• Flush Over Flush Poker
• Flush Poker Hand
• Play Flush Poker Free
• Royal Flush Poker Hand
• High Card Flush Poker

A Flush is fourth on the list of poker hand rankings and is made up of 5 cards in the same suit.

Although the word flush doesn’t immediately have you thinking that it consists of five cards all in the same suit, it’s still an easy hand to recognise. A flush is a relatively strong hand in Texas Hold’em with the highest possible flush being ace-high with all 5 cards in the same suit.

There are nine diamonds left to come that complete our flush, plus three Aces to give us a higher pair: that’s 12 “outs”. Using our magic formula for calculating the odds, that gives us 12 x 4 = 48% chance of winning by the river. Mathematicians say the real figure is 45% –the magic formula isn’t perfect, but it’s close enough. Mar 21, 2018  The next two tables show the probabilities in 5-card stud with one wild card. The first table is for a partially wild card that can only be used to complete a straight, flush, straight flush, or royal flush, otherwise it must be used as an ace (same usage as in pai gow poker). The second table is.

The best Flush possible is the ace-high Flush:

A♠J♠10♠3♠2♠

When it comes to flushes, the suits don’t matter. However, not every ace-high flush is ranked equally. When it comes to rating one ace-high flush over the next, it’s the hand rank or denomination that’s important.

*Note that a straight to the Ace in any suit, counts as a Royal Flush and neither ranks better than the other in the hand ranking system.

How Does a Flush Hand Rank?

In a 52-card deck, there are 5,108 possible Flush hand combinations and 1,277 distinct ranks of Flushes. Each flush is ranked by its highest card, then by the rank of its second-highest card and so on.

Here are some examples of a few flushes:

A♠J♠10♠3♠2♠

K♥10♥7♥5♥2♥

A♣K♣Q♣8♣2♣

Q♦J♦10♦9♦3♦

Can you tell which Flush ranks the best?

Keep in mind that the ranking of a Flush is determined by the highest straight card – not the suit. If more than one player has a Flush, then the winner is determined by the player with the highest straight. So, for example, a King-high Flush – in any suit - beats a Queen-high Flush – in any suit, and so forth.

Also, a K-J-10-5-3 flush would beat a K-J-9-8-3 flush. Notice that in the first hand the third card 10 is higher than the 9 in the second hand. That’s what makes it rank higher.

How Does a Flush Hand Match Up?

A Flush is the fourth best possible hand in the poker hand ranking system. A Full House ranks directly above it. Although 4^th on the list, it is still a very strong hand in Hold’em and is rarely beat on the river.

That said, there are still quite a few hands that rank under it. The next best hand down on the list is called a Straight.

The best Straight is the ace-high straight – also known as “Broadway”.

Flush Poker Probabilities

Now, we’ll look at the pre-flop, flop, turn and river probabilities of making a Flush in both Hold’em and Pot Limit Omaha.

Visit our Flush Poker Odds article for more information.

Flush – FAQ

Question 1: What is a “flush” in poker?

In poker, a flush is made when holding 5 cards all of the same suit. If the cards are also in consecutive rank order, this is referred to instead as a “straight flush”.

Question 2: Which flush wins in poker?

Assuming two players both have a flush, the winner is determined by the player with the highest ranked flush card (Aces are high). Assuming both players share the same high card, the second highest card is consulted and so on.

Question 3: Is a flush a strong hand in poker?

The strength of a flush often depends on the poker variant in question. For example, flushes are typically very strong holdings in Hold’em, but less so in Omaha since players start with additional hole-cards. Flushes with big cards are also naturally a lot stronger than flushes made with small cards.

Question 4: Does a flush beat a straight?

In the vast majority of poker variants (including Hold’em, Omaha and Stud), the answer is yes, a flush always beats a straight.

Question 5: Does a flush beat a full house?

In the vast majority of poker variants (including Hold’em, Omaha and Stud), the answer is no, a flush always loses against a full house.

Now that you’ve got the Flush down pat, we’ll move on to the next hand on the list. It’s called the Full House.

The odds of flopping a straight flush with a premium suited connector such as T9s is 0.02% or 1 in 4,900

Definition of the Straight Flush –

Five cards of consecutive rank, all of the same suit.

The Ten to Ace Straight Flush is the strongest hand in poker and is referred to as the “Royal Flush”.

Odds of Making a Straight Flush on the Flop

Flopping a Straight Flush seldom happens in poker. We specifically need to start out with two suited connected cards for this to be possible.

The odds of flopping a Straight Flush are so unlikely (0.02% or less) that the majority of poker equity calculators don’t even show the precise odds.

We’ll need to do some maths of our own.

Calculation of Straight Flush Odds

Let’s start with a very specific example -

We hold A2s. What are the odds of flopping the Ace to Five Straight Flush?

Why do we choose this example? It’s the easiest one because it provides only one way of making the Straight Flush. The flop has to come down precisely Three, Four, Five of the correct suit.

So, how likely is this?

In order to calculate, we’ll first need to know how many combinations of three cards are possible on the flop.

