The Straight Flush is number one on the list of poker hand rankings and consists of five consecutive cards in the same suit.

• The best possible hand is a royal flush, which is a straight and a flush with the top five cards: ace, king, queen, jack, and ten. When you get these five cards all of one suit, you can’t lose in poker. Most games don’t make distinctions in suit rankings. A royal flush.
• WHAT BEATS WHAT (List) 1. The Royal flush beats every other poker hand. This is the ultimate hand in poker of course. You have a royal flush when you hold the 10-J-Q-K-A all of the same suit. Typically, you only make royal flushes a handful of times in your lifetime But it does happens, I’ve hit a few myself! Straight Flush.

The best straight flush possible is called the Royal Flush and is made up of A-K-Q-J-10 all in the same suit:

A flush Poker Hand Beats everything but a straight flush and royal flush. The only time a flush beats another flush is when 2 or more players at the same showdown hand have flushes. If so the one with the highest card overall in his flush hand wins.

A♠K♠Q♠J♠10♠

A♥K♥Q♥J♥10♥

A♣K♣Q♣J♣10♣

A♦K♦Q♦J♦10♦

Now the suits are irrelevant here. It’s the hand rank or denomination that’s important. Note that a straight to the Ace in any suit, counts as a Royal Flush and neither ranks better than the other in the hand ranking system.

Here’s an example of a regular Straight Flush:

9♠8♠7♠6♠5♠

The ranking of a Straight Flush is determined by the highest straight card – not the suit. If more than one player has a Straight Flush then the winner is determined by the player with the highest straight. In that vein, a 10-high Straight Flush – in any suit - beats a 9-high Straight Flush – in any suit, and so on.

How Does a Straight Flush Hand Rank?

In a 52-card deck, there are 40 possible straight flush hand combinations. As discussed earlier, this poker hand ranks top of the hand ranking list. It beats all other hands in most poker games.

In certain games, like 2 to 7 Low, the ace-high flush is what is called the Steel Wheel.

5♠4♠3♠2♠A♠

How Does a Straight Flush Hand Match Up?

The Straight Flush is the best possible hand in the poker hand ranking system. No other hand ranks above it.

However, there are many hands that rank under it. The next best hand on the list is called Four-of-a-Kind.

In poker, this hand is also known as Quads and is made up of 4 cards of the same rank.

The best Four-of-a-Kind hand is Quad Aces:

A♠A♦A♣A♥

Straight Flush Poker Probabilities

Now, we’ll look at the pre-flop, flop, turn and river probabilities of making a Straight Flush in both Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha.

Does A Straight Beat A Full House

Visit our Straight Flush Odds article for more information.

Does A Poker Beat A Straight Flush Light

Now that you’ve got the Straight Flush down pat, we’ll move onto the next hand on the list. It’s called Royal Flush.