Flush

What Is Flush?

A flush is one of the strongest hands in poker, formed when a player holds five cards that share the same suit — all hearts, all diamonds, all clubs, or all spades. The cards do not need to be in any particular order or sequence. If they were also consecutive, the hand would be upgraded to a straight flush or royal flush.

In the hand rankings, a flush sits below a full house and four of a kind but above a straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card. It is a hand that wins the overwhelming majority of pots it contests, though it remains vulnerable to full houses on paired boards — a scenario that catches many players off guard.

Flush draws are among the most common and important drawing situations in poker. When you hold two suited cards and two more of that suit appear on the flop, you have a flush draw with nine outs (thirteen cards of each suit minus the four you can see). This gives you roughly a 35% chance of completing your flush by the river, making flush draws powerful hands that often justify continued aggression. Understanding how to play flush draws — and how to play against them — is a core skill at every level of the game.

How It Works

A flush is ranked by its highest card, then by subsequent cards if needed to break a tie:

• Ace-King-Jack-Eight-Four of hearts beats Ace-King-Jack-Seven-Three of hearts (the fourth card, Eight vs. Seven, breaks the tie).
• Ace-high flush beats King-high flush, regardless of the other four cards.
• Suits are never ranked against each other. A flush of hearts and a flush of spades with identical card values result in a split pot.

Common flush scenarios in Hold’em:

• Two suited hole cards + three suited board cards: You hold Ace-Ten of diamonds and the board contains three diamonds. This is the most standard way to make a flush.
• One suited hole card + four suited board cards: The board has four hearts, and you hold one heart. Everyone with a heart has a flush, but the highest heart wins.
• Five suited board cards: Extremely rare, but when it happens, the player with the highest card of that suit in their hand wins (or all players split if no one holds a card of that suit higher than the board).

Flush draw math:

• Outs: 9 (13 cards of the suit minus 4 accounted for).
• Probability of hitting on the turn: approximately 19.1%.
• Probability of hitting by the river (from the flop): approximately 35%.
• Probability of flopping a flush with two suited hole cards: approximately 0.84%.

The “nut flush” is the highest possible flush given the board. If the board shows three clubs and you hold the Ace of clubs, you have the nut flush draw or the nut flush — no other flush can beat yours (though a full house or better still can).

Example

You are playing $1/$2 No-Limit Hold’em and are dealt Ace of spades and Nine of spades on the button. A player in middle position raises to $8, and you call. The blinds fold. The pot is $19.

The flop comes: King of spades, Seven of spades, Three of diamonds. You have the nut flush draw. With nine spades remaining in the deck, you have a roughly 35% chance of making the best possible flush by the river. You also have an overcard (the Ace might be good if it hits).

Your opponent bets $12 into the $19 pot. Calling $12 to win a pot of $31 gives you odds of about 2.6:1. Your flush draw alone will complete roughly 1 in 3 times (about 2:1 against), and you have additional Ace outs. The call is clearly profitable.

You call. The pot is $43. The turn is the Five of spades, completing your flush. You now hold the Ace-high flush (the nuts). Your opponent bets $28. Rather than just calling, you raise to $80, targeting your opponent’s likely strong Kings or overpairs that they will have difficulty folding. Your opponent calls with King-Queen offsuit (top pair, good kicker).

The river is the Jack of diamonds, changing nothing. Your opponent checks, and you bet $120 into the $203 pot. Your opponent calls, unable to release top pair. Your nut flush wins a $443 pot.

Common Mistakes

• Overvaluing non-nut flushes on four-flush boards. When four cards of one suit appear on the board, anyone with a single card of that suit has a flush. Holding the Six of hearts on a board with four hearts does not mean you have a strong hand. Someone else likely holds a higher heart. Proceed with extreme caution unless you hold the Ace or King of the relevant suit.
• Ignoring paired boards when holding a flush. A flush loses to a full house. When the board is paired (for example, K-K-7-5-2 with three clubs), your flush is vulnerable. Opponents with trip Kings or pocket Sevens/Fives have you beaten. Adjust your aggression downward on paired boards even when you hold a flush.
• Chasing flush draws without proper pot odds. On the turn with one card to come, a flush draw has roughly a 19% chance of completing (about 4:1 against). If the pot is not offering close to 4:1, calling is a losing play in isolation. Always calculate pot odds before committing chips to a draw. Our poker odds calculator can help you practice these calculations.

Related Terms

• Hand Rankings — the complete hierarchy where a flush ranks fifth
• Full House — the hand that beats a flush most commonly
• Straight Flush — a flush that is also a straight, ranking much higher
• Royal Flush — the highest possible flush and the best hand in poker
• River — the final card that often completes or misses a flush draw

FAQ

Does a flush beat a straight?

Yes. A flush always beats a straight in the hand rankings. Even the lowest possible flush (7-5-4-3-2 suited) beats the highest possible straight (A-K-Q-J-T of mixed suits). This is because flushes are statistically rarer than straights, and the hand rankings are ordered by rarity.

What is a “backdoor flush draw”?

A backdoor flush draw (also called a “runner-runner” flush draw) is when you need two more cards of the same suit to complete your flush. For example, you hold Ace-Queen with one heart on the flop and one heart among your hole cards. You need both the turn and river to be hearts. The probability is roughly 4.2% — not enough to chase on its own, but it adds marginal equity that can tip the scales in close decisions.

How important is it to play suited cards versus offsuit cards?

Being suited adds roughly 2-3% equity to a hand compared to the same ranks offsuit. This seems small, but it matters over thousands of hands. Suited hands make flushes, flush draws, and backdoor flush draws that offsuit hands never can. However, the suitedness bonus does not transform a bad hand into a good one. King-Two suited is still a weak hand from early position. For position-based hand selection guidance, visit our poker guides and explore starting hand charts in our tools section.