What is a Royal Flush in poker?

A Royal Flush in poker is one of the many hands that can help you win a game. Poker can be quite intimidating to newcomers, especially since the game has a plethora of terms that you need to memorize. However, once you start learning all the rules, the different hands, and even the type of games, you'll master the game in no time.

In this piece, we cover all the possible combinations to get this hand, its rarity, and more.

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Royal Flush in poker: Everything to know about this hand

A Royal Flush in poker, also known as an Ace-High Straight Flush or a Royal Straight Flush, is the best possible hand you can get in ace-high games that don't include wild cards.

A Royal Flush comprises a ten-to-ace Straight, with all five cards of the same suit. With a 52-card poker deck, there are just four methods to produce a Royal Flush, and these are:

• A, K, Q, J, 10, of Spades
• A, K, Q, J, 10, of Clubs
• A, K, Q, J, 10, of Hearts
• A, K, Q, J, 10, of Diamonds

The Royal Flush in poker, which is essentially a combination of the best possible Straight and the best possible Flush in the same hand, can't be made with any other combinations. A Straight hand in poker consists of five cards of consecutive rank that are not all of the same suit. A Flush, on the other hand, is a set of five cards that are not all consecutively ranked but are all of the same suit.

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Royal Flush ranking in poker

An example of a Royal Flush (Image via Wiktionary)

The Royal Flush is the highest-rated hand in poker (ranked at number 1) since it can outscore any other hand in a showdown. With only four possible combinations that you can use to make a Royal Flush, this is also the rarest hand you can get in a game. Poker hand rankings are typically determined by probability; the less likely a hand is to be dealt, the more valuable it is to the player.

The poker odds of getting a Royal Flush are 0.000154%. By contrast, the likelihood of a Flush is 0.001965%, while that of a Straight hand is 0.003925%. In terms of rankings, a Royal Flush is immediately followed by a Straight Flush, which is a hand consisting of five cards of consecutive rank in the same suit that's not a Royal Flush.