Poker Ace Straight

Posted on 7/16/2022 by admin

Steel Wheel - A five high straight flush.
In the poker community, players often use slang or jargon when discussing poker hands and other aspects of the game. For example, in a Texas Hold’em game, if a player holds Ace-King in their hand, it is commonly referred to as “Big Slick.” Likewise, if a player holds a five high straight, or 5-4-3-2-A, it is commonly called a “wheel,” or a “bicycle.” Similarly, if a player holds a five high straight flush, which is 5-4-3-2-A, all in the same suit, it is known as a “steel wheel.” A steel wheel is a rare and powerful hand. It is the lowest ranking straight flush possible, beating four aces and losing to a six high straight flush.

Note that suits are irrelevant for Ace to Five low. A flush or straight does not ‘break’ an Ace to Five low poker hand. Aces are always a ‘low’ card when considering a low hand. Please also note that the value of a five-card low hand starts with the top card, and goes down from there. Five Low, or Wheel: The Five, Four, Three, Deuce. In poker, a straight is made when we hold 5 cards all of consecutive rank, for example, 56789. Aces can be both high and low for the purposes of creating a straight, but the Ace must either appear at the beginning or end of the hand’s structure. Question 2: Which straight wins in poker?

A hand consisting of A-2-3-4-5. Also called the ace to five straight. While it is not exactly known where the term 'wheel' comes from, it is thought to have somehow come from the popular Bicycle brand playing cards made by the United States Playing Card Company. The term 'bicycle' is a synonym for 'wheel' in poker parlance.
The Ace-high straight flush or royal flush is slightly more frequent (4324) than the lower straight flushes (4140 each) because the remaining two cards can have any value; a King-high straight flush, for example, cannot have the Ace of its suit in the hand (as that would make it ace-high instead).

In most poker games, the ace can play as either a high card or a low card, depending upon the situation. For some new players, this can be the source of some confusion, if they are unclear about when each occurs. Just to clarify, in general, if the Ace is used as a high card in the hand it will also play as a high card. For example, if a player held A-K-Q-J-T, they would have an Ace high straight, and the Ace would play for high. Alternatively, if a player holds 5-4-3-2-A, They would hold a five high straight, and the ace would play as a low card. In keeping with this logic, a steel wheel is considered five high, even though it contains an ace, meaning that it would lose to any higher ranking straight flush.
In split games such as Omaha Hi-Low or Stud Eight or Better, making a steel wheel guarantees that you are going to be getting at least some of the pot, but more will scoop the whole pot. A wheel is the best low hand possible so you will get the low portion of the pot (sometimes you might chop the low with one or more players). Having a steel wheel means you will most likely get the high portion of the pot too unless an opponent has a higher straight flush.
It is exciting to make a steel wheel for several reasons. First of all, it is not an everyday occurrence to make a natural straight flush. In some casinos, if they have a Monte Carlo Board, you may receive a cash bonus just for making the hand. In addition to this, when you make a steel wheel you are usually a lock to win the hand, and you can often win a large pot. This is especially true if your opponent makes a full house or four of a kind; you may only get credit for having a flush, and may get quite a bit of action.
The most exciting thing about making a steel wheel is that it can trigger a bad beat jackpot, if you are playing in a poker room that offers one. Although the qualification for a bad beat jackpot can vary widely depending upon where you play, in most casinos, a bad beat jackpot is triggered when a player has either some type of aces full or four of a kind beaten by a better hand. A steel wheel can be one of the two hands necessary to trigger the jackpot, provided certain conditions are met.
There are typically a number of conditions that must be met for a jackpot to be considered valid. These can vary quite considerably from casino to casino, a fact you should be aware of. One condition that is pretty much universal is that both hole cards must play from both hands. In order for a steel wheel to play both cards, you must play two suited cards from your hand and complete the straight flush with an additional three suited cards from the board. If you play only one card from your hand and four from the board, you would still have a straight flush (provided you are playing Hold’em and not Omaha), but your hand would be ineligible to hit the jackpot.
Some casinos restrict jackpot holdings even further, and require that in the case of a hand containing four of a kind, the player must have a pocket pair. If three of a kind hit the board, and a player held the fourth in their hand, they would not be eligible for the jackpot, regardless of whether their kicker played. This is significant, because a player can make a valid four of a kind, using both hole cards, and not be eligible for the jackpot, simply because their hand did not contain a pocket pair. This condition is highly restrictive, because it nullifies a majority of hands that would otherwise be eligible to hit a jackpot. Since this condition is so restrictive, it often leads to very high progressive jackpot amounts with very large payouts. Many casinos make a decision at the management level to manage their jackpots this way, because they believe that a big jackpot is a big draw to the casino. This is consistent with an industry wide trend toward fewer and larger payouts, away from a greater number of smaller payouts.
Usage: Steel Wheel On The Flop, Straight Flush Wheel
Previous Poker Term: Steaming
Next Poker Term: Straddle

Royal Flush

Ace high Straight Flush.

