Is A Flush Better Than A Straight In Texas Holdem

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Is A Flush Better Than A Straight In Texas Holdem 8,0/10 4667 votes

From the Two Plus Two Forums regarding Flush vs. Straight in Texas Holdem Poker: Why is it that, at least in Hold'em, despite the fact that the likelihood of a flush is greater than a straight. Another reason people favor A 10 is that you can’t make a straight in holdem with a 10 or a 5 involved, so the hand tends to form many more straights than weaker aces. Finally, the suited aspect offers the potential to make the nut flush, or even the elusive royal flush if the deck cooperates.

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Poker is a popular card game. You can play it for large sums of money. Or you can play poker for fun with friends and family with no chips or real money. But in all poker games there are a set of rules in place, so you know every time who wins and who doesn’t.

For a newcomer, all the rules in poker might be confusing. But soon when you master all the rules, you realize there is a lot more to poker than just that. The deep strategy to outplay opponents and knowing when to lay down strong but not strong enough hands is what makes you a winner.

That takes many hours to master. But first things first, you need to understand basic rules first, and in this article, I will tell you why a flush beats trips (3 of a kind).

Why does a flush beat 3 of a kind (trips)? Flush beats three of a kind (trips) because it is harder to hit. Not only that, but flush also beats a straight, two pairs and one pair type of hands. It wouldn’t make much sense if a certain hand combination would be worth more but also more likely to hit. It would defeat the purpose of the poker game.

What is the probability to hit a flush and what is the chance to hit 3 of a kind

The probability to hit three of a kind (trips) is around 2.1% of the time. This means that you will hit 3 of a kind around once every 50 hands.

You will hit a flush less often. Actually a lot less often. The probability to hit a flush is only 0.2%.

You will hit a flush around once every 500 hands. In between is a straight with 0.4% chance to be hit, or around once every 250 hands.

That is why a flush wins in poker against 3 of a kind.

In my poker career, I played more than 5,000,000 Texas Holdem No limit hands. During that time I have gotten quite a sample of winrates I get with three of a kind and what kind of a winrate I will have with a flush.

Expected winrate with 3 of a kind

They both make me a decent amount of money, but of course, a flush performs a lot better. If you are winning more with 3 of a kind than a flush, then you have a leak in your strategy when you hit a flush. Or your sample just isn’t big enough yet.

As you can see from the graph, the winnings are pretty consistent. Like with all hands in poker, also when it comes to sets, it is better to have higher hands. Either higher pairs or higher kicker in your hand, once the board comes paired, and you hit 3 of a kind.

You will hit trips most often when you have a pocket pair in your hand already and you will get paid the most on those.

Expected winrate of a flush

A Flush is a better hand than 3 of a kind. You should also make more money with it.

You might think that the best hand to hit the flush is AKs. But that actually isn’t the case.

It is true that nut flush will make you the most money, but you are better off if your other side card is lower than a queen. You want the opponent to have a K high flush or Q high flush, as you are more likely to get paid off.

That is why having a K or a Q in your hand is not the best idea. Of course, you still prefer playing AKs than AJs for example. AK will make you more money. Just when you hit a flush you will make more money if someone can have the second nuts.

But you will hit a flush so rarely, and you will hit a top pair a lot more often. And with AK every time you hit a top pair, you will have a top kicker. In poker, you will have a pair 42% of the time. So those times having a top kicker to go with your top pair will enable you to go for more value bets than with AJ, that doesn’t give you the top kicker all the time.

Looking at the graph you can see that also the flush winrate is very consistent. Maybe I could be folding a little more, to some passive players who bet large, when I don’t have the nut flush, and of course, when they bet hard, they have the nuts. Other than that, winrate is still pretty good.

Once again, it is better to have higher hands which can give you nut flush, than just having a low or mid-high flush. The difference in winrate will be huge, especially when you hit a nut flush and the opponent hits a lower one. In such a scenario, it is hard for anyone to let go off their hand.

What is the order of poker hands? What beats what in poker?

One of the basic rules is also hand rankings. In Texas Holdem ranks of cards at showdown increase depending on how hard it is to hit a certain hand combination.

You will have a high card, with no pair, 50% of the time, and royal flush slightly less than once every 650,000 hands.

To see what beats what have a look at a table below. The hand that is listed higher beats all the hands below it.

