Does a Flush Beat a Straight in Poker?

Flush	Straight
Five cards of the same suit, in any order: A♠ J♠ 8♠ 6♠ 3♠	Five cards in sequence, in any suits: 9♠ 8♥ 7♦ 6♣ 5♠
Fifth-best hand in standard poker	Sixth-best hand in standard poker
5,108 five-card hands (0.197%, about 1 in 509)	10,200 five-card hands (0.392%, about 1 in 255)
Best hand by the Hold’em river 3.0% of the time (1 in 33)	Best hand by the Hold’em river 4.6% of the time (1 in 22)
Best: A-K-Q-J-9 of one suit; worst: 7-5-4-3-2 of one suit	Best: A-K-Q-J-10; worst: 5-4-3-2-A (the wheel)
Two flushes: compare the highest card, then the next, down to the fifth	Two straights: compare the top card only; same top card splits
Beats a straight, three of a kind and everything below	Beats three of a kind and everything below
Loses to a full house, four of a kind and a straight flush	Loses to a flush and everything above it

Exact counts over all 2,598,960 five-card and 133,784,560 seven-card hands, counting each hand by its best five cards. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

It’s one of the most common questions at a poker table, and one of the easiest to get wrong in the moment, because a straight looks like a strong hand and a flush can hide in plain sight. The short answer never changes: flush over straight. This guide explains why, then goes further: how often each hand appears in every game and on every street, what happens when both are possible on the same board, how straight draws and flush draws do against each other, how often a straight loses to a flush at tables of every size, and how to play a straight when three cards of a suit are showing.

Every probability here was calculated by the TopSitesPoker.com editorial team, either exactly, by counting every possible combination of cards, or by large simulations where exact counting isn’t practical. The only exceptions are the video poker frequencies, which come from the Wizard of Odds. Each example was checked with a hand evaluator.

Why a Flush Beats a Straight

Poker hands are ranked by how hard they are to make in a five-card deal: the rarer the hand, the higher it ranks. A flush is rarer than a straight, so it ranks higher. The counting is simple enough to do by hand:

• Flushes: choose a suit (4 ways) and five of its 13 ranks (C(13,5) = 1,287 ways), for 5,148 hands. Forty of those are straight flushes, which rank higher, leaving 5,108 flushes.
• Straights: there are 10 sequences, from A-K-Q-J-10 down to 5-4-3-2-A, and each card can be any of 4 suits, for 10 × 4⁵ = 10,240 hands. Take away the same 40 straight flushes, leaving 10,200 straights.

So in a five-card deal, a straight is almost exactly twice as common as a flush, 10,200 against 5,108. That’s why the flush sits one place higher in the rankings. Nothing about the ranks involved changes this: the lowest flush, 7-5-4-3-2 of one suit, beats the highest straight, A-K-Q-J-10.

 

A flush ranks higher because it’s rarer: a five-card deal holds half as many flushes as straights.

Does it hold with seven cards?

Hand rankings are always based on five-card deals, but it’s fair to ask whether the order would change in a seven-card game like Hold’em. It doesn’t. With more cards the gap narrows, but straights stay more common at every stage:

Cards seen	Flush as best hand	Straight as best hand	Straights per flush
5 (a five-card deal, or the Hold’em flop)	5,108 of 2,598,960 (0.197%)	10,200 (0.392%)	2.00
6 (the Hold’em turn)	205,792 of 20,358,520 (1.01%)	361,620 (1.78%)	1.76
7 (the Hold’em river, or Stud’s seventh street)	4,047,644 of 133,784,560 (3.03%)	6,180,020 (4.62%)	1.53

Exact counts by TopSitesPoker.com over every possible hand, counting each by its best five cards.

The ratio shrinks because extra cards help flushes a little more than straights: once you hold four cards of a suit, any of the other nine cards of that suit completes the flush, while a straight needs one of a few specific ranks. But even with seven cards, you’ll make a straight about one and a half times as often as a flush.

The same logic in other games

Game	Flush	Straight	Straights per flush
Five-card deal	0.197%	0.392%	2.00
Texas Hold’em or Seven Card Stud, by the river	3.03%	4.62%	1.53
Omaha, by the river	6.7%	11.3%	1.68
Short Deck, five cards (36-card deck)	0.127% (480 of 376,992)	1.62% (6,120)	12.8
Short Deck Hold’em, by the river	2.10%	14.0%	6.66

Exact counts by TopSitesPoker.com, except Omaha (a TopSitesPoker.com simulation of 200,000,000 hands). Short Deck counts treat A-6-7-8-9 as the lowest straight and rank the flush above the full house.

 

Share of hands whose best hand is a flush or a straight, with every hand played to the end.

In every game, the straight is the more common hand, so the flush ranks higher everywhere. Short Deck shows the principle most clearly: with only nine ranks per suit, flushes become so rare, 12.75 times rarer than straights in five cards, that most Short Deck rules move the flush above the full house as well.

Where the Flush and the Straight Sit in the Rankings

Here’s the full order of poker hands, with the flush and the straight in the middle. Each hand beats every hand below it and loses to every hand above it:

Rank	Hand	Example	Five-card hands	Seven-card hands (best five)
1	Royal flush	A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠	4	4,324
2	Straight flush	9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 5♥	36	37,260
3	Four of a kind	Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ Q♣ 7♠	624	224,848
4	Full house	J♠ J♥ J♦ 4♣ 4♠	3,744	3,473,184
5	Flush	A♠ J♠ 8♠ 6♠ 3♠	5,108	4,047,644
6	Straight	9♠ 8♥ 7♦ 6♣ 5♠	10,200	6,180,020
7	Three of a kind	7♠ 7♥ 7♦ K♣ 2♠	54,912	6,461,620
8	Two pair	K♠ K♥ 8♦ 8♣ A♠	123,552	31,433,400
9	One pair	Q♠ Q♥ A♦ 9♣ 4♠	1,098,240	58,627,800
10	High card	A♠ J♦ 8♣ 6♥ 3♠	1,302,540	23,294,460

Exact over all 2,598,960 five-card and 133,784,560 seven-card hands. Seven-card counts are by the best five cards. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

What beats a flush, and what a straight beats

• Only three hands beat a flush: a full house, four of a kind and a straight flush (including the royal flush).
• A straight beats three of a kind, two pair, one pair and high card, and loses to a flush and everything above it.
• The two neighbors of the pair are also worth knowing: a flush loses to a full house, which is rarer again (3,744 five-card hands), and a straight beats three of a kind, which is more common (54,912).

One more quirk of the table: with seven cards, three of a kind is slightly more common than a straight (6,461,620 against 6,180,020), even though a straight ranks higher. That’s because rankings come from five-card odds, where three of a kind is more than five times as common. The flush-over-straight order has no such wrinkle: the flush is rarer with five, six or seven cards.

