What is a Full House in Poker? – Rules and Winning Strategies for a Full Boat 

A full house is a hand that doesn’t come around too often, but when it does, it’s enough to put a smile on any poker player’s face. If you have ever wondered what a full house is, what other poker hands it beats, and how to play it, you have come to the right place!

We will teach you how full houses are made, how likely you are to get one, and much more. We will also give you a few tips on how to play your poker full house for max value. 

What is a Full House in Poker

A full house is made up of three-of-a-kind and one pair – one of the strongest hands in poker. 

A good example of a full house is J♥J♠J♣9♥9♠. As you can see, the hand is made up of three Jacks and two Nines, using all five cards to complete the full house. When you see a hand like this, you will usually have the best of it and should be looking forward to playing a big pot. 

The hand was originally called a “full hand,” but eventually evolved into a full house or a full boat. In either case, the reference is to all five cards being used to make up the hand, which is not the case with many weaker hands. 

Full houses are very strong poker hands in all poker formats, excluding the lowball games, but are particularly valuable in Texas Hold’em Poker. Keep in mind that not all full houses are created equal either, but if you hold a top full house like A♠A♥A♦K♠K♦, you will almost always be holding the best hand at the table. 

Full House vs Full House – Who Wins?

Whenever two full houses go up against each other, the full house with the higher trips wins the pot. For example, KKK99 beats 99977 because the three Kings are stronger than the three Nines. 

A scenario like this can happen in Texas Hold’em somewhat often. For example, one player holds A9, and another player holds A7. The board brings K9977. In this situation, both players have a full house. However, the first player holds “nines full of sevens,” while the other player holds “sevens full of nines.” The player with the stronger trips in their full house wins!

Whenever you have the top full house (the best full house possible on a board), you can be confident in knowing you beat all weaker full houses. On the other hand, holding a lower end of the full house should put you on alert, as it’s always possible you are up against a better full house. 

How Does a Full House Rank in Poker?

According to the standardized poker hand rankings, a full house is the fourth best hand in all of poker. However, hands stronger than a full house, such as quads and straight flushes, are extremely rare. For that reason, a full house is a true powerhouse in the game. 

It is worth noting that multiple full houses are possible in the same poker hand. Whenever the board is paired, meaning there are two community cards of the same ranking on the board, multiple full houses are possible. For example, on a board of Q♦8♠8♥7♠2♦, one player could have Q♥Q♥ for a top full house, while another could hold 8♣7♣ for an inferior full house. 

Yet, anytime you hold either end of the full house, you should be pretty confident in the strength of your hand. We will go over all the different hands you can beat with a full house next, as well as those you should potentially be worried about. 

What is the best full house in poker?
The best possible full house is AAAKK. This hand can’t beat by any other full house because it is made up of the highest ranked cards. 

What is the worst full house in poker?
The worst possible full house in poker is 22233. This full house is made up of the lowest ranked cards and loses to any other full house in the game. 

What Beats a Full House in Poker?

Only three hands in poker are stronger than a full house. These are four-of-a-kind (quads), a straight flush, and a royal flush. A full house can also lose to a higher full house, which will usually be your biggest concern. 

Hands like quads, straight flushes, and royal flushes are extremely rare in Texas Hold’em Poker. You will occasionally lose to such hands, but on many boards, a straight or a royal flush won’t even be possible. So, you should be more worried about losing to another full house than one of the other hands. 

Whenever you hold the top end of the full house, you should be comfortable playing for all the money you have on the table. On the other hand, when you find yourself holding an inferior end of a full house, be careful about the other potential full house combos out there. 

What Does a Full House Beat in Poker?

A full house beats the vast majority of other poker hands. This includes a flush, straight, three-of-a-kind, two pair, one pair, and high card. These are all the most common hands in poker, which means when you do have a full house, you usually have the winner. 

Full houses are especially valuable in situations where other players hold a flush or a straight. Those hands are quite strong in their own right, and holding a full house allows you to often win big pots from such opponents. 

As long as you are confident you aren’t up against a higher full house, you should be looking for ways to put the maximum amount of chips into the pot. This way, you can win the most chips from all the weaker hands out there and maximize the value of your poker full house. 

What Is the Probability of Getting a Full House?

A full house is a fairly rare hand in poker, with about one in a hundred flops bringing you a full house if you start out with a pocket pair. Yet, your odds go up significantly if you flop two pair or three-of-a-kind, putting you one card away from holding a full house. 

Here is a look at all the different ways you can make a full house and your odds of getting there:

As you can see, you will be able to come by a full house quite often if you flop two pair or three-of-a-kind. Keep these percentages in mind, and take a look at our detailed guide on poker odds to learn more about the likelihood of improving your poker hands. 

What Is the Probability of a Full House Improving?

Once you have a full house, it’s quite difficult to improve your hand further. However, a full house can improve to four-of-a-kind once in a blue moon. The table below demonstrates your possibilities of making quads with your full house and the likelihood of this happening:

Full House Strategy: 3 Tips for Playing a Full House

Getting dealt a full house is one thing, but making the best of it is a different one. The best poker players in the world know how to get the most value from their strong hands, and you should too. If you want to maximize the value of your full houses and improve your bottom line, here are three tips to playing a full house you should keep in mind:

Value Bet Aggressively

Inexperienced poker players often lose value with their big hands because they trap too much. Remember, there are only four betting streets in poker, and if you check too many times, you won’t get the chance to get paid. 

Whenever you hold a strong poker hand like a full house, it is essential to bet for value in time. If you flop a full house, forget about trapping too much and start betting right away. While some situations may require a sneaky check, big bets will usually be the way to go. 

Anytime you have a full house, the board will be paired, and your opponents will usually pay you off with any three-of-a-kind. If you play aggressively enough in other hands, they may even decide to keep you honest with weaker hands, making your value bets super effective. 

Consider Your Opponent’s Hand Range

Whenever you are deciding how much to bet or whether to allow your opponent to bluff into your full house, consider their poker hand range. How likely are they to have a strong hand on the current board? Is their range particularly weak on this board? These are the kinds of things you should be asking yourself. 

Forget about trying to guess your opponent’s exact two cards. Instead, consider their entire hand range and try to make bets that work well against it. This way, you will get the maximum value over the long run, and not just the times you get lucky enough for your opponent to have the next best hand. 

Be Willing to Lose with a Full House

There will be times you will have a full house, and you will still lose. There is a lot of variance in poker, and cooler situations like this are bound to happen once in a while. If you are serious about poker, you need to brush these off and keep playing as if nothing happened. 

For example, a time will come when you will have the top full house, and your opponent will have quads. Some players lose a big pot in this situation and start being afraid of losing with a full house in the future. Instead of doing this, you should keep playing your full houses for maximum value and simply write off the occasional loss to bad luck and variance, which are an inherent part of poker. 

Play Your Full House for Max Value

Now that you know what a full house is and just how strong it is, you are ready to battle. Take your newly found knowledge and the strategy tips we gave you to your next poker session. If you want to start slow, we recommend playing in our freeroll poker tournaments or micro-stakes cash games to get started. 

Sign up with CoinPoker today to get started and learn as you go. We have plenty of other strategic resources to help you on your way, as well as the best novice-friendly poker games on the entire internet. This will allow you to learn at your own pace and build your poker knowledge one hand at a time. 

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