Poker Hand Probabilities List: Percentages and 1 in X

Poker hand probabilities are easier to use when you know exactly what they describe. The chance of being dealt a flush in a random five-card hand is not the same as the chance of making a flush in Texas Hold’em, where you can use seven cards to make your best five-card hand. And neither number tells you how often you will win a pot: that depends on your opponent’s cards, the board, and the betting.

This guide puts the main numbers in one place: standard five-card hand frequencies, Texas Hold’em starting-hand odds, and common draw odds from the flop. Use the tables as a quick reference, and remember that suits have equal rank. A spade is not stronger than a heart; the cards’ ranks determine the hand.

How to Read Poker Odds Percentages

A percentage tells you the chance of an event over many trials. “1 in X” expresses the same probability as a frequency. For example, 1 in 4,165 is about 0.024%. Small differences between a percentage and a “1 in X” figure can come from rounding.

Before using a hand frequency chart, check the cards and situation it assumes. The first table below counts all possible five-card hands from a standard 52-card deck. The Hold’em table counts the best five-card hand available from seven cards: two hole cards and five community cards.

Five-Card Poker Hand Probabilities

These are the standard frequencies for a randomly dealt five-card hand. Categories are mutually exclusive: for example, a straight flush is counted separately from a flush and a straight.

Five-card hand Probability About 1 in Royal flush0.000154%649,740 Straight flush, excluding royal flush0.00139%72,193 Four of a kind0.0240% (1 in 4,164), also stated about 1 in 4,1654,164–4,165 Full house0.1441%694 Flush, excluding straight flushes0.1965%509 Straight, excluding straight flushes0.3925%255 Three of a kind2.1128%47.3 Two pair4.7539%21.0 One pair42.2569%2.37 High card50.1177%2.00

The four-of-a-kind example is a good reminder that “1 in X” is rounded. The exact fraction is 624 four-of-a-kind hands out of 2,598,960 possible five-card hands. That works out to roughly 0.0240%, or about one hand in 4,165. Depending on rounding or presentation, you may also see it written as 1 in 4,164.

Texas Hold’em Hand Rankings and Frequencies

In Hold’em, your final hand is the strongest five-card combination you can make from your two hole cards and the five community cards. You may use both hole cards, one, or neither. The table shows the chance of each category when all seven cards are available, with each category counted separately.

Best five-card hand from seven cards Probability About 1 in Royal flush0.00323%30,940 Straight flush, excluding royal flush0.0279%3,590 Four of a kind0.1681%595 Full house2.5961%38.5 Flush, excluding straight flushes3.0255%33.1 Straight, excluding straight flushes4.6194%21.6 Three of a kind4.8299%20.7 Two pair23.4955%4.26 One pair43.8225%2.28 High card17.4119%5.74

These figures describe the final seven-card pool—not the chance that your particular hand wins. A board can also change the practical value of a made hand. If the board shows four cards to quads poker meaning a flush, for example, a single pair may be vulnerable even though one pair is common overall.

Starting-Hand Odds Before the Flop

There are 1,326 possible two-card combinations in Hold’em. Some useful preflop reference points are:

Any pocket pair: 5.88%, or about 1 in 17.
A specific pocket pair, such as two aces: 0.45%, or about 1 in 221.
Two suited cards: 23.53%, or about 1 in 4.25.
Two offsuit cards: 70.59%, or about 1 in 1.42.
A specific exact two-card combination: about 0.075%, or 1 in 1,326.

“Pocket aces” means any of the six combinations of two aces. It does not mean one exact combination, such as the ace of spades and ace of hearts. Keep that distinction in mind when comparing odds.

Draw Odds by Flop, Turn, and River

Draw odds answer a narrower question: how likely are you to improve by seeing another card? The table assumes the listed number of outs is clean—cards that make your hand without also giving an opponent a better one. In a real hand, some outs may be dirty, and an opponent may redraw after you improve.

Draw on the flop Outs Hit on turn Hit by river from flop Flush draw919.1%35.0% Open-ended straight draw817.0%31.5% Gutshot straight draw48.5%16.5% Two overcards, usually to a lower pair612.8%24.1% One overcard36.4%12.5%

“Hit by river” assumes you get to see both the turn and river. With a nine-out flush draw, the chance to hit on the turn is 9 divided by 47, or 19.1%. If you miss the turn, the chance to hit on the river is 9 divided by 46, or about 19.6%. The chance to hit at least once across both cards is about 35.0%—not 38.7%, because the two chances are not independent.

An open-ended straight draw has eight cards that complete the straight, so it hits by the river about 31.5% of the time. A gutshot has four completing cards and hits about 16.5%. Do not mix up a straight draw and a flush draw: a straight draw needs a sequence of ranks, while a flush draw needs enough cards of the same suit. A hand can have both, but the odds depend on the specific outs.

On the turn, with one card to come, divide your clean outs by the 46 unseen cards. For example, a nine-out flush draw has a 9/46 chance, or about 19.6%, to hit on the river. A four-out gutshot has a 4/46 chance, or about 8.7%.

Outs Need a Sanity Check

Counting outs is not the same as counting guaranteed wins. If you hold a flush draw but an opponent can make a full house when the board pairs, some of your apparent outs may not be safe. Likewise, an opponent holding a higher flush draw can reduce the value of your flush card.

Quick check: if villain has a set and you have a flush draw, your nine suit cards are not automatically nine clean outs—board-pairing cards can give villain a full house or quads. If villain has a lower flush draw and you have the higher flush draw, your suit cards are much more likely to help you, but the board and remaining cards still matter. Use equity charts or an equity calculator for a closer estimate against a specific hand or range.

Printable Cheat Sheets and Charts

A printable cheat sheet is useful for keeping rankings and common draw percentages nearby during practice. A clear chart should label whether it covers five-card hands, seven-card Hold’em hands, starting hands, or draws. Those are different probability questions; putting their numbers together without labels is a recipe for confusion.

For a compact reference, include:

The hand rankings, from high card through royal flush.
Common flop draws and their outs.
Turn odds with one card to come and flop-to-river odds with two cards to come.
A reminder that outs can be dirty and that suits have equal rank.

Equity charts are a helpful next step. Unlike a hand frequency chart, which tells you how often a category occurs, an equity chart estimates how often a hand wins or ties against another hand or a range of hands. Treat charts as study aids rather than promises: action, player ranges, and future cards all affect the result.

Using Poker Hand Probabilities at the Table

Probabilities help you make decisions, but they do not replace context. Before calling a bet with a draw, compare the price you are being offered with your chance to improve, and consider whether your outs are clean. If the pot offers a good price for a draw that hits 35% by the river, that may be attractive—but only if you can see both cards and the improvement is likely to win.

Also separate the chance of making a hand from the chance of winning the pot. A flush draw can hit and still lose to a full house. A pair can be the best hand on the river even though it is a modest category in the rankings. At low-stakes tables, beginners often overvalue a weak kicker: if you have ace-seven and the board makes a pair of aces, a player with ace-king has the same pair but a better kicker. The kicker matters when the main hand is tied.

Use the tables to build reliable instincts, then adapt to the actual board and opponent. That is the practical value of poker odds percentages: they give you a sound baseline, while careful hand reading tells you what the number means in the pot you are playing.