Basic Combinations and Permutations

Firstly, how many different combinations of three cards can be dealt on the flop? Assuming we care about the order of the three cards (and that our two hole cards are already known), the answer is 117,600 (50 * 49 * 48).

In statistics, this type of calculation is referred to as a permutation and accounts for the order of the flop cards.

Of course, in Hold’em, the order of the cards on the flop doesn’t matter (i.e. a 3,4,5 flop is the same as a 5,3,4 flop, for all intents and purposes). What we are interested in is the number of possible combinations of three cards.

A combination is similar to a permutation but doesn’t account for the order. Since there are 6 possible ways of arranging three cards, we can simply divide our number of permutations (117,600) by 6 to establish the number of possible three-card combinations on the flop.

117,600 / 6 = 19,600 possible combinations of three cards on the flop (given two cards are known)

In other words, there are 19,600 different possible sets of three cards that may fall on the flop given that our two hole cards are already known.

Guess what?

To make the exact Straight Flush in question, only one of these 19,600 combinations will do the job.

Armed with that information, we can now establish a range of different probabilities.

Odds of flopping the Straight Flush with A2s = 1/19,600 = 0.00005 or roughly 0.005%

That’s an insanely small likelihood!

Thankfully, the odds with different types of starting hands are usually a little better.

It all depends on the number of different combinations of three cards that provide a Straight Flush.

For example, think about T9s.

How many different ways are there to make a Straight Flush with 9Ts?

Ways of making a Straight Flush with T9s

JQK
QJ8
J87
678

So that’s four different ways. We are hence four times as likely to make a Straight Flush with 9Ts as we are to make a Straight Flush with A2s.

Odds of flopping the Straight Flush with 9Ts = 4/19,600 = 0.0002 or roughly 0.02%

Ways of making a Straight Flush with T8s

QJ9
J79
679

Odds of flopping the Straight Flush with T8s = 3/19,600 = 0.00015 or roughly 0.015%

Ways of making a Straight Flush with T7s

J89
689

Odds of flopping the Straight Flush with T7s = 2/19,600 = 0.0001 or roughly 0.01%

Only suited connectors (or gappers) can make Straight Flushes on the flop. All other holdings such as pocket-pairs and off-suit combos can never flop a Straight Flush.

We are, naturally, more likely to flop a Straight Flush draw as opposed to the Straight Flush itself. To see examples of calculating the odds of hitting a Straight Flush draw on the flop, check out the 888poker article on Royal Flush odds in poker.

Odds of Making a Straight Flush on the Later Streets

There will be two primary types of Straight Flush draw we’ll flop. The gutshot Straight Flush draw and the open-ended Straight Flush draw.

Gutshot Straight Flush draws have 1 out in the deck, while open ended Straight Flush draws have 2 outs in the deck.

Odds of Hitting on the Turn or River

Odds of catching the gutshot Straight Flush on the turn 1/47 = 0.0213 or roughly 2.1%

Odds of catching the open-ended Straight Flush on the turn 2/47 = 0.426 or roughly 4.3%

Odds of catching the gutshot Straight Flush on the river 1/46 = 0.0217 or roughly 2.2%

Odds of catching the open-ended Straight Flush on the river 2/46 = 0.0435 or roughly 4.4%

Odds of Hitting by the River

To calculate the probability of hitting by the river, we’ll employ the trick of calculating the possibility of not hitting and then subtracting from 100%.

Odds of not catching the gutshot Straight Flush on the turn 46/47

Odds of not catching the open-ended Straight Flush on the turn 45/47

Odds of not catching the gutshot Straight Flush on the river 45/46

Odds of not catching the open-ended Straight Flush on the river 44/46

Odds of not catching the gutshot Straight Flush on the turn or river = 46/47 * 45/46 = 0.9574 or roughly 95.7%

Flush Over Flush Poker

Odds of not catching the open-ended Straight Flush on the turn or river = 45/47 * 44/46 = 0.9158 or roughly 91.6%

Odds of hitting the gutshot Straight Flush by the river = (100- 95.7%) roughly 4.3%

Odds of hitting the open-ended Straight Flush by the river = (100 – 91.6%) roughly 8.4%

Implied Odds Analysis of a Straight Flush

A Straight Flush always carries excellent implied odds when hitting. This is because our opponent is usually forced into stacking off with very strong worse hands such as worse flushes and full houses.

Straight Flushes made with two of our hole cards always carry better implied odds than Straight Flushes made with one of our hole cards.

Flush Poker Hand

When using just one of our hole cards, it means there will be four cards to the Straight Flush already on the board. This decreases the chance that our opponent will pay us off with worse holdings.

Play Flush Poker Free

Although Straight Flushes should hardly ever be folded, their implied odds are the best when no higher Straight Flush is possible on the board.

Royal Flush Poker Hand

Basic Strategy Advice

It’s basically the nuts. Play aggressively and make big bets! Even if a higher Straight Flush is possible, it’s usually just a cooler if we are beat. We’d have to be really deep to find an exception.

High Card Flush Poker