A flush is one of the strongest hands in poker: five cards of the same suit, such as K♥ 9♥ 7♥ 4♥ 2♥. It sits fifth on the standard ranking of ten hands, outranking a straight but losing to a full house. This guide explains exactly what a flush is, where it falls in the pecking order, why it beats a straight, how likely you are to make one, and how two flushes are compared when they clash at showdown.
Key Points
- A flush is five cards of the same suit, in any order.
- It ranks fifth of ten poker hands — above a straight, below a full house.
- Only about 0.197% of five-card hands (1 in 508) are a flush.
- Flushes are compared by highest card; the suit never breaks a tie.
- An ace-high flush is the “nut flush” — the best possible flush.
What is a flush in poker?
A flush is any five cards that share the same suit — all hearts, all diamonds, all clubs or all spades — regardless of their numerical order. The hand K♥ 9♥ 7♥ 4♥ 2♥ is a flush because every card is a heart. Rank and sequence do not matter for the definition; the single requirement is that all five cards belong to one suit.
The five cards do not need to run in sequence. If they do — for example 9♠ 8♠ 7♠ 6♠ 5♠ — the hand stops being a plain flush and becomes a much rarer straight flush. The highest possible version of that, A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ 10♠, is the royal flush. A plain flush is therefore specifically a five-card same-suit hand that is not also a straight.
A flush uses all five cards to make its value, so there is no separate “kicker” sitting outside the hand. Flushes are named after their highest card: a flush whose top card is a king (but not an ace) is a “king-high flush”. The best possible flush is an ace-high flush, often called the nut flush because no higher flush can exist.
Where a flush ranks among poker hands
A flush is the fifth-best hand in standard high poker. From strongest to weakest, the ten ranked hands are:
- Royal flush
- Straight flush
- Four of a kind
- Full house
- Flush
- Straight
- Three of a kind
- Two pair
- One pair
- High card
In practical terms, a flush beats a straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair and a high card. It loses to a full house, four of a kind, a straight flush and a royal flush. For the full picture of every hand with examples and exact odds, see our guide to poker hand rankings.
Why does a flush beat a straight?
A flush beats a straight because a flush is harder to make. Poker hands are ranked by rarity: the fewer ways there are to assemble a hand, the higher it sits on the chart. When you count every possible five-card combination from a 52-card deck, there are 10,200 distinct straights but only 5,108 distinct flushes. Because flushes occur roughly half as often, they outrank straights.
This also explains a situation that trips up new players. On a board where a straight and a flush are both possible, the flush wins the pot. A player holding two cards that complete a straight loses to a player holding two suited cards that complete a flush, every time — the rarer hand prevails.
How rare is a flush? The odds and probability
A flush is uncommon but not exotic: it lands far more often than four of a kind yet far less often than a pair. The exact numbers depend on whether you are talking about a five-card deal or a seven-card game such as Texas Hold’em.
Being dealt a flush in five cards
There are 2,598,960 possible five-card hands. Of these, 5,108 are flushes, giving a probability of about 0.197%, or roughly 1 in 508 (odds of about 508 : 1 against). The maths is straightforward: there are 1,287 ways to choose five cards from the 13 in a single suit, but 10 of those are straight flushes (nine straight flushes plus the royal), leaving 1,277 pure flushes per suit. Multiplied across the four suits, that is 4 × 1,277 = 5,108 hands.
Making a flush in Texas Hold’em
In Hold’em you see seven cards in total, so flushes appear more often than the raw five-card odds suggest. It starts with your two hole cards: about 23.5% of starting hands are suited (both cards the same suit). From there:
- Flopping a made flush with suited hole cards happens only about 0.8% of the time (around 1 in 118).
- Flopping a flush draw — four cards to a flush, needing one more — happens about 10.9% of the time.
- Once you hold a flush draw on the flop, you have nine outs (the nine remaining cards of your suit). That gives roughly a 19% chance to hit on the turn and about a 35% chance to complete by the river.
- Over both remaining cards, two suited hole cards turn into a flush about 6.5% of the time.
A quick shortcut for the table is the “rule of 2 and 4”: multiply your outs by four with two cards to come, or by two with one card to come. Nine outs × 4 = 36%, which is within a point of the true 35%. For a full breakdown of outs, pot odds and when a draw is worth chasing, see our guide to poker odds.