Which Flushes and Which Straights Come Up Most

Flushes and straights also differ in how their strength is spread. Most flushes are high flushes, while straights come in every size about equally often:

Top card	Share of five-card flushes	Share of seven-card flushes	Share of seven-card straights
Ace	38.6%	39.2%	12.1%
King	25.8%	25.9%	9.8%
Queen	16.4%	16.3%	9.8%
Jack	9.8%	9.6%	9.8%
Ten	5.4%	5.2%	9.8%
Nine	2.7%	2.6%	9.8%
Eight	1.1%	1.0%	9.8%
Seven	0.3%	0.3%	9.8%
Six	None	None	9.8%
Five (the wheel)	None	None	9.8%

Exact over all 5,108 five-card flushes and, with seven cards, all 4,047,644 flushes and 6,180,020 straights, by the best five cards. In five-card deals, each of the ten straights makes up exactly 10.0%. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

A flush can’t have a six or a five on top, because 6-5-4-3-2 of one suit is a straight flush. Beyond that, the higher the top card, the more ways there are to fill in the four cards below it, so ace-high flushes are the most common by far: 1,972 of the 5,108 five-card flushes, or 38.6%. Four flushes in five are queen high or better.

Straights work differently. In a five-card deal, each of the ten straights appears exactly 1,020 times. With seven cards, the ace-high straight gains a little ground, 12.1% against 9.8% for each of the others, because it’s the only straight that can’t be improved into a higher one by an extra card. A 9-8-7-6-5 with a ten among your seven cards is played as a ten-high straight.

That spread has a practical side. When an opponent shows down a flush, it’s usually a big one; when they show a straight, it could be any of the ten with about equal chance. And a low flush, eight high or lower, is less than 2% of all flushes, so if you hold one, remember that most of the flushes it could run into are higher.

When You Have a Straight and a Flush at the Same Time

In seven-card games like Hold’em and Stud, one player can hold both a straight and a flush in the same seven cards. Your hand is always the best five cards, so the flush plays, unless the straight and the flush are the same five cards, which makes a straight flush.

It happens more than you might expect. Of the 4,047,644 seven-card hands whose best hand is a flush, 232,668, or 5.75%, also contain a separate straight. For example, with 6♠ 5♠ on a board of 9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♦ K♠, you have both 9-8-7-6-5 (a straight) and K♠ 9♠ 8♠ 6♠ 5♠ (a flush). Your hand is the king-high flush. The 7♥ is the only reason it isn’t a straight flush.

In fact, no seven-card hand with a flush can also hold a full house or four of a kind. The five suited cards are all different ranks, and the two other cards can add at most three of a kind, never a full house. So when a straight and a flush are both present, the best hand is always the flush or, if five cards line up in one suit, the straight flush.

Straight flush: when both are the same five cards

When five cards are in sequence and of the same suit, the hand is a straight flush, the second-best hand in poker, which beats every flush and every straight. There are only 40 straight flushes among the 2,598,960 five-card hands, including the four royal flushes. That’s the only situation where “straight” and “flush” combine into something better than a flush.

Your seven cards	Straight?	Flush?	Your hand
6♠ 5♠ + 9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♦ K♠	Yes (9-high)	Yes (king-high)	King-high flush
6♠ 5♠ + 9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 2♦ K♥	Yes	Yes	Nine-high straight flush
J♦ 10♣ + 9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♦ K♠	Yes (jack-high)	No, only three spades	Jack-high straight
A♠ 4♠ + 9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♦ K♠	No	Yes (ace-high)	Ace-high flush, the nuts: no other player can hold the A♠, so no hand beats it

Every hand checked with a hand evaluator.

Comparing Flushes, Straights and the Two Against Each Other

Three kinds of showdown come up, and each has its own rule:

• Flush against straight: the flush always wins. No rank, kicker or suit can change that.
• Flush against flush: compare the highest cards; if they match, the second-highest, and so on down to the fifth. All five cards can decide the pot. Suits never break a tie.
• Straight against straight: compare only the top card of each straight. The higher top card wins; the same top card splits the pot. There are no kickers in a straight, and the wheel, 5-4-3-2-A, is the lowest straight because its ace plays low.

 

Hand categories are compared first; ranks only matter between two hands of the same kind.

Hand A	Hand B	Winner	Why
A♠ J♠ 8♠ 6♠ 3♠ (flush)	A♦ K♣ Q♥ J♥ 10♦ (straight)	A	Any flush beats any straight
7♥ 5♥ 4♥ 3♥ 2♥ (the lowest flush)	A♣ K♦ Q♠ J♣ 10♠ (the highest straight)	A	Still flush over straight
K♥ Q♥ 9♥ 6♥ 3♥	K♣ Q♣ 9♣ 6♣ 2♣	A	Two flushes: the fifth card, three against two, decides
9♠ 8♥ 7♦ 6♣ 5♠	8♣ 7♥ 6♠ 5♦ 4♥	A	Two straights: nine high beats eight high
A♠ K♦ Q♣ J♥ 10♠	A♥ K♣ Q♦ J♠ 10♥	Split	Same straight; suits don’t count
6♦ 5♣ 4♠ 3♥ 2♦	5♥ 4♣ 3♦ 2♠ A♣	A	Six high beats the wheel, where the ace plays low

Every comparison checked with a hand evaluator.

The second row is the one to remember. The lowest possible flush, seven high, beats the highest possible straight, ace high. Hand categories are compared first, and ranks only matter between two hands of the same category.

When Both Are Possible: Reading the Board

In Hold’em, the board tells you what’s possible. A flush is possible only when at least three cards of one suit are showing; a straight is possible when three board cards fit inside a run of five ranks. Here’s how often each is possible on each street, counting every possible board:

Board	Flush possible (3+ of a suit)	Straight possible	Both possible
Flop (3 cards)	5.2%	18.5%	1.2%
Turn (4 cards)	17.5%	47.7%	9.1%
River (5 cards)	37.1%	74.7%	28.8%

Exact over all 22,100 flops, 270,725 turn boards and 2,598,960 river boards. “Straight possible” means some player’s two hole cards could complete a straight with three board cards. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

 

Exact over every flop, turn and river board.

By the river, a straight is possible on three boards in four, and a flush on more than a third. On 28.8% of river boards, both are possible, and that’s where a straight is most at risk.

How much a flush on the board costs a straight

Here’s how many of the 990 hands a single opponent could hold beat you on a few river boards:

Your hand	Board	Your hand	Hands that beat you	Ties
J♦ 10♣	9♠ 8♥ 7♣ 2♦ K♥	Jack-high straight, no flush possible	0	9
J♦ 10♣	9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♦ K♠	Jack-high straight, three spades	45 (all flushes)	8
10♣ 6♦	9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♦ K♠	Ten-high straight, three spades	56 (45 flushes, 11 higher straights)	8
J♦ 10♣	9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 2♦ K♠	Jack-high straight, four spades	360 (357 flushes, 3 straight flushes)	4
6♠ 5♠	9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♦ K♠	King-high flush (and a straight)	25 (higher flushes)	0
A♠ 4♠	9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♦ K♠	Ace-high flush, the nuts	0	0

Exact over all 990 possible opponent hands on each board. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

The same jack-high straight goes from unbeatable to losing to 45 hands on a board with three spades, and to losing to more than a third of all hands when a fourth arrives. With four of a suit on the board, any single card of that suit makes a flush. That’s the most important board-reading habit for a straight: count the suits before you count your cards.

