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What is a Full House in Poker

Fullhouse poker

The game of poker is decided by hand rankings, with the highest-ranked hand winning the pot at the showdown. Before you play poker, it’s important to understand the rankings, including which hands are the best and how to spot a hand forming. In this article, we’ll be explaining the full house, including what it is, how to spot it and the strategy you should use if you hold one.

What is a Full House?

If you have a poker hand with three cards of the same rank and another two cards of the same rank, you have a full house. The full house is essentially a three-of-a-kind along with a pair, making up a five-card hand that can be incredibly strong. It’s the fourth-highest-ranked hand in poker, and it’s available across all versions of poker, including Texas Hold ‘Em, Omaha Hold ‘Em and others.

When playing Texas Hold ‘Em, you’ll only have two hole cards (your private cards). Therefore, you’ll need at least a pair on the board in order to land a full house. This is important to remember when playing the game, as it can help you work out the probability of an opponent having a full house. In some poker-playing circles, a full house is referred to as a full boat or simply a boat.

The full house will outrank most hands in the game, but it’s certainly not unbeatable. The four-of-a-kind, straight flush and royal flush will all beat it. While these are rare, you’ll need to watch out for them when playing if you don’t want to be caught out with your full house.

Full House Examples

There are up to 3,744 full house combinations when playing a game of poker with a standard 52-card deck. Some examples include:

  • A-A-A-K-K
  • 2-2-2-J-J
  • 10-10-10-5-5
  • 4-4-4-A-A

You should note that suits aren’t a factor with the full house. Provided you have three matching card values and two of another, you’ll have a full house.

Full House Poker Rankings

The full house is the fourth-strongest hand in poker, ranked only behind the four-of-a-kind, straight flush and royal flush. This means it’s stronger than a standard flush, a straight, a three-of-a-kind, two-pair and a pair. This makes it a very strong hand and means it will rarely be beaten on the river.

What if Two Players Have a Full House?

Of course, because there are a lot of possible full house combinations, two players could potentially both have a full house at the same time. Although suits are equal in a full house, the card ranks will still determine which hand is best.

With a showdown between two or more full houses, the three-of-a-kind is used before the pair to determine the rank. For example, in a showdown between Q-Q-Q-2-2 and 5-5-5-A-A, the first hand will win as the Q beats the 5. This is despite the second hand having the pair of Aces.

How to Play a Full House in Poker

A full house can be a very strong hand, but its relative strength depends on the strength of the board. Generally, it’s worth playing aggressively if you have a full house, but you should be careful to consider whether your opponent might have one too. Whether your hand is made up of one or both of your hole cards will also influence how you play the full house.

Having a full house requires there to be at least a pair on the board, which increases the likelihood of another player also having a full house or perhaps even a four-of-a-kind. In addition, the paired board will give your opponents an idea about what your hand could be, so you may need to disguise the strength of your hand by playing slowly.

Ultimately, it depends on the opponents at your table and how your own full house is made. If the full house is made using only one of your hole cards, you should definitely play more cautiously than if you have a pocket pair that makes up a three-of-a-kind on the board.

Playing a full house with just one of your hole cards involved, you should naturally be more cautious, especially if faced with early aggression. There’s a good chance at least one of your opponents is a part of the same full house, and they could have a much stronger hand than you. Provided you have two cards in the hand, aim for 100bb stacks and play aggressively when possible.

Full House Probability

When you play Texas Hold ‘Em with a standard 52-card deck, there are 3,744 different combinations of full house hands you could potentially be dealt. The probability of having a full house on the flop with any starting hand is 0.14%. This means you can expect to have a full house around once in every 713 hands that see the flop.

The odds of having a full house on the flop with an unpaired hand is much lower, at just 0.09%. This means you can expect to have a full house once in every 1,110 unpaired hands on average. Although remember that this is only for hands that see the flop, which will also tend to be much lower if your hand is unpaired.

If you have a pocket pair pre-flop, your odds of having a full house on the flop is much higher. There’s a probability of 0.98% that you’ll have a full house on the flop, which means you can expect to see one around once in every 101 hands.

This shows just how important it is to have a pocket pair, as it gives you the best chance of landing a full house. You’re around ten times as likely to have a full house if you start with a pocket pair as you are with an unpaired hand.

Full House Probability on Later Streets

Post-flop, there are normally two main scenarios where you’ll be waiting for the full house draw. The first of these scenarios is when you have a two-pair and are looking for one of the pairs to become a three-of-a-kind. The second scenario is where you already have a three-of-a-kind and are hoping for a pair to land.

The first scenario is the easiest to calculate probability because you know exactly which card needs to be drawn for your pair to become a three-of-a-kind. For example, if you have a hand of A-5 and the flop has an A-5-7, you need the next streets to draw either an Ace or a 5 to make the full house meaning there are four possible outs.

  • The odds of hitting the full house on the turn is therefore calculated by 4/47 = 0.0851 = 8.5%
  • The odds of hitting the full house on the river is calculated by 4/46 = 0.087 = 8.7%

For the second scenario, let’s say you have a hand of A-A, and the board has A-5-7. While this scenario is more complicated, it offers more outs since there’s also the opportunity to land a four-of-a-kind. In addition, the number of outs increases on the river as there will be another potential card to pair.

  • The odds of hitting a full house or four of a kind on the turn is calculated by 7/47 = 0.1489 = 15%
  • The odds of hitting a full house or four of a kind on the river is calculated by 10/46 = 0.2174 = 21.7%

FAQs

The full house is a five-card hand containing three matching card values with two of another. Essentially, it’s a pair and a three-of-a-kind in one hand.

A full house is ranked by the three-of-a-kind first and the pairs second. The highest possible would be A-A-A-K-K, known as Aces over Kings.

When describing a full house, the three-of-a-kind is referred to first. For example, if you have a hand of 5-5-5-7-7, you would say “a full house, fives over sevens”. It may also be referred to as “a boat, fives over sevens”.

Because a full house is a strong hand, you should normally play it aggressively. However, it’s best to exercise caution if it’s only made up of one of your hole-cards, as this means that your opponents could potentially have stronger full houses themselves.

The full house will beat most hands, including pairs, three-of-a-kinds, regular flushes and straights.

A full house is the fourth strongest in the poker rankings, with only the four-of-a-kind, straight flush and royal flush able to beat it. You’ll also need to consider the possibility that your opponent could have a stronger full house.

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