And the winner is....?

December 30, 2005 2:59 PM

So I'm playing poker (well, a poker-like game) with my family and me and my sister-in-law both get a full house. I've got 3 6's and a pair of queens. She's got 3 jacks and a pair of 10's. Which hand wins? I know the basic ranking of poker hands, but with a combination like that, which hand trumps the other, the higher pair or the higher 3-of-a-kind? We drug out the Hoyle book but couldn't find anything.
posted by zardoz to sports, hobbies, & recreation (8 comments total)

The higher 3-of-a-kind determines the winner, so her 3 jacks beat your 3 6's.
posted by nomisxid at 3:01 PM on December 30, 2005

what nomisxid said ... 3 jacks win
posted by pyramid termite at 3:03 PM on December 30, 2005

here’s a reference.
posted by jimw at 3:03 PM on December 30, 2005

Another reference.
posted by mbrubeck at 3:25 PM on December 30, 2005

Triplet determines the winner. This is something I learned very quickly playing Tripoley with my family — if everyone is dealt about one-fifth of the cards and gets to pick their best poker hand out of those, it's not uncommon to get showdowns with more than one full house.
posted by Johnny Assay at 3:30 PM on December 30, 2005

The proper term for your hand is sixes full over queens, or sixes over queens. Logically, jacks full beats sixes full.

Another thing that might come up: You can't have three pair in hardly any poker game, even if it's played with 7 cards - you take the best 5-card hand, which means you take the highest two pair and then the remaining highest 5th card, which is your "kicker." So if you have A A K K T T 2, and your opponent has A A K K 9 9 Q, the pairs essentially tie and he wins because his 5th card, a queen, is higher than your 5th card, a ten.
posted by Happydaz at 3:36 PM on December 30, 2005

Echoing everyone else, the triplet determines the win. Think about it: it's harder to get 3 of a kind than it is to get a pair.
posted by hooray at 11:59 PM on December 30, 2005

Another thing that might come up: You can't have three pair in hardly any poker game, even if it's played with 7 cards - you take the best 5-card hand, which means you take the highest two pair and then the remaining highest 5th card, which is your "kicker."

I always called three pair a "canoe" because it's awful close to a "boat" (slang for a full house) but not quite.
posted by 23skidoo at 6:34 AM on December 31, 2005