What are the odds of being dealt a royal flush in poker?

Table of contents:

• WHAT IS A ROYAL FLUSH?
• ROYAL FLUSH ODDS
• TYPES OF POKER GAMES
• TYPES OF POKER HANDS
• POKER HAND ODDS
• THE HISTORY OF POKER
• PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT
• FUN FACTS ABOUT POKER
• ONLINE CASINO AT LOTTOLAND
• ODDS OF WINNING THE LOTTERY
• IMPROVE YOUR ODDS

WHAT IS A ROYAL FLUSH?

A royal flush is a straight flush with the Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace cards. 

A royal flush is the best possible hand that a player can be dealt in poker.

A straight flush is any hand with a consecutive sequence of rankings and suits, such as Q♥ J♥ 10♥ 9♥ 8♥.

ROYAL FLUSH ODDS

The odds of getting any royal flush in 5-card poker are 1 in 649,740.

There are 2,598,960 possible 5-card hands and 4 possible ways to draw a royal flush. 

Therefore, the odds against drawing a royal flush in 5-card poker are 2,598,956:4 which works out to 649,739:1 

The odds for getting a specific royal flush in 5-card poker would be 1 in 2,598,956.

The royal flush odds in a 7-card poker game such as Texas hold'em, are 1 in 30,940.

TYPES OF POKER GAMES

There are thought to be as many as 130 variants of poker around the world, owing to its development from various forms of earlier games. However, there are three main classifications; draw poker, stud poker and community card poker.

DRAW POKER

Players are dealt a complete hand before the first betting round. Players can trade in some of their cards to improve their hand.

Five-card draw is considered the simplest form of poker and is often the first variant of poker which new players learn.

Examples of Draw Poker: Five-Card Draw, Triple Draw Lowball, Badugi.

STUD POKER

Typically 5 or 7 cards are dealt, both face-down and face-up, with betting intervals between multiple rounds.

7-card stud was one of most popular poker variants in the world, prior to the rise of Texas Hold’em in the early 2000s.

Examples of Stud Poker: 7-Card Stud, Razz, Caribbean Stud

COMMUNITY CARD POKER

Each player is dealt private cards, known as ‘hole’ cards, which are concealed from other players. There are also ‘shared’ or ‘community’ cards which are dealt face-up in the centre of the table. Each player makes up a 5-card poker hand from a combination of private and shared cards.

Examples of Community Card Poker: Texas Hold’em, Omaha, Irish Poker

TYPES OF POKER HANDS

The five cards held in a game of poker are called a "hand". 

Certain combinations of cards which form particular hands have specific names, as shown below:

TYPES OF POKER HANDS
Royal Flush	Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10 - all the same suit
Straight Flush	Five cards in a sequence - all the same suit
Four of a Kind	All four cards of the same rank
Full House	Three of a kind with a pair
Flush	Any five cards of the same suit - not in a sequence
Straight	Five cards in a squence - not of the same suit
Three of a Kind	Three cards of the same rank
Two Pair	Two different pairs
Pair	Two cards of the same rank
High Card	No Pair

 

POKER HAND ODDS

The odds of being dealt a particular poker hand depend on which type of poker game you are playing. 

Here are the poker odds for different types of poker hands depending on whether it's 5-card or 7-card poker (Excluding High Cards).

POKER HAND ODDS
Hand	5-Card Odds	7-Card Odds
Royal Flush	1 : 649,740	1 : 30,939
Straight Flush	1 : 72,192	1 : 3,580
Four of a Kind	1 : 4,164	1 : 594
Full House	1:693	1:37.5
Flush	1 : 509	1 : 32
Straight	1 : 254	1 : 21
Three of a Kind	1 : 46	1 : 20
Two Pair	1 : 20	1 : 3
Pair	1 : 2	1 : 2

THE HISTORY OF POKER

There is a debate amongst scholars as to the exact origins of poker, however, the French game of poque and the Persian game of as-nas are both considered to be the main precursors to the modern game, which developed in the United States during the early 19^th century.

There may be an Irish connection to to origin of poker. The word ‘poker’ itself may have originated from the Irish póca (pocket), ag póca (pocketing) or a phóca (to pocket).

It’s most likely that the modern game and the name itself, are derived from a combination of origins, incorporating elements of different games which were combined as the game evolved in the Southern United States.

In fact, the French word poque derives from the German pochen (in modern German, literally ‘to thump/throb’, but archaically meaning ‘to brag or bluff’). The German game pochen (also poch or pochspiel) is another forerunner of poker. An old English card game called 'brag', which shares similarities with poker, is related to the French brelan, which in turn is derived from the High German bretling ('board' or 'table'). Another related game was the Italian primiera, or Spanish primero.

