In 5 card poker, mathematically, why does a flush beat a straight? E.g., an open ended straight has 8 possible cards to complete it, while a 4 card flush has 9 cards available to complete it. Does a flush beat a straight, or a straight beat a flush?
A straight flush is any combination of five cards in sequence with the same suit. Getting the 2-3-4-5-6 of clubs is a straight flush while getting the K-Q-J-10-9 of spades is a straight flush. If two happened in the same pot, the high card would win. This is also rare, about 1 in 72,192 hands or, at a 9 player table, about once every 8,000 pots.

Does Four Of A Kind Beat A Straight In Poker Real Money
Does Four Of A Kind Beat A Straight In Poker Tournaments
Does Four Of A Kind Beat A Straight In Poker 2

Yes, four of a kind beats a straight. Only a straight flush (including a royal flush) beats four of a kind in a Poker game with no wild cards, i.e. Where five of a kind is not possible. Four-of-a-Kind is the second best possible hand in the poker hand ranking system. Only a Straight Flush ranks above it. Therefore, this is a very strong hand in Hold’em and is rarely beat on the river. That said, there are still many hands that rank under it.

(Redirected from Wild card (card games))

A joker being used as a wildcard to represent a queen, in a hand of cards

A wild card in card games is one that may be used to represent any other playing card, sometimes with certain restrictions. These may be jokers, for example in Rummy games, or ordinary ranked and suited cards may be designated as wild cards ('deuces wild' in Poker is a common variant).^[1] A card that is not wild may be referred to as a natural card.^[2] Jokers, however, may also have other uses, such as being a permanent top trump.

Use[edit]

In most cases, the wild card or cards must be agreed upon by all players before the cards are dealt and play commences. There are two common rules regarding wild cards: 'fully wild' cards and the 'bug'.

Does four of a kind beat a straight in poker terms

A card that is fully wild can be designated by its holder as any card they choose with no restrictions. Under this rule, for example, a hand with any natural pair and a wild card becomes three of a kind.

Conversely, a bug is a limited wild. The common rule in casinos is that a wild card plays as a bug, which is given the rank of ace unless designating it as a different card would complete a straight, flush, or straight flush. Under this rule, a hand such as K-K-Joker-5-2 is just a pair of kings (with an ace kicker), but any four same-suit cards with a bug make a flush, and a hand such as 7-Joker-5-4-3 makes a straight.

There is also a variation of the 'Fully Wild' rule in which the wild card (in this instance they are usually jokers as there are traditionally only two and there is only one black and one red) can be any card of the suits matching the cards colour or current suit. For example, in a jokers wild game with these rules, the red joker could be used as any card of hearts or diamonds. Inversely, the black joker would be any card of clubs or spades.

Two exceptions to standard poker practice sometimes seen in home games are the double-ace flush rule, and the natural wins rule. The latter rule states that between hands that would otherwise tie, the hand with fewer wild cards wins. This is not common in casinos and should be treated as an exception to standard practice (as is the double-ace flush).

The three 'criticals' in the game of Watten - the 7 of Acorns, the 7 of Bells and the King of Hearts - may be used as wild cards

In some Austrian and South Tyrolean card games, one or more other cards may be used as wild cards, including the Weli, a special 6 of Bells, the 7 of Bells and 7 of Acorns. In the game of Perlaggen there are six or seven wild cards: four permanent Perlaggs - K or Maxl, 6 or Weli, 7 or Little Weli, the 7 of Bells or Bell-Spitz and 7 or Eichelspitz - as well as 3 'Trump Perlaggs' - the 7, Unter and Ober of Trumps.

Criticism[edit]

There is a tendency among some players to regard wild cards as 'impure' or treat wild card games as silly or amateurish. While it is certainly true that a game with too many wild cards can become so random that all skill is lost, the occasional use of wild cards can add variation to a game and add opportunities for skillful play. In particular, five-card draw is traditionally played with a joker in California (which plays as a bug), and also plays well with deuces fully wild. Seven-card stud plays well with one or two bugs, especially when played high-low split. Other games such as Texas hold 'em and Omaha hold'em do not play well with wild cards. For some players, the problem with wild card games is that the winner is almost always the hand with the most wild cards, making the other cards irrelevant, and making skill less important.

Another issue with wild cards is that they distort the hand frequencies. In 5-card stud, the stronger hands are less frequent than the weaker hands; i.e., no pair is most common, followed by one pair, two pair, three of a kind, etc. When wild cards are added, the stronger hands gain frequency while the weaker hands lose frequency. For example, if a player holds a pair and a wild card, they will always choose three of a kind rather than two pair. This causes three of a kind to be more common than two pair. But if two pair ranks above three of a kind, the two pair will become more common.^[3]

Footnotes and references[edit]

^The Language of Cards: A glossary of card-playing terms by David Parlett at www.parlettgames.uk. Retrieved 1 Jun 2018.
^Parlett, David. The Penguin Book of Card Games. London: Penguin (2008). ISBN978-0-141-03787-5.
^Wild Card Poker Paradox Explanation of the paradox that arises in the ranking of hands when wild cards are introduced to poker

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This page describes the ranking of poker hands. This applies not only in the game of poker itself, but also in certain other card games such as Chinese Poker, Chicago, Poker Menteur and Pai Gow Poker.

Low Poker Ranking: A-5, 2-7, A-6
Hand probabilities and multiple decks - probability tables

Standard Poker Hand Ranking

There are 52 cards in the pack, and the ranking of the individual cards, from high to low, is ace, king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. In standard poker - that is to say in the formal casino and tournament game played internationally and the home game as normally played in North America - there is no ranking between the suits for the purpose of comparing hands - so for example the king of hearts and the king of spades are equal. (Note however that suit ranking is sometimes used for other purposes such as allocating seats, deciding who bets first, and allocating the odd chip when splitting a pot that can't be equally divided. See ranking of suits for details.)

A poker hand consists of five cards. The categories of hand, from highest to lowest, are listed below. Any hand in a higher category beats any hand in a lower category (so for example any three of a kind beats any two pairs). Between hands in the same category the rank of the individual cards decides which is better, as described in more detail below.

In games where a player has more than five cards and selects five to form a poker hand, the remaining cards do not play any part in the ranking. Poker ranks are always based on five cards only, and if these cards are equal the hands are equal, irrespective of the ranks of any unused cards.

Some readers may wonder why one would ever need to compare (say) two threes of a kind of equal rank. This obviously cannot arise in basic draw poker, but such comparisons are needed in poker games using shared (community) cards, such as Texas Hold'em, in poker games with wild cards, and in other card games using poker combinations.

Does Four Of A Kind Beat A Straight In Poker