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Full house in poker: rules and examples.

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Three comes before two.

A full house is three cards of one rank plus two of another. Compare the three first, then the pair. Try the puzzle, then follow the two illustrated comparisons.

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Compare the hands

Community cards

Your cards

Other player

Reveal the explanation

You have kings full of sevens. The other player has sevens full of kings. Compare the three-of-a-kind part first: three kings beat three sevens.

Your best five: Full house

Their best five: Full house

Comparison uses standard PokerStars hand-ranking rules.

No chips, XP, or leaderboard score are attached to this puzzle. The answer is available without JavaScript through “Reveal the explanation.”

What decides this hand

If both full houses have the same three-of-a-kind rank, compare the pair next.

Compare two pair and a kicker.

What is a full house in poker?

A full house has three cards of one rank and two of another. Read it as “three of these, two of those”: kings full of sevens means K-K-K-7-7. It beats a flush but loses to four of a kind in standard high-hand poker (PokerStars hand-ranking rules).

  1. Compare the three matching cards

    A full house with three kings beats one with three sevens, even if the lower triplet is paired with aces. Do not let a high pair distract you from the first comparison.

  2. If the triplets match, compare the pair

    Three kings with two aces beat three kings with two queens. This can happen on a shared Hold’em board. The higher pair is the deciding part.

  3. If both parts match, the hands tie

    There is no unused kicker slot in a full house. A spare ace outside the best five cannot decide it, and suits do not break the tie.

The same three kings. A different pair.

Hand A

Hand B

On a K♥ K♣ K♦ 2♠ 3♠ board, pocket aces make Hand A and pocket queens make Hand B. Hand A wins: both triplets are kings, so compare aces with queens.

Check the complete hand order if you are comparing different categories. A full house does not use the same tiebreaker as a one-pair hand; the kicker lesson shows the difference.

For your next practice hand, name the winning five before looking at the chip result. Then read pot size versus stack change if the amount received looks larger than the amount gained. These are two different questions.

A different hand, a different lesson

Two pair: compare the fifth cardRead both pairs.Flushes: four suited cards aren't enoughA flush needs five.Counterfeited: your pair no longer playsYour pair stopped counting.

Use the hand-ranking chart if you need a reference, or return to all ten puzzles.