What is a straight in poker?
Five cards in a row, one awkward ace, and two thinking mistakes that cost you pots.
What is a straight in poker? The answer fits in one sentence: a straight is a hand of five consecutive cards, and the suits do not matter. Think of 5-6-7-8-9 with hearts, spades and diamonds mixed together. The definition is simple, and yet a surprising number of pots are lost at the table because players use the ace wrongly or compare two straights wrongly.
Five in a row, suit does not matter
For a straight you count only the values of the cards, so 8-9-10-J-Q is a straight whether the cards come from four different suits or from three. If all five cards do happen to be of the same suit, you have something far rarer: a straight flush, the second highest hand in the game. In Texas Hold'em you build your straight from the best combination of your own two cards and the five community cards on the table. Sometimes you use two of your own cards, sometimes one, sometimes the whole board plays. For the value that makes no difference, for the earnings it does: a straight that leans on two of your own cards is far harder for your opponents to see coming, and so it gets paid off more often.
The ace: high or low, never both
The ace is the only card with two faces. At the bottom it forms the wheel: A-2-3-4-5, the lowest straight there is. At the top it closes off the highest straight: 10-J-Q-K-A, also known as broadway. What the ace cannot do is sit in the middle. Q-K-A-2-3 looks to beginners like five consecutive cards, and it is not: a straight never wraps around. Remember it this way: the ace sticks to the two or to the king, never to both at once.
Straight against straight: the highest top card wins
If two players have a straight, the one with the highest top card wins. A straight to the ten beats a straight to the nine. Suits play no part at all, so exactly the same straight simply means a split pot. Pay extra attention when the straight lies entirely on the table: everyone then plays at least that straight, and only a player who makes a higher straight with a card of their own wins. Anyone who bets big in that situation with only the board is bluffing without realising it. Duels like this happen more often than you think: on a board of 6-7-8 the hands 9-10, 5-9 and 4-5 all three make a straight, and the first beats the other two without them seeing it coming.
Where the straight sits in the order
In the fixed order of poker hands the straight sits right in the middle. It beats three of a kind, two pair, one pair and the lone high card. It loses to the flush (five cards of the same suit), the full house and everything above that. That place is no accident: the rarer a hand, the higher it stands, and a straight comes up just slightly more often than a flush.
The thinking mistakes that cost money
Three classics. One: the straight that wraps around, where somebody turns over Q-K-A-2-3 full of conviction and turns out to have nothing. Two: overrating the bottom end of the straight. With 5-6 on a board of 7-8-9 you have a real straight, only it loses to everyone holding 10-J. Being at the low end of a straight is often more expensive than having no straight at all, because you do dare to call. Three: forgetting that a board with three cards of the same suit means your beautiful straight can easily finish second behind a flush. A straight is a strong hand, not an untouchable one.
frequently asked questions
Straight questions.
Is A-2-3-4-5 a valid straight? +
Yes. This straight is called the wheel and it is the lowest straight there is. The ace counts as one here. Every other straight, from 2-3-4-5-6 upwards, therefore beats the wheel in a comparison.
Can a straight wrap around, like Q-K-A-2-3? +
No. The ace may sit at the bottom (A-2-3-4-5) or at the top (10-J-Q-K-A), never in the middle as a link between king and two. Q-K-A-2-3 is therefore not a straight, only an ace high.
Which wins: a straight or three of a kind? +
The straight wins. In the fixed order of poker hands the straight sits above three of a kind, two pair and one pair, and below the flush, the full house and everything above that.
What happens if two players have the same straight? +
Then the pot is split. Suits play no part at all in a straight, so 7-8-9-10-J in spades is worth exactly as much as the same straight in mixed suits. Only a higher top card wins.
from rules to reflex
See the straight before it lands.
In Pokiq's practice hands you learn to spot straight draws on the flop and the turn, with an explanation for every decision. Start free, at your own pace.