When playing poker, one of the most important skills is the knowledge of combinations, as well as the chances of getting them. For a beginner, one of the first tasks is to learn the combinations and understand how they work.
What is a royal flush in poker?
A royal flush is the best combination in poker that guarantees victory but at the same time the rarest combination.
If you look at it from a mathematical point of view, you draw five random cards from a 52-card deck, and the chance of hitting a royal flush will be approximately 0.000154 percent, which is comparable to the probability of winning the lottery. This probability can also be expressed as 649,739 to 1 against a royal flush.
In Texas Hold’em you need to make this hand with seven total cards, which makes the odds not so small, you will have five cards open and two of your own. In such conditions, the chance of hitting a royal flush in Texas Hold’em is 0.0032 percent, which can also be represented as 30.939 to 1, while the chance to get any pair is 5.9 percent, and the chance to improve your combination on the flop is 10.8 percent.
Examples of what is a royal flush in poker
Royal Flush is a combination in poker of five cards, 10 J Q K A which must be of the same suit. So, there can be only four Royal Flush combinations from the whole deck:
- 10 J Q K A of Spades
- 10 J Q K A of Hearts
- 10 J Q K A of Diamonds
- 10 J Q K A of Clubs
In poker, there is another similar combination called flush, it is the second strongest combination and is collected from the same cards with a slight correction. You can use cards of any suit to get a combination, the usual flush is rare, but its chances are much higher than the royal flush.
The chances of getting a royal flush are so small that most players have never collected this combination in their lives. Therefore, getting a royal flush can be compared to winning the lottery, especially if you play everything correctly. Most players will not even be able to predict that you got such a rare combination and will think that you are bluffing.
There are strategies for getting a royal flush, but if you are a beginner or do not want to take risks, it is better to forget about it, because even with four cards out of the required five, the chances of getting the next fifth are one in forty-seven, and we must not forget that the card you need could already be in the opponent’s hand.
Conclusion
We answered the question, what is a royal flush in poker. We advise you not to hope too much for getting this combination, and we also recommend you to get familiar with poker mathematics, also known as Math of Poker.
People often ask a question similar to other combinations – “what if two players get a royal flush?” – The answer is simple, it is impossible when playing poker by standard rules with one deck because to collect this combination you need five cards of the same suit with a face value of 10 to an Ace collected by one player. If the dealer puts a royal flush on the table, the actions can be very diverse, but most often players play further according to the standard rules and collect other combinations in which the strongest will be flush, but sometimes some casinos can make gifts for players after taking part in such a game and seeing such a rare event.