What’s the best possible hand on the river?

Another way to read a board is to ask what the nuts, the best possible hand, is. Here’s how often each hand is the nuts across every possible five-card Hold’em board:

Best possible hand on the board	Share of river boards	When
Straight flush	10.1%	Three cards of one suit within a span of five ranks
Four of a kind	45.2%	Any paired board, when no straight flush is possible
Flush	15.0%	Unpaired board, three or more of a suit, no straight flush possible
Straight	27.9%	Unpaired board, no flush possible, three cards within five ranks
Three of a kind	1.8%	Unpaired board with no flush or straight possible

Exact over all 2,598,960 river boards. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

On an unpaired board, no one can have a full house or four of a kind, so the question comes down to flushes and straights. A straight is possible on 93.9% of unpaired river boards and a flush on 41.4%; both are possible on 38.9%. Whenever a flush is possible on an unpaired board and no straight flush is, the best flush is the nuts, and even the best straight ranks below every possible flush. That’s why a straight on a three-flush board can be a strong hand but is never the nuts.

Which Starting Hands Make Flushes and Which Make Straights

Suited cards make flushes; connected cards make straights. Here’s how often some common Hold’em starting hands finish the river with each, counting every possible board:

Starting hand	Flush by the river	Straight by the river	Straight flush
J♠ 10♠ (suited connectors)	6.38%	8.62%	0.199%
5♠ 4♠ (small suited connectors)	6.38%	8.62%	0.199%
9♠ 7♠ (suited one-gapper)	6.43%	7.27%	0.154%
A♠ K♠ (suited broadway)	6.53%	3.09%	0.055%
A♠ 5♠ (suited ace, wheel card)	6.52%	4.14%	0.061%
K♠ 2♠ (suited, far apart)	6.57%	1.83%	0.010%
J♠ 10♦ (offsuit connectors)	1.95%	9.18%	0.021%
A♠ K♦ (offsuit broadway)	1.96%	3.30%	0.010%
10♠ 10♦ (pocket pair)	1.95%	2.35%	0.023%
7♠ 2♦ (offsuit, far apart)	1.96%	2.67%	0.016%

Exact over all 2,118,760 boards for each starting hand. Each column counts hands whose best hand is that hand, so a flush that is also a straight flush counts only as a straight flush. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

 

Suited cards make flushes and connected cards make straights; straight flushes are counted separately.

Being suited more than triples your chance of a flush. In fact, counting straight flushes, every suited hand makes a flush or a straight flush exactly as often, 6.58% of the time, and every hand with two different suits, pocket pairs included, about 1.97%. The ranks don’t matter; only the suits do. What changes from one suited hand to another is how many of those flushes turn into straight flushes: J♠ 10♠ makes a straight flush 0.199% of the time and K♠ 2♠ only 0.010%.

Being connected more than triples your chance of a straight: J♠ 10♦ makes one 9.18% of the time, against 2.67% for 7♠ 2♦. Suited connectors get both, which is why they’re prized in deep-stacked games: J♠ 10♠ makes a flush or straight flush 6.58% of the time and a straight 8.62%. Notice that even for suited connectors, the straight comes more often than the flush, the same pattern that puts the flush above the straight in the rankings.

Flush Draws vs Straight Draws

Most flushes and straights in Hold’em are finished on the turn or the river, so the flush-against-straight question often begins as a question about draws. Which draw do you flop more often, which one gets there more often, and what happens when a draw runs into a hand that’s already made?

How often you flop each draw

Starting hand	Flush draw	Eight-out straight draw	Gutshot	Flush made on the flop	Straight made on the flop
J♠ 10♠	10.94%	9.71%	16.82%	0.84%	1.31%
J♠ 10♦	2.24%	9.71%	16.82%	0%	1.31%
9♠ 7♠	10.94%	7.67%	14.78%	0.84%	0.98%
A♠ K♠	10.94%	0%	11.35%	0.84%	0.33%
A♠ K♦	2.24%	0%	11.35%	0%	0.33%
10♠ 10♦	2.24%	1.31%	3.92%	0%	0%
7♠ 2♦	2.24%	1.63%	4.57%	0%	0%
All starting hands, on average	4.29%	3.33%	9.93%	0.20%	0.39%

Exact over all 19,600 flops for each starting hand, and over every starting hand for the average. A flush draw is exactly four cards of one suit. An eight-out straight draw is an open-ended or double-gutshot draw, where two different ranks would complete a straight; a gutshot has one. Draws are counted separately, so a hand can appear in two columns, and the made-hand columns include straight flushes. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

A suited hand flops a flush draw 10.9% of the time. An offsuit hand needs three cards of one of its suits on the flop, which happens only 2.2% of the time. Connected cards flop straight draws: J-10 gets an eight-out draw 9.7% of the time and a gutshot 16.8%, while A-K never flops an eight-out straight draw, because a straight can’t run past the ace in either direction, so only one rank can ever complete it.

Averaged over every starting hand, you flop a flush draw slightly more often than an eight-out straight draw, 4.29% against 3.33%. That might seem to contradict the rankings. It doesn’t, because straights have far more ways to arrive: gutshots are flopped on almost 10% of flops, and straights also come from backdoor draws and from boards that do most of the work. Add up every route, and the straight still finishes about one and a half times as often as the flush.

Outs and odds for each draw

Draw	Outs	Flop to river (two cards)	Turn to river (one card)
Flush draw	9	35.0%	19.6%
Open-ended straight draw or double gutshot	8	31.5%	17.4%
Open-ended straight draw with two “dirty” outs (6 clean)	6	24.1%	13.0%
Gutshot	4	16.5%	8.7%
Flush draw plus open-ended straight draw	15	54.1%	32.6%
Backdoor flush draw (three suited cards on the flop)	Runner-runner	4.2%	None

Exact: 47 unseen cards from the flop, 46 from the turn, assuming every out is live. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

A flush draw has one more out than an open-ended straight draw, 9 against 8, so it gets there a little more often: 35.0% against 31.5% from the flop to the river. A straight draw also has a weakness a flush draw doesn’t. When two cards of a suit are on the board, some of its outs make the straight and someone else’s flush at the same time. Those are called dirty outs, and they can turn a winning card into a losing one.