Flush Odds at a Glance
| Scenario | Probability | Odds against |
|---|---|---|
| Dealt a flush in five cards | ~0.197% | ~508 : 1 |
| Flopping a made flush (suited hole cards) | ~0.8% | ~118 : 1 |
| Flopping a flush draw (suited hole cards) | ~10.9% | ~8 : 1 |
| Completing a flush draw by the river (9 outs) | ~35% | ~1.9 : 1 |
| Two suited hole cards making a flush by the river | ~6.5% | ~14 : 1 |
Flush over flush: who wins?
When two players both hold a flush, the highest card decides the pot. Compare the hands card by card from the top down: the flush with the higher top card wins. If the top cards tie, move to the second-highest card, then the third, and so on through all five.
For example, A♦ J♦ 8♦ 5♦ 3♦ beats K♦ Q♦ 10♦ 6♦ 4♦ because an ace outranks a king. If both players had an ace-high flush, you would compare their second cards, and so on. Only if all five cards are identical in rank is the pot split.
Crucially, suit never breaks a flush tie. All four suits are equal in poker, so a spade flush does not beat a heart flush of the same ranks. This is why the nut flush — an ace-high flush — is so valuable: it can never be out-flushed. For more on how showdowns are settled, read what happens when two hands tie in poker.
Playing a flush draw
A flush draw is one of the most playable drawing hands because its nine outs give good chances of improvement. With roughly a 35% chance to complete by the river, a flush draw is a strong candidate for a semi-bluff: betting or raising with the draw lets you win either by making your opponent fold now or by hitting your flush later.
The decision to continue should always come back to pot odds — the price the pot is offering versus your chance of hitting. Chasing a flush draw when the pot is not laying the right price is a slow, steady way to lose money. It also matters whether you are drawing to the nut flush: a draw to an ace-high flush is far safer than a draw to a low flush that could be beaten by a bigger one. These ideas are covered in depth in our guide to how poker is played.
Flushes in other poker variants
The flush exists in almost every poker game, but how you make one and how it ranks can change:
- Omaha: you must use exactly two of your four hole cards. To make a flush you need precisely two hole cards of the suit plus three of that suit on the board — three suited cards in your hand do you no good.
- Short Deck (6+ Hold’em): the 2s through 5s are removed, which makes flushes harder to hit than full houses. In most Short Deck rules a flush therefore beats a full house, reversing the usual order.
- Seven-Card Stud: the five-card flush is ranked exactly as in Hold’em, drawn from your seven cards.
Common mistakes with flushes
Even experienced players misplay flushes. The most frequent errors are:
- Overvaluing a weak flush. A low flush is still just a flush. On a board with three or four cards of one suit, an opponent may well hold a higher flush, so a jack-high flush can be a trap.
- Forgetting the board can make a bigger flush. If four cards of one suit are on the board, anyone holding a single card of that suit has a flush — and the ace of the suit beats you.
- Misreading Omaha. Three or more suited cards on the board do not give you a flush unless you also hold two cards of that suit.
- Chasing without the odds. Calling large bets to complete a flush draw that the pot does not justify bleeds chips over time.
- Thinking suit matters for ranking. It does not. Spades do not beat hearts; only the card ranks decide a flush-over-flush showdown.
A note on responsible play
This article is educational and explains poker hand rankings and probabilities; it is not betting advice and does not encourage gambling. Poker involves risk, and no hand, draw or statistic guarantees a win on any given deal. Play only with money you can afford to lose, set limits in advance, and treat the game as entertainment. If gambling stops being fun or feels hard to control, free confidential support is available from organisations such as GamCare. Age limits for real-money poker vary by country (commonly 18 or 21).
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Does a flush beat a straight?
Yes. A flush always beats a straight in standard poker because a flush is the rarer hand — there are about 5,108 possible flushes versus 10,200 straights in five cards. When both are possible on the same board, the flush wins the pot.
What are the odds of making a flush?
Being dealt a flush in five cards is about 0.197%, or roughly 1 in 508. In Texas Hold’em, a flush draw on the flop (nine outs) completes by the river about 35% of the time.
Who wins if two players both have a flush?
The flush with the highest card wins. If the top cards match, compare the next-highest card, and so on down all five. Suit is never used to break the tie, so identical ranks split the pot.
Does the suit matter in a flush?
No. All four suits are equal in poker. A flush must be all one suit, but which suit it is has no effect on its strength — only the card ranks decide a flush-over-flush contest.
Is a flush better than a full house?
No. In standard poker a full house beats a flush, because a full house is rarer. A flush does, however, beat a straight, three of a kind, two pair, a pair and a high card. (Short Deck poker is a notable exception, where a flush beats a full house.)
