High Card in Poker: Rules, Rankings and Tie-Breakers

High card is the hand you have when you have nothing else. Half of all five-card deals are high card, which makes it the most common five-card hand in poker, and it’s where many bluffs and missed draws end up. It’s also the hand that ranks last: any pair, however small, beats the best high-card hand. But high card still wins real pots. Heads-up, when neither player connects, ace high or even king high takes the pot, and knowing when your “nothing” is good enough is one of the most useful skills in the game.

This guide covers high card from definition to showdown: how it ranks and why, how two high-card hands are compared card by card, and the odds in five cards, by each street in Texas Hold’em, for specific starting hands, and in Omaha, Short Deck, Seven Card Stud, draw poker and video poker (exact wherever practical, simulated for Omaha). After that come which of your cards actually play, how often high card wins at tables of every size, how strong ace high is on real boards, worked examples, how to play high-card hands, lowball games where high card is the goal, showdown rules, common mistakes, a quiz and a quick-reference summary.

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 exception is the video poker frequency, which comes from the Wizard of Odds. Each example was checked with a hand evaluator.

What Is High Card?

A high-card hand is five cards of five different ranks that don’t form a straight and aren’t all the same suit, such as A♠ J♦ 8♣ 6♥ 3♠. It’s named by its highest card: that hand is “ace high,” or “ace-jack high” when players want to be more precise. Around the table you’ll also hear “no pair,” “nothing” or “air.” The cards below the top card are sometimes called kickers, just as in pair hands.

A high-card hand has to avoid three things:

• Any pair: two cards of the same rank make one pair or better.
• Five in a row: A-K-Q-J-10 is a straight, and so is 5-4-3-2-A, where the ace plays low.
• Five of one suit: A♠ J♠ 8♠ 6♠ 3♠ is a flush.

How many high-card hands are there?

There are C(13,5) = 1,287 ways to choose five different ranks. Ten of those are straights, from A-K-Q-J-10 down to 5-4-3-2-A, so 1,277 different high-card hands remain by rank, exactly the same number as flushes. Each can be dealt in 4 × 4 × 4 × 4 × 4 = 1,024 suit combinations, minus the 4 that are all one suit, leaving 1,020. That gives 1,277 × 1,020 = 1,302,540 high-card hands among the 2,598,960 possible five-card hands: 50.1%, the most common hand in five-card poker.

Top card	Different hands by rank	Positions among the 1,277	Five-card hands	Share of seven-card high-card hands
Ace high	493	1 to 493	502,860	55.6%
King high	329	494 to 822	335,580	27.4%
Queen high	209	823 to 1,031	213,180	11.7%
Jack high	125	1,032 to 1,156	127,500	4.1%
Ten high	69	1,157 to 1,225	70,380	1.1%
Nine high	34	1,226 to 1,259	34,680	0.1%
Eight high	14	1,260 to 1,273	14,280	0% (impossible)
Seven high	4	1,274 to 1,277	4,080	0% (impossible)

Position 1 is the best high-card hand (A-K-Q-J-9) and 1,277 the worst (7-5-4-3-2). The last column counts all 23,294,460 seven-card hands whose best five cards are high card. Exact counts by TopSitesPoker.com.

A few things stand out. The best high-card hand is A-K-Q-J-9, not A-K-Q-J-10, which is a straight. The best king-high hand is K-Q-J-10-8, for the same reason. The worst is 7-5-4-3-2: every six-high hand would have to be 6-5-4-3-2, a straight, so seven high is the lowest high card possible, and 7-5-4-3-2 is the worst five-card hand in poker. With seven cards, eight high and seven high can’t happen at all: seven different ranks from 2 to 8 always contain a straight. The lowest seven-card high-card hand is 9-8-7-5-4, from 9-8-7-5-4-3-2.

 

Five different ranks: no pair, no straight, no flush.

Where High Card Ranks

High card is the lowest of the ten standard poker hands. From the top, the order is royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair and high card. So high card beats nothing except a weaker high card, and any made hand beats it: the smallest pair, 2-2-5-4-3, beats the best high-card hand, A-K-Q-J-9.

Hand	Five-card hands	Share	Seven-card hands (best five)	Share
Two pair	123,552	4.8%	31,433,400	23.5%
One pair	1,098,240	42.3%	58,627,800	43.8%
High card	1,302,540	50.1%	23,294,460	17.4%

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

Why high card ranks last

Standard poker ranks hands by how rare they are in a five-card deal, and high card is the most common five-card hand of all: 1,302,540 of 2,598,960, just over half. Every other hand requires something to happen, a pair, a run or five of a suit, and high card is what’s left when nothing does.

With seven cards, high card becomes much rarer: only 17.4% of seven-card hands have no pair, straight or flush, fewer than one pair (43.8%) or two pair (23.5%). The ranking doesn’t change, because hand rankings are always based on five-card hands, but it means that in Hold’em and Seven Card Stud, ending up with nothing is the exception.

On the full ladder of 7,462 distinct five-card hands, from the royal flush at number 1 down, high card fills the last 1,277 places, 6,186 to 7,462. The best high-card hand, A-K-Q-J-9, ranks just below the worst pair, 2-2-5-4-3.

Hands that look like high card but aren’t

Cards	What it looks like	What it is
A♠ K♦ Q♣ J♥ 10♠	Ace high	A straight, ace high (Broadway)
5♠ 4♦ 3♣ 2♥ A♠	Ace high	A straight, five high (the wheel): the ace plays low
A♠ J♠ 8♠ 6♠ 3♠	Ace-jack high	An ace-high flush
Hold’em: A♣ 3♦ on 9♠ 8♥ 7♦ 6♣ 5♠	Ace high	A straight, nine high, all on the board: every player has it
Hold’em: 5♠ 3♦ on K♥ Q♣ 9♦ 8♠ 6♥	Five high	King high, K-Q-9-8-6: you’re playing the board, and neither of your cards counts
Hold’em: J♠ 10♠ on A♠ 8♠ 3♦ 5♥ K♣	A flush draw	A missed draw: ace-king high, A-K-J-10-8, with four spades but no flush
Omaha: A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ on 10♠ 9♠ 4♦ 3♣ 2♥	A flush or a straight	Ace high: only two hole cards can play, so four spades in hand and two on the board make no flush, and no two of your cards complete a straight

Every hand checked with a hand evaluator; the Omaha hand uses exactly two hole cards and three board cards.

