4 of a kind also called Quads
Quads are a very strong hand in Texas Hold em Poker No Limit. Royal flush and Straight flush are the only other hands that defeat this monster.
4 of a kind is one of the hardest hands to win a big pot with. If the flop comes 773 and you hold 77 then it is very hard for your opponent to hold anything that creates action. Even a board of A77 where your opponent holds AK could slow down the action because of the pair on the flop. The context of the flop is always the main factor when it comes to action in a hand. Paired flops are scare for everybody at the table. AQ7 is a far better flop for 77 and has a great chance of succeeding winning a big pot.
The correct strategy
It is seldom the correct poker strategy to bet your hand if you flopped 4 of a kind. It is better to check and see if your opponents try to bluff or even better if they can catch some cards to improve their hands. Slow playing is the correct strategy to use when flopping quads. The situation and strategy is very different when you flop a set only.
If the case 7 now hits the turn or river and completes your 4 of a kind, it is actually a lot less scary for your opponents. They can not get away from any hands they decided to bet, raise or call with on the flop.
Quite a few players believe that 4 of a kind is a stronger hand than straight flush. This is not the case. In total there are only 40 ways to make straight flush (including Royal flush) and 624 ways to make 4 of a kind.
Royal Flush 4
Straight Flush 36
Four of a kind 624
Full House 3744
Flush 5108
Straight 10.200
Three of a kind 54.912
Two pair 123.552
One pair 1.098.240
High card only 1.302.540
The above is the mathematical reason for the hand rankings. The fewer possibilities of making a hand the higher the ranking the hand has.
This way it is also easy to see which hand is the better when players hold full house vs four of a kind.
The High Card hand
High Card only accounts for around 50% of all total hands. It is worthwhile giving this fact some thoughts. Read more about this on the High card page.
As Texas Hold’em poker is a game with 5 community cards it is possible for players to have the same 4 aces or 4 kings or any other quads hands.
When the table shows AAAA2 or KKKK4 the out come of the hand depends on the kicker card. Player one holds QJ player 2 holds T9- in both above cases the player with the Q kicker wins the pot. TTTTA on the other hand would be a split pot because both players can use the A on the table as part of their hand.
Four of a kind FAQ
What beats four of a kind? Only Royal and Straight flush plus higher 4 of a kind can beat quads.
Which hand is best: quad aces vs royal flush? Royal flush beat the quads every time and if it ever happens that you get such a bad beat you hopefully play on a bad beat jackpot table.