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Straight Flush

A straight flush is five cards in sequence and all of the same suit. For example, a straight from 4 up to 8.

When comparing two straight flushes you ignore the suits and compare which has the highest ranking card. Thus, 10 9 8 7 6 would beat 5 4 3 2 A because the 10 in the heart flush outranks the 5 in the club flush. Two flushes using the exact same ranking cards (just different suits) will usually result in a tie and a split pot. There are some variations of poker where suits are ranked, but it is rare.

A straight flush from jack to ace is known as a Royal Flush, and is the highest ranking hand in poker. When comparing two royal flushes the result is almost always a tie. Almost always because, again, there are some variations of poker that rank suits. But for our purposes here, where you are learning about Texas Hold'em and some of the other popular variations we will be ignoring suits.

The probability of being dealt a straight flush in a five card hand is 0.0015% and a slightly better 0.0311% in a seven card hand. In seven card games like Texas Hold'em or Omaha the odds of hitting a straight flush are 3,216 : 1.

Here are some examples of completing a straight flush in live play. The first is on High Stakes Poker on Game Show Network in the U.S.A., and features pro poker players Sammy Fara and David Benyamin.

Here is a great example of how slow playing your flopped hand can kill you. Matt Dale flops his straight flush draw against Luke Patten's made straight. When Dale completes the straight flush on the river, Patten makes a bad mistake. (Yes, we agree, this *is* a slow roll at the end. Shame on you Matt)

Here is a wild example of a completing straight flush in the No Limit Hold'em Heads Up Championship Tournament in the U.S. Runner-runner to get the straight flush. Poker is a great and unforgiving game.