Draw against draw, and made hand against draw

Situation	Hands	Board	Equity
Made straight against the nut flush draw, on the flop	J♦ 10♣ against A♠ 4♠	9♠ 8♠ 7♥	63.4% against 36.6%
The same, on the turn	J♦ 10♣ against A♠ 4♠	9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♦	79.5% against 20.5%
Made flush against an open-ended straight draw	A♠ 3♠ against J♦ 10♥	9♠ 8♠ 2♠	100% against 0%
Open-ended straight draw against the nut flush draw	J♦ 10♣ against A♠ 4♠	9♠ 8♠ 2♥	29.6% against 70.4%
Open-ended straight draw with dirty outs	10♦ 9♣ against A♠ 4♠	J♠ 8♠ 2♥	29.6% against 70.4%
The same draw against top pair instead	10♦ 9♣ against A♥ J♦	J♠ 8♠ 2♥	34.2% against 65.8%
Flush draw plus straight draw against top pair	J♠ 10♠ against A♥ 9♦	9♠ 8♥ 2♠	68.9% against 31.1%
Straight draw against flush draw plus gutshot	Q♦ J♣ against 7♠ 6♠	10♠ 9♠ 2♥	50.0% against 50.0%
Made straight against a set	J♦ 10♣ against 9♥ 9♦	9♠ 8♠ 7♥	65.1% against 34.9%
Set against the nut flush draw	9♥ 9♦ against A♠ Q♠	9♠ 8♠ 7♥	73.5% against 26.5%

Exact over every possible turn and river. Equity counts a split pot as half a win. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

 

Exact with 47 unseen cards, assuming every out is live.

Three patterns stand out:

• A made straight is a solid favorite over a flush draw, about 63–37 on the flop and 80–20 on the turn. The flush draw needs its suit to come, and the straight is still winning when it doesn’t.
• A made flush leaves a straight draw drawing dead unless the draw can also make a higher flush, a full house or a straight flush. In the A♠ 3♠ against J♦ 10♥ example, no turn and river can save the straight draw: even when the queen or seven comes, the straight still loses to the flush.
• Dirty outs cost real equity. With 10♦ 9♣ on J♠ 8♠ 2♥, you have eight straight outs. Against A♥ J♦, with no flush draw, your straight wins on 324 of the 990 possible turn-and-river run-outs. Against the nut flush draw A♠ 4♠, it wins on only 195: the Q♠ and 7♠ make your straight and their flush, and a clean straight card can still lose when a spade comes on the other street. Your total equity against A♠ 4♠ is 29.6%, part of it from pairing up against their ace high, and if the turn is a blank like the 3♦, it falls to 22.7%.

The Q♦ J♣ against 7♠ 6♠ hand shows how quickly the two draws interact. Q-J makes a straight with a king or an eight, but the K♠ gives 7♠ 6♠ a flush and the 8♠ gives it a straight flush. Any other eight gives both players a straight, and Q-J’s is higher. 7♠ 6♠ wins with any of the nine spades left, or by pairing a seven or a six when Q-J doesn’t improve. When neither hand improves, Q-J wins with queen high. It all adds up to an exact coin flip.

How Often a Straight Runs Into a Flush

A flush beats a straight every time they meet, but how often do they meet? To find out, we simulated 400,000,000 Hold’em deals at every table size from two to nine players, with every player seeing all five board cards. Here’s how often each hand shows up and how often a straight loses to a flush:

Players	Someone has a straight	Someone has a flush	A straight loses to a flush	Winning hand is a straight	Winning hand is a flush
2	8.3%	5.3%	1 deal in 431	8.0%	5.2%
3	11.6%	7.3%	1 in 174	10.8%	7.0%
4	14.5%	9.0%	1 in 102	13.1%	8.5%
5	17.1%	10.4%	1 in 70	15.0%	9.7%
6	19.4%	11.8%	1 in 53	16.6%	10.8%
7	21.5%	13.0%	1 in 42	17.9%	11.8%
8	23.4%	14.2%	1 in 35	19.1%	12.7%
9	25.2%	15.3%	1 in 30	20.1%	13.4%

TopSitesPoker.com simulation, 400,000,000 deals per table size, every player seeing the river. “A straight loses to a flush” counts deals where the winning hand is a flush and at least one other player has a straight. The winning-hand columns include split pots.

Heads-up, a straight loses to a flush about once in every 431 deals. At a full nine-handed table, with everyone seeing the river, it’s about once in 30. The cooler grows much faster than the table: going from two players to nine multiplies the number of opponents by eight, but it makes a straight-against-flush showdown about 14 times more common, because each extra player adds both another chance for a straight and another chance for a flush.

Notice also that the winning hand is a straight more often than a flush at every table size. That’s the rankings at work again: straights are more common, so they win more pots, even though they lose every head-to-head with a flush.

What happens to a straight at showdown

Players	Straight wins	Splits	Loses	Loses to a flush	Loses to a higher straight	Loses to a full house or better
2	80.7%	12.2%	7.1%	2.5%	3.7%	0.9%
3	70.6%	16.3%	13.1%	4.6%	6.9%	1.7%
4	62.3%	19.5%	18.3%	6.3%	9.5%	2.5%
5	55.3%	22.0%	22.7%	7.8%	11.7%	3.2%
6	49.4%	24.0%	26.6%	9.1%	13.6%	3.9%
7	44.4%	25.5%	30.1%	10.2%	15.2%	4.6%
8	40.1%	26.7%	33.2%	11.3%	16.6%	5.3%
9	36.5%	27.6%	35.9%	12.3%	17.7%	5.9%

Share of all players whose best hand is a straight, in the same simulation. The three loss columns add up to the “Loses” column, apart from rounding. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

 

Every player seeing the river; 400,000,000 simulated deals per table size.

Three things stand out:

• A straight’s biggest threat is another straight, not a flush. At every table size, about half of a straight’s losses are to a higher straight and about a third are to a flush. Straights are common enough that two players often hold one, and the higher one wins.
• Straights split a lot. When the board holds four or five cards of a straight, several players can play the same one. Nine-handed, 27.6% of straights end in a split pot. A flush rarely splits: 3.5% of flushes heads-up and 0.3% nine-handed, since two flushes are compared on all five cards.
• Both hands lose their shine at a crowded table. Heads-up, a straight wins outright 80.7% of the time and a flush 85.0%. Nine-handed, with everyone seeing the river, a straight wins outright only 36.5% of the time and a flush 49.3%.

What happens to a flush at showdown

Players	Flush wins	Splits	Loses	Flush wins while a straight is at the table
2	85.0%	3.5%	11.6%	3.8%
4	69.8%	1.8%	28.4%	8.1%
6	59.5%	0.9%	39.6%	10.4%
9	49.3%	0.3%	50.4%	12.1%

Share of all players whose best hand is a flush, in the same simulation. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

A flush loses mostly to higher flushes, because on a board with three or four cards of a suit, several players can have a flush at once. Heads-up, 9.9% of flushes lose to a higher flush and 1.6% to a full house or better; nine-handed, it’s 39.8% and 10.5%, according to a further 100,000,000-deal simulation at each of those table sizes. The last column shows how often a flush beats a straight at the table: heads-up, 3.8% of flushes win against an opponent holding a straight; nine-handed, 12.1% of flushes win a pot in which at least one opponent holds a straight.

