The royal flush

Poker is a card game that involves betting based on the hand dealt to the players. Two cards are dealt to each of the players while a sequence of five cards are revealed when each clockwise round of betting by the dealer runs its course. The player starting the round of betting, lays down the minimum bid, and in a clockwise order, the others can choose to match it, raise it, or fold depending on the cards dealt to them. The winner is chosen if all but one player folds their cards. Then the last remaining player, takes the content of the pot. When the five rounds end, where the dealer would have revealed all the cards, the players remaining would have to show their cards. Based on a series of combinations involving the two cards dealt to the players added to the five on the table, the player with the highest hand will be deemed as winner, therefore, winning the contents of the pot after the five rounds of betting. The hands, in descending order of value in poker are, royal-flush, straight-flush, four-of-a-kind, full-house, a flush, a straight, three-of-a-kind, two-pair, one-Pair, high-card.

The highest hand is the Royal Flush. Now, a Flush is a combination of cards, where all five cards are from the same deck. For example, a combination consisting of five playing cards of the ‘hearts’ deck,irrespective of order constitutes a flush. A royal-flush is where, all five cards are from the same deck and on top of that, the five cards must be of the sequence, the ace, the king, the queen, the jack and the ten(A, K, Q, J, 10) of the same deck. So, we can have four combinations of the Royal Flush, one for each deck, clubs, hearts, spades and diamonds.

The Royal Flush being the highest hand, is both very rare and unbeatable. Mathematically, the probability of achieving a royal-flush, is 0.0032%. This statistic should give you a fair idea of the improbability of what James Bond did in the movie Casino Royale.