What is a Full House in Poker? Everything You Need to Know
Published by: Jon Pill
As
part of Poker’s cards chart 🏵 and poker hands series, we bring you a full rundown of the
full house, including its definition, ranking, hands that 🏵 beat it, hands that it beats,
probability, and some examples.
To be successful at poker, you must learn the poker
hierarchy 🏵 of hands. If you don’t understand the different potential hands and their
rankings, you could misplay your own hand and 🏵 lose a critical pot.
A full house in
poker is a solid, yet unique card hand that combines three-of-a-kind and a 🏵 pair.
Considered one of the best hands in poker, a full house is still not the best hand on
the 🏵 felt. You can beat it with a four-of-a-kind and all the straight flushes, including
a royal flush.
One of the most 🏵 memorable full houses in poker history is the final hand
of the 2003 WSOP Main Event. With a J♠5♠4♣ flop, 🏵 Chris Moneymaker flopped two-pair
while holding 5♦4♠ versus Sammy Farha’s top pair as he held J♥10♦. After they went
all-in 🏵 post-flop, the dealer turned the 8♦ and rivered the 5♥, completing Moneymaker’s
winning full house that ultimately changed poker forever.
What 🏵 is a Full House?
A full
house in poker is a five-card hand containing a three-of-a-kind and a pair. It can 🏵 also
be called “a full boat,” more commonly shortened to just “a boat.” A full house is
considered a very 🏵 strong hand in poker and it is often a winning poker hand. Although
this unique hand outranks many common poker 🏵 hands, a full house is not unbeatable.
Full
House Rankings
The full house is the third-highest hand in the standard poker hand
🏵 rankings (fourth if you count royal flushes as a separate hand from other straight
flushes).
The full house marks a transition 🏵 between the more common hands and the rarer
“monster” hands. It is just above a flush in value, and just 🏵 below four-of-a-kind.
What
Beats a Full House in Poker?
A full house is one of the best hands in poker, but it 🏵 can
still be beaten. One of the most memorable losses by a full house in poker history was
an unbelievable 🏵 hand between poker superstars Daniel Negreanu and Gus Hansen.
In one
hand during Season 2 of the popular television show High 🏵 Stakes Poker, Negreanu was
dealt 6♠6♥, while Hansen was dealt 5♦5♣. When the dealer flopped 9♣6♦5♥, both players
had hit 🏵 a set (or three-of-a-kind).
Negreanu had a stranglehold on the hand as Hansen
was drawing all but dead to one card. 🏵 But when the miracle 5♠ fell on the turn, Hansen
catapulted into the lead and would clinch the hand when 🏵 the 8♠ fell on the river. After
they were all-in, Hansen would win aR$575,700 pot, which was the largest in 🏵 High Stakes
Poker history to that point.
The hands that beat a full house are, in order:
Royal
flush — ace, king, 🏵 queen, jack, ten all in the same suit, which beats:
All other
straight flushes — five consecutive cards in the same 🏵 suit, which beats:
Four-of-a-kind
— four cards of one rank plus a kicker of any other rank, which, in turn, beats: 🏵 Full
House
What Poker Hands Does a Full House Beat?
If you’re dealt a full house, you can
rest easy that you’ll 🏵 win the pot more often than not. The three-and-two card mix of
the full house in poker beats many common 🏵 and plenty of more typical hands, as seen
below.
In certain poker games, you must meet specific criteria to have this 🏵 hand as a
possible outcome. For example, in no-limit hold’em, a player cannot have a full house
unless there’s at 🏵 least a pair on the board. As for seven-card stud games, since three
cards are face down, full houses can 🏵 be hidden, which is extremely powerful and
dangerous.
A full house beats:
Flush — five cards of the same suit that are 🏵 not
consecutive, which beats:
Straight — a run of five consecutive cards in at least two
suits, which beats:
Three-of-a-kind — three 🏵 cards of the same rank, plus two other
cards of differing and non-matching ranks, which beats:
Pair — two cards of 🏵 the same
rank, plus three other cards of differing and non-matching, which beats:
High card —
five cards of differing ranks 🏵 in at least two suits.
Who Wins if Both Players Have a
Full House?
In rare instances, two opponents could both have 🏵 full houses, often
resulting in an extremely large pot. When two very good poker hands are up against each
other 🏵 in the same hand like this, we typically call it a “cooler.”
Where two full
houses are up against each other, 🏵 the rank of the three-of-a-kind settles the
difference. For example, 5♠5♥5♦6♠6♦ beats 4♠4♥4♦K♠K♣.
When playing with a standard
deck, there are 🏵 only four cards of each rank. This means there will never be a draw
between two full houses, except in 🏵 games where cards are shared (mostly flop games like
hold’em) or wild cards are utilized. In these cases, the pair 🏵 breaks ties where
possible.
The Probabilities of a Full House
The odds of being dealt a full house off
the top of 🏵 a shuffled deck is 0.1441%.
This is because in a standard 52-card deck there
are 3,744 combinations that make a full 🏵 house out of a total of 2,598,960 possible
hands. This is equivalent to odds of 693-to-1.
For comparison, the odds of 🏵 getting a
royal flush are 0.000154%, a straight 0.3925%, and a high hand 50.112%.
Examples of
Full Houses
K♠K♣K♦Q♠Q♥, 9♠9♥9♦J♥J♣, 2♠2♥2♣A♠A♥ , 🏵 are all examples of full houses. Here
they are ordered from the highest rank to the lowest rank, as the 🏵 rank of the
three-of-a-kind is prioritized.
2♠2♥2♣A♠A♥ is described at showdown as “a full house,
twos (or deuces) over aces.” You 🏵 may hear this elided as: “a boat, deuces of aces.”
How
to Play a Full House in Texas Hold’em
The relative strength 🏵 of a full house, like all
hands, depends on the board (in flop games) or your opponent’s visible cards (in 🏵 stud
games). In hold’em sometimes a full house can be the nuts (i.e. the best possible
hand), while other times 🏵 it can be worth peanuts.
In general, though, full houses are
one of the best hands in poker and are worth 🏵 playing aggressively. Because a full house
requires the board to contain at least one pair, you must be cautious in 🏵 particular of
competing for full houses and fours-of-a-kind. The paired board will also clue
opponents into the possibility of your 🏵 hand, so you may need to disguise the strength
of your hand by making slow plays like checks and calls. 🏵 Fully understanding poker
strategy will let you maximize your pots and winnings.
Featured image source: Flickr by
Poker Photos used under 🏵 CC license