How to Compare High-Card Hands: The Tie-Breakers

When two players both have high card, compare the hands one card at a time, from the top down. The first difference decides the pot:

1. The highest card. Ace high beats king high, whatever the other cards are.
2. The second card, if the highest cards match.
3. The third, fourth and fifth cards, in the same way.
4. Split pot if all five ranks match. Suits never break a tie in standard poker.

 

All five cards can count, and suits never break a tie.

Hand A	Hand B	Winner	Decided by
A♠ 7♦ 5♣ 4♥ 2♠	K♠ Q♦ J♣ 9♥ 8♠	A	First card: ace beats king
A♠ Q♦ 9♣ 7♥ 4♠	A♥ J♣ 10♦ 9♠ 8♥	A	Second card: queen beats jack
K♠ Q♦ J♣ 9♥ 8♠	K♥ Q♣ J♦ 9♠ 7♥	A	Fifth card: eight beats seven
A♠ K♦ Q♣ J♥ 8♠	A♥ K♣ Q♦ 10♠ 9♥	A	Fourth card: jack beats ten
A♠ K♦ 9♣ 6♥ 3♠	A♥ K♣ 9♦ 6♠ 3♥	Split	Same five ranks; suits don’t count
7♠ 5♦ 4♣ 3♥ 2♠	2♥ 2♦ 5♠ 4♦ 3♣	B	Any pair beats any high card

Every comparison checked with a hand evaluator.

All five cards can count

High card and the flush are the only hands where every one of the five cards can decide a pot. In a pair, three kickers can matter; in two pair, one; in a full house or a straight, none. That’s why reading high-card showdowns carefully matters: two hands that look the same, “ace-king high,” can be separated by the fifth card.

In Hold’em, the five cards come from the best five of your seven, and the board often supplies most of them. On a river board of K♥ Q♣ 9♦ 8♠ 6♥, a player holding 5♠ 3♦ and a player holding 4♣ 2♦ both play K-Q-9-8-6, the board’s five cards, and split. A player holding A♠ 5♦ plays A-K-Q-9-8 and beats both.

What decides real high-card showdowns

We simulated 400,000,000 deals at each table size from two to nine players, with every player seeing the river, and looked at every case where one high-card hand lost to another. Heads-up, the split was:

Decided by	Share of high-card-over-high-card losses, heads-up
The first (highest) card	37.0%
The second card	26.4%
The third card	18.2%
The fourth card	11.7%
The fifth card	6.7%

TopSitesPoker.com simulation, 400,000,000 deals, every player seeing the river.

Most high-card showdowns are settled by the first or second card, but more than a third (36.6%) are decided by the third card or later, often by a card that comes from the board. It’s the main reason to read the full five-card hands at showdown before anyone mucks.

Five common misreads

Because high card is what’s left when nothing else happens, the most common showdown mistakes are players calling “nothing” when they have something, or the reverse. Every one of these was checked with a hand evaluator:

• The hidden straight. You hold 7♠ 2♦ and the board is 6♥ 5♣ 4♦ 3♠ K♥. It looks like seven high, but 7-6-5-4-3 is a straight. The deuce also makes 6-5-4-3-2, but the seven makes a higher one.
• The wheel. You hold A♣ 3♦ on 5♠ 4♥ 2♦ K♣ 9♠. That’s not ace high: the ace plays low for 5-4-3-2-A, a five-high straight.
• The quiet flush. You hold 9♥ 4♥ on A♥ Q♥ 7♥ 3♠ 2♣. Five hearts make an ace-high flush, even though the ace is on the board.
• The board pair. You hold A♠ Q♦ on 8♥ 8♣ K♦ 6♠ 3♣. You don’t have ace high; you have a pair of eights, the board’s pair, with A-K-Q kickers. Every player at the table has at least that pair.
• The kicker from the board. On K♠ Q♦ 9♣ 5♥ 2♠, A♥ 6♣ plays A-K-Q-9-6 and A♦ 4♠ plays A-K-Q-9-5. Both players have “ace-king-queen-nine,” and the fifth card, a six from one hand against a five from the board, decides the pot.

The simplest habit is to build your five best cards from scratch every time, checking in order for flushes, straights and pairs before settling on high card.

High Card Odds in Every Game

How often your best hand is only high card depends on how many cards you get to use: every extra card is another chance to pair something. This table counts hands whose best hand is high card:

Game and point in the hand	Hands with only high card	Probability	About once in
Five-card deal (draw poker before the draw)	1,302,540 of 2,598,960	50.1%	2.00 hands
Texas Hold’em, by the flop	Same five cards	50.1%	2.00 hands
Texas Hold’em, by the turn	6,612,900 of 20,358,520	32.5%	3.08 hands
Texas Hold’em by the river, or Seven Card Stud by seventh street	23,294,460 of 133,784,560	17.4%	5.74 hands
Omaha, by the river (4 hole cards, exactly 2 used)	Simulated	3.0%	33 hands
Short Deck, five cards (36-card deck)	122,400 of 376,992	32.5%	3.08 hands
Short Deck Hold’em, by the river	233,100 of 8,347,680	2.8%	36 hands

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. Hold’em, Stud and Omaha figures assume the hand is played to the end.

 

Share of hands whose best hand is high card, with every hand played to the end.

Three patterns stand out.

Each card cuts your chance of having nothing. In Hold’em, high card is the best hand for half of all players on the flop, a third on the turn and about one in six on the river. By the river, the pair, two pair and better hands have taken over.

In Omaha and Short Deck, high card almost disappears. An Omaha player combines two of four hole cards with the board, so only about 3% of Omaha hands that go to the river finish with nothing. Short Deck’s nine ranks make pairs so common that only 2.8% of Short Deck Hold’em hands finish with nothing: no pair, straight or flush.

Five-card games are where high card lives. In Five Card Draw before the draw, and in five-card video poker, high card is half of all hands dealt. That’s why ace high or king high can be a real hand in draw games, and why video poker strategy for “garbage” hands matters so much.

