What is a straight flush in poker? Everything you need to know
Published by: Geoff
Fisk
The Poker poker hands charts and 🧾 rankings series defines each variety of made
hands possible in a game of poker. This article delves into the straight 🧾 flush, one of
the best hands you can possibly make.
Examples of straight flushes include hands like J
♥ T ♥ 🧾 9 ♥ 8 ♥ 7 ♥ , 9♣8♣7♣6♣5♣, and A♠2♠3♠4♠5♠.
Introduction
Making a straight flush
gives you one of the strongest hands 🧾 on the poker hand rankings chart. Straight flushes
stand as the second-highest ranking hand in poker, only losing to royal
🧾 flushes.
Besides the royal flush, all other hands lose to a straight flush. This hand
consists of five consecutive cards, all 🧾 of the same suit.
The royal flush is actually
just the highest possible straight flush, consisting of a ten-to-ace straight of 🧾 the
same suit. All other occurrences of making five sequential cards, all the same suit,
fall under the category of 🧾 a straight flush.
The straight flush explained
A straight
flush essentially represents a hand that makes a flush and a straight at 🧾 the same time.
Flushes and straights are both relatively tough to make in a poker game, but making a
straight 🧾 flush marks an exceedingly rare occurrence.
You must put together five
sequential cards of the same suit to make a straight 🧾 flush. For example, a hand like
J♥T♥9♥8♥7♥ would qualify as both a flush and a straight, but the rare incidence 🧾 of both
at the same time makes this hand a jack-high straight flush.
A♠2♠3♠4♠5♠ marks the
lowest-ranking straight flush, while K♣Q♣J♣T♣9♣ 🧾 represents the highest-ranking straight
flush.
The suits themselves don’t affect the strength of a straight flush. For example,
A♠2♠3♠4♠5♠ is the 🧾 same as A♥2♥3♥4♥5♥.
What beats a straight flush?
Only a royal flush
beats a straight flush, according to the standard poker hand 🧾 rankings. A royal flush is
actually the best possible version of a straight flush.
For example, a hand like
A♣K♣Q♣J♣T♣ qualifies 🧾 as a royal flush and would beat any straight flush. Note that the
ace can act as both the high 🧾 card of an ace-to-ten royal flush and the low card of an
ace-to-five straight flush.
In a battle of two or 🧾 more straight flushes, the hand with
the highest-ranking high card wins. For example, K♣Q♣J♣T♣9♣ (king-high straight flush)
beats J♣T♣9♣8♣7♣ (jack-high 🧾 straight flush).
Does a straight flush beat four of a
kind?
Yes. A straight flush beats four of a kind and all 🧾 other hands below that in the
poker hand rankings. The straight flush stands as the second-highest hand in the poker
🧾 hand rankings, while four of a kind represents the third-highest hand.
Does a straight
flush beat a full house?
Yes. Only the 🧾 royal flush beats the straight flush, and the
straight flush defeats all other made hands in the poker hand rankings.
Full 🧾 houses,
while very strong, lose to straight flushes in a head-to-head battle at showdown. Even
the strongest possible full house 🧾 loses to any straight flush.
What is the probability
of getting a straight flush?
There are nine different possible straight flush hands 🧾 for
each suit, not counting the royal flush. With four suits in a deck of playing cards,
there are 36 🧾 possible straight flushes you can achieve. Since there are 2,598,960
potential hands poker players can draw when playing with a 🧾 standard 52-card deck, you
can calculate the probability of getting a straight flush as 36/2,598,960.
If you drew
five random cards 🧾 out of a regulation 52-card poker deck, you’d have only a 0.00139%
probability of making a straight flush (excluding royal 🧾 flushes). That probability
translates to 72,192.3-to-1 odds against drawing a straight flush.
Texas Hold’em poker
probabilities calculate the chances of making 🧾 a five-card hand out of seven total
cards. With all five community cards on the board, you have a 0.0279% 🧾 chance of making
a straight flush (excluding royal flushes) in a game of Texas Hold’em.
That’s a little
better than your 🧾 chances of drawing a five-card random straight flush, but the odds
against making a straight flush in Texas Hold’em are 🧾 still 3,589.6-to-1.
Those odds are
also considerably better than achieving the best possible hand of a royal flush
(30,939-to-1), but if 🧾 you do get a straight flush, you should definitely consider
yourself lucky!
What is a flush draw?
In poker games, a draw 🧾 is when you’re one or two
cards away from a ranking hand, so a flush draw is when you’re one 🧾 card short of having
a straight flush. The most common type of flush draw is when you have four consecutive
🧾 cards of the same suit.
An example of a four-in-a-row flush draw would be 6♠7♠8♠9♠.
Your hand contains four consecutive spades 🧾 cards and you just need either the 5♠ or the
T♠ to get your straight flush.
Another potential flush draw would 🧾 be if you had two
sets of connected cards (6♣7♣ and 9♣T♣) and just needed the middle card (8♣) to 🧾 finish
out your straight flush.
