What Is A Full House In Poker – Odds, Probabilities, and Rankings
3 minutes
Last Updated: January 6, 2024
A Full House poker hand is made of three cards of the same rank and another two cards with different rank.
The best possible Full House poker hand is A A A K K, which is called Aces Full Of Kings, but there are plenty of variations of this holding. A couple of examples:
- J J J A A – Jacks Full of Aces
- 9 9 9 Q Q – Nines Full of Queens
- 7 7 7 2 2 – Sevens Full of Deuces
- 3 3 3 8 8 – Threes Full of Eights
To determine which Full House poker hand ranks higher, you need to compare three cards of the same rank.
For example, K K K J J ranks higher than Q Q Q A A because Kings is higher than Queens despite the fact Queens has a higher pair as a kicker.
Also, if you and your opponent both have Full House hands with the same trips like J J J 8 8 against J J J 55, the additional Pair will be considered, and the player holding J J J 8 8 will take down the pot.
If you happen to have identical hands, then the pot will be split, and each of the players will get half of it when playing heads-up.
To make things simple and fully understand how a Full House poker hand is made up, you can also see this as having Three Of A Kind along with One Pair accompanying it.
Full House poker hand ranks fourth in the poker hands rankings list and only loses to Royal, Straight Flush, and Four of a Kind.
While it does not rank at the immediate top of this list, it is still a very powerful holding, and you will often win with this poker hand.
Full House Odds and Probabilities
Here are your odds of making a Full House and the most important probabilities of this poker hand:
- The odds of hitting a Full House is 0.1441% with a random hand.
- The odds of flopping a Full House is 0.98% when you hold a pocket pair.
- The probability of flopping a Full House with an unpaired hand is very low, with just a 0.09% chance.
- The odds of improving to a Full House when you flop trips are 33.4% by the river and around 15% on the turn.
- The probability of improving to a Full House when you hit Two Pairs on the flop is 8.5% with the next card and 16.5% till the river.
So while you are not very likely to hit a Full House hand in Texas Holdem with a random holding, when you improve your hand to two pairs or trips on the flop, you have a decent chance to improve.
What beats a Full House In Poker?
A Full House is still one of the strongest poker hands that are only beaten by Royal Flush and Straight Flush, Four of a Kind, and a stronger Full House.
In two Full Houses going against each other, the one with a stronger three cards rank will win the hand. For example, 8 8 8 2 2 is better than 7 7 7 A A. If both players have the same three cards combination, then we compare a pair along it to determine the winner, so 9 9 9 KK is better than 9 9 9 J J.
What can a Full House beat?
A Full House beats most of the holdings, so you can be fairly confident with this hand. As poker hands rankings suggest, it is stronger than Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pairs, One Pair, and a High Card.
Does a Full House beat a Flush?
One of the most common questions is does a Full House beats a flush, and an easy answer is YES!
Full House ranks higher than a Flush, so even if you think that your opponent might have a made Flush, you can confidently put all of your chips in the middle with a Full House.
Does a Full House beat a Straight?
Just as with a flush, a Full House also beats a Straight. Straight is even lower than a Flush in poker hand rankings, so a Full House is a much better hand, and you should not be afraid of four cards in a row on the board.