High Card in Texas Hold’em: Starting Hands and Streets

A pocket pair can never finish as high card: it’s already a pair. For every other starting hand, the chance of still having nothing falls sharply with each street:

Starting hand	High card on the flop	On the turn	On the river
Any pocket pair	0%	0%	0%
Any unpaired hand (average)	53.3%	34.5%	18.5%
A♠ K♦ (ace-king offsuit)	53.6%	35.4%	19.7%
A♠ K♠ (ace-king suited)	52.7%	33.9%	18.2%
K♠ Q♦ (king-queen offsuit)	53.2%	34.7%	19.0%
J♠ 10♠ (suited connectors)	51.8%	31.8%	15.9%
7♠ 2♦ (seven-deuce offsuit)	53.9%	35.7%	19.8%
All hands	50.1%	32.5%	17.4%

Exact over every flop, turn and river for each starting hand, counting hands whose best hand is high card. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

 

A-K offsuit, the average unpaired hand and J-10 suited; pocket pairs never finish with high card.

The differences between starting hands are small but consistent. Suited and connected hands finish with nothing less often, because they have extra ways to make a hand: J♠ 10♠ ends the river with only high card 15.9% of the time, against 19.8% for 7♠ 2♦. A-K offsuit, for all its preflop strength, is just as likely as 7-2 to end with nothing; the difference is that its nothing is ace-king high, which wins far more showdowns.

How often A-K misses

Any unpaired starting hand fails to pair either of its cards on the flop 67.6% of the time: the flop has to avoid 6 of the 50 unseen cards, and C(44,3) / C(50,3) = 13,244 / 19,600. So A-K “misses the flop” about two times in three. That’s not the same as having only high card, though: some of those flops pair the board, and some give straight or flush draws. On the flop, A-K offsuit has only ace-king high as its best hand 53.6% of the time, and by the river 19.7%.

How often both players miss

When two players see the river heads-up, how often does neither have a pair or better? In our simulations, the best hand at the table was high card in 5.9% of heads-up deals. With three players it drops to 2.0%, and with six to 0.05%. In multiway pots, somebody almost always has at least a pair by the river.

Which starting hands end with nothing most and least often

We counted every possible board for all 156 unpaired starting hands. By the river, the chance of finishing with only high card ranges from 15.9% to 20.2%:

Least often high card by the river	Probability	Most often high card by the river	Probability
J-10 suited, 5-4 suited	15.85%	K-2 offsuit	20.19%
10-9 suited, 6-5 suited	15.89%	K-3 offsuit, Q-2 offsuit	19.95%
9-8, 8-7 and 7-6 suited	15.94%	K-8, A-9, A-6 and 7-2 offsuit	19.76%
7-5 and 10-8 suited	16.32%	A-K, A-2, K-4, Q-3 and J-2 offsuit	19.72%

Exact over all 2,118,760 boards for each starting hand. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

Suited connectors miss least, because they can make straights in the most ways and flushes too. Offsuit hands that can make few straights, like K-2 or A-K, miss most. On average, a suited hand ends with only high card 17.4% of the time and an offsuit hand 18.9%. Being suited turns about one high-card finish in thirteen into a made hand. The differences are small, a few percentage points at most, which is a reminder that the value of a starting hand comes from what it makes, not how often it misses completely.

Which of Your Cards Play

With high card in Hold’em, your best five cards are simply the five highest ranks among your seven. Whether your hole cards are among them decides whether they count at all. By the river, the split is exact:

• Both hole cards play 47.6% of the time.
• One hole card plays 47.6% of the time.
• Neither plays 4.8% of the time. You’re playing the board, and the best you can do is split.

The reason is the same kind of counting that gives other hands their exact ratios. A seven-card high-card hand has seven different ranks; the five highest play and the two lowest don’t. Of the 21 ways to choose two of the seven as your hole cards, C(5,2) = 10 put both among the top five, 5 × 2 = 10 put one there, and only 1 puts both among the bottom two. So the ratio is exactly 10 : 10 : 1.

 

Seven different ranks: the top five play and the bottom two don’t.

Street	Both hole cards play	One plays	Neither plays	Ratio
Flop (5 cards)	100%	0%	0%	All five cards play
Turn (6 cards)	66.7%	33.3%	0%	2 : 1
River (7 cards)	47.6%	47.6%	4.8%	10 : 10 : 1

Share of Hold’em hands whose best hand is high card at each street. Exact over every combination of two hole cards and three, four or five board cards (2,809,475,760 combinations at the river). Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

On the turn, your two hole cards are two of six ranks, and only the lowest of the six sits out, so at least one of your cards always plays. On the river, with two cards sitting out, a small hole card is often dead weight: holding 7♠ 2♦, your deuce can play only when it’s among your five highest cards, which with seven different ranks is impossible.

Why the top card is usually an ace

Because the five highest of seven ranks play, a seven-card high-card hand almost always has a big top card. When the best hand is high card by the river, it’s ace high 55.6% of the time, king high 27.4%, queen high 11.7%, jack high 4.1%, ten high 1.1% and nine high 0.1%. Eight high and seven high are impossible with seven cards. So at a Hold’em showdown, king high beats less than half of the other high-card hands that get there, and ace high is nothing special: more than half of all seven-card high-card hands have one.

How Often Draws Miss and End With Nothing

About a third of missed draws finish with only high card; the rest pair something along the way. Knowing how often that happens is part of deciding whether to chase. Here’s the exact distribution of final hands by the river for six common flop situations, over all 1,081 possible turn-and-river combinations:

Your hand and flop	What you have	Made the draw	One pair	Two pair or trips	Only high card
9♠ 8♠ on K♠ 7♠ 2♦	Flush draw	37.5% (flush, straight or straight flush)	33.3%	8.4%	20.8%
A♠ 5♠ on K♠ 9♠ 2♦	Nut flush draw	35.8% (flush or straight)	33.3%	8.4%	22.5%
9♥ 8♥ on 7♠ 6♦ 2♣	Open-ended straight draw	31.5% (straight)	36.6%	9.7%	22.2%
Q♣ J♦ on 10♠ 9♥ 3♣	Open-ended draw, two overcards	31.5% (straight)	36.6%	9.7%	22.2%
8♥ 6♥ on 9♠ 5♦ 2♣	Gutshot	17.9% (straight)	42.7%	9.7%	29.6%
A♣ K♦ on 9♠ 7♥ 3♣	Two overcards	—	48.8%	9.7%	41.4%

Exact over all 1,081 possible turn-and-river combinations. “One pair” includes pairs made only on the board, which every player shares. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

 

Exact over every turn and river for each example flop.

