What Is a Royal Flush in Poker?

Have you ever played poker with a strong hand and started thinking about how many chips you are about to win? Maybe in some of these cases, you have been left open-mouthed as your opponent reveals a stronger hand. Sometimes we overestimate how strong our hand is until we see what the other players are holding. However, the Royal Flush is the only hand that guarantees a win no matter what every other person's cards are. Let’s explore the details of a Royal Flush and how valuable it is in Poker.

What Is a Strong Hand in Poker?

The strength of your hand in poker depends on the two cards you hold in conjunction with the texture of the cards on the board. When the board is set, and you analyze the strength of your hand, you need to quickly work out which hands can beat the cards you are holding and the likelihood of your opponent holding these cards that will beat you. 

In some cases, the texture of the board can confirm that it is impossible for your hand to be beaten. If this is the case, the hand you hold is of equal value to a royal flush as it can't be beaten. The dream scenario for any poker player is knowing you have the best hand, and it is just a question of how many chips you will win from this position.

What Is a Royal Flush?

A Royal Flush is the highest-ranked and strongest hand in all variations of poker games. It involves a rare combination of the highest cards of the same kind. That is a combination of 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace in one hand. The Royal Flush is every poker player’s dream because it is the ultimate and rarest hand. 

Other Strong Card Ranks

Since you will only see a Royal Flush once in a blue moon, it is worth focusing on other high-ranking hands that you are much more likely to see, providing you play enough poker hands. As alluded to already, the strength of your hand is only applicable to the strength of the board. In some cases, you might have a three-of-a-kind and see no flushes or straights possible, meaning that you are guaranteed to have the strongest hand.

Straight Flush

The straight flush is the next best hand to the Royal Flush and is almost equally rare. A straight flush involves having five cards of the same kind in a row of consecutive numbers. Getting a straight flush has a higher probability than the royal flush because a straight flush doesn't have to consist of the five highest cards in the deck but like the royal flush, it is still something rarely seen, and if you were to receive one of these it would be a thing of great joy for the players at your table.

Four of A Kind

As its name implies, "Four of a Kind" requires you to have four cards that are the same in number or suit. An example of this would have four sevens. The chances of you not having the best hand with a "Four of a Kind" is extremely unlikely. 

Full House

A full house is a great hand for any poker player to be sitting on. It requires you to combine a pair with three of a kind. Meaning that a player who has three Kings and two 7s has a full house and, depending on the texture of the board, has an extremely high chance of holding the best hand around the table. 

The problem with a full house is that it is often overplayed, and amateur players don't pay enough attention to the board. In some cases, a player only needs one card to beat your full house, while in other cases, the only hand that could be beating you is a four-of-a-kind which is unlikely, and in most cases, you will just have to accept defeat.

How Strong Is Your Hand?

Getting a Royal Flush and some of these higher-ranking hands, such as four of a kind, shouldn't be taken into consideration that much because of the low probability of receiving this combination. 

When royal flushes do occur they are often enjoyed by every player since it is an occurrence that is so rarely seen. In fact, it is possible to play live games over several years and not see a royal flush. Therefore there is no need to focus on strategies for this particular occurrence, instead, you should focus on having an all-around strategically tight game.

Players don't play to achieve a Royal Flush as it is not a matter of skill. If you head over to youtube, you will be able to see the time one player lost with a four-of-a-kind to a Royal Flush. A statistical anomaly if there ever was one. Approximately 1 in 165 million.