Poker is a game of strategy and is often thrilling to play. A hand with a powerful card combination guarantees victory in a poker game. A flush is one of the hands in a poker game that could net a victory as it contains a suit of powerful cards.
However, a full house is another hand with a more powerful rank of cards. Nonetheless, a flush is still a powerful hand that could earn you a win. A flush is a hand in poker with five cards.
A flush contains five poker cards of the same suit in no numerical order. However, a flush of cards differ in strength depending on the combination. Let’s look at a flush in more detail.
Poker Flush Rules
A flush contains a certain combination of cards of the same suit. Poker has a total of 52 cards distributed in the following suits:
- Spades
- Hearts
- Diamonds
- Clubs
A hand with five cards from the same suit is a flush. It’s essential to understand that two players could both have a flush but only one will win the poker game because of the different flush card combinations.
A flush usually wields the same power. If two players both have a flush, the tie will be broken by looking at specific cards in the hand.
Highest Card of a Flush
Each flush has the highest card that could be used to break a tie. Cards like Jack (J), Queen (Q), King (K), and Ace (A) collectively known as face cards can break a tie. For example, a flush with an Ace as the highest card (Ace-high flush) is more powerful than a flush with a King as the highest card.
Flush Hand Composition
A flush has to comprise 5 cards of the same suit. Since all suits are equal, they don’t change the strength of the flush. Therefore, a player could have 5 cards from any of the four suits and wield the same strength (if the specific cards remain the same).
For example, both (2♠, 5♠, 7♠, 9♠, and K♠) and (2♦, 5♦, 7♦, 9♦, and K♦) have the same strength since they have the same specific cards. A player has to have 5 cards from the same suit to have a flush.
Flush Card Comparison
If the highest cards in a flush have the same value, a consideration of the second highest card is essential to break a tie.
For example, if two players have Ace-high flush, considering the value of the second highest card can help break a tie; the player with the highest ‘second highest card’ in the flush wins.
What Is a Flush Draw?
A flush draw is having 4 cards from one suit and needing only one more card from the same suit to complete a flush. Flush draw can be the moment a player is close to winning the poker game. There are two types of flush draws:
- Nut Flush Draw: This is when a player has four cards of the same suit and needs one extra card to get the highest possible flush hand (usually an Ace-high flush).
- Weak Flush Draw: A weak flush draw results when a player has four low value cards of the same suit.
Ways to Approach Flush Draw Strategy
A player needs to approach a flush draw cautiously while maintaining aggression. These approaches will give a player an improved chance of getting a strong hand:
Semi-Bluffing
This strategy involves betting on a flush draw with a potential to become a strong hand. It’s a strategy that balances caution with aggression as the player intentends to make the opponent fold or get a card that would make their hand strong.
Passive Play
This strategy is ideal for players who don’t think they have the best chance to have a strong hand. As a result, they bet smaller amounts to contain potential loss.
Nut Flush Draw Play
Learning how to play the nut flush draw takes time and mastering the strategy takes even longer. This strategy requires more aggression as the player will raise a bet to make the opponent fold. However, the player has to consider their position to control the pot size.
How Does a Flush Hand Rank?
Each flush has specific cards of varying value. The strength of the flush depends on the value of the 5 cards comprising the flush. For example, two players might both have a flush. Player A has a flush of A♥, J♥, 7♥, 5♥, and 2♥ while player B has K♦, 10♦, 7♦, 5♦, and 2♦.
The last 3 cards in both hands have the same value. However, player A has a stronger hand because the first two cards have a higher value. A flush beats these hands:
- Straight
- Three of a Kind
- Two Pair
- One Pair
- High Card
However, a flush loses to the following stronger hands:
- Full House
- Four of a Kind
- Straight Flush
- Royal Flush
Flush Poker Probabilities
Poker game has 3 main probabilities dependent on the state of the game:
Pre-Flop
This is when a player gets a flush before community cards are dealt in poker games like Texas Hold’em and Omaha. However, the chances of getting this hand is about 23.5%.
Flop
This is when community cards are dealt face-up. When flopping a flush, your chances of getting a flush are 0.82% while when flopping a draw your chances increases to 10.9%.
Turn and River
At this stage of the game, the probability increases to 35%. A player needs to know how to calculate their chances of a flush in poker games.
Conclusion
A flush is one hand that could win a player a poker game. It’s above other poker hands. However, it’s a weaker hand compared to a full house and three other hands. A player will ensure they have stronger cards to have a stronger flush.