Making a 'Flush' in Poker

A flush is the 5 card hand consisting of five cards of the same suit. In community card games such as Hold'em, a flush can be made using any of the two hole cards in conjunction with the five community cards dealt (in any combination).

Where more than one player has a flush, the player who has the highest single card (of the suit used to make the flush), would win the hand. Let's look at an example. You hold big slick - A K and the board comes 2 8 9 . The turn 10 and the river 3. Betting all the way to showdown, you turn over your cards and your opponent has Q J .

In this example, you both have a spade flush. You hold the best flush possible or nut flush, with the ace high flush (ace is the highest card, 2 the lowest). You opponent will know that he can be beaten by a K high or Ace high flush but would still find it difficult to get away from the hand having a Queen high flush - fort all intensive purposes, that's also a strong hand.

It is important to know your scare cards when chasing a flush. If you don't hold the ace, you could well be up against a better flush. If the board pairs, a full house is possible as is four of a kind. Additionally, if the suit of flush you are chasing has connected cards on the board, a straight flush is possible, which would beat any ace high flush.