The Royal Flush is the absolute strongest and highest-ranking hand in standard poker. It consists of the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten, all of the same suit. As an unbeatable hand, it guarantees a win against any other poker combination, including any lower-ranked Straight Flush.
Example
Imagine a game of Texas Hold’em. You are dealt A♠ K♠ as your hole cards. The flop comes Q♠ J♠ T♠. At this point, you have already formed a Royal Flush with your hole cards and the first three community cards. Even if the turn is 7♥ and the river is 2♦, your hand remains A♠ K♠ Q♠ J♠ T♠ (the Royal Flush of spades), which will win against any other hand your opponents might have, such as a Full House, a Four of a Kind, or even a lower Straight Flush.
Strategy Tip
When you are lucky enough to hold a Royal Flush, your primary goal is to extract maximum value from your opponents. Since it’s an unbeatable hand, you want to encourage them to bet as much as possible. This often involves a delicate balance: you want to bet aggressively enough to build a big pot, but not so aggressively that you scare everyone away. Sometimes, a well-timed check or call early in the hand can entice more action, leading to larger bets on later streets. However, always ensure you get some value out; don’t slow play to the point where no one bets at all.
FAQ
- Q: How rare is a Royal Flush?
- A: A Royal Flush is exceedingly rare. In a standard 52-card deck, there are only 4 possible Royal Flushes (one for each suit). The odds of being dealt a Royal Flush in a 5-card poker hand are approximately 1 in 649,740. In Texas Hold’em, the odds of making a Royal Flush by the river (given two hole cards) are around 1 in 30,940.
- Q: Can two players have a Royal Flush in the same hand?
- A: In most standard poker variants like Texas Hold’em or Five-Card Draw, it’s impossible for two players to have a Royal Flush simultaneously. There is only one Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten of any given suit. If a Royal Flush appears entirely on the community board in a game like Texas Hold’em, then all players remaining in the hand would share the pot, as they all “play the board” and thus share the same winning hand.
- Q: What beats a Royal Flush?
- A: In standard poker rules, absolutely nothing beats a Royal Flush. It is the highest possible hand. The only exceptions would be in specific variants that use wild cards (where a “five of a kind” might be possible) or unique house rules, but under conventional poker rules, a Royal Flush is the ultimate winner.