Poker runs are a popular event in the world of motorcycles, where riders hit the open road and stop at various checkpoints to collect playing cards. At the end of the run, the rider with the best poker hand wins a prize.
But what exactly is considered the best hand at a poker run? Let’s dive into it.
Firstly, it’s important to understand the ranking of poker hands. In descending order, they are as follows:
1. Royal Flush
2. Straight Flush
3. Four of a Kind
4. Full House
5. Flush
6.
Straight
7. Three of a Kind
8. Two Pair
9. One Pair
10. High Card
Now, let’s break down each hand and discuss their likelihood of being the best hand at a poker run.
Royal Flush: This is the best possible hand in poker and consists of Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten all in the same suit – for example, Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten of Hearts. The chances of getting a royal flush are extremely low – 1 in 649,740 to be exact.
Straight Flush: This hand consists of any five cards in sequence that are all in the same suit – for example, 8-9-10-Jack-Queen all in Hearts. The chances of getting a straight flush are also quite low – 1 in 72,193.
Four of a Kind: As its name suggests this is when you have four cards with the same rank – for example four Aces or four Kings etcetera – plus one additional card that can be any value or suit such as an Ace-King high card or any other card from different suits like hearts or diamonds etcetera- The odds here are slightly better than straight flush but still quite rare: 1 in 4,164.
Full House: This hand consists of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank – for example, three Queens and two Jacks. The odds here are getting better: 1 in 693.
Flush: A flush is any five cards that are all the same suit but not in sequence – for example, Ace, Jack, Seven, Five and Two all in Clubs. The chances of getting a flush are higher than the previous hands: 1 in 508.
Straight: This hand consists of any five cards in sequence but not all the same suit – for example, 5-6-7-8-9 with different suits. The odds here are also reasonable: 1 in 254.
Three of a Kind: Three cards with the same rank plus two any other non-matching cards form this hand – like three Kings and two high cards or any other combination with different suits. The odds here are much better than some others: 1 in 46.
Two Pair: As its name suggests this hand requires you to have two sets of pairs with different ranks – like pair of Aces and pair of Kings plus one additional card which can be anything else. The odds here are improving further: 1 in 20.
One Pair: This hand has only one pair with three additional non-matching cards from different suits like Ace-King-Jack-Ten – Odds here are pretty good at around: 1 in 2.36
High Card: If none of the above hands apply then the highest ranking card wins – it’s always good to have an Ace as your high card if possible but anything above a seven is reasonable. Odds for having just a high card come down to almost half or even less depending on the situation and the number of cards in play.
In conclusion, based on the above ranking of hands, it’s pretty clear that the best hand at a poker run is a Royal Flush. However, with odds of 1 in 649,740 of getting this hand, it’s pretty rare to achieve.
The more realistic hands that could win at a poker run are Straight Flushes and Four of a Kind, both with odds in the thousands. However, it’s always worth keeping in mind that anything can happen during a poker run – sometimes it just comes down to luck!
