Jul 22, 2016  Notice that a full house is ranked higher than a flush. The Royal Flush is the best hand in poker. To have a Royal Flush, you need an Ace, a King, a Queen, a Jack, and a 10. All the cards that. You chop the pot. That’s provided that no player has a better hand (flush or higher) or someone has a higher straight using the cards in their hand. What is a Four-Flush in poker? A four-flush is when you use four cards of the same suit on the board and one from your hand to complete a flush.

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A poker hand consists of five playing cards. Poker hands fall into one of several categories, such as flush, straight, or two pair. The player whose hand is in the higher category wins. If two players have hands in the same category, the tie is broken usually by who has higher cards. Below is a table of the hand categories, highest to lowest.

Category	Example	Tiebreaker
Straight Flush	A Straight Flush consists of 5 cards in numerical sequence, all of the same suit. The higher straight flush wins. AKQJT is the highest straight flush, and is also called a royal flush. 5432A is the lowest straight flush.
4-of-a-kind	The higher 4-of-a-kind wins. If two players have the same 4-of-a-kind, then the highest kicker (the 5th card) wins. 4-of-a-kind is also known as quads.
Full House	A full house consists of a 3-of-a-kind and a pair. The higher 3-of-a-kind wins. If two players have the same 3-of-a-kind (using community cards), then the highest pair wins. Full House is also known as a boat.
Flush	A Flush consists of five cards of the same suit. The higher flush wins. The highest card from each hand is compared, then the second highest, and so on.
Straight	A Straight consists of five cards in numerical sequence. The higher straight wins. AKQJT is the highest straight; 5432A is the lowest straight (5432A is also called a wheel).
3-of-a-kind	The higher 3-of-a-kind wins. If two hands have the same 3-of-a-kind (using community cards), then the 2 kickers (unpaired cards) are used to break the tie. 3-of-a-kind is also known as trips. If you have a pocket pair in Texas Hold'em, and you form trips with a third card on the board, you have a set.
Two Pair	The hand with the higher top pair wins. If the top pairs are equal, then the bottom pairs are used to break the tie. If those are also equal, then the kicker (unpaired card) is used to break the tie.
Pair	The hand with the higher pair wins. If the pairs are equal, then the kickers are used to break the tie, first by comparing the highest kicker, then the 2nd highest kicker, and finally the lowest kicker.
High Card	If a hand does not fit in any other category, it is judged by high cards. Two hands are compared by taking the highest cards and comparing them. If those are equal, then the 2nd highest card from both hands are compared, and so on.

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Introduction

High Card Flush made its debut at Harrah's Laughlin in summer 2011. In February 2013 it found another placement at the M in Las Vegas. After that slow beginning the game caught on and today has lots of placements.

The game follows a fold or raise structure, like Caribbean Stud Poker and Three Card Poker. Where it differs is in the hand ranking, which is all about making the highest possible flush out of seven cards.

Rules

1. High Card Flush is played with a standard 52-card deck of playing cards.
2. To begin play, each player makes the mandatory Ante wager, and if desired, the optional Bonus wager.
3. The player and dealer each receive seven cards face down.
4. Hands are evaluated in the following fashion:
   • The first ranking criteria is the greatest number of cards in any one suit. This is referred to as the 'maximum flush.' For instance, any hand with a maximum four-card flush beats any hand with a maximum three-card flush, but loses to any hand with a maximum five-card flush.
   • The second ranking criteria is the standard poker-rankings for flushes; that is, a hand with a maximum four-card flush of K-Q-J-T would beat a hand with a maximum four-card flush of K-Q-J-9, but lose to a hand with a maximum four-card flush of A-4-3-2.
5. Each player then decides upon one of the following options:
   • Fold, and surrender the Ante.
   • Raise, placing a second bet equal to at least the Ante. The maximum amount of the Raise wager depends on the rank of the player?s hand:
     • With a two-, three- or four-card flush, the maximum Raise wager is equal to the Ante wager.
     • With a five-card flush, the maximum Raise wager is double the Ante wager.
     • With a six- or seven-card flush, the maximum Raise wager is triple the Ante wager.
6. Once all players have decided, the dealer turns over his seven cards and evaluates his hand in a similar fashion as described above.
7. If the dealer does not have at least a three-card flush, nine-high, all remaining players have their Antes paid, and the Raise bets are pushed.
8. If the dealer has at least a three-card flush, nine-high, his hand is compared to each other player:
   • All players with a higher-ranking hand win, and have their Ante and Raise wagers paid at even money.
   • All players with a lower-ranking hand lose, and have their Ante and Raise wagers collected.
   • Players with the exact same ranking hand as the dealer push both their Ante and Raise wagers.
9. Finally, any player who made the Bonus wager has his hand evaluated against the Bonus paytable, and the Bonus wager is either paid or collected as necessary.

Mousseau Strategy

Charles Mousseau determined that without regard to cards not part of the highest flush, a close to perfect strategy is to raise on T-8-6 or higher. The player should always make the largest allowed Raise bet. This strategy has a house edge of 0.06% higher than optimal strategy.

That means to raise any four-card or higher flush, and any three-card flush of rank T-8-6 or greater. For example, you would raise J-3-2, but fold T-7-5.