Order of poker hands goes as follows from worst (bottom) to best (top):

Is a flush better than a straight in texas holdem tournaments

What beats a straight?

We can see that a straight is beaten by any flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush, and a royal flush. This might sound like many hands, but we still get paid off nicely by all sets, two pairs and stubborn players unwilling to let go of a pair.

If there is a flush or full house possible on top of straight, and you face huge bets, then you should consider letting go of your straight.

What beats a straight flush?

Is A Flush Higher Than A Straight In Poker

A straight flush is beaten by any higher straight flush and by a royal flush. Don’t expect this to happen that often in Texas Holdem. Therefore in almost all cases, you should be happy to stack off with a straight flush. One exception might be you having 9s on TsJsQsKsx. Then if someone holds an Ace of spades would have a royal flush, but this happens so rarely, you shouldn’t be concerned about.

You will make most money with a straight flush when someone holds the nut flush. Or if the board is paired and the opponent has a full house

What beats four of a kind?

Four of a kind is also a very strong hand. In fact, you will hit four of a kind less often than once every 4,000 hands. It is beaten by only a handful of poker hands. Those are straight flush and a royal flush.

What is the best hand in poker?

Best hand in poker is royal flush and you will hit it once every 650,000 hands.

Getting it the first time it feels really exciting. I felt like a true poker player once I got my first. The only way you can influence getting dealt a royal flush faster is by playing more poker and of course, playing broadway suited cards (T – A).

I wouldn’t stress over it too much, as, in the end, it comes down to random hand generators when you get your first. It could happen you will play over 1 million hands to get one, or you can be lucky and hit it in first 1,000 hands.

Conclusion

Now you know why a flush beats 3 of a kind. From here on you should have no problems recognizing the winning hand. The next step is to keep learning something new each day, and eventually, you too can become a good winning player at poker.

Useful Links:

Wikipedia: Hand rankings

Article: Is a straight or flush more likely to hit? – this one might surprise you, it is not what many people think

If you are interested to get the best rakeback deals and private promotions on poker sites head on to PokerPro website (PS: there are plenty of options to choose from also for the USA players).

Poker rules can be confusing at times. You might think you know them all, but then during your play with friends, you come upon a situation, and you are unsure of the rule. One such scenario that might confuse you is when you see two players having a flush. So who wins? The answer is pretty clear to an experienced player like myself, and after reading this article, it will be simple for you to know next time also.

A player with the highest flush rank wins. If both players have the flush of the same rank, then the pot would get split between them. This, of course, holds true only if no one else has a card combination higher than a flush.

Flush is a very powerful hand in poker. You are expected to dominate your opponents very often once you hit it. Therefore it is no surprise it doesn’t usually happen that you get to hit one. You will hit a flush only 0.2% percent of the time. There is a common misconception that a flush is easier to hit, but in fact, you will hit flush half as often as you hit a straight (0.4% chance to hit a straight). And because a flush is harder to hit, your winrate with flush will be higher than with a straight.

Is A Flush Better Than A Straight In Texas Holdem Card Game

It is very crucial to play the right hands to maximize your chances of hitting a flush.

Best cards to hit a flush are high suited hands. AK suited is, of course, the best one to have, followed by AQ suited. Your winrate will still be high with all of the suited broadway hands (JTs, QTs, KTs, ATs, QJs, KJs, AJs, KQs, AQs, and AKs).

Of course, you can hit a flush with a non-suited hand also, but having a suited hand with increase your chances to hit a flush by a lot.

Bigger cards are better for hitting a flush

Why is a high double suited hand a lot better than the lower double suited hand? If you play AKs, AQs, or AJs, you will always have the nut flush (ace-high flush) when you hit a flush compared to 98s. A flush is a very strong hand, no matter how high your flush is. It is tough to lay down a flush, even to strong bets.

Poker

If you hit the nut flush on 5hKcThJh7s board with AhQh and your opponent has 8h9h, it will be very tough of him to fold his flush (AQTJ5 high flush wins against JT895 high flush because it has higher ranking cards). It will also be very tough for you to hold a low flush when you are facing bets, after all, you beat many hands that are willing to bet – all sets, two pairs, some smaller flushes, and bluffs.

Therefore you must be on the winning side of a flush as often as possible. And big suited cards do exactly that.

