Royal Flush

Quick facts by PokerStrategy

• A Royal Flush is the strongest five-card hand you can make in poker.
• It is the highest possible Straight Flush.
• A Royal Flush contains A-K-Q-J-T all of the same suit. Any suit can be used.
• When you have a Royal Flush in poker, your main concern is how to get paid the maximum for it.

What Is a Royal Flush in Poker?

A Royal Flush is the strongest hand you can make in nearly every variation of poker, whether that’s Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, or video poker. It is made up of A-K-Q-J-T, all of the same suit.

There are only four possible five-card combinations that can make a Royal Flush.

They are:

The Royal Flush is the best hand in poker because literally nothing else can beat it. If another player is still in the pot, they will definitely have a weaker hand. Your only concern with a Royal Flush is how to get the most chips in the middle.

Below, we’ll explain the Royal Flush meaning, look at the chances of making one, and explore what to do when it happens.

Royal Flush vs. Other Strong Hands

Newer players often get the Royal Flush and Straight Flush confused. The Royal Flush is simply the highest possible Straight Flush you can make.

A Straight Flush can be made of any five consecutive cards, all of the same suit.

For example:

♥9-♥8-♥7-♥6-5♥ or ♦7-♦6-♦5-♦4-♦3.

A Royal Flush also contains a straight and flush, but can only be made using the top-ranked cards, specifically A-K-Q-J-T, all of the same suit.

Royal Flushes beat all other strong poker hands, such as four of a kind, full house, flushes, straights, and so on.

Flush Probabilities in Poker

Given that it’s the strongest hand in poker, it should come as no surprise that it’s incredibly difficult and statistically rare to be dealt a Royal Flush.

In video poker, or other five-card draw games like Stud, you’ll only be dealt a Royal Flush in the first five cards an average of four times every 2,598,960 times. This simplifies to a 1/649,740 chance, around 0.000154 percent.

In Texas Hold’em, the most popular type of poker at online poker sites, the chance of hitting a Royal Flush across all seven cards, the two in your hand and five on the board, is around 0,0032 percent. You’ll make one an average of once every 30,940 hands.

If you are dealt two suited broadway cards preflop, such as ♠K-♠Q, your odds of making a Royal Flush on the flop jump to 1 in 19,600, which is around 0.005 percent. It’s still very slim! That’s why you have to make the most of it when you do hit a Royal Flush in poker.

What Beats a Royal Flush?

There are absolutely no poker hands that beat a Royal Flush in poker. It is the best hand you can possibly make. That’s great news if you hit one, because you’ll never have to worry about losing with a Royal Flush, only about how to use the hand to gain more chips.

Poker hand rankings are the same in nearly all variants of the game, starting with High Card at the bottom and running up to Royal Flush at the top. If you turn over the Royal Flush at showdown, you will always win the pot.

Below are the poker hand rankings in order. As you can see, the Royal Flush sits right at the top:

Royal Flush in Popular Poker Variants

The good news is, you only have to learn poker hand rankings once, as they are the same for nearly all types of poker. The Royal Flush is the strongest hand you can make in Texas Hold’em, Omaha Hi, draw games like Stud, and video poker.

Although it’s statistically unlikely that you’ll make a Royal Flush, when you do, you can be confident that you can’t be beat. It’ll be up to you to make the most of it by betting and raising for value against your opponents.

In video poker, the payouts are exceptionally high for making a Royal Flush. Of course, it won’t happen very often, but when it does, you’ll typically be looking at a payout of 250-1 when one to four credits are bet, which jumps to 800-1 when betting the maximum of five credits.

Royal Flush Strategies and Tips

A Royal Flush doesn’t come around very often. When it does, your main focus should be on getting chips in the middle against opponents who have weaker hands. The emphasis, therefore, is on finding value.

As the Royal Flush is the strongest hand in poker, you never have to worry about being behind and losing the pot. All you have to think about is how you are going to get the other players to part with their chips.

In some cases, this can involve slowplaying by using deceptive plays such as checking or flat-calling bets. Most of the time, though, you’re going to want to bet or raise with your Royal Flush.

Boards that favour Royal Flushes will always contain face cards or aces, as well as at least three cards of the same suit. This leaves plenty of weaker hands that your opponent can have, such as top pairs, two pairs, sets, straights, or weaker flushes.

Always try to put your opponents on a range of possible hands and then target that range with your bets. If you think they have a strong hand, bet and raise as much as you can to take their chips.

The key to playing a Royal Flush is usually to go ahead and bet for value, looking to move all in if possible.

Cultural Significance of Royal Flush

The Royal Flush in poker carries with it significant meaning. It is the strongest hand and is often used symbolically in pop culture to signify a winning brand, moment or character. Making a Royal Flush is incredibly rare, so it tends to be disproportionately represented in pop culture, especially in movies.

The perfect example is the 1994 movie Maverick. In the final poker scene, Bret Maverick, played by Mel Gibson, slowly flips over a Royal Flush to beat his opponents’ quads and straight flush.

There may well have been foul play at work that ultimately led to Bret Maverick being dealt this hand, something that is hinted at within the plot of the film. For the hand depicted to happen naturally is very unlikely, bordering on obscene.

Movies like Molly’s Game and Rounders stick truer to what poker is actually like in terms of odds and hand distributions. For other Hollywood productions, the Royal Flush is the ultimate symbol of success and a way to show that the good guy has come out as the definitive winner.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a Straight Flush and a Royal Flush?

A Straight Flush is made up of any five consecutive cards, all of the same suit. A Royal Flush is a type of Straight Flush, made up of A-K-Q-J-T all of the same suit.

Is a Royal Flush always hearts?

No, although a Royal Flush always contains five running cards of the same suit, it can be made with any suit: hearts, diamonds, clubs, or spades.

What is an example of a royal flush?

An example of a Royal Flush is ♦A-♦K-♦Q-♦J-♦T. A Royal Flush always contains the same value cards, but can be made with any suit.

Why is a Royal Flush so rare?

Statistically speaking, the chance of getting a Royal Flush in poker is very slim. There are only four possible combinations to make a Royal Flush, and 2,598,960 possible poker hands. This simplifies to a 1/649,740 chance, around 0.000154 percent in a five-card draw game.