What Is A Straight Flush In A Poker Game?

A Straight Flush is a five-card hand containing five sequential cards, all of the same suit. Certain named hand, such as the Royal Flush or the Wheel, are actually Straight Flushes that have earned nicknames.

How to Get a Straight Flush

Most poker games don’t have all five cards dealt at once, so you’ll usually make a Straight Flush by having two or three of the cards and chasing a draw to get the rest in a later round of betting.

Straight Flush Draws

It can be tempting to bet it all on a Straight Flush draw, because, hey, even if you don’t hit the big hand, you’ve got other outs: a Straight or a Flush. But be careful. If you have a Straight Flush draw with low cards (such as the 3, 5, 6, and 7 of Hearts), you might get beat by someone else with a stronger flush, you might even get beat by someone with a stronger straight. And of course, the draw just might not hit. Never over-invest in a draw, even the very best kind.

Playing a Straight Flush

Most of the time, the Straight Flush will be the nut hand: you’ve probably got everyone else beat. This means you need to build the pot by betting in a way that gets calls. Maybe you play slowly, or maybe you bet big to look like you’re bluffing.

But of course, Straight Flushes aren’t invincible: just like with Straights, you might end up with the ass-end, and lose to someone with the higher Straight Flush.

Ranking Straight Flushes

Straight Flushes are ranked like Straights: whoever has the higher straight wins. So, a Straight Flush to the 8 (4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 of Spades) beats a Straight Flush to the 6 (2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Spades).

Two players with a Straight Flush to the same high card will split the pot. There’s no tie-breaker between suits.