What is Full House in Poker — Combination Options with Examples

Dennis  «Dennis_Stets» 
28 Jun 2024
Poker Basics
28 Jun 2024

If you're wondering what is a full house hand in poker, rules of getting this combination and instructions on how to play it in different situations, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s find out!

What is a full house?

The term Full House was not chosen by chance. It means a five-card set of: three of a kind and one pair. To put simply, it's three of a cards of the same rank and other two are of another rank.

A full house is a poker combination that is one of the four best hands. 

Before sitting down at the table, beginners need to understand what initial cards it is created from and how to play it effectively. Separately, you need to figure out how to determine the seniority by comparing two full houses.

The seniority of poker combination

To master the principles of the game, you need to learn how to determine the seniority of a combination. It can be collected by up to 9 participants at the same time. This creates a difficult situation, as each opponent runs the risk of «running into» an opponent with a higher full house.

First thing you need to do, is to compare three of a kind. The hand with the higher one is considered to be the best. For example, if a player has a full house poker hand with a set of jacks, and his opponent has a set of fours, the former wins. For convenience, experienced grinders call the first combination over-full (over full-house), and the second — under-full (under full-house).

If the sets are the same, the pairs are compared. For example, both opponents have collected sets of kings, but one player has two aces, and the other has two tens. The first one will win here.

Can two or more poker players have the same combinations equal in strength? Yes. Such a scenario is possible if the hand is made up of common flop, turn and river cards, or pocket cards were used to collect it.

If the opponents make hands of equal strength, the pot is divided equally between them. For example, if two players have three aces and two kings, they receive half of the chips that are in the center of the table at the time of the showdown. 

If a full house is collected only from the board cards, more participants can have the same combination. 

The principle of formation in Texas Hold'em and Omaha

In both types of poker, the combination is collected according to similar rules — but there is a difference. There are four configurations in Texas Hold'em:

  • Pocket pair + three of a kind on the board.
  • Two pocket cards of different ranks and three community cards.
  • One pocket card and four common cards.
  • The combination completely appears on the board.

In Omaha Poker it must include both pocket cards. Therefore, there are only two ways to form it:

  1. A pair in the starting hand and a three on the board.
  2. Two starting cards of different ranks and three common cards. Kickers are not included.

Any starter has the potential to create a full house — even deuces and sevens of different suits. However, pocket pairs are amplified to the desired combination 10 times more often: 1% vs. 0.1%.

The owner of a three of a kind up on the flop will get a full house to the river in three hands out of 10. Two pairs have lower chances — 16.5%. Mathematically, this is explained by a smaller number of boosting outs: six against four.

Probabilities of getting a ready hand

Hand

Betting Round

Probability of Full House in Hold'em

Probability of Full House in Omaha

Pocket Pair

Flop

1 %

1 %

 

Turn

0.1%

0.3%

Two Pocket Pairs

2 %

Three of a kind on Flop

Turn

13 %

27 %

 

River

30 %

52 %

Three of a Kind on Turn

River

19.5%

34 %

Two Pair on Flop

Turn

8.5%

9 %

 

River

16.5%

17 %

Two Pair on Turn

River

9 %

9 %

Due to the different principles, the probability of getting a full house card changes at all stages of the game.

Three ways to create a full house in poker

A full house in poker is a combination that is created using pocket and hole cards. It is a five-card hand, so there are several ways to get it.

On common cards

A rare situation, but still sometimes occurs in the game, putting beginners in a difficult position. In this case, 5 cards of the combination are on the board. There are two ways to play it, depending on the opponent's possible hand:

  1. To show a nuts hand and make an all-in, hoping that the opponent will give up the pot, considering his hand to be weaker. To do this, you need to be sure that the opponent's starter does not allow you to make a winning combination — four of a kind or over full-house.
  2. Act cautiously, fearing that the opponent has a better hand. For example, he could be aggressive on the preflop, which may indicate a strong pocket pair.
  3. On the flop, a full house appears with a probability of 0.1%. Having received such a hand, you can usually be sure of winning. Losing in such a situation is very rare. Therefore, you need to act aggressively, trying to get as much money into the pot as possible. Despite the paired flop, opponents will rarely expect to hit the nut, so they can pay for it well.

With one pocket card

The situation can be difficult if there is a chance that your opponent has also created a poker full house. This is possible if there are two pairs on the board, with one of them a pocket card makes a three of a kind.

The strength of a hand depends on its composition. If there are two aces on the board and the player has one more, you can safely make bets, forcing your opponent to invest in the pot more.

With two pocket cards

A high-quality hand that is very rarely run over by a bad beat. The probability of getting it with a pocket pair is 1%. In this case, a three of a kind will definitely appear on the flop.

Full house is one of the best combinations in poker — it goes 4th in poker hand rankings and occurs much more often than four of a kind, straight flush, and royal flush. Always remember fellas, that you need to learn how to play it correctly and identify situations when your opponent's hand is better.
 

Comments
Getcoach
There are no comments here yet, you can be the first!