These figures describe the worst case for big hands, with every player staying to the river. In real games, most players fold before the river, so actual showdowns are smaller and each hand wins more often. The patterns, though, hold in any game: the more players see the river, the more often a straight runs into a flush.

Flush vs Straight Showdowns: Worked Examples

Here are thirteen Hold’em showdowns where flushes and straights meet, including a few that catch out experienced players. In each one, both players use their best five of seven cards.

Board	Player A	Player B	Winner	Why
9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♠ K♦	J♦ 10♣: jack-high straight	4♠ 3♠: nine-high flush	B	Any flush beats any straight
8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 9♣ 2♥	J♣ 10♦: jack-high straight	A♦ 3♥: eight-high flush	B	With four hearts showing, one heart is enough
8♥ 7♥ 6♥ 9♣ 2♥	5♥ 4♦: flush, 8-7-6-5-2	A♦ 3♥: flush, 8-7-6-3-2	A	The fourth card, five against three, decides
9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 4♥ 2♥	J♣ 10♣: plays the board flush	6♣ 5♣: plays the board flush	Split	Both straights are worse than the flush on the board
9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 4♥ 2♥	J♣ 10♣: plays the board flush	K♣ 3♥: flush, 9-8-7-4-3	B	The 3♥ improves the board’s flush
9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 4♥ 2♥	6♥ 5♥: straight flush	A♥ K♣: ace-high flush	A	A straight flush beats any flush
9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 2♦ K♥	6♠ 5♠: straight flush	A♠ 3♠: ace-high flush	A	Five in a row in one suit
10♠ 9♦ 8♣ 7♥ 6♠	A♠ K♠: plays the board straight	J♦ 2♣: jack-high straight	B	The jack extends the straight at the top
10♠ 9♦ 8♣ 7♥ 6♠	A♠ K♠: plays the board straight	5♣ 4♣: plays the board straight	Split	A-K doesn’t count; nor does the five below the six
A♦ Q♦ 8♦ 3♦ 5♣	K♦ 2♣: flush, A-K-Q-8-3	J♦ 10♦: flush, A-Q-J-10-8	A	The second card, king against queen, decides
5♠ 4♠ 3♦ K♠ Q♣	A♣ 2♦: the wheel, 5-4-3-2-A	6♥ 2♣: six-high straight	B	In the wheel, the ace plays low
Q♣ J♣ 10♦ 4♣ 4♥	A♥ K♦: ace-high straight	A♣ 2♣: ace-high flush	B	The best straight still loses to a flush
Q♣ J♣ 10♦ 4♣ 4♥	A♣ 2♣: ace-high flush	10♥ 10♣: full house, tens full of fours	B	A paired board makes full houses possible

Every showdown checked with a hand evaluator.

The fourth row surprises people the most. When all five board cards are one suit, every player has at least that flush, so a straight in your hand is worthless: J-10 makes a jack-high straight, but the board’s nine-high flush is better, and it’s what both players play. To do better than the board, you need a card of that suit higher than the lowest one showing, like the 3♥ in the next row, which beats the board’s 2♥.

The last two rows show the whole ladder at once. On Q♣ J♣ 10♦ 4♣ 4♥, A-K makes the best straight possible, the nut flush beats it, and a full house beats the flush. Whenever the board pairs, a flush has to worry about full houses the same way a straight worries about flushes.

How to read a board with both possible

1. Check for a straight flush. Are three cards of one suit within five ranks of each other? If so, a straight flush may be possible.
2. Check for a pair on the board. A paired board makes full houses and four of a kind possible, and both beat a flush.
3. Count each suit. Three of a suit means a flush is possible for anyone holding two of them; four means a single card of that suit does it; five means everyone has one.
4. Look for runs. Three cards that fit inside a span of five ranks make a straight possible.
5. Then place your hand. Work down from the top: the best hand that’s possible, then the next best, until you reach yours.

Working in that order, from the strongest possible hand down, is how you find the nuts, the best possible hand on a given board. It also stops you from falling in love with a straight when three cards of a suit are showing.

How to Play a Straight When a Flush Is Possible

Knowing that a flush beats a straight is the easy part. The hard part is deciding what your straight is worth when three or four cards of one suit are on the board. The numbers below all use the same river board, 9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♦ K♠, and count how many of an opponent’s possible two-card hands beat you.

How many hands beat your straight

Your hand	Your best hand	Hands that beat you	Flushes	Higher straights
J♦ 10♣	Jack-high straight, the best straight	45 of 990	45	0
J♠ 10♦	Jack-high straight, holding a spade	36 of 990	36	0
10♣ 6♦	Ten-high straight	56 of 990	45	11
10♠ 6♦	Ten-high straight, holding a spade	48 of 990	36	12
6♦ 5♣	Nine-high straight, the lowest here	71 of 990	45	26
6♠ 5♦	Nine-high straight, holding a spade	63 of 990	36	27

Exact over all 990 possible opponent hands. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

Two lessons come out of this table. First, the number of flushes is small in absolute terms: with three spades on the board, only 45 of the 990 possible hands, 4.5%, hold two spades. Second, a single spade in your own hand removes a fifth of them, from 45 to 36, because there are fewer spades left for an opponent to hold. That’s called a blocker: a card in your hand that makes certain opponent hands impossible or less likely.

Be careful with the 4.5%, though. It counts every hand an opponent could hold, and real opponents don’t hold random hands by the river. A player who called on the flop and turn when two spades were showing is far more likely to hold spades than a random hand is. Your read of how they played is worth more than the raw count.

When a fourth card of the suit arrives

Now change the board to 9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 2♦ K♠, with four spades. Any single spade now makes a flush:

Your hand	Your best hand	Hands that beat you
A♠ 3♦	Ace-high flush	3 of 990 (only straight flushes)
Q♠ 4♦	King-high flush with the queen	47 of 990
10♠ 4♦	King-high flush with the ten	130 of 990
6♠ 5♦	King-high flush with the six (and a straight)	170 of 990
3♠ 3♦	King-high flush with the three	287 of 990
J♦ 10♣	Jack-high straight	360 of 990 (357 flushes, 3 straight flushes)
A♦ A♣	Pair of aces	478 of 990

Exact over all 990 possible opponent hands. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

On a four-flush board, the jack-high straight, which lost to only 45 hands with three spades showing, now loses to more than a third of all possible hands. Even a small flush is in a very different spot from a big one: the 3♠ loses to 287 hands, the Q♠ to only 47. With four of a suit showing, the size of your card in that suit matters more than anything else in your hand.

Betting a straight against a flush draw

When you make a straight and a flush draw is possible, you’re usually ahead, and the draw is paying to catch up. The table below shows what share of the pot a draw needs to win for a call to break even against each bet size, ignoring any money it could win later. That’s the price your bet gives it:

Your bet	A call needs to win	Turn flush draw (19.6%)	Turn open-ended straight draw (17.4%)
1/4 pot	16.7%	Profitable call	Profitable call
1/3 pot	20.0%	Just short	Short
1/2 pot	25.0%	Short	Short
2/3 pot	28.6%	Short	Short
Pot	33.3%	Well short	Well short

A call needs to win bet ÷ (pot + 2 × bet). Draw odds with one card to come from 46 unseen cards. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

On the turn, any bet of a third of the pot or more gives a flush draw the wrong price, before counting what it might win on the river when it hits. Players often call anyway because of those later winnings, which is why a straight usually wants to bet a flush-draw board rather than give a free card. A free card is a free 19.6% chance for the flush draw to take the lead for good.

