A flush is five cards of the same suit that do not form a straight flush. Compare the highest card, then the next highest until a difference appears. An ace-high flush can still tie or lose to another ace-high flush when the lower cards decide it.
Where flush ranks
A flush beats a straight and three of a kind. It loses to a full house, four of a kind and a straight flush. Suits have equal value for deciding a standard Hold'em winner. Use the complete hand-ranking chart to compare different categories.
A five-card example and how to compare it
A♥ K♥ J♥ 8♥ 4♥
A-J-8-6-2 of hearts beats A-J-8-5-4 of clubs. The ace, jack and eight tie, so compare the fourth card: six beats five. Do not add the card ranks together. A sixth suited card is discarded when it is lower than the five you already use.
Test a Texas Hold'em showdown
You and one opponent have reached showdown on this board. Decide whether you win, lose or split, and name your best five cards before revealing the answer.
| Cards | Holding |
|---|---|
| Shared board | A♥ J♥ 8♥ 3♣ 2♦ |
| Your hole cards | K♥ 4♥ |
| Opponent's hole cards | Q♥ 9♥ |
Reveal the comparison
You win with A-K-J-8-4 of hearts. Your opponent uses A-Q-J-9-8 of hearts. Both are ace-high, but your king beats their queen at the first different card. The opponent's nine does not get compared before that king-versus-queen difference.
Your best five: A♥ K♥ J♥ 8♥ 4♥
Board flushes and four-card draws
If the board itself has five hearts, every remaining player has at least that flush. A hole-card heart can replace a lower board heart and improve it; a card of a different suit cannot be a flush kicker. If only four hearts are visible among your hole cards and the board, you have a flush draw, not a completed flush. Count which unseen hearts help, then consider whether a later paired board could produce a full house.
Common mistakes with flush
- Two suited hole cards alone are not a flush.
- A higher non-suited hole card cannot be added to a five-card flush.
- Making a flush does not guarantee winning on a paired board.
How often does flush occur in five cards?
Exactly this category occurs in 5,108 of 2,598,960 random five-card hands (0.196540%). Choose one of four suits, then five of its 13 cards: 4 × C(13, 5) = 5,148. Subtract the 40 straight flushes, including royals, to leave 5,108 ordinary flushes. The categories are exclusive.
This model uses a standard 52-card deck, no wild cards and no known cards. It is not the chance of your best five from seven at a Hold'em river, or your chance of beating the other player. The five-card probability explorer compares categories under the same assumptions.
What to practise next
Continue with exact odds of hitting your flush outs. At the play-chip training table, name the five cards you use before reading the showdown result. A hand's category alone does not tell you whether to call a bet; pot odds and equity address that separate question.
Rules checked against PokerStars' standard hand rankings. Counts checked against University of Hawaii's five-card calculations (2 January 2005 edition). Original examples are checked with the Hold'em Sim evaluator; counts are re-derived using combinations. AI-assisted text and checks reviewed 30 October 2026.