A flush is a poker card that occurs when all five of your cards, two hole cards, and three community cards share the same suit. The term “flush” originates from the Latin word “Fluxus,” meaning “flowing,” which fittingly describes the uniform suit flow. In poker, the suit itself doesn’t matter; a flush can be achieved with hearts, diamonds, clubs, or spades. What matters is the flow of a single suit across all five cards.
A flush is a strong poker hand that is exciting to get. But it can also be nerve-wracking if you think your opponent has one too. Playing flushes and flush draws requires skill, as it is easy to miss out or overplay on winning opportunities.
When does flush occur?
A flush occurs when you hold five cards of the same suit. If your hole cards are the ace of hearts and the ten of hearts, and three more hearts appear on the table (two on the flop and one on the river), you got a flush. Flush offers a better chance of winning as it is rated as the fifth in poker hand rankings.
Types of flush
There are several types of flushes in poker.
Flush
If you have five cards of the same suit, such as 2, 4, 7, 9, and 10, of hearts, you get a flush. This hand can beat other poker hands like straight easily but falls short when played against the full house, four of a kind, and hands with other higher rankings.
Straight flush
This is seen rarely and is one of the powerful hands in poker, where five cards of the same suit are in sequential order. If you got 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9 diamonds, you got yourself a straight flush. As I said, the straight flush is a rare hand to get, and due to this low probability, the straight flush is ranked second in the poker hand rankings.
Royal flush
A royal flush is the highest of the flush. It consists of the Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and Ten, all in the same suit. For example, if your hand contains A, K, Q, J, and 10 spades, then you get a royal flush. There are only 4 possible royal flushes, which are from each suit.
Nut flush
A nut flush is a flush hand that is unbeatable by any other player’s flush in a specific hand of poker. For example, if two players have a flush, but one player holds the ace of the suit while the other holds the king, the player with the ace has the nut flush, and he wins the pot.
Jack of spades, 10 of spades, 5 of spades, 4 of spades, and 2 of spades are flush hands; another set of flush cards are king of hearts, queen of hearts, 5 of hearts, 4 of hearts, and 3 of hearts.
When comparing two flush hands, the rank of their cards is the deciding factor. Using the previous examples, the player with the king of hearts wins against the jack of spades. In this case, the ace and the king serve as kickers, and since the ace outranks the king, the hand with the ace takes the pot.
Strategies for completing a flush poker draw
When playing poker, you might often find yourself one card less of a flush hand. To complete your flush draw with minimum risk, you should adopt the smart poker strategy to make the other players fold. Some of these strategies are mentioned below:
- Calculate the pot odds.
Calculate the pot odds to know if chasing your flush draw is profitable. Compare the pot size to the cost of the bet. If the odds of the pots are higher than the odds of you completing the flush, then it’s likely a good decision for you to continue to play. Make informed decisions by understanding the pot odds.
- Pay attention to the bet size
Pay attention to the bet size of your opponent. If they are betting small, this might be due to their weak hand. So use it to your advantage and complete the flush draw.
- Consider the potential odds.
When you are confused about when to chase your flush draw or not, consider the potential future bets you may win if you hit your hand. Think about the likelihood of your opponent calling or folding. If you believe you can win chips after completing the flush, it might be worth calling with your bet.
- Positions of the table
The position you are at the table while playing and the style of your opponent playing could tell a lot about how the game is going to be. You could determine a lot based on both of these factors.
Go for late positions; you will get to see more actions from the opponent, giving you time to assess your strength and the opponent. Understanding the opponent’s aggression level and betting pattern will help you to understand their folding pattern.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, knowing your hand is the most important factor while playing poker, and bringing your hand to your advantage requires skill. By understanding different flushes and different types of flushes, like standard flush, straight flush, royal flush, and nut flush, you can easily navigate through the situation and think strategically about how to complete the flush draw.
Read More: Odds Of Getting A Royal Flush In Video Poker
