Does a royal flush beat a straight flush?
Yes. A royal flush beats a straight flush in poker — every time. In the ranking of 10 hand categories, royal flush is #1 and straight flush is #2. Categories are compared first: the royal flush is the single best hand in poker — nothing beats it, and every straight flush loses to it.
A-K-Q-J-10, all one suit. The unbeatable hand.
Five cards in a row, all one suit.
How rare is each hand?
Rarity is exactly why the order is what it is. Out of 2,598,960 possible five-card hands, a royal flush shows up in 0.000154% of them (4 combinations), while a straight flush appears in 0.00139% (36 combinations). The harder a hand is to make, the higher it ranks.
Does a straight flush ever beat a royal flush?
No — never. The category comparison is absolute: the highest possible straight flush still loses to the lowest possible royal flush. Ranks inside a category only matter when both players hold the same category.
Prove it to yourself
Which hand wins? Tap it.