Royal Flush Poker
As part of Poker.org’s cards chart and poker hands series, we bring you a full rundown of the royal flush, including the definition, probability, ranking, hands that beat it (nothing) and examples.
What is a Royal Flush?
The royal flush represents the strongest possible hand you can make in a game of poker. Royal flushes top all other hands in the poker hand rankings and are mathematically the rarest made hands that you can draw from a 52-card poker deck.
The “royal flush”, sometimes called “imperial flush”, is simply an ace flush. It is the highest possible hand in Video Poker games. It can therefore only be beaten by another straight flush of higher rank. Like a normal flush, a straight flush can be “white”, if this convention is accepted at the table.
A royal flush consists of a ten-to-ace straight with all five cards of matching suits. A standard poker deck yields only four ways to make a royal flush, as the royal flush stands as the rarest of poker hands.
The hand occurs so infrequently, in fact, that you could play thousands of poker hands and never make a royal flush.
- A Royal Flush is a poker hand made out of 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, all of the same suit. It is the best out of all the poker hands that can be created in a standard game of poker and it is also.
- The Royal Flush Hand in Poker The Royal Flush is top on the list of poker hand rankings. This is the strongest possible hand in poker and can never be beaten. It is made when we have the Ace-high straight while holding cards all of the same suit.
- The royal flush represents the best possible five-card you can make according to standard poker hand rankings. A royal flush consists of a ten-to-ace straight, and all five cards must be the same suit. There are only four ways to make a royal flush out of a 52-card poker deck. Here’s an example of a royal flush.
- The royal flush is the highest hand in poker. You need an Ace, a King, a Queen, a Jack and a 10. All the cards which make up the hand must be of the same suit. The order (from the highest to the lowest) of poker rankings is Royal Flush, Straight Flush, Four-of-a-Kind, Full House, Flush, Straight, Three-of-a-Kind, Two Pair, One Pair, High Card.
To learn about the other common poker hands, see our full Poker Hands Ranking Chart.
The Royal Flush Explained
Only four ways to make a royal flush exist in a standard 52-card poker deck. You can make an ace-to-ten straight in any of the four suits, (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs), but all five cards must be the same suit for the hand to qualify as a royal flush.
The royal flush stands as the best possible straight flush you can make. A straight flush is made of five sequential cards that are all the same suit.
The royal flush sits on the top end of the spectrum of straight flushes you can make and sits atop all other hands in the poker hand rankings.
What Beats a Royal Flush?
No other made hand beats a royal flush in games that use the standard poker hand rankings. Royal flushes mark the best possible hand in games like Texas Hold’em, Pot-Limit Omaha Hi, Stud, Short Deck Hold’em, and many others.
In games with a hi-lo split, it’s possible for the best qualifying low hand to chop the pot with a royal flush. Games that use hi-lo split rules include Omaha Eight or Better, Stud Eight or Better, and a few other poker variants.
The royal flush is always an unbeatable high hand, however. In Texas Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha, it’s impossible for two players to use their hole cards to make a royal flush in the same hand.
Does a Five of a Kind Beat a Royal Flush?
Five of a kind doesn’t occur in games that use a standard 52-card deck. The Texas Hold’em and Pot-Limit Omaha games played in casinos around the world don’t use jokers or any kind of wild cards that would make five-of-a-kind possible.
Royal Flush: Poker Hand Ranking
Any poker game that includes five-of-a-kind as a possibility isn’t using a standard poker deck.
Do Four Aces Beat a Royal Flush?
Four aces make a very strong hand, but not strong enough to beat a royal flush. Four aces stand as the strongest possible four-of-a-kind you can possibly make, but all four-of-a-kind hands lose to the royal flush. All hands below four-of-a-kind in the poker hand rankings also lose to the royal flush.
Probability of a Royal Flush
A standard poker deck yields only one distinct way to draw a royal flush. Multiplying that by the four suits, there are four total possible ways to make a royal flush.
If you drew five random cards from a 52-card deck, you’d have an 0.000154% chance of making a royal flush. This probability can also be expressed as 649,739-to-1 odds against drawing a royal flush.
In Texas Hold’em, you’re tasked with making the best possible five-card hand out of seven total cards (two hole cards plus five community cards). In a game of Texas Hold’em, you have a 0.0032% chance of making a royal flush (30,939-to-1 odds against).
Examples of a Royal Flush
Royal Flush Poker Chips
Examples of a royal flush include A♠K♠Q♠J♠T♠, A♥K♥Q♥J♥T♥, A♣K♣Q♣J♣T♣, and A♦K♦Q♦J♦T♦.
Royal Flush Poker Table
The standard versions of flushes and straights include many different ways to make those hands. The royal flush only gives you one distinct way to make the hand, however and four overall ways.
What Is A Royal Flush
A royal flush can only be made as a ten-to-ace straight of all the same suit. Any suit can be used to make a royal flush, but only a ten-to-ace straight with all cards of the same suit qualifies as a royal flush.