What Beats What In Poker – How To Build Your Bankroll With A Royal Flush

Since we are closing out November’s Poker Series on What Beats What In Poker and how to play the top ranked hands, it is finally time to take a look at playing the granddaddy of all poker hands: the Royal Flush. Even if you play often, you will rarely see one. It’s similar to a hole in one in golf. Made up of all the same suit, 10 through A, it is a straight combined with a flush. The royal part comes from it being made up of all the highest cards in the deck.
A royal flush, strictly speaking, is just a glorified straight flush. The highest possible poker hand is a royal flush in spades, and the probability of having it are only 1 in 2,598,960 possible hands. If these odds seem lofty (many lotteries have better odds), take solace in the fact that your chances of getting one of the four possible royal flushes dealt to you are four times as great, so 1 in 649,740. Now, your chances of actually getting a royal flush in a game of poker largely depend on the game that you are playing. In draw poker, where you are dealt four cards, you chance of picking up the final card is actually pretty good, at 1 in 47.
However, when playing Texas Hold’em, the chances are diminished quite a bit. This is because you are only dealt two cards, so the probability of seeing the three other cards you need for your royal flush come up in the community cards is very slim. But, of course, it does happen. If you play enough poker hands, you will eventually catch that reclusive royal flush.
Now, what do you do when you do see it? Since it is such a rare occurrence, playing the royal flush to your best advantage can be tricky. Seeing three cards that help a royal flush come up on the table can definitely scare off your opponents. The best-case scenario is if one of your opponents is playing a regular flush. If an ace in your favoured suit comes up, there is a pretty good chance that your strongest opponent thinks he has the nut flush. Let him continue to think so and let him be the aggressive one. You know you have him beat so you can sit back and let him throw his money into the pot. There is no better feeling than turning over a royal flush and watching your opponent’s smugness turn to shocked surprise.