Full house
also called boat
A full house is three cards of one rank together with a pair of another, ranked first by the three and only then by the pair.
It beats a flush and a straight and loses to four of a kind. Because the three of a kind is compared first, nines full of kings loses to tens full of deuces, which is the mistake people make most often when reading a board quickly.
It is rare on its own and common in the spots where money goes in: 3,744 of the 2,598,960 five card hands, or 0.144%. On a paired board it is the hand to check for before committing a stack.
an example
your cards
board
Your three nines and the two kings on the board make nines full of kings. An opponent holding a king has kings full of nines, and that hand beats yours because the three of a kind is compared first.
This example is made up. The real one is in your own hand history: find full house in your own hands and see how often it came up and what it cost you.
related terms
Four of a kind
Four of a kind is all four cards of one rank, a hand that beats everything except a straight flush.
Set
A set is three of a kind made with a pocket pair in your hand and one matching card on the board.
Paired board
A paired board is one where two of the community cards share a rank, which makes full houses and four of a kind possible ...
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Knowing the word is not the same as seeing it.
Real spots where you say which hand wins, and it keeps score.