A flush draw or an open-ended straight draw ends as high card roughly one time in five, and a gutshot almost one time in three. Two overcards with no draw finish with nothing 41.4% of the time. And “one pair” here is often a pair that doesn’t help: when the board pairs, every player has that pair too. That’s one reason a plain pair on the flop wins so many heads-up showdowns, and why missed draws are the most natural bluffing hands.

How Often High Card Wins at Showdown

We simulated 400,000,000 Hold’em deals at every table size from two to nine players, with every player seeing the river. In real games, many missed hands fold before the river or win the pot with a bet, so these figures show how high card does when it has to win on its own at showdown.

Players	At least one player finishes with high card	A high-card hand wins	Splits	Loses	High card is the best hand at the table
2	28.9%	15.8%	2.4%	81.8%	5.9% of deals
3	36.4%	3.4%	0.7%	95.9%	2.0%
4	41.3%	0.8%	0.2%	99.0%	0.6%
5	44.4%	0.2%	0.1%	99.8%	0.2%
6	46.5%	0.04%	0.02%	99.9%	0.05%
7 to 9	47.8% to 49.1%	0.01% or less	<0.01%	more than 99.9%	0.014% or less

TopSitesPoker.com simulation, 400,000,000 deals per table size, every player seeing the river. Win, split and lose are per player whose best hand is high card. The last column counts deals where the best hand at the table, including split pots, is high card.

Heads-up, high card is a real hand: in 5.9% of deals it’s the best hand at the table, and a player who finishes with high card wins about one time in six. With every added player, that collapses. With four players, a high-card hand wins less than 1% of the time; with six, about once in 2,400 tries.

Ace high, king high and the rest, heads-up

Your high-card hand	Share of high-card hands	Wins	Splits	Loses
Ace high	55.6%	19.6%	2.7%	77.7%
King high	27.4%	13.7%	2.3%	84.1%
Queen high	11.7%	8.5%	1.9%	89.6%
Jack high or lower	5.3%	3.8%	1.4%	94.8%
Both hole cards play	47.6%	20.2%	0.9%	78.9%
One hole card plays	47.6%	13.0%	3.3%	83.7%
Playing the board	4.8%	0%	8.9%	91.1%

Same simulation, heads-up, both players seeing the river.

 

Both players seeing the river; splits not included.

A player playing the board can never win outright; the best they can do is split, which happened 8.9% of the time, when the other player also played the board. And hands where both hole cards play win more often than hands where only one does, because they’re usually made of higher cards.

What beats high card when it loses

Winning hand	Share of high-card losses, heads-up
One pair	57.8%
A better high card	19.4%
Two pair	11.0%
Straight	6.6%
Flush	3.3%
Three of a kind	1.8%

Same simulation. A full house or four of a kind can never beat high card, because both need a pair on the board, which would give the high-card player a pair too. Straight flushes account for less than 0.1%.

Heads-up, high card loses mostly to a single pair. One in five of its losses comes against another high card, where the card-by-card comparison decides; more than a third of those (36.6%) are settled by the third card or later.

How Strong Is Your High Card? Six River Boards

At the river, a high-card hand can only win against other hands that also missed. For each of these boards, we checked all 990 two-card hands a single opponent could hold:

Your hand	Board	Your best five	You beat	Ties	You lose to
A♠ K♦	Q♥ 9♣ 6♦ 4♠ 2♥	A-K-Q-9-6, the best possible high card here	368	9	613: 492 one pairs, 90 two pairs, 15 sets, 16 straights
A♠ Q♦	K♥ 9♣ 6♦ 4♠ 2♥	A-K-Q-9-6	368	9	613: the same mix
A♠ 5♦	K♥ Q♣ 9♦ 8♠ 6♥	A-K-Q-9-8	268	57	665: 492 one pairs, 90 two pairs, 15 sets, 44 straights, 24 better ace highs
J♠ 10♠ (a missed flush draw)	A♠ 8♠ 3♦ 5♥ K♣	A-K-J-10-8	264	9	717: 613 made hands and 104 better high cards
7♠ 2♦	K♥ Q♣ 9♦ 5♠ 3♥	K-Q-9-7-5	40	21	929
5♠ 3♦ (playing the board)	K♥ Q♣ 9♦ 8♠ 6♥	K-Q-9-8-6	0	73	917

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

The lessons are simple and a little brutal:

• Any pair beats you. On an unpaired river board, every hand that pairs a board card or holds a pocket pair has you beaten. On these boards, that’s 492 one-pair hands alone, half of all possible hands.
• Even the best high card loses to most hands. A-K high on Q-9-6-4-2 is the best no-pair hand possible, and it still beats only 368 of 990 hands, 37%.
• Small high cards win almost nothing. K-Q-9-7-5 beats 40 hands; playing the board beats none.
• Against a single random hand, ace high is an underdog on the river. Its value comes from the hands opponents actually hold after betting, especially missed draws and bluffs, not from random hands.

High-Card Hands Against Common Hands: Exact Equities

Before the flop

Before the flop, every unpaired hand is a high-card hand, and matchups between them are decided by who pairs, or who keeps the higher card when nobody does:

Matchup	Equity of the first hand (ties count half)	Ties
A♠ K♦ against Q♥ J♣ (two higher cards)	64.3%	0.4%
K♠ Q♦ against J♥ 10♣ (two higher cards)	64.1%	0.6%
A♠ 2♦ against K♥ Q♣ (one higher card)	57.7%	0.5%
A♠ K♦ against K♥ Q♣ (a shared card, better kicker)	74.2%	1.1%
7♠ 2♦ against Q♥ J♣ (two lower cards)	31.7%	0.9%

Exact over all 1,712,304 five-card boards for each matchup. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

Two higher cards are worth about a 64-36 edge; one higher card, like the ace in A-2 against K-Q, is still worth a clear edge. The worst spot is a shared card with a weaker kicker: K-Q against A-K wins only about a quarter of the time. And 7-2 offsuit, often called the worst hand in Hold’em, still wins almost a third of the time against Q-J, because either card can pair.

