What is a Straight in Poker?

A Straight is one of the good poker hands that can be very valuable. It is made out of five cards of sequential ranking. The suits of the cards are not important when making a standard Straight.

• How does a Straight rank?
• What beats a Straight? (Chart)
• How should you play a Straight in Texas Hold’em?
• Straight Probabilities

How does a Straight rank?

A Straight can be found in the middle of the poker hand rankings. It is weaker than a Flush and stronger than Three of a Kind. A Straight card hand is also ranked based on the value of the highest card in the combination. The Ace can be the highest one and the lowest value in a Straight, depending on its position.

What Beats Full House?

Rank	Hand Names	Example	Hand Description
1	Royal Flush	10 J Q K A	10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace all in the same suit.
2	Straight Flush	4 5 6 7 8	Five cards in a row, all in the same suit.
3	Four of a Kind	10 7 7 7 7	The same card in each of the four suits.
4	Full House	K K K J J	A pair plus three of a kind in the same hand.
5	Flush	6 8 Q 3 10	Five cards, all in one suit, but not in numerical order.
6	Straight	10 9 8 7 6	Five cards in numerical order, but not of the same suit.
7	Three of a Kind	2 J K K K	Three of one card and two non-paired cards.
8	Two Pair	Q 4 4 A A	Two different pairings or sets of the same card in one hand.
9	One Pair	7 8 Q 5 5	One pairing of the same card.
10	High Card	2 3 7 Q K	No matching cards.

The top-ranking Straight is called a "Broadway" and it looks like A♠-K♣-Q♥-J♠-10♦. The lowest Straight is also known as a "Wheel". The suits of the cards don't matter, unless they are all the same, making the hand a much more valuable Straight Flush. Learn more about poker nicknames here.

How should you play a Straight in Hold’em?

Playing a Straight hand is a classic case of making sure you don’t come out of it looking like a fish (poker slang for a player who isn’t very good).

The best way to think about a Straight is that it can be considered the silent assassin of the poker table. It’s unlikely you’ll land a Straight on the flop so be prepared to do some chasing on the turn or river.

Your approach will depend on whether you have an open-ended Straight draw or a closed Straight draw.

If you have the open-ended straight draw, then you can afford to be a little bit more aggressive with your play knowing you have eight possible outs compared to the four outs of a closed Straight draw.

You will need to remember that you could be facing the threat of a superior hand so be mindful of how other players are betting to avoid being caught short.

Straight Probabilities

A Straight of five cards can be made in 10,200 ways when using the standard deck of 52 cards. For Texas Hold'em, with three community cards and two in the hole, the odds of getting a Straight are as follows:

The odds of being dealt a Straight 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.

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