A flush beats a straight in Texas Hold’em and most other poker variations, and confrontations between flushes and straights are pretty common.
A flush comprises any five cards of the same suit, while a straight is made up of five cards of consecutive rankings but of any suit. Both a flush and a straight require five different cards to be used, but the frequency of making a flush is slightly lower than that of making a straight.
With many boards in Texas Hold’em creating both straight and flush draws from the flop, the frequency at which the two hands collide is quite significant.
Therefore, it is worth knowing the probabilities of making each of these hands and more details on how likely the two are to collide.
Keep reading and learn everything there is to know about straight versus flush situations in poker.
Why Does a Flush Beat a Straight?
Poker hand rankings are based on one thing and one thing alone, and that’s the frequency at which different poker hands are made.
Overall, a flush is harder to make in Texas Hold’em than a straight, which is the simple reason why a flush beats a straight.
It is worth noting that any flush beats any straight, so even having a Deuce of a corresponding suit on a board with four suited cards will give you a hand strong enough to beat any straight.
On the other hand, it is worth pointing out that not all flushes are the same, and low flushes often end up losing to higher flushes, especially on boards with four suited cards.
Yet, if you find yourself sitting on nothing but a straight, make sure to pay close attention to the board texture to determine if a flush is possible and how likely it is.
Speaking of likelihood, let’s examine some numbers and find out how likely you are to make a flush or a straight on the flop, turn, and river.
| Chances To | Flush | Straight |
| Make it on the Flop | 0% – 0.82% | 0% – 1.29% |
| Make it on the Turn | 19.2% | 8.5% – 17% |
| Make it on the River | 19.6% | 8.7% – 17.4% |
How Often Will You Make a Flush?
A flush is a poker hand consisting of five cards of the same suit. A flush consisting of five consecutive cards is called a straight flush and is a far superior hand.
A regular flush, made up of five cards of various ranks of the same suit, can be made up of two hole cards and three community cards, one hole card and four community cards, or all five community cards.
It is only possible to make a flush on the flop if you start with two suited cards, and 0.82% of all flops will bring you a made flush when this is the case.
On the other hand, two suited cards will flop a flush draw 10.9% of the time, in which case one more card of the given suit will be needed to complete the flush.
If you do flop a flush draw, you will have just over 19% chance to make a flush on both turn and river, giving you over 38% chance to make a flush by the end of the hand.
Flush draws are some of the best draws in the game, and this is especially the case when they contain the Ace of the suit, ensuring you will have the best hand every time you make your flush.
It is worth noting that drawing to a flush on paired boards is not always the best idea, as making a flush on such boards can get you in trouble against a made full house or four-of-a-kind.
How Often Will You Make a Straight?
A straight is a very similar hand to a flush in that five cards are needed to make it. Instead of getting five suited cards, you will need five consecutive ranking cards.
The odds of making a straight vary depending on your starting hand, with connectors like 98 having the best odds, one-gappers like 64 having slightly lower odds, and two-gappers like J8 having even lower odds of making a straight.
Yet, all of these hands can make a straight at some frequency. Connectors flop straight as often as 1.29% of the time, while the odds go down with each gap between your cards.
More often than a made straight, you will flop a straight draw, with one card missing to a made straight. Straight draws can be gutshot straight draws and open-ended straight draws.
A gutshot straight draw gives you four outs to make your straight, as only a single card ranking can complete it. With a flopped gutshot straight draw, you will have just over a 17% chance to make a straight by showdown.
An open-ended straight draw, on the other hand, will give you eight outs to complete your straight, which means over a 34% chance to make a straight on either turn or river.
Much like a flush, a straight can be made with any starting hand, including pocket pairs, but your odds of making one are the highest if you start with two well-connected cards.