Explanation of Straight Flush
We make a straight flush when we have five cards in consecutive rank order, all of the same suit.
For example, in Hold’em
Board: T♥9♥♥5♣6♣J♥
Hand 1: Q♥K♥
Hand 2: 7♥8♥
In this example both hand 1 and hand 2 make the straight flush. Similar to straights, the value of a straight flush is determined by its highest card. Ace is the highest possible card, although the Ace-high straight flush is instead referred to as the “royal flush”.
In the above example hand 1 makes the King-high straight flush while hand 2 makes the Jack-high straight flush.
Example of Straight Flush used in a sentence -> (Hold’em) Our opponent had the Ace-high flush but we scooped the pot with the one-card straight flush.
How to Use Straight Flush as Part of Your Poker Strategy
We should for the most part assume that straight flushes are the immortal nuts in both Hold’em and Omaha. Losing to a higher straight flush or the royal flush should be considered a cooler. The only situation requiring special treatment might occur when we have the lower end of a one-card straight flush in Hold’em. For example.
Board: 9♥T♥J♥Q♥
Hand:8♥A♣
While we have the straight flush here which is a monster in terms of absolute hand strength, we should bear in mind that any K♥ actually has us dominated with a higher straight flush. We should hence treat this as we would the one-card second-nut flush. It’s probably the best hand but we actually want to be somewhat careful about playing a large pot despite the fact that we have the straight flush.
It’s impossible the make a one-card straight flush in Omaha since we are required to use exactly two of our hole-cards. Straight flushes are hence always worth playing for stacks with. In some situations we will hold the “effective nuts” even though we don’t have the absolute nuts, due to card-removal effects.
Board: K♥J♥T♥
Hand Q♥9♥T♣J♣
The best possible straight flush here is the A♥Q♥ royal flush. Since we are currently using the Q♥ to construct our K-high straight flush however, we know that it is guaranteed to be the best hand hand even though it’s not the best possible holding that could be constructed on this texture.
See Also
High Hand, Two Pair, Three of a Kind, Straight, Flush, Full House, Quads, Royal Flush, Hold’em, Omaha, Counterfeit, Effective Stacks, Kicker
