Three of a Kind Beats Two Pair In Most Major Poker Games



Q: What's Better: Three of a Kind or Two Pair?

A: One of the most common questions that we see asked: what is better, three of a Kind or two pair?

Now, this answer depends on which variant of poker that you are playing.

If you are playing the most popular variants of poker, such as Hold'em or Omaha, the answer is: Three of a Kind beats Two Pair.

In picture:  Three of a kind.  Nines.


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Let's say that you are playing in a No Limit Hold'em cash game at your local casino. After rounds of betting on every street, you show your pocket Nines on a board of 9-K-2-3-7. Your opponent, on the other hand, turns up K-9 for two pair.

In this case, you have a "set" of Nines (some people will call this trip Nines). You will beat your opponent's two pair and scoop the pot.

Let's say that you are playing against the same opponent and are holding A-9 on a board of 9-9-K-2-7. Even though you are only holding one Nine in your hand, you still have three of a Kind. Let's say that your opponent is holding two pair (K-2 in this case) - you would win with your trip Nines.

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Three of a kind is a fairly strong hand in Hold'em and Omaha and should likely be bet aggressively.

In the ranking of poker hands, three of a kind is the fourth strongest type of hand, ahead of a High card, a Pair and two pair.

There are six types of hands that will beat three of a Kind - a straight, a flush, a full house, four-of-a-kind, a straight flush and a royal flush.

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In short - three of a kind is better than two pair.


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