The royal flush is the highest hand in a poker game where no wild cards are used. It is also one of the rarest hands in the game; many casinos offer rewards to those who manage to get one. While it is very difficult for you to get one in your hands, there are ways to increase your chances of getting it.
Steps
Part 1 of 2: Learn to Know Your Hand
Step 1. Learn to recognize the cards that make up a royal flush
A royal flush is an ace-king-queen-jack-ten series of aces in the same suit.
Wild cards, if used in the game, can replace any of the cards that make up the royal flush. A straight flush without wild cards is called a "natural" royal flush
Step 2. Learn to recognize which matches offer the most chance for a royal flush
Poker hands are sorted in low rarity. The royal flush is the first because it is the most difficult to get, the straight flush is the second because it is slightly easier to get, and always following this criterion there are in order: four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, double couple and couple. The difficulty of hitting a royal flush depends on the type of poker you play.
- The games in which it is more difficult to make a royal flush are those in which you are only dealt five cards. In draw poker, or stud poker, the odds of hitting a royal flush is 1 in 649,740: there are 2,598,960 possible five-card combinations, and only four are royal flushes. Royal flushes are 4 out of 40 possible straight flushes; the probability of hitting any straight flush is 1 in 64,974.
- The likelihood of hitting a royal flush is higher in draw poker games where certain cards are allowed to be swapped.
- The probability also increases if you already have some cards in your hand that can make up a royal flush; if you have four of the necessary cards, you have a 1 in 47 chance of getting the fifth.
- In poker games where more than five cards are dealt you have a higher chance of hitting a royal flush. In seven-card stud or Texas hold'em the odds rise to 1 in 30,940. In Texas hold'em the probability of hitting the royal flush with the "flop", or the first three community cards, is always 1 in 649,740, but rises to 1 in 108,290 with the "turn" and 1 in 30,940 with the "turn". river ". The probability increases even more in the case of Omaha poker, where you have nine cards (four personal and five common) from which to obtain your hand.
- Poker games played with fewer than 52 cards increase the odds of hitting a royal flush. The probability increases significantly in the case of the Texas hold'em variant called Royal hold'em, where only aces, kings, queens, jacks and tens are used, so 20 cards in all. There are only 4,845 possible hands in this type of game, and the probability of hitting a royal flush is 1 in 1211.25.
- The use of jokers also increases the likelihood of having a royal flush, as it can replace any card. Cards from a 52-deck that have been made jokers increase the odds over regular jokers, because they are not in addition to the regular deck.
Part 2 of 2: Developing a Royal Flush Strategy
Step 1. Know when to hold cards
As mentioned, you have a higher chance of hitting a royal flush if you already have some of the necessary cards in your hand.
- If you have four of the cards that make up a royal flush in your hand, the odds of hitting a fifth is 1 in 47.
- If you have three of the cards that make up a royal flush, the probability of hitting a fourth card is 2 in 47, but the probability of hitting both cards you need is 1 in 1081.
- If you have two of the cards that make up a royal flush in your hand, the probability of hitting the other three is 1 in 16,215.
- If you have only one of the cards that make up a royal flush in your hand, your chance of hitting the other four is 1 in 178,365.
Step 2. Know when to switch
The more royal flush cards you have in your hand, the higher the likelihood of actually getting it. But the type of cards also depends on the decision to try the royal flush or to settle for a lower hand.
- If you have four of the cards that make up a royal flush in your hand, you have a greater chance of hitting a winning hand if you have a king, queen, jack and ten than ace, king, queen and jack. With a hand with an ace you have to hope to draw a ten of the same suit (1 chance in 47); otherwise the highest hand you can get is a flush, which can be beaten by a straight flush, four of a kind or a full house. With a hand with the king, on the other hand, you have a 2 in 47 chance of hitting a straight flush or straight flush with the king as the highest card (drawing the nine of the same suit), which is the second highest hand you can get at poker.
- You should only try to get the royal flush if you have consecutive cards. If you have non-consecutive cards, such as ace, king, jack and ten, you have a 1 in 47 chance of drawing the queen you need; but if you fail to get the queen the highest hand you can get is a regular straight. This rule is often summed up in the saying "Don't fish within a ladder".