Unpaired hands against pocket pairs

An unpaired hand is high card until it connects, and against a pocket pair it has to connect to win. How often it does depends more on how its cards work together than on how high they are:

Matchup	Equity of the unpaired hand (ties count half)
J♠ 10♠ against 2♥ 2♣	54.0%
K♠ Q♦ against 2♥ 2♣	48.4%
A♠ K♦ against 2♥ 2♣	47.0%
A♠ K♦ against Q♥ Q♣	42.8%
7♠ 2♦ against A♥ A♣	12.6%
A♠ K♦ against A♥ A♣	7.4%

Exact over all 1,712,304 five-card boards for each matchup. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

Two results surprise many players. Suited connectors like J♠ 10♠ are favorites against a small pocket pair, because their straights and flushes add to their pairing chances; A-K offsuit is a small underdog. And against pocket aces, 7-2 offsuit does better than A-K: A-K’s ace is nearly dead, because pairing it only matches the aces, while the seven and the deuce are both live cards that can pair.

Unpaired hands against random hands

In short-stacked tournament play, high-card hands often go all-in before the flop against unknown hands. Here’s how some common unpaired hands do against one and two random opponents, with every hand played to the river:

Your hand	Against 1 random hand	Against 2 random hands
A-7 offsuit	58.8%	39.2%
Q-9 offsuit	55.4%	37.5%
J-10 offsuit	55.2%	39.0%
K-7 offsuit	55.2%	36.0%
A-2 offsuit	54.9%	35.3%
7-2 offsuit	34.6%	20.5%

Against 1 random hand: exact over every board and opponent hand. Against 2: TopSitesPoker.com simulation, 10,000,000 deals per hand. Split pots count as a share of the pot. With three players, an average hand’s fair share is 33.3%.

Against one random hand, almost any hand with an ace or two cards ten or higher is a small favorite, because the random hand misses too. Against two, connected cards like J-10 hold up about as well as A-7, and weak aces like A-2 fall close to their fair share. An ace makes a hand a favorite heads-up, but not a strong one.

Ace high on the flop

Here’s how A♥ Q♦ does after missing a flop of K♠ 7♠ 2♦, exact over every turn and river:

Opponent’s hand	What they have	A♥ Q♦ equity (ties count half)
A♣ J♦	A weaker ace high	85.6%
J♣ 10♣	Jack high	75.7%
Q♠ J♠	A flush draw with a queen	53.3%
9♠ 8♠	A flush draw	44.5%
5♥ 5♣	A small pocket pair	26.5%
7♣ 6♣	Second pair	23.7%
K♣ 9♥	Top pair	13.4%

Exact over all 990 possible turn-and-river combinations for each matchup. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

Ace high is a big favorite against weaker high cards and close to even against a flush draw, but a clear underdog against any pair: it has six outs (three aces and three queens) to pass a small pair, and only the three aces against top pair. Against a single random hand on this K♠ 7♠ 2♦ flop, A♥ Q♦ has 52.5% equity, barely better than a coin flip (54.5% on a rainbow K♠ 7♦ 2♣).

High Card Examples

These examples show how high-card hands are compared and played, in Hold’em and in other games. Every hand was checked with a hand evaluator.

Example 1: the best high card still loses to any pair

You hold A♠ K♦ and the board is Q♥ 9♣ 6♦ 4♠ 2♥. Your best hand is A-K-Q-9-6, the best possible hand without a pair on this board. You beat 368 of the 990 hands an opponent could hold, all of them other high cards, and lose to 613, including every hand with a pair.

Example 2: the second card decides

The board is J♥ 8♣ 6♦ 4♠ 2♥. You hold A♠ Q♦ and your opponent holds A♥ 10♣. Both of you have ace high. Your hand is A-Q-J-8-6 and theirs is A-J-10-8-6, so the second card decides: your queen beats their jack.

Example 3: the fifth card decides

The board is K♠ Q♦ 9♣ 5♥ 2♠. You hold A♥ 6♣; your opponent holds A♦ 4♠. You play A-K-Q-9-6; your opponent’s four is lower than the board’s five, so they play A-K-Q-9-5. The first four cards match, and your six beats their five as the fifth card.

Example 4: playing the board

The board is K♥ Q♣ 9♦ 8♠ 6♥. You hold 5♠ 3♦ and your opponent holds 4♣ 2♦. Neither of you has a card higher than the board’s six, so both of you play K-Q-9-8-6 and split the pot. A player holding A♠ 5♦ would play A-K-Q-9-8 and beat you both. Under TDA rules, you need to show your cards to claim a split.

Example 5: ace high wins against a missed draw

You hold A♥ Q♦ on K♠ 7♠ 2♦ against 9♠ 8♠, a flush draw. On the flop, the draw is a slight favorite: A-Q has 44.5% equity. The turn and river are the 4♥ and 3♣, and the draw misses. At showdown, your A-K-Q-7-4 beats their K-9-8-7-4. This is a typical ace-high win: a pot where the other player was drawing and didn’t get there.

Example 6: a missed draw can only win by betting

You hold J♠ 10♠ on A♠ 8♠ 3♦ 5♥ K♣. Your flush draw missed, and your best hand is A-K-J-10-8. You beat only 264 of 990 possible hands, and most of the hands that would call a bet beat you. If you want to win this pot, betting as a bluff is usually the only way; checking and showing down wins only when your opponent missed too, with even less.

Omaha: four to a flush in your hand isn’t a flush

You hold A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ and the board is 10♠ 9♠ 4♦ 3♣ 2♥. It looks like a flush and a straight, but in Omaha you must use exactly two hole cards and three board cards. Two of your spades and the board’s two spades make only four, and no two of your cards complete a straight with three board cards. Your best hand is ace high. Any player with a pair beats you.

Five Card Draw: drawing to ace-king high

You’re dealt A♠ K♦ 9♣ 6♥ 3♠. Keeping the ace and king and drawing three, you finish with a pair of kings or aces, or better, 34.9% of the time, and with any pair or better 47.9% of the time. Keeping only the ace and drawing four, you make a pair of kings or better only 27.3% of the time. When you have nothing but high cards, keeping the two highest gives you the best chance at a strong hand.

Razz: the lowest high card wins

In Razz, the lowest five-card hand wins, aces count low, and straights and flushes don’t count. Hands are compared from the top down, just like high-card hands in regular poker, but lower is better. So 8-6-4-3-A beats 8-7-3-2-A: the eights tie, and the six beats the seven as the second card. A player with 7-6-5-4-3 beats both, because a seven-high low beats any eight-high low, even though in regular poker that hand would be a straight.

Deuce-to-Seven: the worst hand is the best

In Deuce-to-Seven lowball, hands rank as in normal poker, but the lowest hand wins. There, 7-5-4-3-2 of mixed suits, the worst high-card hand in regular poker, is the best possible hand, often called “number one.” An ace always counts high in Deuce-to-Seven, so A-5-4-3-2 is just an ace-high hand there.

