Question to any poker players out there

[WilliamPitt]

I've been playing with a regular group once a week for several months now. One thing has struck me curiously regarding the rules, and the people I play with don't know the answer.

After playing thousands of hands, I have seen that straights are harder to come by than flushes; it is harder to get a series of numbers together than it is to get the same suit. This is just from straight observation.

The thing is, a flush beats a straight. That seems backwards to me, given what I've seen. Anyone here have an explanation? I'm assuming it has something to do with the odds.

Thanks.

[alarcojon]

1. I teach probability, and it is harder to get a flush than a straight

There are 5108 ways to make a flush and 10,200 ways to make a straight, given five random cards.

on edit: wikipedia explains it well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_probability

[WilliamPitt]

2. Huh

OK, thanks for the numbers. I guess we have a weird table. One night, good full houses got beat one after the other.

Thanks.

[alarcojon]

4. Yeah, I've had weird tables as well

the odds only hold in the long run, but any specific night, or even series of nights, all sorts of things could happen.

Of course, if you throw in wild cards, these odds will certainly get thrown off.

[never cry wolf]

9. But what about more than 5 cards?

I agree for 5 card stud, but what if you are playing draw poker or 7 stud and have 4 to a straight or 4 to a flush. For an inside straight there are potentially only 4 cards that can fill it and for both ends open, 8 cards. For 4 to a flush there are potentially 9 cards that could fill it.

[DelawareValleyDem]

13. Still harder to get a flush

http://wizardofodds.com/games/pokerodd.html

[ProfessorGAC]

17. You're Correct

It doesn't matter how many cards, the probability are based upon combinatorial mathematics and certain combinations are going to be harder than others unless the deck is infinitely large and the exposed cards include all infinity of the cards.

Then, all combinations are equal, but boy a hand would take a REALLY, REALLY long time.

The odds of each event change with the number of cards in play (like in Omaha), but the proportional probabilities of combinatorial sets are always in the same order. (IOW, one pair is always easier to get than 4 of a kind or a straight flush.) Just that in Omaha, it's easier to make a pair than in 5 card draw.

That's a good link as well, btw. I just know what i know from my background in math and stats.
The Professor

[johnnie]

3. I've noticed that also but I think it's the odds

I think the reason you see more flushes is because most people won't play a possible straight as much as they would a flush. If you are dealt 5 cards say 9-3-4-5-J (any suit) and 5 cards- three hearts, one spade, one club, which would you play? Most would go for the flush rather than the straight. You would need a 2&6, A&2 or 6&7 to get the straight in any suit. In the other hand you would need two hearts.

What I'm saying is... it seems like you see more flushes than you do straights because more times than not people don't play the possible straights as they would a possible flush. But the odds are you would get the combinations of all the numbers for a straight rather than the existing needed suited cards for the flush.

Another way to look at it is that not many people would try for a straight if they were dealt say A-3-6-9-J which is also a possible straight, but no one would play that.

I know what I'm trying to say, but it is hard to write it out.

[youthere]

5. dunno..

:shrug:

[yvr girl]

6. then there's the straight flush...

Maybe people get burned trying to fill an inside straight one too many times and then opt to go for a flush instead. (When the deal is a toss up.)

[Scout1071]

7. Poker? I don't even know her.

Sorry, bad joke. I had a roommate once upon a time - a male roommate - who would make that joke all the time. How is it that 10+ years later it still sticks with me whenever I hear the word Poker.

[ghostsofgiants]

11. Haha, a friend of mine has that on a shirt

[In_The_Wind]

8. lookin' for a straight flush ...

wayyyyy back when I was in my late teens - I won so much of the time in poker games that we switched to bridge ...

just sayin'

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

10. I notice that too.

Maybe not coincidentally, I play Texas Hold Em. What do you play?

[WeRQ4U]

12. I thought the same thing, but I looked up the odds online.

As someone already noted, that's the reason. I did clean out my friend once this year with a straight club flush. Best hand I've ever had. 6-10 clubs. They couldn't believe it. And one guy had a club flush and went all in. It was oh, so sweet.

[Beetwasher]

14. Nope, Pure Odds, A Flush is Harder

It may just seem that straights are harder for some reason...

[bridgit]

15. i'd be making sure that deck gets shuffled, tossed & cut routinely...

[Zuni]

16. I see far more straights than flushes

and odds wise, a flush should be rarer

[Greyhound]

18. This is a very common misconception and is the result of the lack of

experience in the players. In short you guys(?) don't play for the straight as often as the flush. Result; more flushes than straights. The table linked in the previous post to Wikipedia shows the actual odds.
BTW This is one of the reasons poker is a game of skill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_probability
Good luck. :smoke:
On edit: if you're playing with wild cards, that's not even poker.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

19. Here's a page with the probabilities laid out in a table.

http://poker.gamble.co.uk/poker_odds.htm

[underpants]

20. Not to argue but it is a 1 in 4 shot with a flush

as opposed to a 1 in 13 shot with a straight.

I know I know the odds are the odds but it is a different way to look at it.