Does a Flush Beat a Straight? Yes — Here's Why
4 min read
What does a straight look like?
A straight is five cards in a row, in any mix of suits — 3♠ 4♣ 5♥ 6♠ 7♦. Here is the version that fools people:
Adding one 3 makes a seven-high straight, and the pair never counts, because you always play your best five cards.
What does a flush look like?
A flush is five cards of one suit, in any order — A♥ K♥ 9♥ 7♥ 4♥. The ranks do not need to connect, and usually they don't.
Four hearts with a card still to come is not a flush yet. That is a flush draw, one of several poker draws with math of its own.
Quick check
One player shows the ace-high flush above. The other shows the seven-high straight. Who takes the pot?
Why does rarity set the order?
The harder a hand is to make, the higher it ranks — the rule behind the whole poker hand rankings chart.
A straight needs five ranks in order, and each card can be any suit. A flush needs every card to match one suit, and the ranks can be anything. Matching five suits is the tighter demand, so it happens less often: counted as five-card hands, straights turn up roughly twice as often as flushes.
Three cards of one suit and three ranks inside a five-rank window means both hands are live on the same board. Read the suits first.
What beats a flush?
Three hands sit next to each other in the middle of the chart and cause most of the confusion at showdown:
- Straight — five ranks in a row, suits mixed. The lowest of the three.
- Flush — five cards of one suit. Beats the straight.
- Full house — three of one rank plus a pair. Beats both.
Full house vs three of a kind walks through the hands where people miss their own upgrade.
What happens when two flushes meet?
Suits do not rank against each other in Texas Hold'em.
If nobody holds the ace, the comparison moves to the next card down, then the next. An ace-high flush is the one flush no other flush can beat.
Two flushes split the pot in a single situation: the board itself shows five cards of the suit and neither player holds a higher one, so both play the same five cards.
You'll also run into these
A straight and a flush can arrive in the same five cards. Five suited cards in a row is a straight flush — 5♠ 6♠ 7♠ 8♠ 9♠ — and it beats a plain flush.
A straight can also run to the low end. A-2-3-4-5 counts, with the ace playing below the 2, which makes it the wheel. It is still a straight, so a flush still beats it.
Frequently asked questions
Does a straight beat three of a kind?
Yes, by one step. The gap matters more than it looks, though: three of a kind upgrades to a full house the moment the board pairs, and a full house beats the straight instead. So a straight is ahead of trips until the board pairs. Any unfamiliar term is defined in poker terms for beginners.
Practice this in Vibe Poker
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