Mathematics and statistics are important parts of poker. Professional players are well aware of this and have thus learned about the most important poker odds percentages in order to maximize their winnings at the poker table.
In this article we will go through the most basic poker probabilities – the chances of hitting the different hands, from the best, Royal Flush, to the worst, high card (a non-pair hand). In the most popular poker variation at the moment Texas Hold’em, where you create a five-card poker hand out of seven cards, there are no less than 133,784,560 different possible hand combinations.
Royal Flush - 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace, all of the same suit. The chance of hitting this monster hand in Texas Hold’em is 0.0032%.
Straight Flush - five consecutive cards of the same suit. An example of a straight flush would be 5D, 6D, 7D, 8D, 9D. The chance of hitting a straight flush is 0.0311%.
Four of a kind - four cards of the same rank, for example, four kings. The chance of getting a four of a kind is 0.168%.
Full House - three-cards of one rank and two cards of another rank. An example of a Full House would be three queens, and two fours. The chance of hitting a full house is 2.60%.
Flush - five-cards of the same suit. For example, clubs. The chance of hitting a flush is 4.62%.
Straight - five-cards in a ranking order but of different suits. An example of a straight would be 56789. The chance of hitting a straight is 10.4%.
Three of a kind - three-cards of the same rank, for example three aces. The chance of hitting three of a kind is 4.83%.
Two pair - two-cards of one rank, and two-cards of another rank - for example two jacks and two nines. The chance of hitting two pair is 23.5%.
One pair - two-cards of the same rank, for example two sixes. The chance of hitting one pair is 43.8%.
High card - a hand which contains non of the above hands. The chance of getting a high card hand is 17.4%.