The value of this technical knowledge will be obvious when it is remembered that a player may have a hand dealt to him which he knows is comparatively worthless as it is, and the chances for improving which are only one in twelve, but which he must bet on at odds of one in three, or abandon it. Such a proceeding would evidently be a losing game, for if the experiment were tried twelve times the player would win once only, and would lose eleven times. This would be paying eleven dollars to win three; yet poker players are continually doing this.
RANK OF THE HANDS. The various combinations at Poker outrank one another in the following order, beginning with the lowest. Cards with a star over them add nothing to the value of the hand, and may be discarded. The figures on the right are the odds against such a hand being dealt to any individual player.
When hands are of the same rank, their relative value is determined by the denomination of the cards they contain. For instance: A hand without a pair, sequence, or flush is called by its highest card; “ace high,” or “Jack high,” as the case may be. As between two such hands, the one containing the highest card would be the better, but either would be outclassed by a hand with a pair in it, however small. A hand with a pair of nines in it would outrank one with a pair of sevens, even though the cards accompanying the nines were only a deuce, three and four, while those with the sevens were an ace, King and Queen. But should the pairs be alike in both hands; such as tens, the highest card outside the pair would decide the rank of the hands, and if those were also alike, the next card, or perhaps the fifth would have to be considered. Should the three odd cards in each hand be identical, the hands would be a tie, and would divide any pool to which each had a claim. Two flushes would decide their rank in the same manner. If both were ace and Jack high, the third card in one being a nine, and in the other an eight, the nine would win. In full hands the rank of the triplets decides the value of the hand. Three Queens and a pair of deuces will beat three Jacks and a pair of aces. In straights, the highest card of the sequence wins; not necessarily the highest card in the hand, for a player may have a sequence of A 2 3 4 5, which is only five high, and would be beaten by a sequence of 2 3 4 5 6. The ace must either begin or end a sequence, for a player is not allowed to call such a combination as Q K A 2 3 a straight.
It was evidently the intention of those who invented Poker that the hands most difficult to obtain should be the best, and should outrank hands that occurred more frequently. A glance at the table of odds will show that this principle has been carried out as far as the various denominations of hands go; but when we come to the members of the groups the principle is violated. In hands not containing a pair, for instance, ace high will beat Jack high, but it is much more common to hold ace high than Jack high. The exact proportion is 503 to 127. A hand of five cards only seven high but not containing a pair, is rarer than a flush; the proportion being 408 to 510. When we come to two pairs, we find the same inversion of probability and value. A player will hold “aces up,” that is, a pair of aces and another pair inferior to aces, twelve times as often as he will hold “threes up.” In the opinion of the author, in all hands that do not contain a pair, “seven high” should be the best instead of the lowest, and ace high should be the lowest. In hands containing two pairs, “threes up” should be the highest, and “aces up” the lowest.
ECCENTRIC HANDS. In addition to the regular poker hands, which are those already given, there are a few combinations which are played in some parts of the country, especially in the South, either as matter of local custom or by agreement. When any of these are played, it would be well for the person who is not accustomed to them to have a distinct understanding in advance, just what combinations shall be allowed and what hands they will beat. There are four of these eccentric hands, and the figures on the right are the odds against their being dealt to any individual player:
The rank of these extra hands has evidently been assigned by guess-work. The absurdity of their appraised value will be evident if we look at the first of them, the blaze, which is usually played to beat two pairs. As it is impossible to have a blaze which does not contain two pairs of court cards, all that they beat is aces up or kings up. If it were ranked, like other poker hands, by the difficulty of getting it, a blaze should beat a full hand.
All these hands are improperly placed in the scale of poker values, as will be seen by comparing the odds against them. In any games to which these eccentric hands are admitted, the rank of all the combinations would be as follows, if poker principles were followed throughout:—
| Denomination. | Odds Against. | |
|---|---|---|
| One pair | 1¼ | to 1 |
| Two pairs | 20 | to 1 |
| Three of a kind | 46 | to 1 |
| Sequence or straight | 254 | to 1 |
| Skip or Dutch straight | 423 | to 1 |
| Flush | 508 | to 1 |
| Tiger [Big or Little Dog] | 636 | to 1 |
| Full hand | 693 | to 1 |
| Round-the-corner straight | 848 | to 1 |
| Blaze | 3008 | to 1 |
| Four of a kind | 4164 | to 1 |
| Straight flush | 72192 | to 1 |
| Royal Flush [Ace high] | 649739 | to 1 |