Please note, due to the little chance of having a straight flush of 0.0014%, I just assume that Ace-high flush is the nut flush, and an opponent doesn’t have a straight flush, which would beat our ace-high flush.

One exception – When the bigger cards are not always better

There is one situation where having AKs is not optimal. It only matters when you hit a flush. In such a scenario, I would rather have any other ace-high flush but the AK high flush. That way, I can know that someoneelse might be holding a 2nd nut flush (K high flush) as I don’t hold the K myself. Some players might be folding lower flushes, but almost no one folds 2nd nut K high flush. And nobody can beat me anyway if I hold the A high flush in my hand.

The chance to hit a flush is already low, and it happens even less often that someone has second nut flush. In all the other scenarios, it is better to have AK than AQ or lower, as our kicker is very valuable. This is also the reason that my winrate with AKs is still a lot higher than with AJs. Most of the time, when we hit a flush, our opponent will not have a flush.

But the times when you see two players showing a flush do happen and it is important to distinguish from 3 possible scenarios:

  1. One person has a lower flush, and another person has a higher flush
  2. Both players have a flush of the same rank
  3. One player has a straight flush (with lower cards), and another player has a higher flush, but just a flush.

Higher vs. Lower Flush

The rules of poker are simple. A player that has a higher flush will win the hand. It doesn’t matter if both players have a flush; it only matters who has the highest flush.

The value of the flush goes from lowest possible flush 23457 of the same suit, and not 23456 as this would also give us a straight flush, which is better than a normal flush. The value of flush goes all the way up to AKQJ9 of the same suit, and this is the biggest flush possible without having the strongest hand in poker – royal flush (AKQJT of the same suit).

The highest flush beats not only all the lower flushes that will not be folding to our huge bets, but it also beats all sets (trips), two pairs, and pairs.

If you don’t have the nut flush yourself (highest possible flush, depending on the board), then chances are someone else can have it. Scenarios where you have 2nd nut flush, and someone else holds the nut flush will happen, and you will pay him off. This will reduce your winrate. But all the other times you are up against worse hands you will make a lot of money. Any flush is a great hand to have as it beats so many other worse hands.

Who wins if both players have a flush of the same rank

In the case when both players have the same flush at showdown, and no one else has a better hand than this flush, then the pot would get split between them. First, the rake would get deducted from the pot, and afterward, the pot gets equally split.

Who wins if there is a flush on the table?

Scenario, where both players have the flush of the same rank, is only possible if a flush is present on the table. There is no other option, as that is the only way that both players have all 5 cards of the same rank and same suit.

In my poker career (more than 5 million hands played online), I have seen quite some flushes on the board. A few scenarios are possible:

  1. Nobody has a stronger hand than the flush on the board: When nobody has a higher card of the same suit in the hole cards (in their hand) at showdown, then the pot would get equally split among the players that are still involved in the hand at showdown. Of course, if you fold before the showdown, then you give up on your hand and can’t win the pot (get equal share in this scenario).
  2. Someone has a better hand: If there isn’t a royal flush on the board, then chances are some player can have a bigger flush. Remember, in poker, the player that has the best 5 card combination wins. So on a 5689T all hearts, any player having J of hearts or higher still beats 5689T flush. But if someone has 7 of hearts, then that player will have the better nuts. As 6789T of hearts will give him a straight flush and the better hand combination. If someone would hold QhJh they would have the absolute nuts (QJT98 high straight flush).

Straight flush vs. Ace-high flush

If, by any chance, you come upon a situation where one player has a straight flush, and another player has an ace-high flush, then the rules are simple here also. A straight flush is a better hand and wins against any other non-straight flush and against all lower straight flushes (if both players have a straight flush, then the one with higher straight flush wins).

You will hit a straight flush once roughly every 72,000 hands. When on the other hand, you will hit a flush once every 508 hands. So it makes sense that a straight flush wins.

Is A Flush Better Than A Straight In Texas Holdem Tournament

Related Articles:

  • Why is flush worth more than a straight?
  • Is a flush or a straight more likely to hit?
  • A flush beats 3 of a kind. Here is why

Conclusion

Does A Flush Beat A Straight In Texas Hold'em

Now you know of all the possible scenarios where two players might have the flush. You know correctly who wins and when the pots get split. I am sure there will be no more confusion next time when you see two players have hit a flush.