In Texas Hold’em the ten hand categories run in one fixed order, best to worst: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card. Every “does X beat Y” question is one lookup in that order, and the higher category wins no matter how strong the losing hand felt while you were playing it. The matrix settles the order once. Under it, each common matchup gets its own answer, and the last section covers what happens when both players land in the same row.
The what-beats-what matrix
Read it top to bottom. Anything higher beats anything lower, every time, in every Hold’em pot.
| # | Hand | Example | Beats | Loses to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal flush | A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠ | Everything | Nothing |
| 2 | Straight flush | 9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 5♥ | Everything below | Royal flush |
| 3 | Four of a kind | 7♣ 7♦ 7♥ 7♠ K♥ | Everything below | Straight flush, royal flush |
| 4 | Full house | Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ 8♣ 8♠ | Everything below | Quads and up |
| 5 | Flush | A♣ J♣ 7♣ 6♣ 2♣ | Everything below | Full house and up |
| 6 | Straight | 8♦ 7♠ 6♥ 5♣ 4♦ | Everything below | Flush and up |
| 7 | Three of a kind | 9♥ 9♦ 9♣ Q♠ 4♥ | Everything below | Straight and up |
| 8 | Two pair | J♦ J♣ 4♥ 4♠ A♣ | Everything below | Three of a kind and up |
| 9 | One pair | 10♠ 10♣ K♥ 7♦ 3♠ | High card | Two pair and up |
| 10 | High card | A♥ Q♣ 9♦ 6♠ 3♣ | Nothing | Everything |
Two players can also land in the same row. Then the bigger version of that hand wins: a higher straight beats a lower one, a higher full house beats a lower one, and the tie-break rules at the end of the page cover how those comparisons run.
Each hand sits above the next because it is harder to make. There are fewer ways to be dealt a full house than a flush, and fewer flushes than straights, so the rarer hand wins. That single idea explains every row, and the hand probability table has the exact frequencies if you want to see the gaps.
Jump to your matchup
- Does a full house beat a straight?
- Does a full house beat a flush?
- What beats a full house?
- Full house vs full house: who wins?
- Does a flush beat a straight?
- Does a flush beat three of a kind?
- Does three of a kind beat a flush?
- Flush vs flush: who wins?
- Does a straight flush beat four of a kind?
- Does four of a kind beat a straight?
- What beats four aces?
- Does a royal flush beat quad aces?
- What beats a straight?
- Does a straight beat three of a kind?
- Does a straight beat two pair?
- Does two pair beat three of a kind?
- What beats a pair?
Full house matchups
The full house is the hand most often involved in a “wait, who won?” moment, because it beats the two hands beginners rate highest.
Does a full house beat a straight?
Yes. A full house beats a straight every time, and no straight ever beats a full house.
Three of a kind plus a pair is a rarer combination than five cards in sequence, so the full house sits two rows higher. The practical version at the table: once the board pairs, your straight can no longer be the best hand possible, because the pair on board is what lets somebody make a full house.
Does a full house beat a flush?
Yes. A full house beats a flush, including the ace-high flush.
This is the pairing that costs beginners the most chips, because a made flush looks unbeatable while you are holding it. It is not. The board below is a real example: the flush is genuinely strong and still second best.
On that board, the player with A♥ J♥ makes A-Q-J-8-5 of hearts, which is a strong flush. The player with Q♠ 8♦ makes Q-Q-Q-8-8, a full house. The paired board is the tell: once a rank appears twice out there, a full house is possible for anyone holding a matching card, and the moment somebody has one, every flush at the table is second best.
What beats a full house?
Four of a kind, a straight flush, and a royal flush. A bigger full house beats yours as well, which the tie-break rules below settle.
Two pair, three of a kind, a straight, and a flush all lose to it. So when you hold a full house, the only question worth asking is whether the board could hand an opponent four of a kind or a straight flush. Quads needs an opponent holding the missing cards of a rank the board already paired, which usually means that exact pocket pair, or a single card when the board itself shows three of a rank. A straight flush takes three cards of one suit in a run out there. If the board offers neither, the only hand that can still pass you is a bigger full house.
Full house vs full house: who wins?
The higher three of a kind wins. Compare the trips first, and only if those are identical does the pair decide.
Nines full of fours beats fours full of nines, even though both hands use the same four cards from the board. That is the trap: the two hands look symmetrical and are not close. Aces full beats every other full house, and a board like 9♠ 9♦ 4♣ 4♥ 2♠ produces this collision constantly, since anyone holding a nine outranks anyone holding a four. The nickname behind the hand has its own story in why a full house is called a boat.
Flush matchups
A flush is five cards of one suit. It beats every hand built on rank alone, and loses to every hand that pairs the board into something bigger.
Does a flush beat a straight?
Yes. A flush beats a straight, and the size of the straight never changes that.
Five cards of one suit is harder to hit than five in sequence, so the flush ranks one row higher. A jack-high straight loses to the weakest flush at the table.
On that board, 10♥ 7♠ makes J-10-9-8-7 and A♣ 5♣ makes A-J-9-5-4 of clubs. Three clubs on the board is the warning sign: once a third card of one suit lands, your straight is playing for second place against anyone holding two of that suit.
Does a flush beat three of a kind?
Yes. A flush beats three of a kind, and it also beats two pair and everything under them.
Trips is a rank-only hand, and it sits two rows below the flush. If you hold three of a kind on a board showing three cards of one suit, treat a big bet as a flush until proven otherwise.
Does three of a kind beat a flush?
No. Three of a kind loses to a flush every time.
The only way trips beats that flush is by improving: pair the board on a later card and your three of a kind becomes a full house, which jumps above the flush. That takes a specific card on a specific street, so do not plan around it. Which version of three of a kind you are holding also changes how the hand plays, which is what trips versus a set works through.
