Flush in Poker: Five Cards of the Same Suit
A flush is five cards of the same suit, like Q♥ J♥ 9♥ 6♥ 2♥. It beats a straight and every weaker hand, and loses to a full house, four of a kind and straight flushes. Between two flushes, the highest card decides, then the next ones. Suited hole cards flop a flush only 0.84% of the time and make one in their suit by the river 6.4% of the time.
Compute a flush
Q♥J♥ on 9♥ 6♥ 2♥: a flopped flush
Q♥J♥ has a queen-high flush on the flop. Equity with the turn and river to come:
| Opponent | What it holds | Q♥J♥'s equity |
|---|---|---|
| T♥4♥ | a lower flush | 99.8% |
| A♣A♦ | a pair of aces, no heart | 97.2% |
| A♥K♣ | one heart, the ace | 71.2% |
| K♥4♥ | a higher flush | 0.1% |
Against a lower flush or a pair of aces with no heart, the queen-high flush is far ahead; even a set, which can fill up, keeps only 34.4% against it (9♣9♠: 65.6% for Q♥J♥). Against A♥K♣, any heart on the turn or river gives it the ace-high flush, the nut flush, and seven hearts are left. Against K♥4♥, the higher flush is already there.
Flush against flush
- The highest card decides. K♥4♥ beats Q♥J♥ on 9♥ 6♥ 2♥ because its king is higher than the queen; the comparison stops there, so the low 4♥ changes nothing.
- Then the next cards. With the same highest card, compare the second, then the third, down to the fifth.
- Board flushes. If all five board cards are one suit, everyone has at least that flush; a hole card of that suit higher than the board's lowest one improves it, the highest such card wins, and if nobody has one, the pot is split: see split pots.
- The nut flush is the highest flush possible on the board, built on the ace of the suit, or on the highest card of that suit that is not on the board: see the nut flush draw and the nuts.
How often a flush comes
| Start | Flush |
|---|---|
| suited hole cards, on the flop | 0.84% |
| suited hole cards, by the river | 6.4% |
A flush on the flop needs three cards of your suit among the eleven left. Most of these flushes arrive later, on the turn or the river, mostly from a draw: see the poker odds chart and how to play a monotone flop.
Keep going
- Which hands beat which: poker hand rankings.
- What being suited is worth before the flop: suited vs offsuit.
- Five cards in a row, and which straight wins: the straight in poker.
Sources
- Equities enumerated exactly over every turn and river; flush odds counted over every board.