A straight in poker is a medium-strength five-card hand consisting of five consecutive cards of different suits. The name makes it fairly easy to remember and understand, as it perfectly describes five cards going sequentially, one after another, in a row.
Here are a few examples of valid Straight poker hands:
- A♥ K♠ Q♦ J♣ T♥ – This is the highest and best possible straight in poker, also known as “Broadway”.
- J♦ T♠ 9♥ 8♣ 7♦ – A medium-strength Jack-high straight.
- 5♠ 4♥ 3♦ 2♣ A♠ – This is the lowest possible straight, commonly known as a “Wheel”. Notice that the Ace plays as a low card here.
Just like with a Flush, suits do not play any role in Straight poker hand rankings; only the highest card determines the absolute value of the hand.
For example, Q-J-T-9-8 is called a Queen-high straight and beats all lower straights, while still losing to King-high and Ace-high straights. If both players have identical straights (for instance, the board runs out 9-8-7-6-5 and neither player has a Ten), the pot is equally divided between them.
Straight Odds and Probabilities
A straight in poker is a much more common hand than those at the very top of the rankings, so you will see it more often. Here are the most important mathematical odds for making a straight in Texas Holdem:
- The odds of flopping a Straight is 1.04% when you have any connected starting hand.
- You have a slightly lower chance of 0.85% to hit a straight on the flop with a one-gapper (like A-Q, 5-3, etc.).
- The probability of flopping an open-ended straight draw (OESD) with connectors is 9.6%.
- The odds of flopping an inside straight draw (gutshot) with connectors is 16.6%.
- When you have an OESD on the flop, you have roughly a 17% chance to complete it on the turn, and an overall 31.5% probability of making it by the river.
- If you flop a gutshot draw, you have an 8.5% chance to hit it on the turn, and a 17.2% probability of making your hand by the river.
(Note: “Connectors” refers to hands from J-T down to 5-4, as these combinations have the maximum possible ways to make a straight. Hands like A-K or 3-2 have slightly smaller odds because they are at the edge of the deck).
Because you are quite likely to hit these hands when you flop a solid open-ended draw, playing them aggressively makes a lot of sense most of the time.
What beats a Straight In Poker?
There are quite a few hands that beat a Straight in poker since it ranks only 6th in poker hands rankings, so Royal and Straight Flush beat a Straight, as well as Four of a Kind, Full House, and a Flush.
Of course, you can also lose against another Straight if your opponent holds a higher one. Always consider board textures and make sure not to overplay your hand when there are obvious Flush or Full House possibilities on the community cards.
What can a Straight beat?
A Straight beats:
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