Flush vs flush: who wins?
The highest card in the flush wins. If those tie, compare the second card, then the third, and so on down to the fifth.
Suits never break the tie. On a board of K♣ 9♣ 6♣ 2♣ 3♦, a player holding A♣ makes A-K-9-6-2 and a player holding Q♣ makes K-Q-9-6-2, so the ace plays and takes the pot. This is why the nut flush, the best flush the board allows, is worth so much more than a middling flush, and how to play one is its own question.
Four of a kind and straight flush matchups
These are the rare hands at the top of the matrix, and the questions about them are mostly about what can still beat you.
Does a straight flush beat four of a kind?
Yes. A straight flush beats four of a kind, including four aces.
A straight flush is five cards in sequence that are all the same suit, so it has to satisfy two conditions at once. That double requirement makes it rarer than quads, which is why it ranks above them. The board has to show three cards of one suit in a tight run before this matchup is even possible.
Does four of a kind beat a straight?
Yes, and by a wide margin. Four of a kind sits three rows above a straight.
Everything between them loses to quads as well: a full house and a flush are both second best to four of a kind. The only hands above four of a kind are the two straight-flush hands, so on most boards quads is the best hand available to anyone.
What beats four aces?
Only a straight flush or a royal flush. No other four of a kind beats four aces, because aces are the highest rank.
That makes four aces unbeatable on most boards, since a straight flush needs three cards of one suit in sequence on the board. There is one more case worth knowing: when the quads are entirely on the board, the fifth card decides. On 7♣ 7♦ 7♥ 7♠ K♦, a player holding A♠ plays 7-7-7-7-A and beats a player who plays the board’s king.
Does a royal flush beat quad aces?
Yes. A royal flush beats four aces, and it beats every other hand in the deck.
The royal flush is A-K-Q-J-10 of one suit, the highest possible straight flush, and nothing outranks it. If two players somehow hold the same royal flush using the board, the hands are identical and the pot is split. The odds of a royal flush explain why most players go years without seeing one.
Straight and lower matchups
Below the flush, the hands are ranked purely on how the cards pair up, and this is the band where most pots are actually decided.
What beats a straight?
A flush, a full house, four of a kind, a straight flush, and a royal flush. A higher straight beats yours too, which the tie-break rules below settle.
Everything else loses to a straight: three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card. When you hold a straight, the two boards to respect are a third card of one suit, which puts a flush in play, and a paired board, which puts a full house in play.
Does a straight beat three of a kind?
Yes. A straight beats three of a kind, and it beats two pair and one pair as well.
Five cards in sequence is rarer than three of a rank, so the straight ranks one row higher. This one surprises people because trips feels powerful in the hand, but a made straight is ahead of it at showdown.
Does a straight beat two pair?
Yes. A straight beats two pair, always, no matter how big the two pair is.
Aces and kings is the strongest two pair possible, and it still loses to the weakest straight on the board. Two rows separate them, and category always decides before card ranks do.
Does two pair beat three of a kind?
No. Three of a kind beats two pair, so two pair is behind.
If you hold two pair on a paired board, the danger is that somebody holding a card matching that board pair already has three of a kind. You have four cards left in the deck that would pair one of your two ranks again and make a full house, which is why two pair on a paired board plays much smaller than it looks.
What beats a pair?
A higher pair first, which the tie-break rules below settle, then two pair and everything above it: three of a kind, a straight, a flush, a full house, four of a kind, a straight flush, and a royal flush.
Below one pair there is only high card. That is worth remembering because one pair wins a large share of pots in real games, not because it is strong, but because most hands miss the board entirely and fold.
The tie-break rules that decide close calls
Once both players land in the same row of the matrix, the category stops deciding and these five rules take over.
Only the best five cards count. You make one hand out of your two hole cards and the five community cards, and a sixth card never breaks a tie. An ace sitting outside your best five does nothing at showdown.
Suits never break a tie. Spades are not worth more than clubs. Two players with the same five ranks split the pot, and no dealer will ever award it on suit, which the piece on what the suits actually do covers in full.
The kicker decides when the made part matches. With one pair, compare the pair rank, then the three side cards in order. With two pair, compare the higher pair, then the lower pair, then the single kicker. With four of a kind, the fifth card decides. A king kicker beating a queen kicker is one of the most common ways a pot is won at showdown.
Inside a category, ranks decide in a fixed order. Straights and flushes compare from the highest card down. Full houses compare the three of a kind first. Trips compare the trips, then the two side cards. Getting from seven cards to the right five is its own skill, and the best five-card hand rule walks through it.
When the board is the best hand, everybody chops. If nobody can beat the five community cards, the players still in the pot are playing the board and the pot is split evenly. In a pot with an all-in for less, the same comparison happens in each pot separately, which is what side pots exist to handle.
One more edge case that catches beginners: A-2-3-4-5 is a straight, called the wheel, and the ace plays low there, making it a five-high straight and the weakest one possible. A-K-Q-J-10 is Broadway, the highest straight. The ace is either high or low in a given hand, never both, so a straight cannot wrap around from king to ace to two. Q-K-A-2-3 is just an ace-high hand.
Learn the order for good
A page answers the question you searched. Getting to the point where you never search it again takes reps: seeing a paired board and thinking “somebody can have a full house” before you count your own outs. That is a pattern, and patterns come from repetition.
If you want the ordering as a single reference to keep open, the poker hand rankings chart has every hand with example cards and odds, and the hand rankings hub teaches the order from the top. If you want the reps instead, Poker Skill drills hand reading and showdown decisions in short guided sessions, with an explanation on every answer and no real-money gambling anywhere in it.