Texas Holdem 4 Of A Kind
Poker is one of the most popular card games, especially among betting games. While poker is played in a multitude of variations, Texas Hold'em is the version played most often at casinos and is the most popular among the 'community cards' variants of poker. It is also the variant played at the World Series of Poker and on the World Poker Tour.
The game of poker - Texas Hold'em in particular - is exciting and vibrant. If two players both hold four-of-a-kind poker card hands, the highest ranking of the four-of-a-kind cards wins. The best possible hand in Texas hold'em is the combination of ten, jack, queen, king, ace, all of the same suit: 2. Straight Flush: 56789: Five cards of the same suit in sequential order: 3. Mar 08, 2017 Four of a Kind Four of a kind is a hand that contains four of the same card, such as four sevens or four Jacks. Because twos (deuces) are rated the lowest and aces the highest in poker, four aces ​is the highest four of a kind. When two or more players have four of a kind, the highest four of a kind wins.
Rules
Each hand is played with a whole deck. One player is the dealer (this role rotates clockwise after each hand), and bets are placed in a clockwise order starting with the player on the dealer's left. Each hand has four stages, and after each stage there is a round of betting. The four stages are:
- (Pre-flop) Everyone gets two cards (dealt face down).
- (Flop) Three cards are dealt face up in the middle of the table.
- (Turn) A fourth card is dealt face up in the middle of the table.
- (River) A fifth card is dealt face up in the middle of the table.
The object of the game is to form the best five-card hand possible using the player's two cards and the five 'community cards' dealt in the middle of the table. A hand is won by having the best hand among the players who did not fold (i.e. refuse to match an opponent's bet, as described below), or by having everyone else fold.
We are going to use a $1/$2 betting structure. Before the pre-flop, the two players to the left of the dealer must bet $1 (these mandatory bets are called blinds, since the player must make them before she sees her cards). Then, following the betting order, each player may raise the bet, up to four times per player per betting round. (The blinds act as a bet, so in the pre-flop betting round, the first player to act will be the person three seats to the left of the dealer). Whenever a player raises the bet, the other players must call (that is, accept the raise), fold (that is, give up and lose the money already bet) or raise the bet even more. On the pre-flop and flop, theplayers bet $1 at a time, while on the turn and river they bet $2 at a time.
The hand ends when all but one player has folded or when all the cards have been dealt and the last betting round is over. In this last case, the players must show their cards and the player with the highest hand wins.
Ranking of Poker Hands
From highest to lowest, the possible five card hands in poker are ranked as follows:
- Straight Flush Five cards in sequence all of the same suit, for example 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - J all in hearts. Aces can be treated as either above kings or below twos. If multiple players both have straight flushes, the players compare the high cards of their straight flushes (higher card wins). A straight flush with A - K - Q - J - 10 is called a royal flush and is the highest hand in the game.
- Four of a Kind Four cards of the same rank (and one card of some other rank). When comparing four of a kind hands the four of a kind of higher rank wins.
- Full House Three matching cards of one rank and two matching cards of a different rank. If multiple players both have full houses the player whose set of three cards has higher rank wins.
- Flush All five cards of the same suit. If multiple players both have flushes, the player with the single card of highest rank wins. In situations where players both have the same rank high card they then compare the rank of their second highest cards, then third highest cards, etc. Two flushes with cards of the same ranks tie.
- Straight All five cards in sequence. As with straight flushes, aces can be high or low and two straights are compared by looking at high cards.
- Three of a Kind Three cards of the same rank and two unmatched cards. Three of a kind hands are compared by looking at the rank of the set of three cards.
- Two Pair Two cards of the same rank, two cards of another rank (matching each other but not the first two cards), and one card with a third rank. Two of a kind hands are compared by looking at each player's highest ranking pair (higher ranks wins). If players have the same high pair then they compare the rank of their low pairs. If this still does not decide a winner then the rank of the unmatched card (also called the 'kicker') is compared.
- One Pair Two cards of the same rank and three cards all of different ranks (both from the pair and from each other). One pair hands are compared by looking first at the rank of each player's pair, and if needed then considering the rank of each player's unmatched cards in the same way as for a flush.
- High Card A set of five cards that does not fit into any of the above categories. High cards hands are compared by considering the rank of each player's cards as described above in the case of a flush.
There is no ranking of suits in poker, so two players who have identical hands but in different suits tie the hand and split the pot. The two cards that a player does not use in making his five card hand are ignored; they are not used to break ties between five card hands.
Some Calculations
Pot odds are the odds you get when you analyze the current size of the pot against the cost of your next call. The general idea is to compare your chance of winning to your pot odds. You have good pot odds if your chance of winning is significantly bigger than the ratio of the bet to the pot size. For example, say you are on the turn, you have two hearts in your hand, and you have one opponent still in the hand. The community cards have two hearts, so any of the nine remaining hearts finishes a flush for you. We say that you have 9 'outs' (outs are the cards still unseen that will improve your hand) out of a total of 46 unseen cards. The ratio 9/46 is approximately 1/5. Suppose your opponent raises $2 and the pot you get if you call and win is $20. The ratio 2/20 is 1 in 10, which is smaller than your 1 in 5 chance of hitting the flush, so pot odds say that calling is the right move.