The following table shows the probability and return for each possible event under the Mousseau strategy. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 2.71%.

Mousseau Strategy Return Table

Event	Pays	Probability	Return
Player raises 3x, dealer qualifies, player wins	4	0.001604	0.006416
Player raises 2x, dealer qualifies, player wins	3	0.021374	0.064121
Player raises 1x, dealer qualifies, player wins	2	0.258352	0.516703
Player raises 1x, dealer does not qualify	1	0.160076	0.160076
Player raises 2x, dealer does not qualify	1	0.006590	0.006590
Player raises 3x, dealer does not qualify	1	0.000444	0.000444
Player raises 1x, dealer qualifies, player pushes	0	0.000839	0.000000
Player raises 2x, dealer qualifies, player pushes	0	0.000001	0.000000
Player raises 3x, dealer qualifies, player pushes	0	0.000000	0.000000
Player folds	-1	0.320589	-0.320589
Player raises 1x, dealer qualifies, player loses	-2	0.229568	-0.459136
Player raises 2x, dealer qualifies, player loses	-3	0.000559	-0.001678
Player raises 3x, dealer qualifies, player loses	-4	0.000003	-0.000013
Totals	1.000000	-0.027065

Under the Mousseau strategy, the average final wager is 1.712 units. Thus, the element of risk is 2.706%/1.712 = 1.581%.

High Card Flush Advanced Strategy

Wizard of Odds contributor Gordon Michaels has published a High Card Flush Advanced Strategy. His strategy considers the suit distribution of the penalty cards with T-3-2 to T-9-8. The bottom line is a house edge of 2.6855%. Please click the link for the specifics.

Optimal Strategy

An optimal strategy has yet to be put in writing. However, we can narrow it down, as follows.

• Make maximum raise bet with J-9-6 or higher.
• Fold 9-7-4 or lower.
• You're on your own with 9-7-5 to J-9-5.

The following table shows that under the unknown optimal strategy the house edge is 2.64%.

Optimal Strategy Return Table

Event	Pays	Probability	Return
Player raises 3x, dealer qualifies, player wins	4	0.001618	0.006473
Player raises 2x, dealer qualifies, player wins	3	0.021472	0.064417
Player raises 1x, dealer qualifies, player wins	2	0.258181	0.516361
Player raises 1x, dealer does not qualify	1	0.160038	0.160038
Player raises 2x, dealer does not qualify	1	0.006617	0.006617
Player raises 3x, dealer does not qualify	1	0.000448	0.000448
Player raises 1x, dealer qualifies, player pushes	0	0.000840	0.000000
Player raises 2x, dealer qualifies, player pushes	0	0.000001	0.000000
Player raises 3x, dealer qualifies, player pushes	0	0.000000	0.000000
Player folds	-1	0.321365	-0.321365
Player raises 1x, dealer qualifies, player loses	-2	0.228857	-0.457715
Player raises 2x, dealer qualifies, player loses	-3	0.000560	-0.001679
Player raises 3x, dealer qualifies, player loses	-4	0.000003	-0.000013
Totals	1.000000	-0.026418

Under the Mousseau strategy, the average final wager is 1.711 units. Thus, the element of risk is 2.642%/1.711 = 1.544%.

Miscellaneous statistics:

• All told, when the player plays optimally, the player will raise 67.86% of the time.
• The dealer will have a qualifying hand 75.36% of the time.
• The player and dealer will tie 0.08% of the time.

Flush Bet

I have heard of two pay tables for the Flush bet. The following three tables show the details.

High Flush Poker Rules

Pay Table 1

Cards	Pays	Probability	Return
7	300	6,864	0.000051	0.015392
6	100	267,696	0.002001	0.200095
5	10	3,814,668	0.028514	0.285135
4	1	26,137,540	0.195370	0.195370
3 or less	-1	103,557,792	0.774064	-0.774064
Total	133,784,560	1.000000	-0.078072

Pay Table 2

Cards	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
7	300	6,864	0.000051	0.015392
6	75	267,696	0.002001	0.150071
5	5	3,814,668	0.028514	0.142568
4	2	26,137,540	0.195370	0.390741
3 or less	-1	103,557,792	0.774064	-0.774064
Total	133,784,560	1.000000	-0.075292

Straight Flush Bet

The Straight Flush side bet pays according to the longest straight flush the player can make. I observed it only at the Planet Hollywood. The lower right cell shows a house edge of 13.11%.

Flush Poker Rules

Straight Flush Side Wager

Cards	Pays	Combinations	Probability	Return
7	8000	32	0.000000	0.001914
6	1000	1,592	0.000012	0.011900
5	100	39,960	0.000299	0.029869
4	60	676,196	0.005054	0.303262
3	7	8,642,932	0.064603	0.452224
2 or less	-1	124,423,848	0.930031	-0.930031
Total	133,784,560	1.000000	-0.130864

Acknowledgements

• Thanks for Charles Mousseau for providing the math for this game, except on the Straight Flush side bet. Charles' web site is tgscience.com.
• Gordon Michaels for his High Card Flush Advanced Strategy.

Only Flushes Poker

Written by: Michael Shackleford