Straight flush vs. straight flush
In the rare event that two
or more straight flushes face each 🧾 other at showdown, the hand with the strongest high
card wins. For instance, K♣Q♣J♣T♣9♣ (a king-high straight flush) beats J♣T♣9♣8♣7 🧾 (a
jack-high straight flush).
The ace-to-five straight flush (A♠2♠3♠4♠5♠) is the lowest
possible straight flush (five-high), and the nine-to-king straight flush 🧾 (K♣Q♣J♣T♣9♣)
is the strongest (king-high).
How to play a straight flush in Texas Hold’em?
If you’re
playing a Texas Hold’em variant and 🧾 you want to get a straight flush, you have a
different set of probabilities to consider.
If you’re dealt suited hole 🧾 cards (two
cards of the same suit like 6♣T♣) or two suited connected cards (two consecutive cards
of the same 🧾 suit like 6♣7♣), then your probability of getting a straight flush on the
flop is extremely slim (0.0012%).
In the case 🧾 of suited hole cards, you would need the
community cards to be your missing cards exactly (7♣8♣9♣). With suited connected 🧾 cards,
you have a bit more flexibility because you could make a straight flush with lower
cards (3♣4♣5♣), higher cards 🧾 (8♣9♣T♣), or a combination of the two. In both situations,
getting a straight flush on the flop isn’t impossible, but 🧾 it is unlikely.
Your odds of
getting a straight flush on the turn with two suited cards increase to 4.25%. Getting 🧾 a
straight flush on the river is just a little more likely at 4.35%.
It’s always
preferable to build a straight 🧾 flush with both of your hole cards instead of just one.
Otherwise, the community cards would include four consecutive suited 🧾 cards and it’s
more likely that another player may also use them to make a straight flush.
Examples of
a straight 🧾 flush
Any hand consisting of five consecutive cards of the same suit
qualifies as a straight flush. Hands like K♣Q♣J♣T♣9♣ (king-high 🧾 straight flush),
J♥T♥9♥8♥7♥ (jack-high straight flush), 9♣8♣7♣6♣5♣ (nine-high straight flush) and
A♠2♠3♠4♠5♠ (five-high straight flush) are all examples of straight 🧾 flushes.
Note that
the royal flush (A♣K♣Q♣J♣T♣) is the best possible straight flush but gets ranked in its
own category as 🧾 the strongest possible hand you can make in a game of poker.
The ace
can act as the low end of 🧾 the ace-to-five straight flush (A♠2♠3♠4♠5♠), but the
ten-to-ace straight flush (A♣K♣Q♣J♣T♣) qualifies as a royal flush.
The takeaway
Whether
you’re playing a 🧾 five-card-draw online poker game or other popular card games like
Omaha or Texas Hold’em, a straight flush is the second 🧾 strongest poker hand you can
achieve.
Every poker player hopes to take the pot with an impressive royal straight
flush, but 🧾 working towards any type of straight flush is a worthwhile goal.
If you find
yourself with a flush draw with low 🧾 cards, it’s important to remember that you can
still lose to a higher ranking straight flush, but if you have 🧾 a king-high straight
flush or a queen-high straight flush, then you can feel confident about placing higher
bets.
What is a 🧾 straight flush FAQs
What is an example of a straight flush in poker?
An
example of a straight flush in poker is 🧾 J, 10, 9, 8, 7 of clubs. This is also known as
a jack-high straight flush. It is any hand 🧾 in poker that consists of five cards of
sequential rank of the same suit. A straight flush ranks higher than 🧾 four of a kind in
poker and is regarded as a super strong hand by players.
What is the straight flush 🧾 in
poker?
Simply, the straight flush rule in poker is five suited cards in sequential
order. If you have a straight 🧾 flush and it turns out to be the highest-ranking hand in
the game, you will win the pot. If two 🧾 people have a straight flush in poker, the flush
with the highest card wins. As such, the best straight flush 🧾 you can get is a king-high
flush (an ace-high flush is better known as a royal flush).
What is the difference
🧾 between a straight and a straight flush?
A straight in poker is when you have five
sequential cards of any suit, 🧾 while a straight flush is five sequential cards of the
same suit. As such, a straight flush always outranks a 🧾 straight and is by far the
better poker hand. A straight flush is second only to a royal flush in 🧾 terms of the
best poker hand rankings.
Where does a straight flush rank in poker?
A straight flush
is the second-best hand 🧾 you can make in poker, behind a royal flush. In descending
order, the best poker hands are as follows: royal 🧾 flush, straight flush, four of a
kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, pair, high card.
🧾 Therefore, if you manage to get a straight flush in a poker game, you will usually win
the pot!
Can you 🧾 lose with a straight flush in poker?
Of course! In fact, you can lose
with any hand in poker as it 🧾 depends on how you play the game. However, if you get a
straight flush, you have a really good chance 🧾 of winning, given that it’s the second
best hand and can only be beaten by a higher straight flush or 🧾 a royal flush. Still, if
you have a straight flush, you need to manage the game well and strategize to 🧾 ensure
that you can maximise your winnings.
Featured image source: Flickr by Guts Gaming used
under CC license
