What is a Full House in Poker?
Written by the CardsChat Editorial Team
A Full House is the third best possible hand out of all the poker hands. It is a combination of five cards, where three are a Three of a Kind, and the other two are a Pair.
What Does a Full House Look Like?
A Full House is a combination of a Three of a Kind and a Pair. You can find some examples right here:
- A
, A
, A
, Q, Q
- J, J, J, 2, 2
- 10, 10, 10, A, A
- 4, 4, 4, K, K
How Does a Full House Rank?
The Full House is towards the higher end of the poker hands list. It is not the best poker hand but it is very strong and will end up the winning hand in most cases. It is weaker than a Straight Flush and Four of a Kind, but stronger than a Flush and all hands below that.
What Beats a Full House?
| Rank | Hand Names | Example | Hand Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal Flush |  | Hand Description 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace all in the same suit. |
| 2 | Straight Flush |  | |
| 3 | Four of a Kind |  | Hand Description The same card in each of the four suits. |
| 4 | Full House |  | Hand Description A pair plus three of a kind in the same hand. |
| 5 | Flush |  | Hand Description Five cards, all in one suit, but not in numerical order. |
| 6 | Straight |  | Hand Description Five cards in numerical order, but not of the same suit. |
| 7 | Three of a Kind |  | Hand Description Three of one card and two non-paired cards. |
| 8 | Two Pair |  | Hand Description Two different pairings or sets of the same card in one hand. |
| 9 | One Pair |  | Hand Description One pairing of the same card. |
| 10 | High Card |  | Hand Description No matching cards. |
The strength of a Full House is determined by the value of the three matching cards. For example, a hand with Q, Q, Q, 2, 2 (Queens full of Deuces) is stronger than 4, 4, 4, A, A (4s full of Aces), even if each one is a Full House and the latter has a pair of Aces. This is because Queens are higher than 4s.
In a scenario where two players have the same Three of a Kind, the pair is then consulted to determine the winner. If this is also the same, the hand is tied and the pot is split.
How Should You Play a Full House in Hold’em?
A Full House is a strong hand, but it still ranks lower than a Royal Flush, Straight Flush, and Four of a Kind – so it’s not unbeatable.
Hitting a Full House on the flop is rare; it’s more likely that you’ll make Three of a Kind or Two Pair on the flop, and then hit the remaining card(s) you need on the turn and/or river.
How you play a Full House depends on how many people are in the hand and how strong you suspect their hands to be. If you’re confident you have the best hand, you don’t want to scare players out of the pot by betting too aggressively. Always remember that, in Texas Hold’em, to make a Full House there has to be a pair on the board, which often includes the possibility of Four of a Kind.
Full House Probabilities
When playing Texas Hold’em with a standard deck of 52 cards, a Full House can be obtained in 3,744 different ways. With seven cards available, there is a 2.60% probability of making a Full House.
Below, we will focus on the odds of being dealt a Full House on the flop. Meaning a player will have five cards – consisting of their two hole cards and the three flop cards.
| Number of ways to make the hand (not including different suits) | Number of ways to make the hand (including different suits) | Odds of getting a Full House | Probability of getting a Full House |
|---|---|---|---|
| 156 | 3,744 | 1 / 693.17 | 0.1441% |
The odds of being dealt a Full House on the flop is only the tip of the iceberg. For more on odds, including the probability of winning any given hand on the flop, turn, and/or river, have a play with our poker odds calculator.
FAQs
What is a Full House in poker?
A Full House is made out of five cards where three of them are of the same value, and the remaining two are of another matching value. It looks like Q-Q-Q-3-3. Other terms used for a Full House include a “full boat”, a “boat”, and a “full hand”.
Does a Flush beat a Full House?
No, a Flush does not beat a Full House. A Full House is only beaten by Four of a Kind, a Straight Flush, a Royal Flush or a higher Full House.
What beats a Full House in Poker?
A Full House will lose to a Straight Flush and to Four of a Kind in any confrontation. The hand can also lose to a higher-ranking Full House, determined by the rank of the three matching cards. In a scenario where two players have the same Three of a Kind, the pair is then consulted to determine the winner. If the pair is also identical, the pot is split.
What can a Full House beat?
Can you win with a Full House?
Yes, the Full House is considered a strong hand and is often played very aggressively. It can occur frequently enough and it has the strength needed to beat plenty of other poker hands. In Texas Hold’em, a Pair must be showing on the board for a Full House to be possible.
Which Full House is strongest?
The strongest full house hand you can get is Aces over Kings where the player holds three Aces and two Kings.