Best Texas Holdem Hands Ranked

Pocket Aces – statistically the best starting hand in Hold’em – are less than a 75% favorite against 2 or more opponents according to my Texas Hold’em hand rankings. If you’ve ever played Texas Hold’em you already know how important starting hand selection is. Download the Top Texas Hold’em Starting Hands Although the order of the best poker hands to start with is sometimes contested, this list will give you a rough idea of which hands are stronger than others: #1. Pocket Aces (A♠ A♥). Poker Hand Rankings & The Best Texas Hold’em Poker Hands Note: You may have noticed a lack of small pocket pairs and suited connectors on this list. Such hands are often worth playing, but because of their more speculative nature, they do not crack the top 20 best starting hands in No Limit Texas Hold'em. Official poker rankings: ties and kickers. Poker is all about making the best five-card poker hand from the seven cards available (five community cards plus your own two hole cards). That means in the event of a tie with four of a kind, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, or high card, a side card, or 'kicker', comes into play to decide who. Pocket Aces – statistically the best starting hand in Hold’em – are less than a 75% favorite against 2 or more opponents according to my Texas Hold’em hand rankings. If you’ve ever played Texas Hold’em you already know how important starting hand selection is.

Knowing your poker hands is crucial to playing a solid game at the table, and regardless of whether you’re playing Texas Hold’em, or Omaha, you’ll always want to know the value of your hand. When you have this knowledge at your disposal, you’ll be able to make an informed decision on whether to raise, check, call, or fold your hand when it matters most.

In this post, we’re going to look at the winning poker hands structure of two different games; Texas Hold’em, and Omaha – and we’ll begin by taking a look at a poker hands chart, followed by the best and worst starting hands. We’ll also show you a list of poker hands to help you make the right decisions in your game.

Texas Hold’em Winning Poker Hands Ranking

In this guide, you’ll see that there are a total of 10 hands in Texas Hold’em poker (or 9 if you don’t count ‘no pair’ as a hand), and we’ll detail these below. (The winning poker hands chart below shows a list of poker hands, ranked best, to worst).

Royal Flush: Ten, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, all of the same suit.

Straight Flush: Any 5 cards of the same suit, in consecutive order. (I.e. 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of spades).

4-of-a-kind: 4 cards of the same value (i.e. the 5 of spades, the 5 of hearts, the 5 of clubs, and the 5 of diamonds).

Full House: A full house consists of one 3-of-a-kind hand, and one pair, so for instance, a full house could be the 2 of spades, the 2 of diamonds, the 2 of clubs, and a pair of Aces.

Flush: Five cards of the same suit (i.e. 2, 3, 7, 8, and 9 of hearts).

Straight: Five cards in consecutive order (i.e. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, off-suit).

3-of-a-kind: Three cards of the same value (I.e. 3 of clubs, 3 or spades, and the 3 of hearts).

Two Pair: Two pairs in one hand – i.e. a pair of 2’s, and a pair of 3’s.

One Pair: One singular pair – i.e. a pair of Aces.

No Pair: A no pair hand is when you don’t have any of the above. In this instance, you have what is known as a ‘high card hard’.

Use the poker hands chart above to ensure you’re always in full control of your game!

Omaha Poker Hands Ranking

Omaha uses the exact same hand-ranking process as Texas Hold’em does, and while it may seem as though that’s a little ‘odd’ at first, remember that Omaha is almost identical, aside from the fact that players have four cards, and that betting is usually pot-limit.

This means that a Royal Flush is the best possible hand in a game of Omaha, and high-card (while incredibly unusual due to the 4 cards each player holds) is the lowest possible hand.

For a full guide on playing Omaha, be sure to check out our How to Play Omaha guide.

Best Starting Poker Hands

Knowing your winning poker hands is crucial if you want to play a solid game of poker – and below, we share how to determine whether or not you have a winner on your hand!

Texas Hold’em: The best starting hand is a pair of Aces. A pair of aces (also known as pocket rockets) are a favourite pre-flop over any other starting hand and is almost always one of the best winning poker hands. The second, and third best starting hands are a pair of Kings and Queens respectively, followed by Ace-King suited, pocket Jacks, pocket Tens, and then Ace-Queen suited. The 10th best starting hand is Ace-King Offsuit – which is actually still a very strong hand.

Omaha: Working out winning poker hands in Omaha is a little more complex than Texas Hold’em, when looking at the best starting hands, although mathematically, the best starting hands can be determined.

For example, the strongest hand is AAKK, followed by AAJT, AAQQ, and AAJJ. It’s worth noting however, that the best possible hand in Omaha holds little value against a full-ring of players, hence the need to play aggressively, pre-flop and post-flop; see our poker hands chart for more details.

Worst Poker Starting Hands

Determining the worst starting hands in poker is a little more challenging – largely due to the fact that most players simply have knowledge of the better starting hands – yet knowing what the worst starting hands are is just as important, as it allows you to know when to throw away your hands pre-flop. Below, we look at the worst starting hands for both Texas Hold’em and Omaha.

Texas Hold’em: 2-7 offsuit (this is well-known as the worst starting hand in poker, due to the fact that it’s often used as side-bets in games.) 7-2 offsuit is followed by 8-2 offsuit, 8-3 offsuit, 7-3 offsuit, 6-2 offsuit, 9-2, 9-3, and 9-4 offsuit.

