Poker arguments at a new table are usually ranking arguments. Someone thinks a flush loses to a straight because a different game taught them the reverse, or they count six cards, or they believe an ace can sit in the middle of a wraparound straight. The standard high-poker order is short. Learning it once prevents the argument. It does not make the game profitable.

The order, from strongest to weakest

A royal flush is ace through ten of one suit. A straight flush is any other five-card straight in one suit. Four of a kind is four cards of one rank. A full house is three of a kind plus a pair. A flush is five cards of one suit, not in sequence. A straight is five ranks in sequence, in more than one suit. Three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card follow, in that order.

In this five-card order, a flush beats a straight. That is the opposite of standard three-card poker, where a straight beats a flush. If you learned the short game first, do not import its order. Three Card Poker rankings are a different contract. Say which game you are in before you turn a hand over.

Straights, aces, and kickers

An ace may lead a straight, as in ace-king-queen-jack-ten, or sit at the bottom of the wheel, ace-two-three-four-five. It does not wrap. King-ace-two-three-four is not a straight. The wheel is the lowest straight, so a six-high straight beats it.

If two players have the same category, compare the ranks inside it. A pair of kings with an ace kicker beats a pair of kings with a queen kicker. A flush is compared card by card from the top. If all five cards match in rank, the pot is split. Suits do not break ties in standard high poker. A spade flush does not outrank a heart flush of the same ranks.

Best five, not all the cards in front of you

In Texas hold'em you may use any five cards from your two hole cards and the five community cards. The best hand might live entirely on the board, in which case everyone still contesting the pot ties if nobody can beat that board. You do not get credit for a sixth card. A pair plus four unrelated cards is one pair, not a more decorative object.

Seven-card stud and five-card draw use the same ranking order with different ways of assembling the five. The order is about the five. The deal is about how you obtained them. Mixing those topics is how a new player invents a hand the table will not pay.

What the order does not include

It does not include a price for the hand. A pair is common. The chance of being dealt a pair in two cards is 1 in 17, and that fact is not a strategy. Lowball games, in which the worst hand wins, are a different ranking and must be announced. Wild cards, if a home game insists on them, change which holdings exist. Write the wild rule down. A spoken wild rule is how friendships end at midnight.

Knowing the order is table literacy for adults. It is not an edge over a house that rakes the pot, and it is not an activity for anyone under the local legal age.

Frequently asked questions

Does a flush beat a straight in five-card poker?

Yes, in standard high poker. A straight beats a flush in standard three-card poker. Do not mix the two orders.

Can an ace make king-ace-two a straight?

No. The ace may be high, in a broadway straight, or low, in ace-two-three-four-five. It does not wrap around the king and the two.

Do suits break ties?

Not in standard high poker. Identical ranks split the pot. A house that plays otherwise should print that rule before the deal.

Steps

Find the best five cards: In a community-card game, choose the best five from the cards you can use. Extra cards do not add a second hand.
Place the hand in the order: Royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card.
Use kickers on a tie: If the category matches, compare the highest cards the category did not already use. Identical fives split.
Confirm the house is not lowball: This order is for high poker. A lowball game reverses the goal. Read the card before you claim a winner.