Boosted Poker
Does a Flush Beat a Straight in Poker?
Yes — a flush beats a straight, in every standard form of poker. It doesn't matter how high the straight is: an ace-high "Broadway" straight still loses to the lowliest 7-high flush. This is probably the single most disputed showdown in home games, so here's the rule, the math that justifies it, and the one exception people are actually thinking of when they argue.
Flush vs Straight: The Quick Answer
| Hand | Example | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Flush — five cards, one suit | K♠ J♠ 9♠ 6♠ 2♠ | Wins |
| Straight — five consecutive cards | 10♥ J♣ Q♦ K♠ A♥ | Loses — even at its strongest |
Hand rankings compare categories first, and only look inside the hands when both players hold the same category. Since flush outranks straight as a category, the worst flush beats the best straight — no exceptions in standard play.
Why the Flush Ranks Higher: The Math
Poker's ranking ladder is ordered by one thing: how hard each hand is to make. Out of the 2,598,960 possible five-card hands:
| Hand | Ways to make it | Odds of being dealt it |
|---|---|---|
| Straight | 10,200 | ≈ 0.39% (1 in 255) |
| Flush | 5,108 | ≈ 0.20% (1 in 509) |
A flush is almost exactly twice as rare as a straight. The intuition: there are lots of ways for five ranks to line up consecutively across four suits, but locking all five cards into a single suit is much more restrictive.
Interestingly, in Texas Hold'em (where you pick your best five from seven cards) the gap narrows — straights show up in about 4.6% of hands and flushes about 3.0% — but the classic five-card rarity order still sets the rankings, and flushes remain the rarer hand either way.
The Exception People Are Thinking Of: The Straight Flush
When someone insists "a straight can beat a flush," they're almost always thinking of the straight flush — five consecutive cards all in the same suit, like 9♦ 8♦ 7♦ 6♦ 5♦. That's not a straight beating a flush; it's a separate hand category that beats both (and nearly everything else — only a higher straight flush or a royal flush tops it).
So the ladder around these hands runs: straight < flush < full house < four of a kind < straight flush.
Straight vs Flush at a Real Showdown
This matchup comes up constantly in Hold'em, because boards that make straights possible often make flushes possible too. Example — the board runs out Q♥ J♥ 10♦ 4♥ 3♣:
- Player A holds A♠ K♦ → an ace-high straight: A K Q J 10 — "Broadway," the best straight in poker.
- Player B holds 9♥ 6♥ → a queen-high flush: Q♥ J♥ 9♥ 6♥ 4♥.
- Player B wins. The strongest possible straight loses to a modest flush.
This exact pattern — big straight walks into a quiet flush — is one of the most common ways players lose a big pot, which is why experienced players slow down on three-suited boards even with Broadway.
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♦ |
Full tiebreaker rules for every rank are in our poker hand rankings cheat sheet. Wondering about the next rung down? See does a flush beat 3 of a kind? — and if both players make the flush, here's who wins when two people have a flush.
Does Any Variant Flip This?
Essentially no. The one commonly cited rankings change is Short Deck (6+) Hold'em, played with the 2s through 5s removed — and there the flush gets stronger, moving above the full house, because short-deck flushes are rarer. Straights never move above flushes in any widely played variant.
In Boosted Poker, the ladder stays standard, but each hand's random table modifier can change how these hands get made — Wrap-Around Straights lets straights bend around the ace (like Q-K-A-2-3), and Four-Card Flush completes a flush with only four suited cards. Flush still beats straight either way; there are just more ways to end up in exactly this showdown.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a flush beat a straight in poker?
Yes — in Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Stud, Five-Card Draw, and every other standard variant. Even the lowest flush beats the highest straight.
Why does a flush beat a straight?
Rarity. There are 10,200 five-card straights but only 5,108 flushes — a flush is about twice as hard to make, so it ranks higher.
Does a straight ever beat a flush?
Not in standard poker. The "exception" people remember is the straight flush, which is its own hand and beats both a straight and a flush.
What if one player has a straight and another has a flush?
The flush wins, full stop — even an ace-high Broadway straight loses to a 7-high flush.
What beats a flush?
A higher flush, a full house, four of a kind, a straight flush, or a royal flush. Everything else loses to it.