Omaha: Unfortunately, with Omaha, there isn’t an ‘official’ list of worst poker hands – purely due to the fact that there would be too many to list. However, most professionals and poker experts agree that any starting hand that combines any of the worst starting hands in Texas Hold’em generally constitute a very poor starting hand in Omaha too – so it’s worth throwing these away most of the time, pre-flop. If in doubt, consult the list of winning poker hands ranking above.

Table Of Contents

Looking for an easy-to-understand and printable list of poker hands to know what-beats-what in Texas hold'em? You've come to the right place.

Learning the poker hand rankings and what are the best hands in poker is the number one thing you need to do before you sit down and play cards at the best UK online poker sites.

You want to know the strength of all poker hands and find out what is the best hand in poker before you begin to play with other players.

To help you learn everything about all the Texas hold'em hands and know what beats what in poker, we prepared a key page for all beginners: the official poker hands rankings.

In this page, you'll find:

  • and lots more

In other words, if you are looking for a list of all poker hands ranked in order of strength and importance - you'll love this page.

Poker Hands Rankings: List of All Poker Hands

About to play your first poker hands? Let's see what beats what in Texas hold'em poker. This list of poker hands is essential to become a successful player and to know how to read the board in poker.

Royal Flush

This is the best hand in poker. The Royal Flush is a very difficult poker hand to get - but when you do, you have the hame in your hands.

A Royal Flush consists of five consecutive cards (10 through ace) of the same suit.

Example of a Royal Flush:

Straight Flush

The second-best hand in the list of all poker hands. Holding a straight flush is almost always sign that you will win the hand.

You don't have mathematical certitude, but it's really hard to be beaten when you have Straight Flush to support you. Why?

Because it beats all other poker hands except for the Royal Flush and a Straight Flush higher in value.

A Straight Flush consists of five consecutive cards of the same suit that are not 10 through ace.

Example of a Straight Flush:

Four-of-a-Kind

Another premium poker hand that will help you win a lot of pots.

A four-of-a-kind is a four-card poker hand consisting of the same card in all the four suits in the game.

Example of a four-of-a-kind:

Full House

This strong poker hand is the combination of two different hands: the three-of-a-kind and the pair.

A full-house poker hand is composed of three same cards in different suits and a pair of cards of the same ranks but (again) of different suits.

Example of a full house:

Best texas holdem hands ranked poker

Flush

This is also a strong poker hand - even if it's not the best hand in poker and a large number of players tend to overestimate its strength.

The flush is a five-card poker hand composed by cards of the same suit. The cards' ranks are irrelevant.

Example of a flush:

Best texas holdem starting hands

Straight

A straight is a five-card poker hand composed by consecutive cards in different suits.

Remember: the flush beat the straight in poker. And the straight beat the three-of-a-kind.

While the Ace can be counted both as 1 or a K, you can't have a straight with two Aces.

Example of a straight:

Three-of-a-Kind

The three-of-a-kind is a poker hand composed of three cards of the same rank but different suits.

Example of a three-of-a-kind:

Two Pairs

A four-card poker hand made by two separate pairs, cards of the same rank but different suits.

Example of a two pair:

Pair

One of the most basic and weakest poker hands.

The pair is a two-card poker hand composed by two cards of the same rank but different suits.

Example of a pair:

Hight Card

The weakest hand in poker and the last one in our list of poker hands. In this case, your 'poker hand' is nothing but the highest-denomination card in your hand.

Example of a high card:

In the example above, the 'high card' is the King of hearts.

Poker Hands Cheat Sheet

Best Texas Holdem Hands Ranked Games

Getting ready for a game? Print the free poker hands cheat sheet and bring it with you the next time you play poker!

Click on the image below to download the poker hands ranking in PDF and use it when you play poker. To help you hide your doubts about poker hands from your opponents, we grouped all poker hands in one cheat-sheet…they will never know what you are looking at!

What Beats What in Poker?

Did you go through the poker hands rankings but you are still not sure about what beats what in poker?

The table below is the answer to all your questions.

Poker HandBeatsDoesn't beat
Royal FlushAll poker handsN/A
Straight FlushHigh Card, Pair, Two Pairs, Three-of-a-Kind, Straight, Flush, Full House, Four-of-a-KindRoyal Flush
Four-of-a-KindHigh Card, Pair, Two Pairs, Three-of-a-Kind, Straight, Flush, Full HouseRoyal Flush, Straight Flush
Full HouseHigh Card, Pair, Two Pairs, Three-of-a-Kind, Straight, FlushRoyal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind
FlushHigh Card, Pair, Two Pairs, Three-of-a-Kind, StraightRoyal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House
StraightHigh Card, Pair, Two Pairs, Three-of-a-KindRoyal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush
Three-of-a-KindHigh Card, Pair, Two PairsRoyal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight
Two PairsHigh Card, PairRoyal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-of-a-Kind
PairHigh CardRoyal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-of-a-Kind, Two Pairs

Poker Hand FAQs

What is the best hand in poker?

The best hand in poker is the Royal Flush, a five-card poker hand made of consecutive cards (10 through Ace) of the same suit.

What hands to play in poker?

Most pros agree that beginners should only play premium hands, even if this means that most of the game will be spent folding preflop.

If two players have a four-of-a-kind at the same time, who is the winner?

When two players have a four-of-a-kind each in the same hand, the winner is the player with the highest-ranking four cards.

Best Texas Holdem Hands Ranked Game

If two players have the same four-of-a-kind, who is the winner?

Texas Holdem Poker Hand Ranking

When two players have the same four-of-a-kind each in the same hand, the winner is the player with the highest 'kicker' — the fifth card in their hand.