The river is different. Once the flush card lands, betting your straight only works if worse hands will call, and on a three-flush board fewer worse hands call and more better hands raise. Many players check a straight on the river when the flush completes and decide what to do based on the size of the bet they face. There’s no single right answer: it depends on the opponent, the action on earlier streets and the stack sizes.

Playing a flush when a straight is possible

A flush is ahead of every straight, so a board with straight possibilities is mostly good news when you hold one. The questions to ask are different:

• How high is my flush? On a three-flush board, only a higher flush beats you (unless the board pairs or a straight flush is possible). On the three-spade board above, 4♠ 3♠ loses to 28 hands, A♠ 4♠ to none.
• Is the board paired? Then full houses and four of a kind are possible, and they beat any flush.
• Could someone have a straight flush? On 9♠ 8♠ 7♠, a player holding J♠ 10♠, 10♠ 6♠ or 6♠ 5♠ has one.

When none of those apply, a flush against a straight is one of the most profitable spots in poker, because a straight is a hand many players won’t fold. That’s also why “flush over straight” is the classic cooler: a hand that looks too good to fold running into the one hand directly above it.

Flush vs Straight in Other Poker Games

A flush beats a straight in every standard high-hand game. What changes from game to game is how often each hand appears, how you make it and, in a few games, what else it beats.

Omaha

In Omaha, each player gets four hole cards and must use exactly two of them with exactly three board cards. That rule shapes both hands:

• A flush needs at least three cards of the suit on the board and two in your hand. With four hearts on the board, one heart in your hand does nothing: A♥ Q♣ J♣ 10♦ on K♥ 9♥ 6♥ 3♥ 2♣ is only ace high. A♥ 5♥ Q♣ J♦ on the same board makes the nut flush.
• Four suited hole cards don’t make a flush on their own. A♠ K♠ 7♠ 6♠ on Q♠ J♠ 10♦ 4♥ 2♣ has only two spades on the board, so its best hand is the A-K-Q-J-10 straight.
• Both hands are far more common. By the river, 6.7% of Omaha hands finish with a flush and 11.3% with a straight, more than twice the Hold’em rates.

More hands means more collisions. In our simulation of 30,000,000 six-handed Omaha deals, with every player seeing the river, a straight lost to a flush once every 10 deals, against once every 53 in Hold’em. Heads-up, a separate 60,000,000-deal simulation put it at once every 68 deals, against 431 in Hold’em. Six-handed, an Omaha straight won outright only 32.4% of the time and lost 53.4%, most often to a flush (20.7% of all straights), then to a full house or better (16.8%) and to a higher straight (15.9%). Two flushes also can never tie in Omaha: each uses two different hole cards of the same suit, so no two players can hold the same five cards.

Short Deck (6+ Hold’em)

Short Deck removes the 2s through 5s, leaving 36 cards and nine ranks per suit. With fewer cards of each suit, flushes become very hard to make, while straights become easier, since there are fewer ranks to fill in. The ace plays low in the straight A-6-7-8-9.

Short Deck hand	Five-card hands	By the river, Short Deck Hold’em
Flush	480 of 376,992 (0.127%)	2.10%
Full house	1,728 (0.458%)	7.58%
Straight	6,120 (1.62%)	14.0%
Three of a kind	16,128 (4.28%)	7.27%

Exact over all 376,992 five-card and 8,347,680 seven-card Short Deck hands. The flush row counts flushes that aren’t straight flushes; a hand with both a straight and three of a kind counts as a straight. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

Because flushes are rarer than full houses in a 36-card deck, nearly every Short Deck rule set moves the flush above the full house. A flush still beats a straight, so the change only makes the flush stronger. Straights are so common in Short Deck Hold’em, almost twice as common as three of a kind by the river, that some rule sets also rank three of a kind above a straight. Check the rules of the game you’re in before you play.

Seven Card Stud

Stud players see seven cards, just like Hold’em players, so the frequencies are the same: a flush is the best hand 3.03% of the time by seventh street and a straight 4.62%. What’s different is that you can see some of your opponents’ cards. Suits and ranks showing in other players’ up cards are gone from the deck, and that changes your draws:

Draw after fourth street (three cards to come)	None of the five up cards are your outs	Three of the five up cards are your outs
Four to a flush	51.5%	37.0%
Four to an open-ended straight	47.0%	31.6%

Exact, with five up cards visible on other players’ boards, leaving 43 unseen cards. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

With three cards to come, a four-flush on fourth street gets there about half the time when its suit is live, but only 37% of the time when three of its cards are showing elsewhere. Always count the up cards before you chase.

Five Card Draw

In draw poker, you see five cards and can replace some of them once. Dealt pat, a flush comes 0.197% of the time and a straight 0.392%, exactly the five-card figures. When you draw to them, the flush draw is again the better one:

• Four to a flush, drawing one: 9 of 47 cards, 19.1%.
• Four to an open-ended straight, drawing one: 8 of 47, 17.0%.
• Four to an inside straight, drawing one: 4 of 47, 8.5%.
• Three to a flush, drawing two: 45 of 1,081 two-card draws, 4.2%.

Lowball and hi-lo games

In lowball, the lowest hand wins, so flushes and straights matter in a different way:

• Deuce-to-Seven counts straights and flushes against you. 7-6-5-4-3 is a straight, a very bad low hand, and 7-5-4-3-2 of one suit is a flush. The best hand is 7-5-4-3-2 in mixed suits.
• Ace-to-Five lowball and Razz ignore straights and flushes, so 5-4-3-2-A, the wheel, is the best hand, even in one suit.
• In hi-lo split games like Omaha Hi-Lo and Stud Hi-Lo, the high half uses normal rankings, so a flush beats a straight for high. The low half usually goes to the best five cards of 8 or lower with no pair, and ignores straights and flushes. That’s why the wheel is so valuable: it’s a straight for high and the best possible low. A flush can still beat it for the high half, though, and take half the pot.

