What is a Royal Flush in Poker?
A Royal Flush is a poker hand made out of 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, all of the same suit. It is the best of all the poker hands that can be made in a standard game of poker and it is also the rarest one.
- How does a Royal Flush rank?
- What beats a Royal Flush? (Chart)
- How to play a Royal Flush?
- Royal Flush probabilities
Royal Flush
What Does a Royal Flush Look Like?
There are only four possible combinations to make a Royal Flush when playing poker. These are:
- A
, K, Q, J, 10 - A
, K, Q, J, 10 - A
, K, Q, J, 10 - A
, K, Q, J, 10
, K
, K
, K
, KHow Does a Royal Flush Rank?
The Royal Flush is the strongest of all poker hands. It wins over all other combinations and guarantees success when going to a showdown. It is also known as the "absolute nuts" since it cannot be beaten. Learn more about poker nicknames here.
What Beats a Royal Flush?
Rank | Hand Names | Example | Hand Description |
|---|---|---|---|
1 |
| 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace all in the same suit. | |
2 |
| Five cards in a row, all in the same suit. | |
3 |
| The same card in each of the four suits. | |
4 |
| A pair plus three of a kind in the same hand. | |
5 |
| Five cards, all in one suit, but not in numerical order. | |
6 |
| Five cards in numerical order, but not of the same suit. | |
7 |
| Three of one card and two non-paired cards. | |
8 |
| Two different pairings or sets of the same card in one hand. | |
9 |
| One pairing of the same card. | |
10 |
| No matching cards. |
In poker variants without community cards it is possible for more than one Royal Flush to be made in the same hand, in different suits. In this case, the ranking is based on the suit, in alphabetical order. Clubs is the lowest, followed by diamonds, hearts, and then spades. As a result, a Royal Flush of spades is the highest hand in poker.
How Should You Play a Royal Flush in Texas Hold’em?
Hitting a Royal Flush is the dream hand of any poker player. If you manage to make one, you know for certain that nobody will have a superior hand to yours. Therefore the trick to playing a Royal Flush well is being able to lure other players in to increase the pot. This will allow you to maximize your winnings from the hand.
Bet for value - that is, make bets you think (and hope) will be called. You’ll need to be careful though, bet too much and you’ll arouse suspicion, causing your opponents to fold. In this instance it would be better to have a small bet called than to bet big and see all others fold.
Royal Flush Probabilities
Given the fact that Texas Hold'em is the most popular variant of poker, we will focus on the probabilities of getting a Royal Flush when playing this type of poker game.
In this instance, we will focus on the odds of being dealt the Royal Flush on the flop. Meaning a player will have five cards – consisting of their two hole cards and the three flop cards.
Number of ways to make the hand (not including different suits) | Number of ways to make the hand (including different suits) | Odds of getting a Royal Flush | Probability of getting a Royal Flush |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | 1 / 649,739 | 0.000154% |
The odds of being dealt the Royal Flush on the flop is only the tip of the iceberg. For more on odds, including the probability of winning any given hand on the flop, turn, and/or river, have a play with our poker odds calculator.