How to Play High-Card Hands

High card is a hand you rarely want to play for a big pot, but it’s the hand you’ll have after most missed flops and many failed draws. These are general guidelines; the right play always depends on your opponents, the stacks and the game.

Know when high card is good enough

Heads-up, high card wins more often than most players think, because the other player misses a lot too. In our simulations with both players seeing the river, a player whose best hand was ace high won 19.6% of the time and split 2.7%; king high won 13.7%. With three players it falls sharply, and with four or more, high card almost never wins at showdown. So ace high can be worth a call heads-up against an aggressive player who bluffs with missed draws, and is almost never worth a call against several opponents.

Don’t bet high card for value

On the river, betting ace high rarely makes money. Worse hands, mostly other high cards, usually fold, and better hands, any pair or more, call or raise. Unless your opponent calls with worse high cards, a high-card hand with some showdown value usually does better by checking and showing down.

Bluff with the hands that can’t win at showdown

The best bluffing hands are the ones with no showdown value at all, like a missed straight or flush draw with small cards. They can’t win if you check, so betting is the only way to win the pot. A missed draw like J♠ 10♠ on A♠ 8♠ 3♦ 5♥ K♣ beats only about a quarter of possible hands at showdown. Ace high, by contrast, often wins a showdown heads-up, so turning it into a bluff throws that value away.

Use high cards before the flop

Big unpaired cards are high-card hands that can become strong: A-K pairs at least one of its cards by the river 48.7% of the time, and when it doesn’t, it still has the best possible high-card kicker. Two higher cards are about a 64-36 favorite against two lower ones before the flop, but a pocket pair, even deuces, is a small favorite against A-K offsuit (A-K suited is a coin flip against deuces). Keep in mind that an unpaired hand that misses the flop is usually drawing to six cards to make a pair.

In multiway pots, let it go

With several players in, somebody almost always pairs. Once three or more players see the river, the best hand at the table is high card only 2% of the time with three players, and less than 1% with four or more. Missed hands in multiway pots should usually check and fold unless they’re bluffing, and bluffs work less often against several opponents.

Read the whole hand at showdown

Because all five cards can decide a high-card showdown, and because the board often supplies most of them, table your cards and let the dealer read both hands. The difference between A-K-Q-9-6 and A-K-Q-9-5 is a whole pot.

The math of bluffing and bluff-catching

Most decisions with high card on the river are one of two questions: should I bluff, or should I call a bet with a hand that only beats a bluff? The break-even points depend only on the bet size and the pot:

River bet, as a share of the pot	A bluff must work at least	A call must win at least
One quarter pot	20.0%	16.7%
One third pot	25.0%	20.0%
Half pot	33.3%	25.0%
Two thirds pot	40.0%	28.6%
Three quarters pot	42.9%	30.0%
Pot	50.0%	33.3%
Twice the pot	66.7%	40.0%

Bluff: bet ÷ (pot + bet). Call: bet ÷ (pot + 2 × bet), the share of the final pot you’re paying. Exact arithmetic.

For example, if the pot is $100 and you bet $50 with a missed draw, your bluff breaks even if your opponent folds one time in three. If your opponent bets $50 into $100 and you hold ace high, you need to win one time in four to call. So the question with a bluff-catcher is simple: does this opponent bluff often enough with hands worse than yours? Against a player who only bets with a pair or better, ace high never wins. Against a player who bets every missed draw, it can be an easy call.

Your cards change what your opponent can hold

The cards in your hand can’t be in your opponent’s, and with high card on the river that matters more than it seems. Take a river board of K♠ 9♠ 6♦ 4♣ 2♥, where a spade flush draw missed. Holding A♦ Q♣, there are 27 two-spade hands your opponent could have that missed and ended with only high card, and your ace-queen high beats 26 of them. Holding A♠ Q♦ instead, there are only 20, because your ace of spades removes every missed draw that contained it. Both hands beat exactly the same number of possible hands overall, 368, and lose to the same number, 613.

For a bluff-catcher, that’s the wrong kind of card to hold: A♠ Q♦ blocks the very bluffs it wants to catch. When you’re deciding whether to call a river bet with high card, the best bluff-catchers are the ones that don’t share cards with the opponent’s likely bluffs.

High Card in Other Poker Games

Omaha

In Omaha, each player has four hole cards and must use exactly two with three board cards. Six two-card combinations give so many ways to pair the board that only about 3.0% of Omaha hands that reach the river finish with high card, according to our 200,000,000-hand simulation. The two-card rule also creates false hopes: four cards of a suit in your hand never make a flush on their own, and a hand like A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ can finish as ace high.

Short Deck (6+ Hold’em)

Short Deck removes the 2s through 5s. With nine ranks, pairs come quickly: only 32.5% of five-card Short Deck hands are high card, against 50.1% with a full deck, and by the river of Short Deck Hold’em, just 2.8% of hands finish without a pair, straight or flush. High card ranks last under every common Short Deck rule set.

Seven Card Stud

With seven cards, high card is the best hand 17.4% of the time by seventh street, the same as Hold’em by the river. Stud also uses card ranks and suits for procedure: the bring-in is usually the lowest up card on third street, with suit breaking ties, and later streets are started by the highest hand showing. House rules vary on the details.

Five Card Draw

Half of all five-card deals are high card, so in Five Card Draw you’ll often start with nothing. The usual play with no pair is to keep your highest cards, or to keep four to a straight or flush when you have them. Ace-king high drawing three finishes with any pair or better 47.9% of the time. In traditional “jackpots” draw, you need at least a pair of jacks to open the betting, so high-card hands can’t open.

Lowball: where high card is the goal

In lowball games, the lowest hand wins, so the best hands are unpaired hands made of low cards:

• Deuce-to-Seven uses normal hand rankings, reversed. Straights and flushes count against you and the ace is always high, so the best hand is 7-5-4-3-2 of mixed suits, the worst hand in regular poker.
• Ace-to-Five lowball and Razz ignore straights and flushes and count the ace as low, so the best hand is 5-4-3-2-A, the wheel.
• In hi-lo split games like Omaha Hi-Lo and Stud Hi-Lo, the low half usually goes to the best five cards of 8 or lower with no pair, so a qualifying low never contains a pair, although it can still be a straight or flush for the high half.