There are records of poker being played in New Orleans in 1829, decks of 20 cards were common at the time. Poker’s development in Louisiana is no surprise, given the early French and Spanish settlement of the region. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 led to an influx of new arrivals from other parts of the US, along with large numbers of Irish, German and Italian immigrants, who introduced their own variants of poker.

Poker spread from Louisiana into Mississippi, becoming popular on the riverboats. The game eventually spread west with the Gold Rush of 1848. By the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865, the 52 card French deck was being used and the flush and draw had been introduced to the game. Poker was a common pastime with soldiers during the American Civil War and this helped further spread its popularity across the country.

Various forms of poker continued to be played and new styles developed.

Texas Hold’em is said to have been invented in Robstown, Texas, during the early 20^th century and was introduced to Las Vegas in 1963.

A group of notorious Texan professional gamblers including Doyle Brunson, Crandell Addington and Amarillo Slim were instrumental in the early development of Hold’em in Las Vegas.  For many years the only casino to offer Texas Hold’em was the Gold Nugget Casino in downtown Las Vegas. The poker room at the time was described as; "truly a 'sawdust joint,' with…oiled sawdust covering the floors."

Tournament poker, such as the World Series of Poker, began in the 1970s, leading to a boom in poker in the 1980s, with casinos in Las Vegas attracting huge numbers. By the 1990s, poker had spread across the US, being especially popular at casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

A second poker boom took place in the early 2000s with the advent of online casinos, with no-limit Texas Hold’em being by far the most popular variant of the game.

PLAY YOUR CARDS RIGHT

The average poker player may not be aware of the ancient origins of the playing cards which are used in modern poker but the evolution of these cards is as fascinating as the development of the poker itself.

Latin-suited cards derive from the cards used in the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt which depicted cups, gold coins, swords and polo-sticks (clubs).

The Spanish word for ‘playing cards’, naipes, derives from the Arabic Nā'ib (Deputy). The Mamluk court cards were Malik (King), Nā'ib Malik (Viceroy) and Thānī Nā'ib (Under Deputy). Naibbe is an archaic Italian word for ‘playing cards’.

French-suited playing cards (hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades in English) were introduced in the late 15th century and were derived from German suits (hearts, bells, acorns and leaves). In French, diamonds are called carreau (tiles), clubs are tréfle (clover), and spades are piques (pikes).

The English reference to ‘clubs’ corresponds to bastones or bastoni which are used in the Spanish and Italian suits.

The French re-introduced the Queen to the court cards (face cards) which had been used previously in Germany in the 14^th and 15^th centuries.

The French also simplified the card designs and introduced the red and black colours. These changes made the French cards more distinguishable and easier to mass produce by using the printing press which had recently been developed in Germany.

Since we’re on the subject of the odds of a royal flush, it’s interesting to note that in 16^th century France, court cards became associated with historical and mythical figures. Each card represented a particular character, for example the Kings were associated with the biblical King David (spades), Alexander the Great (clubs), Charlemagne (hearts) and Julius Caesar (diamonds).

Ganjapa is a card game still played in India which is a variant of the Persian ganjifa which was introduced to India in the 16th century by the Mughals. Traditional hand-painted ganjapa cards are still produced in the Indian state of Odisha. The other Persian game, as-nas, co-existed with ganjifa in India or centuries.

FUN FACTS ABOUT POKER

1. “The Dead Man’s Hand” is a legendary hand supposedly held by notorious Wild West lawman and gunfighter Wild Bill Hickok when he was shot dead by buffalo hunter “Crooked Nose Jack” McCall at Nuttal & Mann’s Saloon in Deadwood, South Dakota. The hand consists of a pair of aces and a pair of eights. The 5th card has been discarded and remains a subject of debate amongst historians and poker aficionados to this day.

2. In 1937 some card makers, including Waddington’s in the UK and Parker Brothers in the United States, tried to add a 5th suit of “Green” to card decks and wrote a whole new set of rules for how this would be implemented into popular games including poker. However it was a bust and the concept was discontinued since people did not want to buy new card decks or play by new rules.

3. The longest poker game ever took place, allegedly, in the Birdcage Theatre in Tombstone, Arizona. Starting in 1881, the tourney had a hefty $1,000 buy-in and is said to have lasted for 8 years, 5 months and 3 days.

4. In the late 19th century almost anything from gold nuggets to bullets were wagered as “poker chips” when cash was not available. In need of a more standardized currency, wood, bone and ivory chips were introduced and decorated with the casino’s logo. However illegal copying of chips was rife and it was not until the 1900’s that manufactured clay chips were introduced which were much more difficult to forge.

5. The first televised poker tournament was the 1973 World Series of Poker, which was televised by CBS Sports.

6. The first professional poker player to win $1 million was Doyle Brunson who won the Poker World Championship in 1976 and 1977 – both with a hand of 10 and 2! This was subsequently named a “Doyle Brunson” by professional poker players in his honour.

