02- 7-05, LearnTexasHoldem:

Evaluating Flush Hands

Question: I was recently playing the game with some friends. After the dealer laid down the river card, the five cards were a flush with the highest card being an Ace.

There were two players left at the table betting their poker hands. One of the betters had a card in her hand with the same suit as on the table. The other player did not -- he was saying they both won since it was a flush with the highest card on the table and that it didn't matter what they had in their hands. The other players watching said the girl with the same suit card won the whole pot since she had a card in her poker hand of the same suit as the flush.

Who was right?

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Answer: I get a number of questions on this site regarding flushes and how to evaluate who has the best hand between two flushes. In every hand evaluation in holdem, figuring out who has the best cards, you take the best 5 cards out of the 7 total cards (5 community and 2 personal); the only exception to this rule is flushes, which can lead to confusion. When you compare flushes, you still look at the best five cards, but it isn't just the total hand strength that matters. An example will help illustrate the difference:

You have 3d3h

Your opponent has 5d5h

The flop/turn/river: Ad - Kd - Qd - Jd - 4d

Applying the rule, "the best five cards win" we would get they both have the same hand: an Ace high flush. This isn't correct though, the person with the pocket 5s actually wins. Even though both players have an Ace high flush, the person with the 55 can beat what the board has so he wins:

You only have Ad - Kd - Qd - Jd - 4d

He has you beat with Ad - Kd - Qd - Jd - 5d

Why is the rule like this? I don't know, it just is what it is. There are few excpetions to rules in holdem poker but this is one of them.

In the question above, it makes no difference whether one person has a card of that suit in their hand or not. What matters only is they can beat the cards on the board. The answer then whether or not the person with the card of that suit in their hand wins or not comes down to if they have a suit higher than one on the board, then he/she would win.

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