Four of a Kind
<table width=”100%” border=”1″ cellspacing=”1″ cellpadding=”10″>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td align=”center”><img title=”Four of a Kind” alt=”Four of a Kind” src=”http://web.archive.org/web/20110103000758im_/http://www.classicpoker.com/images/rankings/four_kind.jpg” width=”150″ height=”100″ border=”0″ /></td>
<td valign=”middle”><strong>Four-of-a-Kind </strong>– This is when a player holds four cards of the same rank with one other card of varying rank. In the rare case more than one player holds a Four-of-a-kind hand, the player with the highest ranking Four-of-a-Kind would win (Ace is high).</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
Four of a Kind also called Quads is a real monster in poker as it takes bigger Quads or a Straight Flush to beat Four of a Kind. One poker rule many players are not really aware of in Texas Poker No Limit Hold’Em is that if the board has 4 of a kind then it is the kicker card which determine the winner of the hand. Holding Ax on a KKKKx (king Quads) board is nuts and beat all other hands or ties with opponent hands containing an A. In the aforementioned example AJ would split the pot with A2 if the board has four kings. This scenario does happen in community card games like Texas Hold Em where both players play the board cards. There is thirteen possible four of a kind hands in <a href=”http://web.archive.org/web/20110103000758/http://www.classicpoker.com/”>poker</a> and the rank between them can be seen below.
AAAAx
KKKKx
QQQQx
JJJJx
TTTTx
9999x
8888x
7777x
6666x
5555x
4444x
3333x
2222x
Players often question if Four of a Kind Aces beat a <a href=”http://web.archive.org/web/20110103000758/http://www.classicpoker.com/straight-flush”>Straight Flush</a> but this is not the case. The poker rules are clear and all Straight Flush hands beat any Four of a Kind hands. The rank and poker rules a simply as there are 9 different hand groups (ten if Royal Straight is counted as a hand group). If a player hold Four of a Kind the poker hand beats all lower hand groups and thus Four of a Kind is better than Full House, Flush, Straight, Three of a Kind, Two Pair, One Pair and High Card but it loses to all higher Four of a Kind plus all variations of Straight Flush including the Royal Straight Flush.
In general the poker rules and the hand strength is determined out of how difficult it is to complete the hand. A Straight Flush is way more difficult to be dealt than Four of a Kind. There is 40 different ways a Straight Flush can be dealt while there is 624 ways Four of a Kind can be dealt which illustrate why Four of a Kind is beaten by Straight Flush as it is far more easy to be dealt Four of a Kind than Straight Flush.
Holding a pocket pair and hitting Quads on the flop is seldom going to win players a big pot. The board is far to scary for opponents and regardless of how the hand is played it will in most instances cause opponents to fold. Flopped Quads have to be slow played in the hopes of opponents catching up. Players who habitual bluff paired flops should bet if they flop Quads as it keeps opponents guessing in regards of the hand strength in the future. A far more profitable situation is when a set is flopped and the Quads are not completed before the river and this situation can be read more about in the Three of a kind section. It is worthwhile thinking through how to play Quads depending on position before they are dealt to you. It happens so rarely that it is important to know upfront how to play this monster against different types of opponents and a good homework will secure to extract the most money out of a hand that under normal circumstances is very difficult to get paid off.
Quads sixes or higher is one of the components needed to win the <a href=”http://web.archive.org/web/20110103000758/http://www.classicpoker.com/bad-beat-jackpot”>Bad Beat Jackpot</a> at Classic Poker. Being dealt or complete Quads on the jackpot tables can turn a mediocre pot winning hand in to a hand that win the majority of the Bad Beat Jackpot as Quads often are the losing hand when the Bad Beat Jackpot is hit and recent Quad holders that had their hand beat received €200,000 directly to their account because of losing Quads against higher Quads or Straight Flush at the special tables where jackpots can be won.
