Rules
Tell me poker hands from lowest to the highest
In poker, hands are ranked from lowest to highest as follows:
High Card – No combination, just the highest card (e.g., Ace-high).
One Pair – Two cards of the same rank (e.g., 5♠ 5♦).
Two Pair – Two different pairs (e.g., 8♠ 8♦ 4♣ 4♠).
Three of a Kind – Three cards of the same rank (e.g., J♠ J♣ J♦).
Straight – Five consecutive cards of any suit (e.g., 6♠ 7♣ 8♦ 9♠ 10♥).
Flush – Five cards of the same suit, not in sequence (e.g., A♠ 10♠ 8♠ 5♠ 3♠).
Full House – Three of a kind plus a pair (e.g., K♠ K♣ K♦ 9♠ 9♣).
Four of a Kind – Four cards of the same rank (e.g., Q♠ Q♣ Q♦ Q♥).
Straight Flush – Five consecutive cards of the same suit (e.g., 5♠ 6♠ 7♠ 8♠ 9♠).
Royal Flush – The highest straight flush: A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠.
A Royal Flush is the best hand, while a High Card is the weakest.
Probability of Straight vs Straight Flush
The probabilities of getting a Straight and a Straight Flush in a standard 5-card poker hand (from a 52-card deck) are significantly different:
Straight Probability:
A straight consists of five consecutive ranks, but they can be of any suit.
There are 10 possible straights (A-5, 2-6, ..., 10-A).
Each straight has 4⁵ (1,024) combinations since each card in the straight can be one of 4 suits.
However, this count includes Straight Flushes, so we need to subtract them.
The probability of a straight (excluding straight flushes) is 4.62% (or 1 in 21.7 hands).
Straight Flush Probability:
A straight flush is a straight where all cards are of the same suit.
There are 10 possible straight flushes, one for each consecutive sequence.
Each straight flush has exactly 4 ways (one per suit).
This gives us 40 possible straight flush hands.
The probability of a straight flush is 0.00139% (or 1 in 72,193 hands).
Comparison:
A Straight is about 3,330 times more common than a Straight Flush.
The Royal Flush (the highest straight flush) is even rarer, with a probability of 0.000154% (or 1 in 649,740 hands).
In summary, while straights are relatively frequent in poker, straight flushes are among the rarest hands you can get.
All hands probabilities
Here are the probabilities of all poker hands in a 5-card hand from a standard 52-card deck, ranked from most common to rarest:
Hand
Combinations
Probability (%)
Odds (1 in X hands)
High Card
1,302,540
50.12%
1.99
One Pair
1,098,240
42.26%
2.37
Two Pair
123,552
4.75%
21.0
Three of a Kind
54,912
2.11%
47.3
Straight
10,200
0.39%
255
Flush
5,108
0.20%
508
Full House
3,744
0.14%
693
Four of a Kind
624
0.024%
4,165
Straight Flush
40
0.00139%
72,193
Royal Flush
4
0.000154%
649,740
Key Takeaways:
High Card and One Pair dominate most hands.
Two Pair and Three of a Kind occur much less often but still relatively frequently.
Straights and Flushes are rare, while Full House and Four of a Kind are even harder to get.
Straight Flushes and Royal Flushes are extremely rare, with a Royal Flush appearing only once in 649,740 hands.
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