What is the Definition of a Full House in Poker?

Q: What is a Full House in Poker?

A: In poker, a "full house" refers to when you have a hand that makes:

1. Three of a Kind

plus

2. Two of a Kind

So, let's take the world's most popular variant of poker to use for this example - "Hold'em".

You are dealt two cards face-down - these are your "hole cards", and can only be used by you.

The "board" - which consists of the flop, turn and river - consists of five cards that can be used by anybody at the table. These are known as "community cards".

So - let's say that you are dealt 7s-8s (7 of Spades, 8 of Spades) and the board reads 7-8-7-K-Q.

In this case, you would have a Full House, Sevens Full of Eights. Sevens is what we have Three of a Kind of, while the Eights is what we have Two of a Kind of.

This is a Full House, and a Full House is one of the strongest hands in poker.

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Let's take a look at another example.

You have pocket Aces as your "hole cards", and the flop comes A-K-K.

You have flopped a Full House, Aces (Three of a Kind) full of Kings (two of a Kind). Remember - we must also use the community cards to make our hand. So, we have Three of a Kind, plus the Two of a Kind on the board (Kings).

In this case, the only hand that we could lose to at this point would be Quad Kings (four of a Kind Kings).

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Let's look at one last example of a Full House in Hold'em.

You hold A-Q as your two hole cards and the board reads:

J-J-J-10-10

Even though your hole cards don't improve your hand, you still have a full House, Jacks full of 10s, based on the community cards that are on the board.


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