Boosted Poker
Does a Flush Beat 3 of a Kind?
Yes — a flush beats 3 of a kind, every time, in every standard form of poker. It's not close, either: there's a whole other hand (the straight) ranked between them. If you're holding three of a kind and your opponent shows five cards of the same suit, they win the pot. Here's the quick answer, the math behind why, and the situations where people get this wrong.
Flush vs 3 of a Kind: The Quick Answer
In the standard poker hand rankings, the order around these two hands looks like this, from strongest to weakest:
| Hand | Example | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Flush | K♠ J♠ 9♠ 6♠ 2♠ | Wins |
| Straight | 9♥ 8♣ 7♦ 6♠ 5♥ | Loses to a flush |
| Three of a kind | 7♦ 7♥ 7♠ K♣ 4♦ | Loses to both |
So a flush doesn't just edge out three of a kind — it beats it by two full ranks. Even the weakest possible flush (7-high) beats the strongest possible three of a kind (three aces). Rankings compare hand categories first; the cards inside the hand only matter as tiebreakers within the same category.
Does a Flush Beat Trips?
Yes — "trips" is just slang for three of a kind, so a flush beats trips every time. Poker players do distinguish between two ways of making three of a kind:
- Trips — one of your hole cards pairs with a pair on the board (you hold 8♦, the board shows 8♠ 8♥).
- A set — you hold a pocket pair and a third card lands on the board (you hold 8♦ 8♣, the board shows 8♠).
The distinction matters for strategy (a set is far better disguised), but for hand rankings they're identical: both are three of a kind, and both lose to any flush.
Why a Flush Ranks Higher: The Math
Poker hands are ranked by exactly one principle: rarer hands beat more common hands. Out of all 2,598,960 possible five-card hands:
| Hand | Ways to make it | Odds of being dealt it |
|---|---|---|
| Three of a kind | 54,912 | ≈ 2.11% (1 in 47) |
| Straight | 10,200 | ≈ 0.39% (1 in 255) |
| Flush | 5,108 | ≈ 0.20% (1 in 509) |
A flush is roughly ten times rarer than three of a kind in a five-card deal. That gap is why it sits comfortably above trips — with the straight slotted in between.
The intuition trips people up in Texas Hold'em because you build hands from seven cards, which makes flushes feel more common than they are. Even there, three of a kind arrives more often (≈4.8% of hands) than a flush (≈3.0%).
Why This One Gets Misremembered
Three of a kind looks powerful — three matching cards feels like a big deal, while a flush can read as "five random cards that happen to share a suit." But the rankings don't care how a hand looks; they care how hard it is to make. If it helps, memorize the middle of the ladder as a phrase: "trips, straight, flush" — each one beats the one before it.
What Beats a Flush?
Once you're holding the flush, only four things beat you:
- A higher flush — flushes are compared highest card first (an ace-high flush beats a king-high flush).
- A full house — three of a kind plus a pair.
- Four of a kind.
- A straight flush (or its ace-high version, the royal flush).
Note the irony: three of a kind loses to a flush, but three of a kind that improves into a full house turns the tables and beats it. If the board pairs while you're holding a set, you've usually just leapfrogged every flush at the table. And if two players both make a flush, see our guide to who wins when two people have a flush.
The Full Hand Ranking Order
| Rank | Hand | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal flush | A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠ |
| 2 | Straight flush | 9♦ 8♦ 7♦ 6♦ 5♦ |
| 3 | Four of a kind | Q♠ Q♥ Q♦ Q♣ 7♦ |
| 4 | Full house | J♠ J♥ J♦ 8♣ 8♦ |
| 5 | Flush | K♠ J♠ 9♠ 6♠ 2♠ |
| 6 | Straight | 9♥ 8♣ 7♦ 6♠ 5♥ |
| 7 | Three of a kind | 7♦ 7♥ 7♠ K♣ 4♦ |
| 8 | Two pair | A♠ A♦ 6♣ 6♥ Q♦ |
| 9 | One pair | 10♠ 10♣ K♦ 8♥ 3♠ |
| 10 | High card | A♦ J♠ 8♣ 6♥ 2♦ |
For the full breakdown with tiebreaker rules for every rank, see our poker hand rankings cheat sheet.
Does This Ever Change? (Short Deck & Variants)
Almost never. In Short Deck (6+) Hold'em — played with the 2s through 5s removed — flushes become rarer than full houses, so a flush actually moves up and beats a full house there. But a flush still beats three of a kind in Short Deck, too. There is no commonly played variant where trips beat a flush.
In Boosted Poker, hands use standard rankings, but each hand deals a random table modifier that can shake this up. Four-Card Flush lets you complete a flush with only four suited cards, and Trips Trump Straights makes three of a kind beat a straight for one hand — climbing trips a rung up the ladder, though still not past the flush. It's the one place where "does a flush beat trips?" is worth double-checking the banner at the top of the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a flush beat 3 of a kind?
Yes — in every standard form of poker, including Texas Hold'em, Omaha, and Five-Card Draw. A flush ranks two spots above three of a kind, with the straight between them.
Does a flush beat trips?
Yes. Trips is slang for three of a kind, so a flush beats trips every time — regardless of whether the three of a kind was made as "trips" or as a "set."
Does 3 of a kind ever beat a flush?
Not in any standard game, including Short Deck. Three of a kind only wins by improving into a full house or four of a kind — both of which do beat a flush.
What beats a flush in poker?
A higher flush, a full house, four of a kind, a straight flush, and a royal flush. Everything else loses to it.
Why is a flush ranked higher than 3 of a kind?
Rarity. A five-card flush comes up about once in 509 deals; three of a kind about once in 47. Poker's entire ranking ladder is ordered by how hard each hand is to make.