So, what is a four-of-a-kind in poker? Also known as “quads”, four-of-a-kind is a poker stand of extreme strength. Players make four-of-a-kind by having four matching cards, something that doesn’t happen very often. It’s a beautiful sight to see, as long as the cards are yours!
The odds are slim and sometimes, the payoff is small. When you’ve got an impressive hand, like four-of-a-kind, you hold many of the strongest cards, making it less likely your opponent has a good hand combination.
Let’s talk about how to make four-of-a-kind, how you should be playing it, and the bad beat jackpots that you can win with it.
How to Make Four-of-a-Kind in Poker [+ Odds]
There are 13 different combinations of four-of-a-kind with Aces through to Kings. If you’re playing Texas hold ‘em, the probability of flopping quads is one in every 3,333 flops (0.03%). That number is already daunting, but we have to remember that poker players don’t play every hand. If you were to play 1 in every 4 hands, you can expect to make quads once out of every 13,332 hands.
Four-of-a-kind is only beaten by a straight flush; but it beats every other hand combination, including full houses.
Even if you make three-of-a-kind, it’s overwhelmingly unlikely you’ll improve to four-of-a-kind. On the turn, the odds of not making four-of-a-kind are 46/47. On the turn, that drops to 45/46, or over 95%.
Ranking four-of-a-kind hands is very easy to do. The weakest hand combination of quads is 2-2-2-2, with the strongest being A-A-A-A.
The only two hand combinations that can beat four-of-a-kind are straight flushes and royal flushes. Unless you are in a Hollywood poker movie, you don’t have to worry much about that situation happening. That’s not to say it doesn’t occur, but the probability is very low.
Winning Bad Beat Jackpots With Four-of-a-Kind
When you have four-of-a-kind and it gets beaten by a better hand, you can qualify for a bad beat jackpot. This applies to some casinos and online poker rooms, but the rules are different for each site. There are massive amounts of money in these bad beat jackpots and usually, they build progressively until a winner collects.
In a classic bad beat jackpot, the player who loses receives more money than the winner of the hand. Since the “beat” was bad, the losing player gets a consolation prize.
You need to have a specific hand and be beaten to qualify for the bad beat jackpot. For an example, take a look at GGPoker’s requirements below.
GGPoker is the largest online poker site that runs a bad beat jackpot, but there are some rules that you need to know. The hand must go through all betting rounds until a showdown, or you won’t qualify for the bad beat jackpot. You must use two of your hole cards and for a four-of-a-kind, you must have a pocket pair to qualify.
Prize Breakdown:
- Hand winner = 3%
- Hand loser = 10%
- Players at the table = 0.8%
In this huge Bad Beat Jackpot at GGPoker, the player who lost with a lower straight flush received a payout of $368,258. The other players each got around $30,000, while the winner of the hand was paid out over $128,000 with a straight flush from 6 to 10.
Natural8 also has a Bad Beat Jackpot with the same qualifying requirements. The winner of the hand gets 3% of the Jackpot, the loser gets 10%, and other players at the tables receive 0.8%. You will be playing on for the jackpot on any of the Texas hold ‘em, Omaha, and short deck cash game tables.
How Should You Play Four-of-a-Kind in Poker?
In poker terms, quads are the “nuts” and you should absolutely never fold them. It’s so statistically unlikely that you are beaten by another hand.
Making four-of-a-kind makes it almost certain that you will win the hand, but it can be hard to get value. When you make a premium hand combination like four-of-a-kind, it can be very tough for your opponent to have a good hand.
At the same time, the board texture will be intimidating. The other players will be worried about three-of-a-kind since the board will be paired (one pair among the community cards).
In this example, a player flops four-of-a-kind in a PokerStars tournament. Think for a moment about the hands our opponents need to have to call our bets. Perhaps a pair of 7s or 3s and a few other hands, but there aren’t many options. This is why getting value from four-of-a-kind is so difficult.
There are two main ways to get value with four-of-a-kind:
- Your opponent makes a mid to high-strength hand combination. This is less likely since you hold two of the strongest cards, but if it does, you can get some value from your hand. Without showing too much strength, choose a strategy that keeps your opponent putting chips in the pot for as long as possible.
- Your opponent chooses to bluff when you play passively. Your opponent might take the opportunity to bluff, which is another way you can get value from four-of-a-kind. Allow them to continue and play the river betting round in a way that secures the most profit. If you are in position you can make a raise, and consider a small river bet if you are out of position.
