How does a Flush work in Poker?
As you may know, poker is a card game that’s all about making the best possible hands – and understanding the hierarchy of hands is vital to winning, alongside cultivating your poker face.
In the middle of this hierarchy or ranking, there’s the flush – a hand of five cards of the same suit that are not consecutive. Then, there are the straight flush and the royal flush, which are the two most powerful hands you can make, even if they’re pretty rare (more on those shortly).
The basic flush can be a strong hand given that it’s fairly middle of the road, but it’s still possible to beat. How does a flush work in poker in practice? Let’s find out.
Poker flush explained: what is the best flush I can get?
The best possible flush in table games such as Texas hold’em poker. is the royal flush, which is also the strongest possible hand in the game. We’ll explore how to get one a little further down – but be warned, it’s pretty rare.
When playing flushes against flushes – for example, at the showdown – the highest card will break a tie. Therefore, the best general flush you can play is one with an ace (unless, of course, it’s an ace-low game).
A weak or poor flush in poker is one that has no cards higher than a seven. A flush with a five as its highest card would technically be a straight flush (5-4-3-2-A), which is actually a very strong play!
So, a weak flush would be 7-5-4-3-2, for example. A 6-5-4-3-A hand would still have an ace, which would outrank a king.
All things considered, even the worst flushes are not always easy to beat – meaning that you will really need to read the room.
Where does a flush stand in poker rankings?
The general flush ranks fifth out of 10 in standard hold’em poker rankings, just above a straight (a sequence of cards in any suit), but below four much stronger hands.
Hands that are stronger than a general flush include the full house (three of a kind and a pair), four of a kind, straight flush and royal flush. It’s not impossible for players to get these strongest hands, but it is improbable compared to the flush.
The flush can beat five very common hands, meaning that it can sometimes be a safe play depending on who is at the table. When you’re playing an online or live casino game, it’s not always possible to see other players, of course!
What are the probabilities of getting a flush?
Let’s assume that you’re playing a general game of hold’em. Pre-flop, it’s very unlikely that you’ll get a flush, assuming that you have five random cards picked from a deck of 52, and we’re excluding the two best flushes. Your odds here are around 0.2%.
However, at the flop, things start to get interesting. Assuming that you have two suited cards in play, your likelihood of scoring a flush rises to 0.84%. At the turn, your chances increase significantly. Following a two-suited card flop, you have a 19.15% chance of getting a flush.
Then, at the river, the odds decrease a little. You have a 19.56% chance of getting a general flush with two suited cards at this point.
As you can see, like blackjack, the probabilities in poker can get quite complex – which is why it’s always worth taking your time.
How does a flush differ in different poker games?
So, how do flushes work in games other than Texas hold’em?
In three-card poker, you’re restricted to two fewer cards – meaning that you’ll need to get three cards in the same suit. In this game, it’s ranked fourth out of six hands, which makes it one of the weaker plays. It gets outplayed by straights, three of a kinds and straight flushes.
In Omaha poker, flushes are just as strong as they can be in hold’em. However, in this game, you’ll need to use at least two hole cards in the combo – meaning that you can use two hole and three community cards, or four hole and one community card.
How do I get a royal flush?
A royal flush is a hand consisting of a 10, jack, queen, king and ace in the same suit. As the strongest hand in the game, it’s also extremely rare to make – in a 52-card game, you have around a 649,739/1 chance of making this hand.
As you can see, flushes are strong poker hands, but they’re still beatable. Why not try a round or two of poker at LeoVegas and see what you might draw?