The Prized Full House: Three of a Kind & a Pair

A Full House ranks at position #4 on the poker hand rankings chart. This hand comprises Three of a Kind and a Pair of Cards.

The name is a little misleading. A Full House means that the 5-card poker hand contains a Triple (Three of a Kind) and a Pair (2 cards of the same rank). When you have a Full House, you’re holding two different poker hands – A Pair and Three of a Kind, all in one!

Naturally, the best possible Full House you can form is Aces full of Kings. In other words, Three of a Kind Aces, and a pair of Kings.

In this poker hand, it’s the denomination or rank that is important. For example, this particular hand – Aces full of Kings – is the best possible Full House you can hold. It beats every other Full House hand on the table. It also beats other hands that have a lower rank than a Full House.

If you’re holding Queens Full of Aces, or Kings Full of Queens, or Jacks full of Kings – Aces Full of Kings still wins out. When referring to a Full House, the first reference is the triple and the second reference is the pair.

Below are several additional examples of a Full House:

Based on the above Full House hands, do you know which Full House combination is the strongest-ranking hand? Bear in mind that the suits don’t matter (hearts, spades, diamonds, clubs), it’s the rank or denomination of the cards that matters.

The Triple – Three of a Kind – is always considered before The Pair in a Full House hand. The Pair is known as the kicker.

Ranking a Full House Hand

Did you know that there are 3,744 potential Full House hand combinations in a standard 52-card deck of cards? And, there are 156 unique ranks of Full Boats that you can compile.

Remember, that the first 3 cards in a Full House are the most important. That’s the Triple that determines how strong your Full House really is. If you have a Full House of Aces, it is Aces full, and if you have a Full House of Kings, it is Kings Full. A Full House of Queens is Queens Full, and a Full House of Jacks is Jacks Full etc.

When ranking Full Houses, Aces Full will always beat Kings Full, and that will always beat Queens Full, and that will always beat Jacks Full etc.

To simplify, consider this hand:

We already know that a Kings Full Hand beats a Queens Full hand, regardless of the pair kickers. Sure, Aces trump 5s, but not when the Three of a Kind is Kings versus Queens.

How Do Full House Hands Compare on a Poker Hand Ranking?

The poker hand ranking chart indicates that a Full House is at position #4. That’s still a pretty strong hand to form in a poker game. A Straight Flush and 4 of a Kind are stronger than a Full House, and a Full House is rarely beaten on the river in a game of Texas Hold’em poker.

There are at least 5 different poker hand combinations that rank lower than a Full House, and the next one on our list is a Flush.

The best possible Flush you can form is an Ace-high Flush. Remember, suits are considered equal when evaluating different Flush hands, but it’s the rank/denomination that will determine which Flush is the best.

Probabilities of Forming a Full House in Poker

Let’s take a look at the Pre-Flop Stage, the Flop, Turn and River and how your probabilities change based on the stage of the game. We will examine 2 cases – a Full House in Texas Hold’em, and in Omaha Poker.

Probabilities of Forming a Full House in Texas Hold’em

Probabilities of Forming a Full House in Omaha

Now you know exactly how to form a Full House, and how strong it is on the poker hand rankings chart. Let’s move on to the next hand – a Flush!

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