There is a thin line of difference between the top 5 cards rule and the flush in Texas Hold ’em. While one is not concerned with the suits of cards you hold, the other considers the card suits. This post will acquaint you with a better understanding of both concepts.
The Top 5 Cards Rule
In this rule, the top five cards can be any five cards that give you your best hand. In those best five cards, pairs are greater than Ace high, and two pairs are better than one. Furthermore, three of a kind outweighs two pairs while straights win over three of a kind.
Flushes are higher than straights, whereas full houses outweigh flushes. Moreover, four of a kind beats full houses, and a straight flush beats four of a kind. This is how the top 5 cards rule works, and there is no other significant variation to the rule.
What Is A Flush?
This is where it gets tricky1 A flush also includes five cards like the best five cards. But, a flush involves five cards belonging to the same suit. It secures a fourth place in the list of poker hand rankings after a full house. For instance, AJ752 means you have an ace-high flush in hearts.
No doubt, the word flush doesn’t give you an immediate idea of five cards of the same suit. However, it is a pretty easy hand to make out. A flush in Texas Hold ’em is a strong hand with ace-high being the highest possible flush out of the same suit’s five cards.
Another example of the highest flush possible would be A J 10 3 2
When it’s a matter of flushes, the suits are of no importance. However, not every ace-high flush Is equally the best flush possible. The hand rank plays a role here too.
The Solution
With the given scenario, where
- 7 8 9 10 and 3 on the table
- Alice has a 5
- Bob has a 4
Alice is clearly the winner here. With the concept of top 5 cards and flush being clear, Alice and Bob both have a Ten-high flush.” You have already learned that two common highest cards between two players lead them to the second-highest card and so on till the fifth one.
Moreover, usually, the sum of the cards does not determine the winning hand. The highest card in this regard declares the winner. Therefore, the flush with (A 3) T 9 8 beats the flush with a higher sum (K Q) T 9 8. No doubt, in this scenario, the winning hand has the highest sum too. But this is a plain coincidence.
Endnotes
Now that you know the difference you can make, follow this approach in poker in an informative way. Moreover, flushes in Texas Hold ’em lead to split pots only when the players on the table all play the whole flush from community cards.
