Four of a Kind

Quads happen when you have four cards of the same rank (e.g. four Kings). In Hold'em this usually occurs when you hold a pocket pair and another card of the same rank appears on the board, or when three cards of that rank are on the board and you hold the fourth.

Quads arrive about once in every 4,165 five-card hands, and roughly one in 594 seven-card Hold'em hands — often enough that a regular player makes several a year, rare enough that most opponents never seriously consider it. That gap is where the value is: quads are the strongest hand people routinely fail to put you on.

Quads is a monster — almost always wins. The problem: it's so strong that opponents run away. Slowplay the flop and turn, let opponents bluff. In most cases you'll want to build the pot gradually.

How you got there decides how you play it. Quads from a pocket pair that hit a set and then a fourth card are almost invisible: keep betting, because opponents will happily pay with the full houses and flushes they think are good. Quads made from a board pair — the board shows two kings and you hold the third and fourth — are much more transparent, since the board itself tells the story and cautious opponents shut down. In that case, checking one street to let them bet is often the only way to build a pot. Stack depth matters too: with deep stacks you can afford three streets of value, and with 40 big blinds you should simply get all-in as fast as the pot allows.

Slow-playing quads on a wet board and letting a flush or a straight complete for free. Your hand is not vulnerable, but the pot is: every checked street is money the opponent never has to put in. The other error is assuming they must have something — against a passive player, quads on a dry board are worth the same as a middling pair, because nobody is paying.

Hands that beat Four of a Kind:

• Royal Flush
• Straight Flush

Hands beaten by Four of a Kind:

• Full House
• Flush
• Straight
• Three of a Kind
• Two Pair
• Pair
• High Card