Straight

A straight is 5 consecutive cards. Lowest: A-2-3-4-5 (the "Wheel"). Highest: 10-J-Q-K-A ("Broadway"). The Ace can be low or high but not "wrap around" (Q-K-A-2-3 is not a legal straight).

A straight appears in about one in 254 five-card hands and roughly one in 21 seven-card Hold'em hands. It is the first hand on the ranking chart that is common enough to make regularly and weak enough to lose regularly — which makes it the most misplayed hand in the list.

Beware the "sucker straight" — a low straight that can be beaten by a higher straight on the same board. Watch for flush threats on the board — if 3 cards of the same suit are showing, your straight is at risk. Value bet carefully.

Ask two questions before committing chips: is my straight the top one available, and can the board make a flush? A straight using both of your hole cards on a rainbow board is a hand to bet aggressively. The same straight where the board holds three of the five cards is shared with a large part of your opponent's range, and the same straight on two suited cards is one card away from being second best. Bet the strong version for value on all three streets; with the shared version, prefer calling and keep the pot smaller, because the hands that raise you are almost never worse.

Playing the "idiot end" of a straight as if it were the nuts. On a board of 9-8-7, holding 6-5 makes a straight, but every ten and jack out there beats you and those are exactly the cards opponents hold. The second misread is ignoring a flush draw completing on the river: a straight that was best on the turn is often second best after a fourth suited card lands.

Hands that beat Straight:

• Royal Flush
• Straight Flush
• Four of a Kind
• Full House
• Flush

Hands beaten by Straight:

• Three of a Kind
• Two Pair
• Pair
• High Card