Odds of Flopping a Straight: Exact Table by Gap Size

The exact table, by gap size

We ran every possible flop (19,600 per holding) through the site's 7-card evaluator. What decides your straight odds is how many distinct five-card straights your two cards can complete:

• •Connectors 54s-JTs (4 possible straights): 256 flops = 1.31% — 1 in 77.
• •One-gappers, e.g. 97 (3 straights): 192 flops = 0.98% — 1 in 102.
• •Two-gappers, e.g. 96 (2 straights): 128 flops = 0.65% — 1 in 153.
• •Three-gappers, e.g. 95 (1 straight): 64 flops = 0.33% — 1 in 306.
• •Edge connectors: AK and 32 have fewer straights than their connectedness suggests — AK completes only Broadway (0.33%), 32 only two straights (0.65%). 'Connector' value peaks in the middle of the deck.

Draws are the real payoff

You'll flop a draw far more often than the straight itself. From the same full enumeration for 87s: 8.9% of flops deliver a draw with at least 8 straight outs (open-ended or double-gutshot), and another 16.2% bring a gutshot (4-7 outs). Completion rates from our odds chart: an 8-out open-ender gets there 31.5% of the time from the flop (16.5% for a gutshot's 4 outs, 17.4% and 8.7% turn-to-river). So a hand like 87s hits a straight *or* a strong straight draw on roughly 1 flop in 10 — that playability, not the 1.31%, is why suited connectors are worth opening.

Why gaps cost so much

Each straight your holding can complete needs three exact board ranks. Connectors in the middle of the deck (5-4 up to J-10) participate in four different straights; every gap you add removes one. Since each three-rank set contributes exactly 64 flops (4 suits for each of 3 ranks), the odds fall in clean steps: 256, 192, 128, 64 flops. There's a strategy corollary: the straights a connector flops are also better disguised — boards like 6-5-9 don't alarm opponents holding overpairs, which is where the implied odds that justify playing these hands actually come from.

Straight odds in context

How the straight stacks up against the other 'hit the flop hard' events: a pocket pair flops a set 11.8% of the time; suited cards flop a flush 0.84% and a flush draw 10.9%; connectors flop a straight 1.31% and an 8-out draw 8.9%. The pattern is consistent — monster-flop frequencies are all in the 1% range, draw frequencies all near 10%. Small-card hands are drawing hands: their profit comes from stacking someone after the cheap card arrives, which is why they want multiway pots, deep stacks, and position — and why they're near-worthless as 3-bet-calling hands at 40bb.