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.
How Does a Royal Flush Hand Rank?
In a 52-card deck there are only 4 possible royal flush combinations and they are all ranked equally. The four flush combinations are as follows :
A♠K♠Q♠J♠10♠
A♥K♥Q♥J♥10♥
A♣K♣Q♣J♣10♣
A♦K♦Q♦J♦10♦
A royal flush is actually a type of straight-flush, but it beats all other straight-flushes.
How Does a Straight Hand Match Up?
The royal flush is the stone cold nuts meaning that it can never be beaten. In Hold’em and Omaha games it is impossible for two players to make a Royal flush at the same time. The hand can therefore never chop the pot.
In the article on straight flushes we mentioned that a straight flush is actually best possible hand. Why did we say that? This is because the royal flush is actually a type of straight flush. It’s possible for the royal flush to find itself facing a lower straight flush, in which case the royal flush always wins.
Royal Flush Poker Probabilities
Now we’ll look at the preflop, flop, turn and river probabilities of making a Royal Flush in both Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha.
| Hold’em Probabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preflop | 0.000154% | (based on 5 cards randomly drawn from a full 52-card deck |
| By the Flop | 0.005% | (When holding two suited cards between Ten and Ace) |
| By the Turn | 4.256% | (When Holding an open-ended Royal Flush Draw on the Flop) |
| By the River | 4.348% | (When Holding an open-ended Royal Flush Draw on the Turn) |
| Pot Limit Omaha Probabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preflop | 0.000154% | (based on 5 cards randomly drawn from a full 52-card deck |
| By the Flop | 0.0058% | (When holding TJxx double-suited) |
| By the Turn | 4.444% | (When Holding an open-ended Royal Flush Draw on the Flop) |
| By the River | 4.545% | (When Holding an open-ended Royal Flush Draw on the Turn) |
Visit our Royal flush odds article for more information.