Straight Flush
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Straight Flush – This is when a player holds a five card sequence where all the cards are of the same suit. For instance, 5,6,7,8,9 of diamonds is a Straight Flush. If by rare chance two players hold a Straight Flush, the player with the one containing the highest card wins. Should both hands contain the same high card, the pot is split. Suits do not matte |
A Straight Flush is defined as 5 cards of the same suit in sequence which means that it is possible to construct 10 different poker Straight Flush hands in each suit (Hearts, Spades, Clubs and Diamonds). The table below shows the hands in ranked order in case two players both should hold a Straight Flush. In that instance the high card determine which the winning poker hand is according to the poker rules for Straight Flush. In case two players hold the exact same Straight Flush then the pot is being split amongst the players as suits has no rank and thus it is only the high card that can determine the outcome of the hand. AKQJT is of course the highest possible Straight Flush and is known as Royal Straight Flush and the lowest Straight Flush A2345 also has its own name which is the “Steel Wheel”.
AKQJT
KQJT9
QJT98
JT987
T9876
98765
87654
76543
65432
5432A
Being dealt or hitting a Straight Flush is extremely powerful as it is only higher Straight Flushes that can be the hand which is incredible unlikely to happen. The only problem left is how to extract most money out of the hand when hitting it. Basically betting to build the pot is always a good game plan however the context of the flop has to be taken into consideration as it might be correct to try and make players catch up by letting them get free cards to improve their hands.
However opponents will still be scared of a flush board if they do not have a flush themselves and therefore it is often better to simply bet your hand instead of checking it. A side benefit of betting strong hands is also that it allows you to bluff similar boards in the future if needed. It is also almost guaranteed that if a Straight Flush is hit and your opponent holds the Flush Ace that money can be extracted as most players tend to draw to the nut flush regardless of the size of bet they face.
Straight Flush draws can be very powerful too and are splendid hands to make semi bluffs with both on the flop and turn. Even with an inside Straight draw players will have as many as 12 outs to complete a very strong hand and if the straight draw is open ended then 15 outs will complete the hand and getting all the money in on the flop is a profitable play in the long run. Some Straight Flush combo draws might even have more outs in case the combo consists of an open ended Straight Flush draw plus a pair. This situation rarely happens but it can generate as many as 20 outs plus the fact that the hand already is best.
Regardless of anything then a Straight Flush draw is a monster hand which has to be played for value without thinking about scare scenarios where opponents hold a higher flush draw etc. Build the pot and make sure to extract the most value out of a hand that often is a favorite to win either on the turn or river or has enough power when raising to make opponents fold thus profiting out of the fold equity.
