Poker Lesson 03

Who wins the showdown? – An example

Now that you know how to play Texas hold'em in principle, and have memorized the ranking of the various poker hands, it is time for a practical example. I remind you of the fact that the highest FIVE-card hand wins the pot, and that you may "assemble" your five-card poker hand in one of these three ways: (1) you use both your hole cards and any three of the community cards on the table, or (2) one of your hole cards and any four of the cards on the table, or (3) you may ignore your hole cards altogether and let the five community cards on the table make up your hand – in rare cases, these may consist of a complete full house or a flush. This third option is called playing the board. Here is one example: Player A has King of spades and 7 of diamonds in hand. Player B has 5 of spades and 5 of clubs in hand. Player C has Queen of hearts and Eight of hearts in hand. Player D has Ace of clubs and Queen of clubs in hand. On the table, the community cards (the board) are: King of hearts, 7 of hearts, Jack of clubs, 10 of spades, and 10 of hearts. Well, who wins the showdown (the showing of cards at the end of the fourth and last betting round, deciding who will get the pot) in this example? Player C does, with a flush in hearts. Her best five-card hand is King of hearts, 7 of hearts and 10 of hearts from the table, in connection with both her hole cards, the Queen of hearts and the 8 of hearts. Player B has two pairs, 10 of spades and 10 of hearts from the table together with 5 of spades and 5 of clubs in his hand, while the King of hearts on the table makes up his fifth card. Player D has a straight, Ace of clubs, King of hearts, Queen of clubs, Jack of clubs and 10 of hearts (or the 10 of spades, it does not matter which). Player A finally has two pairs (and a better two-pair than B), with King of spades and King of hearts plus 10 of spades and 10 of hearts, while his fifth card is the Jack of clubs. Note that player A did not use his 7 of diamonds in hand! (And neither may he count "three pairs" with the Sevens – a poker hand consists of FIVE cards, no more and no less!) Not too hard to figure out, was it?

DAN GLIMNE