Indeed, the probability of losing a hand with four-of-a-kind is 0.00001%, or 100,000/1 against. However, while four-of-a-kind is not an unbeatable hand – it ranks behind a straight flush of any description and, in the case of kings or lower, behind four-of-a-kind of higher rank – it is worth waiting for. In other words, a Texas hold’em player can expect to make four-of-a-kind, or ‘quads’, once every six hundred hands or so, on average. Overall, the probability of four-of-a-kind in seven cards is 0.168%, which represents odds of 594/1. Of course, a four-of-a-kind hand must include four cards of the same rank – from one of the thirteen ranks available – along with a single card, or ‘singleton’, of some other rank. In other words, each player has the choice of seven cards from which to build the best five-card hand. Texas hold’em poker is the most popular ‘community card’ variant of the game, featuring two cards, known as ‘hole cards’, dealt to each player and five more on the board.
