Before you can play poker you need to know the 5 card poker hands that will actually win you a pot. If you’re playing poker online, maybe at Full Tilt Poker, you can pretty easily reference a cheat sheet, but it screams FISH if you’re playing with a sheet at home. The hands are numbered/listed from best to worst.
5 Card Poker Hand Ranking and Probabilities
- Royal Flush: The absolute best hand in poker. It consists of A, K, Q, J, 10 with all cards having the same suit. Many people playing poker for years never hit a Royal Flush so when you do, consider yourself lucky.
Probability: 1 in 650,000
- Straight Flush: A straight flush is 5 consecutive cards of the same suit. A royal flush is the highest possible straight flush.
Probability: 1 in 72,200
- 4 of a Kind: Not rocket science here. 4 cards of the same rank. For example KKKK with any other card. The highest ranked 4 of a kind would take the pot.
Probability: 1 in 4,200
- Full House: A combination of a 3 of a Kind and a Pair would yield a Full House. Here’s an example: KKK33. The highest ranking 3 of a Kind takes the pot. Sometimes you’ll hear “Kings full of Three’s”. That’s another way to call your hand with out saying Full House.
Probability: 1 in 700
- Flush: Any 5 cards all of the same suite. The highest ranking card takes the pot. A3579 would beat all other flushes.
Probability: 1 in 510
- Straight: 5 consecutive cards of any suite. For example, 87654. The highest ranking card takes the pot. An Ace can be used as the high or low card but cannot ‘turn the corner’.
Probability: 1 in 250
- 3 of a Kind: 3 cards with the same rank, like KKK makes a Three of a Kind. In Texas Hold’em if 2 players have the same 3 of a kind their two unpaired cards or ‘kicker cards’ would determine who wins the pot.
Probability: 1 in 48
- 2 Pair: 2 cards of one rank AND two different cards of another rank makes up the 2 Pairs. The highest pair takes the pot, so KK22 beats QQ99. If both players have the same hand the winner is determined by the 5th card.
Probability: 1 in 21
- Pair: 2 cards of the same rank with 3 unrelated cards.
Probability: 1 in 2.4
- High Card: A hand with no pair or any other ranking hand shown above. The highest card shown will take the pot.
The probabilities are based on you making the hand with the first 5 cards dealt.
