What Is the Rank Order of Poker Hands?

In poker, there is a ranking of hands from Lowest to highest. The ranks of hands are: high card, pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush, and royal flush.

The high card is the Lowest ranked hand, and the royal flush is the highest.

Poker is a game of chance, and the rank of hands can change from one game to the next. However, in general, the rank order of hands is as follows: high card, pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush, and royal flush.

PRO TIP:When playing poker, the rank order of poker hands is important to remember. The highest ranked hand is a Royal Flush, followed by a Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair and High Card. Knowing the rank order will help you make better decisions when playing the game.

The high card is the Lowest ranked hand because it contains no matching cards. A pair is two cards of the same rank (e.g., two 9s). Two pair is four cards of two different ranks (e.g., 9-9-5-5). Three of a kind is three cards of the same rank (e.g., J-J-J). A straight is five cards in sequence (e.g., 4-5-6-7-8). A flush is five cards of the same suit (e.g.

, A-K-Q-J-10 all diamonds). A full house is three of a kind plus a pair (e.g., K-K-K-2-2). Four of a kind is four cards of the same rank (e.g., Aces). A straight flush is five cards in sequence all of the same suit (e.g., 5-6-7-8-9 all clubs). The royal flush is an ace high straight flush (Ace-King-QueenJack-10 all clubs).

The rank order of hands can be different in other variations of poker such as Texas Hold’em or Omaha but generally follow the same order as listed above.