How often do you make a low? With seven cards, as in Razz and Stud Hi-Lo, you have five different ranks from ace to eight, a qualifying “eight or better” low, 18.3% of the time, about once in 5.5 hands. Most of those are eight-lows (9.8% of all seven-card hands); seven-lows are 5.6%, six-lows 2.4%, and a perfect five-low only 0.58%. In Omaha Hi-Lo, a low is possible only when the five board cards include at least three different ranks from ace to eight, which happens on 60.1% of boards. On the other 39.9%, the whole pot goes to the high hand.

Video poker

In full-pay 9/6 Jacks or Better, high card pays nothing, but it’s the starting point for many hands. According to the Wizard of Odds, 54.5% of final hands pay nothing with optimal play, a group that includes low pairs as well as high-card hands. We computed the average return of some common high-card holds exactly:

Dealt hand	Best hold	Average return per credit	Alternative
A♠ 9♦ 7♣ 4♥ 2♠	The ace	0.47	Draw five new cards: 0.34
K♦ Q♣ 8♠ 5♥ 3♦	King-queen	0.49	The king alone: 0.46
Q♥ J♥ 8♠ 5♦ 2♣	Queen-jack suited	0.62	The queen alone: 0.46
A♠ K♠ 8♦ 5♣ 2♥	Ace-king suited	0.59	The ace alone: 0.45
A♦ K♣ Q♥ 9♠ 4♦	King-queen	0.48	Ace-king-queen: 0.46
A♥ K♦ Q♣ J♠ 5♥	Four to the straight	0.60	King-queen-jack: 0.50
9♣ 7♦ 5♠ 4♥ 2♣	Draw five new cards	0.36	No high cards to keep

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.

Two of these surprise many players. With A-K-Q unsuited, keeping only the king and queen returns more than keeping all three, because it leaves three cards to draw instead of two and K-Q can make more straights than A-K-Q. And with no card jack or higher and no draw, drawing five new cards (0.36) beats keeping a single small card, such as the nine (0.32).

High Card at Showdown: Rules and Etiquette

• Cards speak. Your hand is what your cards make, not what you announce. Players often muck “nothing” that actually wins, or call out “ace high” when they have a straight they didn’t see [TDA 13].
• Show all your hole cards. To win any part of the pot, you’re expected to table all your hole cards [TDA 14], including when you’re playing the board’s five cards and claiming a split [TDA 20].
• Compare all five cards. About one high-card showdown in five is decided by the fourth or fifth card, and sometimes by a board card. Let both hands be read in full before anything is pushed into the muck.
• Don’t give up on a missed hand too fast. Heads-up, ace high or king high often wins when the other player also missed. Cards that are mucked and can’t be identified are dead [TDA 15], so a winning high card thrown away usually can’t be claimed later.
• Odd chips. When identical high-card hands split a pot 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 goes to the high card by suit.

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 High Card Mistakes

Mistake	Why it costs you	What to do instead
Comparing only the top card	Two ace-high hands are compared card by card, down to the fifth	Compare all five cards in order
Counting a hole card that doesn’t play	With seven different ranks, your two lowest never play; 4.8% of the time neither hole card counts	Build your best five from the seven cards
Calling A-K-Q-J-10 “ace high”	It’s a straight, and 5-4-3-2-A is a straight too	Check for five in a row, with the ace high or low
Mucking ace high heads-up	When both players miss, ace high often wins the pot	Show down cheaply when betting has stopped
Calling big bets with ace high multiway	With three or more players seeing the river, high card is almost never the best hand	Fold unless the price is tiny or you’re sure of a bluff
Betting ace high for value on the river	Worse hands fold and better hands call	Check and show down, or bluff with hands that can’t win otherwise
Bluffing with the hands that could win a showdown	Turning ace high into a bluff gives up its showdown value	Bluff with missed draws and small cards instead
Keeping a low card in video poker	A single nine returns 0.32 per credit; drawing five returns 0.36	With no high cards and no draws, draw five
Assuming four suited cards in Omaha make a flush	Only two hole cards can play	Always build two hole cards plus three board cards

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

Most of these come down to the same idea: high card is a real hand heads-up and almost no hand at all against a crowd. Read all five cards, be willing to show down cheaply against one opponent, and let it go when several players are still in.

High Card Quiz

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

#	Question	Answer	Why
1	Which wins: A-7-5-4-2 or K-Q-J-9-8?	A-7-5-4-2	The highest card decides first
2	Which wins: A-K-Q-J-8 or A-K-Q-10-9?	A-K-Q-J-8	The fourth card, jack against ten, decides
3	What’s the best high-card hand?	A-K-Q-J-9	A-K-Q-J-10 is a straight
4	What’s the worst five-card hand in poker?	7-5-4-3-2, not all one suit	Every six-high hand would be a straight
5	How many different high-card hands are there by rank?	1,277	1,287 sets of five ranks minus 10 straights
6	Board K♥ Q♣ 9♦ 8♠ 6♥. 5♠ 3♦ against 4♣ 2♦?	Split pot	Both play the board, K-Q-9-8-6
7	Board K♠ Q♦ 9♣ 5♥ 2♠. A♥ 6♣ against A♦ 4♠?	A♥ 6♣	A-K-Q-9-6 beats A-K-Q-9-5 on the fifth card
8	How often is high card the best hand by the Hold’em river?	17.4%	23,294,460 of 133,784,560 seven-card hands
9	In Omaha, is A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ on 10♠ 9♠ 4♦ 3♣ 2♥ a flush?	No, ace high	Only two hole cards can play
10	In Deuce-to-Seven lowball, what’s the best hand?	7-5-4-3-2, not all one suit	The worst high hand is the best low hand

Frequently Asked Questions

What is high card in poker?

A five-card hand with no pair, no straight and no flush, such as A♠ J♦ 8♣ 6♥ 3♠. It’s the lowest of the ten standard hands and is named by its top card, so that hand is “ace high.”

Does a pair beat high card?

Yes, always. The lowest pair, 2-2-5-4-3, beats the best high-card hand, A-K-Q-J-9.

How do you break a tie between two high-card hands?

Compare the highest cards; if they match, compare the second-highest, and so on down to the fifth. If all five ranks match, the pot is split. Suits never break a tie.

Do all five cards count in a high-card hand?

