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A straight is five cards in consecutive rank order, suits ignored — 9♣ 8♦ 7♠ 6♥ 5♣ is one. It is the sixth-strongest hand in poker: it beats three of a kind, two pair, one pair and high card, and loses to a flush and everything above it. The ace is the only card that plays at both ends of the sequence, high above the king or low below the two, and it can never bridge the two. Put a straight against a flush in the tool below to settle the most common version of this argument.
What a straight beats, and the four hands that beat it
The ace-high straight and the wheel, explained in one place
Why an open-ended draw is worth twice a gutshot
What beats what
Rank 6 of 10
Five in a row, mixed suits
Rank 7 of 10
Three cards of one rank
Straight beats Three of a Kind. The stronger hand class always wins, whatever the cards inside it are.
Ten of them, named by the highest card in the run. Suits are irrelevant — if they all match you have a straight flush instead, which is a far better hand.
Name
Broadway
The run
A K Q J T
Rank among straights
Highest
Name
King-high
The run
K Q J T 9
Rank among straights
2nd
Name
Queen-high
The run
Q J T 9 8
Rank among straights
3rd
Name
Jack-high
The run
J T 9 8 7
Rank among straights
4th
Name
Ten-high
The run
T 9 8 7 6
Rank among straights
5th
Name
Nine-high
The run
9 8 7 6 5
Rank among straights
6th
Name
Eight-high
The run
8 7 6 5 4
Rank among straights
7th
Name
Seven-high
The run
7 6 5 4 3
Rank among straights
8th
Name
Six-high
The run
6 5 4 3 2
Rank among straights
9th
Name
The wheel
The run
5 4 3 2 A
Rank among straights
Lowest
Count the cards that complete the hand, then read across. The difference between an open-ended draw and a gutshot is one card either side of the run, and it roughly doubles the value of the hand.
Draw
Open-ended, on the flop
Example
9 8 with a 7-6-2 board
Outs
8
Chance by the river
About 32%
Draw
Gutshot, on the flop
Example
9 8 with a 7-5-2 board
Outs
4
Chance by the river
About 17%
Draw
Open-ended, on the turn
Example
One card to come
Outs
8
Chance by the river
About 17%
Draw
Gutshot, on the turn
Example
One card to come
Outs
4
Chance by the river
About 9%
Draw
Double gutshot
Example
Two separate one-card gaps
Outs
8
Chance by the river
About 32%
Five cards in consecutive order, in any mix of suits. 9♣ 8♦ 7♠ 6♥ 5♣ is a straight; so is Q♠ J♠ T♦ 9♥ 8♣, even though three of the cards share a suit. If all five match you have a straight flush, which is the second-best hand in poker rather than the sixth. In Hold'em the run is assembled from your two hole cards and the five on the board, so a straight often uses only one of the cards you were dealt.
The ace plays high in A-K-Q-J-T, which is called broadway and is the best straight there is. It also plays low in 5-4-3-2-A, called the wheel, which is the worst straight there is because it counts as five-high. What it cannot do is join the two: K-A-2 is not part of any sequence. Q-K-A-2-3 is not a hand. This single rule is the source of most straight disputes at a kitchen table, and it is not negotiable in any standard game.
By the highest card in the run. A ten-high straight beats a nine-high straight, and that is the whole comparison — there is no kicker, because all five cards are part of the hand. Two identical straights split the pot, which happens far more often than most players expect: when four of the five cards are on the board, everybody holding the fifth rank has the same hand.
Because in Hold'em it is more common. A straight is the best available hand about 4.62% of the time against 3.03% for a flush, and the ranking runs from rarest to most common. This is the order in every standard form of the game. It is worth stating out loud at a home game with new players, because the intuition — five in a row looks harder than five of a colour — points the wrong way.
An open-ended draw has four cards at each end of the run — holding 9-8 on a 7-6-2 board, any five or any ten completes it, which is eight cards. A gutshot has one gap and four cards that fill it, which is half as good. On the flop that is roughly 32% against 17% to get there by the river. The practical consequence is simple: an open-ended draw is usually worth continuing with, a gutshot usually is not unless the price is very small or the hand has something else going for it.
The low end of a straight is where money disappears. Holding 6-5 on a board of 9-8-7 gives you a straight — and anybody with a ten has a better one, anybody with J-T has a better one still. This is the sucker end, and the tell is that the board contains cards higher than the top of your run. When the board is 9-8-7 and you hold the bottom, treat a raise as what it usually is rather than as something to argue with.
Three cards within a five-rank span is the warning sign: 9-8-7, J-T-8, 6-5-4 all make straights easy for hands that were happy to call before the flop. Connected boards are also the ones where a straight gets paid, because the players holding two pair and top pair cannot tell the difference between a bet from a draw and a bet from a made hand. If the board is disconnected — K-8-3 rainbow — a straight is nearly impossible and a large bet means something else entirely.
Straights produce more chopped pots than any other hand, and chopped pots produce more chip-counting than any other outcome. Agree the rule in advance — highest card in the run wins, identical runs split — and let the room do the arithmetic. A game run on PokerChip.live divides the pot and updates every stack as it happens, so a three-way chop takes a moment instead of a discussion.
FAQ
01
Five cards in consecutive rank order, in any suits, such as 9♣ 8♦ 7♠ 6♥ 5♣. It is the sixth-strongest hand in poker.
02
A flush, a full house, four of a kind, a straight flush and a royal flush. A straight beats three of a kind, two pair, one pair and high card.
03
Either. A-K-Q-J-T is the highest straight, and 5-4-3-2-A is the lowest. The ace cannot be used in the middle of a run.
04
No. That is not a hand in any standard game. The ace sits above the king or below the two, never both at once.
05
The one with the higher top card. Identical runs split the pot, which is common when four of the five cards are on the board.
06
Yes. A straight is sixth in the rankings and three of a kind seventh, so the straight wins.
07
A draw with one gap in the middle, completed by four cards rather than eight. From the flop it gets there about 17% of the time, half as often as an open-ended draw.
08
The 5-4-3-2-A straight, using the ace as a low card. It is the lowest possible straight and loses to every other one.
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