Video poker

In full-pay 9/6 Jacks or Better, a flush pays 6 for 1 and a straight 4 for 1. According to the Wizard of Odds, with optimal play a flush appears in 1.10% of final hands and a straight in 1.12%, almost exactly as often, even though the flush pays half as much again. When you’re dealt a choice between drawing to one or the other, the flush draw usually wins. We calculated these holds exactly:

Dealt hand	Best hold	Average return per credit	Alternative
9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 6♣ 2♥	Four to the flush	1.15	Four to the open-ended straight: 0.68
5♠ 5♥ 9♥ 7♥ 2♥	Four to the flush	1.15	The pair of fives: 0.82
K♥ Q♥ J♣ 10♥ 3♥	Three to the royal, K♥ Q♥ 10♥	1.35	Four to the flush: 1.28; four to the straight: 0.87
J♥ 10♥ 8♣ 7♦ 3♠	J♥ 10♥	0.50	Four to the inside straight: 0.40
8♠ 7♦ 6♣ 5♥ 2♠	Four to the open-ended straight	0.68	Draw five new cards: 0.36
A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♦ 10♥	The straight	4.00	Three to the royal: 1.41

Exact over every possible draw, full-pay 9/6 Jacks or Better (pair of jacks or better pays 1, two pair 2, three of a kind 3, straight 4, flush 6, full house 9, four of a kind 25, straight flush 50, royal flush 800 per credit with maximum coins). Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

Four to a flush beats four to an open-ended straight by a wide margin, 1.15 against 0.68, because it has nine outs instead of eight and pays 6 instead of 4. It even beats a made low pair. The one draw that tops it here is three to a royal flush, where the chance of an 800-for-1 royal flush adds enough value to beat the plain flush draw.

Flushes and Straights at Showdown: Rules and Etiquette

• Cards speak. Your hand is what your cards make, not what you say. If you announce “straight” and turn over a flush, the flush is what’s read, and if you mistakenly call a flush that isn’t one, your hand is still read as it is [TDA 13]. Deliberately miscalling a hand can be penalized.
• Show both hole cards. Table all your hole cards face up so they can be read [TDA 14]. That matters on four-flush boards, where your flush may depend on a single card. Even when you’re playing a straight or flush that’s entirely on the board, you have to show your cards to get part of the pot [TDA 20].
• Don’t muck too soon. A straight facing a bet on a three-flush board often wins, because missed flush draws bluff. Once your cards hit the muck and can’t be identified, they’re dead [TDA 15], so let both hands be read before you let go of yours.
• Suits never break ties. Two identical straights split the pot, whatever their suits. In Hold’em, two flushes at the same showdown are always in the same suit, since five board cards can’t hold three of two different suits, so they’re compared on their ranks, all five of them.
• Odd chips. When a pot is split between identical straights or flushes in a flop game, TDA rules give any odd chip to the first winner to the left of the button [TDA 21]. In Stud, it’s usually awarded by suit to the high card.

The TDA rules apply only in events and rooms that adopt them. Home games and many cardrooms use their own procedures, so check the posted rules where you play.

Common Mistakes With Flushes and Straights

Mistake	Why it costs you	What to do instead
Thinking a straight beats a flush because it “needs the right ranks”	Straights are twice as common in five cards: 10,200 against 5,108 flushes	Remember: rarer ranks higher, so flush over straight
Missing a four-flush board	One card of the suit makes a flush; a jack-high straight loses to 360 of 990 hands on 9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 2♦ K♠	Count the suits on every street before you count your own hand
Counting a straight on a five-flush board	Every player has at least the board’s flush, which beats your straight	You need a card of the suit that improves the board’s flush
Calling a straight plus a separate flush a straight flush	A straight flush needs the same five cards in sequence and in one suit	Check that the five suited cards are the five in a row
Comparing two flushes on the top card only	All five cards can decide: K-Q-9-6-3 beats K-Q-9-6-2	Compare card by card, down to the fifth
Looking for kickers in a straight	A straight has none; two straights with the same top card split	Compare only the top card of each straight
Treating every straight out as clean	On a two-flush board, some outs also make a flush: 10♦ 9♣ on J♠ 8♠ 2♥ wins with a straight on 195 of 990 run-outs against a flush draw, 324 against top pair	Subtract the outs that complete an opponent’s flush
Giving a flush draw a free card	On the turn it gets there 19.6% of the time	Bet enough that calling is a bad price, a third of the pot or more
Relying on one suited card in Omaha	Omaha flushes need exactly two hole cards of the suit	Always build two hole cards plus three board cards
Assuming a full house beats a flush in Short Deck	Most Short Deck rule sets rank the flush above the full house	Read the posted hand rankings before you play

Figures from the exact counts and simulations in this guide. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

Almost every mistake here comes from reading the board in the wrong order. Start at the top, with straight flushes and full houses, then flushes, then straights, and your hand’s real value becomes clear before you put chips in.

Flush vs Straight Quiz

Test yourself. Every answer was checked with a hand evaluator or calculated exactly.

#	Question	Answer	Why
1	Which wins: 7♦ 5♦ 4♦ 3♦ 2♦ or A♣ K♥ Q♠ J♦ 10♣?	The seven-high flush	Any flush beats any straight
2	Board 9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♠ K♦. J♦ 10♣ against 4♠ 3♠?	4♠ 3♠	A nine-high flush beats a jack-high straight
3	Board 9♥ 8♥ 7♥ 4♥ 2♥. J♣ 10♣ against 6♣ 5♣?	Split pot	Both play the board’s flush, which beats both straights
4	How many five-card flushes and straights are there?	5,108 and 10,200	Not counting the 40 straight flushes
5	Board 9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 2♦ K♥. What’s 6♠ 5♠?	A nine-high straight flush	9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 6♠ 5♠: five in a row, one suit
6	Which draw has more outs, a flush draw or an open-ended straight draw?	The flush draw, 9 to 8	35.0% against 31.5% from flop to river
7	Board A♦ Q♦ 8♦ 3♦ 5♣. K♦ 2♣ against J♦ 10♦?	K♦ 2♣	A-K-Q-8-3 beats A-Q-J-10-8 on the second card
8	In Omaha, is A♥ Q♣ J♣ 10♦ a flush on K♥ 9♥ 6♥ 3♥ 2♣?	No, ace high	Omaha needs two hole cards of the suit
9	In most Short Deck games, does a flush beat a full house?	Yes	Flushes are rarer than full houses with 36 cards
10	Holding J♦ 10♣ on 9♠ 8♠ 7♥ 2♦ K♠, how many of 990 possible hands beat you?	45	Every two-spade hand makes a flush

Frequently Asked Questions

Does a flush beat a straight?

Yes, in every standard form of poker, including Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Seven Card Stud, Five Card Draw and Short Deck. A flush ranks fifth from the top and a straight sixth.

Does a straight ever beat a flush?

Not in standard high-hand poker. The only hand that combines the two and beats a flush is a straight flush, five cards in sequence and all of one suit. The exception is lowball games that count straights and flushes against you, such as Deuce-to-Seven, where the lowest hand wins and the usual rankings are turned upside down: a straight counts as a lower hand than a flush there, so it wins, although both are poor low hands.

Why does a flush beat a straight?

Because it’s rarer. Of the 2,598,960 possible five-card hands, 5,108 are flushes and 10,200 are straights, so a straight is almost exactly twice as common. Poker ranks rarer hands higher.

Does a low flush beat a high straight?

Yes. Hand categories are compared before ranks, so the lowest possible flush, 7-5-4-3-2 of one suit, beats the highest straight, A-K-Q-J-10. An ace-high straight loses to a king-high flush and to every other flush.