Yes. Any of the five cards can decide the pot. In Hold’em, those five are the highest five of your seven cards, so your two lowest cards never count.

What’s the best high-card hand?

A-K-Q-J-9 of mixed suits. A-K-Q-J-10 would be a straight, and five cards of one suit would be a flush.

What’s the worst hand in poker?

7-5-4-3-2 of mixed suits. It’s the lowest high-card hand, because every six-high combination, 6-5-4-3-2, is a straight. With seven cards, as in Hold’em, the worst possible high-card hand is 9-8-7-5-4.

How many high-card hands are there?

1,277 different hands by rank and 1,302,540 five-card hands, 50.1% of all 2,598,960. It’s the most common five-card hand.

How often do you end up with high card in Texas Hold’em?

For a player who sees every card: 50.1% on the flop, 32.5% on the turn and 17.4% on the river. A pocket pair can never finish with high card.

What does “ace high” mean?

A high-card hand whose top card is an ace. When a Hold’em hand finishes with high card, it’s ace high 55.6% of the time.

Is ace high a good hand?

Only heads-up. When both players miss, ace high often wins: in our simulations with both players seeing the river, ace high won 19.6% of the showdowns it reached. With three or more players, it almost never wins, and on an unpaired river board like Q♥ 9♣ 6♦ 4♠ 2♥, even A-K, the best high card possible there, beats only 37% of the possible opponent hands.

What does it mean to play the board with high card?

When none of your hole cards is among the five highest cards available, your best hand is the five board cards. Every player still in has at least that hand, so you can split at best. It happens in 4.8% of Hold’em hands that finish with high card.

Is A-K-Q-J-10 ace high?

No, it’s a straight, the highest one (“Broadway”). 5-4-3-2-A is also a straight, where the ace plays low.

Is high card the same as “no pair”?

Almost: a high-card hand has no pair, but it also can’t be a straight or a flush. A hand like 9-8-7-6-5 has no pair and is still a straight.

Why is 7-5-4-3-2 the best hand in some games?

In Deuce-to-Seven lowball, the lowest hand wins and straights and flushes count against you, so the worst high hand in regular poker is the best possible hand. In Ace-to-Five lowball and Razz, the best hand is 5-4-3-2-A instead.

Can you win with high card in Omaha?

Rarely. Only about 3% of Omaha hands that reach the river finish with high card, and with four hole cards per player, someone usually has a pair or better.

Who wins if both players have ace high?

Compare the second-highest cards, then the third, fourth and fifth, until one is higher. A-Q-J-8-6 beats A-J-10-8-6 on the second card. If all five ranks match, the pot is split.

Is a missed flush draw worth anything?

Usually only as a bluff. Four cards of a suit don’t count as anything at showdown. A flop flush draw that misses often pairs something, and it finishes with only high card roughly one time in five; when it does, it usually has to bet to win.

What does “air” mean in poker?

“Air” is slang for a hand with nothing, usually a missed draw or a bluff. At showdown it’s a high-card hand like any other, compared card by card. Players say someone “had air” when they bet with no pair and no draw, hoping the other player would fold.

Is high card worth playing in a tournament all-in?

Against one random hand, most hands with an ace or two high cards are small favorites: A-7 offsuit has 58.8% equity and J-10 offsuit 55.2%. Against two random hands, they fall to 35–39%, close to the 33.3% fair share, so their value depends heavily on how many players are left to act.

Do suits matter for high card?

No, not in standard poker. Two hands with the same five ranks split the pot. Some procedures use suits, like the Stud bring-in and odd-chip rules, but never to rank a hand.

High Card: Quick-Reference Summary

Question	Answer
What it is	Five different ranks, not a straight, not a flush
How many exist	1,277 by rank; 1,302,540 five-card hands (50.1%)
Rank	Last of ten: loses to any pair or better
Best and worst	A-K-Q-J-9 and 7-5-4-3-2 (in seven cards, 9-8-7-5-4)
Comparing two	Card by card from the top; all five can decide; all equal: split
Odds in Hold’em	50.1% on the flop, 32.5% on the turn, 17.4% on the river; never with a pocket pair
Top card, seven-card high card	Ace 55.6%, king 27.4%, queen 11.7%, lower 5.3%
Hole cards in your best five	Both 47.6%, one 47.6%, neither 4.8%: exactly 10 : 10 : 1 by the river
Missed draws	Flush and open-ended draws end as high card about one time in five
At showdown, everyone seeing the river	Heads-up: high card wins 15.8%, ace high 19.6%; three players 3.4%; four or more under 1%
Omaha / Short Deck Hold’em	3.0% / 2.8% of hands by the river
Lowball	Deuce-to-Seven’s best hand is 7-5-4-3-2; Ace-to-Five and Razz, 5-4-3-2-A
Video poker (9/6 Jacks or Better)	Hold your high cards (K-Q over A-K-Q); with nothing, draw five

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, 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 frequency 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; street and hole-card figures over all 2,809,475,760 combinations of two hole cards and five board cards; every one of the 156 unpaired starting hands over all 2,118,760 boards; missed-draw figures over every turn and river; Short Deck over all 376,992 five-card and 8,347,680 seven-card hands; and every example, board, equity and opponent-holding figure over all possible remaining cards.
• Simulations: the Omaha figure from 200,000,000 simulated hands; the all-in equities against random hands from 10,000,000 deals each; and the table-size, win-loss and tie-breaker figures from 400,000,000 simulated deals per table size, with every player seeing the river.
• Video poker: the hold values are exact over every possible draw. The share of final hands that pay nothing under optimal 9/6 Jacks or Better strategy is a published figure from the Wizard of Odds.
• Evaluator checks: every example, look-alike hand, comparison 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 high-card hands fold before the river or win without a showdown by betting, so the showdown figures here describe what happens when high card has to win on its own.

The Bottom Line

High card is five unrelated cards: no pair, no straight, no flush. It’s the last of poker’s ten hands and the most common five-card deal, and it’s compared card by card, with all five cards able to decide the pot. In Hold’em it’s the best hand in only 17.4% of hands played to the river, and more than half of those have an ace.

High card is a real hand heads-up and almost no hand at all against a crowd. Show down ace high cheaply when one opponent has been betting missed draws, bluff with the missed hands that can’t win otherwise, and let go when several players are still in. And if you ever play Deuce-to-Seven, remember that the worst hand in regular poker is the best one there.