7. Richard Nixon was an avid poker player and even used his card skills in his political campaign endorsements. During his time in the Navy, Nixon won over $6,000 in tournaments and used the cash to help finance his successful run for election to the California House of Representatives.

8. The youngest player to win the World Series of Poker was Joe “the Kid” Cada who banked $8,547,044 in 2009 at age 21. The oldest player was Paul “Cigar” McKinney who won $202,725 on the World Series of Poker Seniors at age 80.

9. Every year 40 million people gamble on various games of chance and skill, including poker, in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

10. In top casinos, paper cards do not have a life of much more than 15 minutes which is why most have now switched over to high quality plastic.

ONLINE CASINO AT LOTTOLAND

It's not just the lottery which you can bet on at Lottoland. Lottoland offers a wide range of online casino games, including slots, live casino, and table games such as Casino Hold'em and Blackjack.

The next time you sit down at the poker table, whether virtually or in real live, spare a moment to think about the wonderful history of poker and be optismistic. After all, compared to winning the lottery, the odds of being dealt a royal flush in poker are slim, but you're already a winner if you consider the odds of being born!

ODDS OF WINNING THE LOTTERY

The odds of being born have been calculated at either 1 in 10^2,685,000 (10 followed by 2,685,000 zeros) or at 1 in 400 trillion, which makes the odds of a royal flush not seem that low! The fact that we have been born against all the odds should give us the hope to believe that anything is possible, whether it’s winning the lottery or being dealt a royal flush.

The royal flush odds of 1 in 30,940 are substantially lower odds than winning the Irish Lotto for example, which stands at 1 in 10,737,573.

However, when considering the world’s biggest lotteries, the Irish Lotto offers favourable odds in comparison to the UK National Lottery at 1 in 45,057,474 or EuroMillions at 1 in 139,838,160.

With the Irish Lotto record jackpot standing at €19 million, you can see why the Irish Lotto is one of the most popular lotteries for online lotto betting in the world and one of Lottoland’s most popular lottos to bet on.

On the other hand, the royal flush odds for the first 5 cards out of the deck at 1 in 649,740 are not too far off from the odds of winning the Polish MINI Lotto, which stand at 1 in 850,668.

Regardless, your chances of a royal flush are still low. To put things into perspective, if you were dealt 20 poker hands every night over the course of your lifetime, you would expect to get that royal flush once in 89 years!

IMPROVE YOUR ODDS

At the start of this article, we mentioned how poker is based on skill whilst the lottery is down to luck.

The lottery may ultimately be down to luck but there are steps which you can take to increase your chances of winning the lottery.

Firstly, it’s a good idea to check which lotteries offer the best odds. Fortunately, the Irish Lotto offers much more generous odds than many other international lotteries, as we previously mentioned. Other lottos which offer favourable odds are the Swedish Lotto at 1 in 6,724,520 and the Austrian Lotto at 1 in 8,145,060.

Lottoland offers you the chance to bet on a wide range of international lottos including the Irish, Swedish and Austrian lottos. There are also exclusive lottos such as KeNow which takes place every 4 minutes and gives you the chance to win €1 million with odds of 1 in 2,147,181.

When choosing lottery numbers, it’s wise to avoid certain number combinations such as patterns as these are very commonly picked numbers, meaning you are more likely to have to share the prize with others. The same goes for choosing dates, as you limit yourself to 31 numbers. 

Fortunately, with Lottoland you can take advantage of special features such as NumberShield which lets you block your lottery numbers so that no one else can choose them, meaning you don't have to share any winnings. You can also join online lotto betting syndicates at Lottoland, it's worth considering that 20% of all lottery jackpots are won by syndicates.

It's good practise to pick a mix of high and low numbers plus both odd and even numbers, to lower your chances of having to share a prize.

Of course, any number combination as the same chance of been drawn as the other.

When it comes to the odds of winning at poker, skill is fundamental to poker strategy. There are many strategies and tips on how to win at poker, unfortunately this extensive topic falls outside of the scope of this article.

However, one such poker skill which is worth mentioning is the skill of being able to calculate the odds of your hand improving. Some of the best poker players share the trait of being able to quickly calculate the odds in their heads.

Notwithstanding, luck can always factor in, especially if you are dealt a royal flush. Most of the time though, it’s down to the player to play their cards right.

Ultimately, if you're a bright mathematician and you put in enough practise to develop your poker skills, you'll be on the path to excel at poker tournaments and could make yourself a pretty penny, or perhaps a gold coin or two.

Whether it's poker or the lottery, Lady Luck will still need to be on your side, although you'll need to rely on her more when it comes to betting on the lottery than with your royal flush odds!

Last Updated: April 12, 2022