Flush in Poker: Definition, Tie-Breakers and Probability
A flush poker hand is a five-card hand in which every card shares the same suit, regardless of rank sequence. In standard poker hand rankings, a flush sits above a straight and below a full house, making it a strong holding in most showdowns. This matters for reading the board and judging an opponent's range.
This entry covers what counts as a flush, how ties break card by card, what a nut flush is, and the probability of making one. Straight flushes form a separate, higher-ranking category, covered in the straight flush entry. Draw odds and outs counting for building a flush toward completion appear in the poker odds and probability guide.
What Counts as a Flush in Poker
A flush poker hand requires exactly five cards of one suit, drawn from a player's hole cards and community cards combined. Suit hierarchy does not exist in standard poker rules, so a flush in spades ties in rank with a flush in hearts when card values match.
Four cards of the same suit plus one off-suit card is not a flush, no matter how high that fifth card ranks. In Texas Hold'em, a player might hold two suited cards while three more of that suit appear on the board, completing the hand — the most common flush poker example at the table.
Boundary With Straight Flushes
Flush Tie-Breakers: How Ties Are Broken
When two or more players hold a flush, the winner is the hand with the highest card, compared rank by rank down all five cards. This comparison, often called kicker comparison, decides the pot whenever suits carry no extra weight.
| Hand | Cards (High to Low) | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Hand A | A-J-9-6-3 of hearts | Wins — ace is the highest top card |
| Hand B | K-Q-10-8-4 of hearts | Loses — king ranks below ace |
Only if every one of the five ranks matches exactly does the hand result in a tie. For a full walkthrough of tie-break logic across every hand category, see the poker hand rankings guide.
Nut Flush Meaning and Backdoor Flushes
The nut flush poker meaning refers to the highest possible flush given the exposed community cards, typically the ace-high flush in the relevant suit. Holding the nut flush means no other flush of that suit can beat the hand, though a full house or four of a kind still can.
A backdoor flush is completed by catching two running cards of the same suit on the turn and river, after starting with only three suited cards on the flop. Backdoor flushes happen less often than flushes built from two suited hole cards plus two board cards, since both remaining cards must cooperate.
How Flushes Split the Pot
A flush in poker who wins question usually resolves through the card-by-card comparison above, but splits do happen. In Texas Hold'em, a split occurs when the board itself contains five cards of one suit and no player's hole cards improve on it, so every remaining player splits the pot evenly.
A split can also occur between two players whose best five-card flushes match rank for rank, even when their hole cards differ. This outcome is rare but possible whenever the community cards supply most of the flush's value.
Flush Poker Probability
The flush poker probability of being dealt a flush in a five-card poker hand from a standard 52-card deck is about 0.198%, or roughly 1 in 505 hands, based on standard combinatorial calculations across the 2,598,960 possible five-card hands. In seven-card games like Texas Hold'em, where a player combines two hole cards with five community cards, the chance of ending up with a flush rises to approximately 3%, since more cards are available to complete the suit.
- Five-card deal: about 0.198%, or roughly 1 in 505
- Seven-card games like Texas Hold'em: approximately 3% by the river
- Ranks below a full house, above a straight in rarity
That probability sits well below a pair or two pair but above a full house or four of a kind, explaining the flush's position in the standard hand-ranking chart. Outs counting for mid-hand flush chances lives in the poker odds and probability guide. The same ground is covered in reference form by Wikipedia's list of poker hands.