Implied odds take into account the fact that betting will continue throughout the rest of the hand, so you have the potential to gain more money from your opponents in future rounds of betting (and also you may have to pay more money to stay in the hand in later rounds of betting). In the example above, if you feel that your opponent will call a bet after the river, then if hit your flush you will be able to earn an additional $2. If you do not hit your flush you can fold the hand and not lose any additional money. So in this case your implied odds are 2/22, or 1 in 11, even better than your pot odds.
For all of the following problems we assume that all of the cards not in a player's hand or in the collection of community cards are drawn with equal probability. This is a valid assumption if we have no knowledge of the other players' cards (see the Blackjack lesson, problem 3 for further details). In actuality it may be possible to infer some information about an opponent's hand based on her betting patterns or behavior.
- If you are dealt two hearts and the flop contains exactly two hearts, what is the probability that you get a flush on the turn or the river? If the flop contains only one heart, what is the probability that you get hearts on both the the turn and the river to make your flush?
- You are dealt a pair of eights and the flop comes up 1 - 7 - 2. What the is probability that you will have four a kind after the river? A full house?
- Your are dealt a 6 - 4 and the cards on the table are 7 - K - 3 - 10. There are two opponents still in the game. The pot is currently $20 and your have been raised $2. Assuming that you win if you hit your straight and lose if you do not, what do pot odds tell you to do? Assuming further that both of your opponents will call a $2 bet after the river, what do implied odds tell you to do?
It is sometimes useful to know the frequency of each of the different poker hands. In Texas Hold'em, each player is making a hand out of seven available cards. To determine the probability of each hand occuring we can count the number of distinct ways of obtaining each hand and divide by the total number of possible hands. This requires thinking about all of the different ways of obtaining a given hand and coming up with an orderly process for counting these different ways. The easiest way to do this involves heavy use of combinationsCn,m (the number of ways of choosing m objects (in any order) from a collection of n objects. These are also called binomial coefficients. See the probability review for more details). For example, the total number of possible seven cards hands is equal to the number of ways of choosing seven distinct cards out of a collection of 52, giving a total of C52,7 = 133,784,560 hands. Note that even though two identical hands in different suits have the same value in poker they are being counted as distinct hands.
The difficulty of calculating these frequencies varies significantly by hand. The high ranking hands such as four of a kind and straight flush can only be obtained in a limited number of different ways and therefore it is therefore easier to calculate their frequencies. Try calculating these frequencies first. Once you get the hang these types of calculations, if you are up for a challenge you can attempt some of the more involved calculations.
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Hand Rank > FAQ : Quiz
Learning the rank of hands in Texas Hold'em is just as important as learning the rules themselves. Be sure to know what beats what, so you won't be surprised the next time that flush beats your straight. Check out the hand rank FAQ to help answer questions you might have about the ranking of hands in Texas Hold'em.
The hands are in order from top to bottom, decreasing in value as you move down.
Rank of hands.
#1 Royal flush.
An ace-high straight flush. It's just a straight flush really, but it's made with the 5 highest value cards.
A royal flush is the absolute best possible hand in the game of Texas Hold'em. You will rarely (if ever) see this hand.
#2 Straight flush.
5 cards of the same suit in sequential order. This is essentially the best hand in the game, only coming second to it's bigger brother; the royal flush.
#3 Four of a kind.
Four cards of the same value. Virtually a guaranteed winner.
Unfortunately you rarely really win as much money with it as you would like, as it's unlikely that other players in the pot will make a hand that they're happy to call lots of bets and raises with. Still, better than nothing!
#4 Full house.
Three of one and two of another. Or you could think of it as 3-of-a-kind + 2-pair. Also known as a 'boat'.
This is the most common out of the 'big hands' you will see in Texas Hold'em. You can win a nice chunk of money if another player ends up making a weaker hand like a flush or a straight.
If you think your opponent has a weaker full house than you, take advantage of Zeebo's theorem.
#5 Flush
Five cards of the same suit.
As long as there are no pairs on the board (e.g. 448JK or 27TAA), this will be the strongest type of hand anyone can make.
Beginner players love to chase flushes, and it usually results in losing money. Make sure you learn about pot odds before you chase your next flush.
Tip: If you're playing online, use the four colour deck feature. This turns the club cards green () and the diamonds blue (). So less chance of mistaking 4 diamonds and 1 heart as a flush.
#6 Straight.
Five cards in sequence.
This hand is beaten by a flush, so don't make the rookie mistake of over-valuing the straight when there are a number of cards of the same suit on the board. It is actually harder to make a flush than a straight.
Texas Holdem 4 Of A Kind On The Table
#7 Three of a kind.
3 cards of the same value.
Texas Holdem 4 Of A Kinder
A 'set' is when you have 3 of a kind whilst holding a pocket pair. A set tends to be one of the most profitable hands in Texas Hold'em. It's handy to know the difference between sets and trips.
#8 Two pair.
Two pairs of course.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that this hand is stronger than 3 of a kind. It's actually easier to pick up two-pair than it is to get 3 of a kind.
#9 Pair.
Two cards of the same value. Almost like 'two of a kind' really.
A very common hand that can actually win a fair number of pots for you. Just be careful not to go overboard with this hand. The higher the pair the better.
#10 High card.
Just the highest value card.
If two players have the same value high card, you look at the next highest card (and so on) to find the winner.
This is not really much of a hand, but occasionally the winner of the hand will be decided on who holds the card of highest value. Don't expect to win any big pots with this one. It's usually there to determine the winner as a last resort.
Texas Holdem 4 Of A Kindergarten
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