What is a Straight in Poker? (May 2024)

Forming a straight in poker is always an exciting moment, as it has a very good chance of taking home the pot. There are different types of straights that you can form, depending on the communal cards and your hole cards. Here, we will analyse them and see how you can play them to their strengths.

What is a Straight in Poker?

A straight is a poker hand which requires 5 unsuited cards to form a sequence. Starting from 2 and finishing with Ace, the straight must come from your 2 hole cards and the 5 communal cards. There is no rule about having to use 1 hole card, 2 but there is a stronger chance that no one else can match your straight if it requires 2 hole cards.

The highest straight is called a Broadway which is when you have an unsuited 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace. The lowest ranking straight is called a Wheel, which has a 5 as the high card. It is formed from an unsuited 2, 3, 4, and 5.

What Beats a Straight?

Straight hands require 5 cards, and so they can beat all the hands that have fewer card requirements, except for Four of a kind. It beats high card, one pair, two pair and three of a kind poker hands.

1. Royal Flush
2. Straight Flush
3. Four of a Kind
4. Full House
5. Flush

If two players should form a straight, then the player with the higher ranking straight wins. Should the two players have the same straight, then the round is tied and the pot is split. If you can form a suited straight, then this is called a Straight Flush, which will beat a straight, flush, full house and four of a kind.

Possibilities to Form a Straight

There are 10,200 different combinations of straights that you can form, excluding straight flushes. It is a rare hand to form, and the odds of landing one is 253,8 to 1, which converts to a probability of 0.39%.

How to Play a Straight

Before carrying on into the how and when you can form a straight, there are several of terms you should know.

Connectors

This is when your hole cards are sequential. For example, you have a Queen and a King.

Gappers

When there is a jump between your hole cards, they are called gappers. For example, a 10 and Queen are one-gappers whilst 10 and King are two-gappers.

Flopping a Straight

This is when you can form a straight directly after the flop has been drawn.

Drawing to a Straight

When the flop does not bring you the straight, but instead draws cards that build up to a straight, this is called a straight draw. It is far more common than flopping a straight.

Open Ended or Inside Straight Draw

An open ended draw is when your hole cards sit on either side of the straight draw in the communal cards. For example, the communal cards have 8-Jack and you either have a 7 or a Queen. An inside draw is when your hole cards sits in the middle of a straight. There may be 9-Jack and King on the table, and you have a Queen in your hole cards.

Generally, open ended straight draws are better as the possibility of drawing the fifth card is twice that of an inside straight draw. Remember that the gap does not need to only be one, and you may use both hole cards. For example, you may have a Jack and Queen in the hole, and form an inside straight with 9, 10, King on the table. Or you have a 10 and King in the hole, and form a straight with the communal 9, Jack and Queen, which is both an inside and open ended draw, using a two-gapper.

Poker Round Stages

Preflop

One-gappers are the best cards to receive in the hole to form a straight. It is an open ended straight draw, as you need the communal cards to draw 3 sequential cards either side of your one-gapper. An 8-high hand (7-8) is the minimum you should start raising with, anything below that is considered too weak. With two gappers, if you have anything below an 8-high hand (6-8) then you are better off folding. It is far more 

Flop

If you have flopped the straight, then you are in a key position to win the pot. Whilst you may want to keep raising and milking your bets, you should consider the following. You have made your poker hand, and from now on the odds are against you. It is more likely that the next two cards will let another player form an even stronger hand than for it to improve your straight. You can then either kill off the round in this stage, or raise the pot considerably and hope that the next cards will not compromise your position.

If you have a straight draw of 4 cards and the straight is not too low, then you can consider raising too. Do not raise though, if you have a straight draw for an 8-high straight, or if you have a 3-card straight draw.

Turn

The turn is quite a pivotal point for players who are drawing to a straight. When the turn does not bring the card needed to form that straight, suddenly your whole hand depends on the last card.

However, when the turn does bring your straight, then you are in a position to bet high. Your opposition will quickly see whether the card will play in your favour, and may guess what you have in the hole. The difficult part here is to make the most money out of the situation, and not have all the players simply fold and you win the checks.

River and Showdown

A big danger about straights is that there is still a possibility of losing. Unsuited cards are good, and its better if there are no pairs in the communal cards. Though it is a long shot, a player may form four of a kind or a full house, and this can instantly beat your straight.

These are rarely formed, so perhaps the more imminent, and predictable, danger to your straight is a flush, straight flush, or simply a better straight. Forming a straight end where your hole cards are at the bottom of the straight is extremely risky. The same goes for forming an inside straight, where you can see that there is a possibility someone else may form an ended straight at the high end of the draw.

Best Case Scenario

The best case scenario is an unsuited Broadway straight in which you have the top two cards: Ace and King. There is a remote chance that someone can tie with you, but certainly not better your hand with a straight.

Worst Case Scenario

The worst straight you can have is a Wheel, in which you have 2 and 3 in the hole. Though it can beat a high card, one pair and even a two pair hand, it is running a great risk. If another player can close the straight with at least one card on the higher end, it beats your hand.

Conclusion

You need to concentrate on a lot of things with a straight. Not only are you calculating your chances of forming a straight and of the draw bring you an even higher straight, but you need to keep a close eye on your opponents. Their actions, and yours, in the betting cycle can give away a lot about their hole cards. So therefore use your straight with caution, and be wary of 8-high hands or lower.