What beats a flush?

Only a full house, four of a kind and a straight flush, including the royal flush. A higher flush also beats a lower one.

What does a straight beat?

Three of a kind, two pair, one pair and high card, plus any lower straight. It loses to a flush and everything above it.

What if I have a straight and a flush at the same time?

Your hand is the flush, because you always play your best five cards. If the same five cards are both in sequence and in one suit, you have a straight flush instead, which beats both. Among the 4,047,644 seven-card hands whose best hand is a flush, 5.75% also contain a straight.

Which is more common in Texas Hold’em, a flush or a straight?

A straight. For a player who sees all seven cards, the best hand is a straight 4.62% of the time and a flush 3.03%. A straight is possible on 74.7% of river boards and a flush on 37.1%.

What are my odds of making a flush with suited cards?

If you see all five board cards, a suited starting hand makes a flush or straight flush 6.58% of the time, and an offsuit hand 1.97%. On the flop alone, a suited hand flops a flush (or straight flush) 0.84% of the time and a flush draw 10.9%.

Who wins when two players both have a flush?

The player with the higher top card. If those match, compare the second-highest, then the third, fourth and fifth. If all five ranks match, the pot is split. Suits never break the tie.

Who wins when two players both have a straight?

The straight with the higher top card. There are no kickers in a straight, so two straights with the same top card split the pot. The wheel, 5-4-3-2-A, is the lowest straight.

Can two players have flushes in different suits in Hold’em?

No. Every Hold’em flush uses at least three board cards of its suit, and five board cards can’t hold three of two different suits. Every flush at a Hold’em showdown is in the same suit. In Seven Card Stud, where each player has their own cards, two flushes in different suits can meet, and they’re still compared only by rank.

Is a flush draw better than a straight draw?

Usually. A flush draw has 9 outs and an open-ended straight draw 8, so it completes 35.0% of the time from flop to river against 31.5%, and when it gets there, it beats any straight. A straight draw on a board with two cards of a suit also has “dirty” outs that can complete an opponent’s flush.

What’s the nut flush?

The best possible flush on a given board, usually the ace-high flush in the suit showing. If the ace of that suit is on the board, the nut flush is made with the king, and so on. The nut flush is the best possible hand only when the board isn’t paired and no straight flush is possible.

Does a flush beat a straight in Omaha?

Yes. The rankings are the same. The difference is how you make a flush: exactly two of your hole cards must be of the suit, along with three board cards of the suit. Both hands are much more common in Omaha, so they meet more often.

Does a flush beat a full house in Short Deck?

Under most Short Deck rules, yes. With only 36 cards, flushes are rarer than full houses (480 five-card flushes against 1,728 full houses), so the flush moves up. It still beats a straight, as in regular poker.

How often does a straight lose to a flush?

With everyone seeing the river, a straight loses to a flush in about 1 of every 431 heads-up deals, 1 in 53 six-handed and 1 in 30 nine-handed. When a straight does lose, though, it’s more often to a higher straight than to a flush.

Which pays more in video poker, a flush or a straight?

The flush. In full-pay 9/6 Jacks or Better, a flush pays 6 for 1 and a straight 4 for 1, even though the Wizard of Odds puts their frequencies with optimal play at almost the same level, 1.10% and 1.12%.

Is a royal flush a flush or a straight?

Neither: it’s the highest straight flush, A-K-Q-J-10 of one suit, and the best hand in standard poker. It beats every flush and every straight.

Flush vs Straight: Quick-Reference Summary

Question	Answer
Does a flush beat a straight?	Yes, always, in every standard high-hand game
Why	It’s rarer: 5,108 five-card flushes against 10,200 straights
Rank	Flush fifth, straight sixth of the ten standard hands
Lowest flush against highest straight	7-5-4-3-2 suited beats A-K-Q-J-10
Straight and flush in one hand	The flush plays; the same five cards in sequence and suit make a straight flush
Odds by the Hold’em river	Flush 3.03%, straight 4.62%; 1.53 straights per flush
Boards by the river	Flush possible on 37.1%, straight on 74.7%, both on 28.8%
Draws	Flush draw 9 outs, 35.0% flop to river; open-ended straight draw 8 outs, 31.5%
Made straight against a flush draw	About 63% on the flop and 80% on the turn
Made flush against a straight draw	The straight draw is dead unless it can also make a higher flush, a full house or a straight flush
How often a straight loses to a flush, everyone to the river	1 deal in 431 heads-up, 1 in 53 six-handed, 1 in 30 nine-handed
Comparing two of the same	Flushes: card by card, all five count. Straights: top card only.
Other games	Same order in Omaha, Stud and Draw; in Short Deck, the flush also beats a full house

About This Guide

This guide uses the standard poker hand rankings used in casinos, cardrooms and online, and the TDA 2026 rules (version 1.0, September 7, 2026) where showdown procedure is concerned. House rules, especially on Short Deck rankings, lowball, Stud procedures and split pots, vary, and the rules of the room or site where you play always apply.

Every probability except the video poker frequencies was produced by the TopSitesPoker.com editorial team rather than copied from other sources:

• Exact counts: five-, six- and seven-card counts over all 2,598,960, 20,358,520 and 133,784,560 hands; board textures over every flop, turn and river board; starting-hand figures over all 2,118,760 boards for each hand; flop draws over all 19,600 flops for each starting hand; Short Deck over all 376,992 five-card and 8,347,680 seven-card hands; and every example, equity, beat count, outs figure and Stud or Draw probability over all possible remaining cards.
• Simulations: the Omaha frequencies from 200,000,000 simulated hands; the Omaha showdown figures from 30,000,000 simulated six-handed and 60,000,000 heads-up deals; and the Hold’em table-size figures from 400,000,000 simulated deals per table size, plus a further 100,000,000 at two, six and nine players for the flush-loss breakdown, with every player seeing the river.
• Video poker: the hold values are exact over every possible draw. The flush and straight frequencies under optimal 9/6 Jacks or Better strategy are published figures from the Wizard of Odds.
• Evaluator checks: every example, comparison, showdown and quiz answer was verified with a hand evaluator, with Omaha hands evaluated using exactly two hole cards and three board cards.

Hold’em, Omaha and Stud figures assume every hand is played to the end. In real games, many players fold before the river, so showdowns are smaller and big hands like straights and flushes win more often than these worst-case figures suggest.

The Bottom Line

A flush beats a straight, every time, in every standard game. The reason is rarity: a five-card deal holds twice as many straights as flushes, and even with seven cards, straights are one and a half times as common. So the lowest flush beats the highest straight, and a hand with both counts as the flush.

The practical skill is reading the board. Count the suits before you count your own cards: three of a suit means a flush is possible, four means any single card of the suit makes one. Bet your straight when a flush draw is out there, and slow down when the flush card lands. With a flush, look up the ladder instead, at paired boards and straight flushes. Do that, and when the flush-over-straight cooler does come, it will cost you less.