Royal Flush
A royal flush is the highest possible hand in poker: ace, king, queen, jack and ten, all of the same suit. It beats every other hand, and it can only be tied when the royal flush is on the board.
The simple explanation
It is the best straight flush, from ten to ace. It is extremely rare: about one in 650,000 five-card hands. If you get one, you are very lucky.
A closer look
In Hold'em, the chance of a royal flush with a suited ace-king after the river is tiny. Because the hand is the nuts, the challenge is to get paid. When the board has four cards to a royal flush, a player holding the fifth card has the nuts. Some casinos pay bonuses for it. If a royal flush is on the board, all players tie.
A practical example
You hold A♥ K♥ and the flop is Q♥ J♥ 10♥. You have a royal flush.
Full explanation
A royal flush is the highest possible hand in poker: ace, king, queen, jack and ten, all of the same suit. It beats every other hand, and it can only be tied when the royal flush is on the board.
A royal flush is ace-king-queen-jack-ten of one suit.
It is the best hand in poker.
It is very rare, about one in 650,000 hands.
A royal flush
No-limit Hold’em · Blinds 1/2 chips · No rake
The blinds are 1 and 2 chips. Heads-up, the dealer (D) also posts the small blind.
Read the example transcript
Player A has the button (BTN) and posts the 1-chip small blind (SB). Player B posts the 2-chip big blind (BB).
- Preflop · Pot: 3 chips
The blinds are 1 and 2 chips. Heads-up, the dealer (D) also posts the small blind.
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of hearts (Ah)KKing of hearts (Kh) · Stack 199 · In this round 1
- Player B BB 99 of clubs (9c)99 of diamonds (9d) · Stack 198 · In this round 2
- Preflop · Pot: 8 chips
Player A raises to 6 before the flop.
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of hearts (Ah)KKing of hearts (Kh) · Stack 194 · In this round 6
- Player B BB 99 of clubs (9c)99 of diamonds (9d) · Stack 198 · In this round 2
- Preflop · Pot: 12 chips
Player B calls. Each player has put in 6 chips.
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of hearts (Ah)KKing of hearts (Kh) · Stack 194 · In this round 6
- Player B BB 99 of clubs (9c)99 of diamonds (9d) · Stack 194 · In this round 6
- Flop · Pot: 12 chips
Player A has ace, king, queen, jack and ten of hearts, the highest possible straight flush. This is a royal flush.
Board: QQueen of hearts (Qh)JJack of hearts (Jh)1010 of hearts (Th)
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of hearts (Ah)KKing of hearts (Kh) · Stack 194 · In this round 0
- Player B BB 99 of clubs (9c)99 of diamonds (9d) · Stack 194 · In this round 0
Cards are shown for learning; totals are displayed before pot collection.