What Is One Pair In Poker – Odds, Probabilities, and Rankings
One Pair is one of the most straightforward poker hands that contains, you guessed it, exactly one pair and three other random cards.
There are quite a few ways to make One Pair poker hand:
- You can have a pocket pair yourself. For example, when you hold QQ and the flop comes 9 5 2, you have an overpair, which is also One Pair in the poker hands list, but it is a very powerful one.
- You can hit one of your hole cards to make One Pair hand. For example, you might raise with QJ and hit your pair on the J T 4 flop, giving you Top Pair hand.
- You can get a pair on the flop that has nothing to do with your poker hand. For example, you have AK, and the flop comes J 4 4, which makes One Pair hand.
There are many One Pair hands options, and making an overpair is quite different from pairing the lowest card on the flop and making 3rd pair.
So always evaluate how strong your specific hand is based on the board texture and the situation.
One Pair ranks at the bottom of the list of poker hand rankings and beats only a High Card combination. Despite that, it does not mean that you should not be happy when hitting this hand since it is still way better than holding nothing, which is actually the most likely outcome of all.
One Pair Odds and Probabilities
One Pair is the most common poker hand, so you have great odds to receive it:
- The odds of hitting One Pair is 42.2569% with any random poker hand.
- The odds of flopping One Pair is 29% when you have an unpaired hand.
- You have a probability of 12.8% to improve your hand from nothing to One Pair from the Flop to the Turn.
- Your chances of improving your Air hand from the Flop and making One Par hand by the river is around 24%.
As you can see, you will often get this poker hands combination, and how you play this holding will be very important to your overall poker success.
What beats One Pair In poker?
Almost everything. Since One Pair is only better than the High Card combination, all other made hands beat it. The next higher card in poker hands ranking is Two Pair, which also beats One Pair hand, and then Three of a Kind, Straight, Flush, Full House, and all other premium holdings.
What can a One Pair beat?
One Pair only beats a High Card combination if we compare it to other poker hands. However, there are many variations of One Pair hands in Texas Holdem, so not all pairs are equal in strength.
* Over pair beats top pair
* The top pair beats the second pair
* The second pair beats the third pair, etc.
* Third pair beads under pair.
If both players have the same One Pair in their hand, then the kicker gets into play, and the highest non-paired card is used to determine the winner.
Which One Pair is the strongest?
The strongest One Pair hand is a pair of Aces, followed by a pair of Kings and down the list to pocket deuces. Also, pocket aces are the strongest possible starting hand in Texas Holdem because you already have at least the best One Pair hand, no matter what comes on the flop.