers and shared boards

A kicker is a card outside the matching group. For one pair there are three kickers; for three of a kind there are two. Compare them in descending order until one rank differs.

At a Hold’em showdown, compare the best five-card hands from each player’s seven available cards. If the board supplies everyone’s best five, those players split. A sixth card plays no part in the comparison.

The comparison tool accepts the final five cards for each hand. To compare hole cards on a shared board, use the equity calculator. It builds the best hand in Hold’em and applies Omaha’s two-hole-card rule.

Save every hand as an image on the poker hand chart, or download the printable reference for the table.

Compare matching poker hand rankings

Pair first, then each kicker

A higher pair wins before any kicker matters. With matching pairs, line up the remaining cards from highest to lowest and compare them in that order. An ace kicker settles the hand only if the opponent’s highest kicker is lower. When those kickers match, move to the next card and keep going until a rank differs or the entire hand matches.

Put the higher pair first

For two pair, order the pairs by rank before comparing them. Aces and twos beat kings and queens because the aces are the higher top pair. When the top pairs match, compare the lower pairs. When both pairs match, use the remaining kicker. The size of that kicker matters only after both pair comparisons are equal.

Suits stay equal

A spade flush and a heart flush compare their card ranks in descending order. The first different rank decides the winner. If every rank matches, they tie.

The wheel and ace-high straight

The wheel is A–2–3–4–5. Treat its ace as low, making the five the card used to compare it with another straight. In T–J–Q–K–A, the ace is high and makes the strongest straight. Suits matter only when every card in the straight shares a suit, creating a straight flush.

When both players have the same straight, the pot is split even if one holds a higher unused card. Compare the straight’s top card, then stop. A flush works differently: its ranks can have gaps, so comparing just its highest card may leave the hand undecided.

Full house or flush?

A full house beats a flush. Within full houses, the trip rank takes priority over the pair rank. A full house with kings as its trips beats one with queens as its trips, even if the queens are paired with aces. Start with the hand category, then follow that category’s comparison order.