Ace of Spades King of Spades Queen of Spades Jack of Spades 10 of Spades in a single suit. Also frequently referred to as 'Broadway'.

Straight Flush

Five consecutive cards of the same suit.

Five sequential cards in the same suit. The highest type of Straight Flush is a Royal Flush, and the lowest is an A-2-3-4-5 hand (if Aces are low or high/low). This type of hand is referred to as a 'Steel Wheel'. Other Straight Flushes with special names include:

King of Clubs Queen of Clubs Jack of Clubs 10 of Clubs 9 of Clubs - Off Broadway (because it's shifted down one rank from a Royal Flush, or 'Broadway').

Four of a Kind

One of each suit in a single rank.

Also known as Quads. Many of the Four of a Kind hands have their own nicknames:

King of Clubs King of Diamonds King of Hearts King of Spades - Four Horsemen (of the Apocalypse)
Queen of Clubs Queen of Diamonds Queen of Hearts Queen of Spades - Village People (four Queens)
10 of Clubs 10 of Diamonds 10 of Hearts 10 of Spades - Larry, after Larry Fortensky (four-ten-sky), Elizabeth Taylor's eighth husband
4 of Clubs 4 of Diamonds 4 of Hearts 4 of Spades - Yacht Club (because the 4 resembles a sail)
3 of Clubs 3 of Diamonds 3 of Hearts 3 of Spades - Forest (four 'trees')
2 of Clubs 2 of Diamonds 2 of Hearts 2 of Spades - Mighty Ducks (because the 2 resembles a duck)

Full House

Three of a Kind and One Pair.

A Full House is called as 'X over Y' where X is the Three of a Kind and Y is the Pair (e.g., in a A-A-A-Q-Q hand, you would call it as 'Full House, Aces over Queens').

A Full House is sometimes called a boat or a full boat. When called a Boat/Full Boat, the hand is announced as 'X full of Y' (e.g., the same A-A-A-Q-Q hand would be called a 'Full Boat, Aces full of Queens'). Some Full House hands have special nicknames:

Ace of Clubs Ace of Diamonds 2 of Clubs 2 of Diamonds 2 of Hearts - Marksman (bows and arrows)
7 of Clubs 7 of Diamonds 7 of Clubs 4 of Diamonds 4 of Hearts - Sailing rednecks
3 of Clubs 3 of Diamonds 3 of Clubs 2 of Diamonds 2 of Hearts - Nits and Lice, Mites and Lice

Flush

Five cards of the same suit.

Any five cards, all of which are in the same suit. A Flush all in hearts is referred to as 'Valentine's' while a flush all in clubs is known as a 'Golf Bag'.

Straight

Five consecutive cards.

Five cards in sequential order (but not all in the same suit, or it would be a Straight Flush). Also known as a Run (in many melding/counting games, such as gin and its variants, cribbage, and canasta, a Straight is referred to as a Run, and the name has carried over into poker).

6 of Clubs 5 of Diamonds 4 of Hearts 3 of Spades 2 of Clubs - Rabbit (the lowest Straight Flush if Aces are high)
5 of Clubs 4 of Diamonds 3 of Hearts 2 of Spades Ace of Clubs - Wheel, Bicycle, Bike, Spike, First Street, Little Wheel (the lowest run if Aces are low or high/low)

Three of a Kind

Three cards of the same rank. Also known as Trips, a Set, or Triplets. Three-card combinations that have special names include:

Ace of Clubs Ace of Diamonds Ace of Hearts - Beatles reunion
King of Clubs King of Diamonds King of Hearts - Three Wise Men, Christmas Special (both references to 'Three Kings'), Alabama Night Riders, Ku Klux Klan (KKK is an abbreviation for the Ku Klux Klan, and 'Alabama Night Riders' is a colloquial term used to refer to this group, which has a history of carrying out their acts at night in rural ateas)
Queen of Clubs Queen of Diamonds Queen of Hearts - Six Tits
Jack of Clubs Jack of Diamonds Jack of Hearts - Hart, Schaffner, and Marx (Three Jacks)
10 of Clubs 10 of Diamonds 10 of Hearts - Dallas to Fort Worth (the I-10 connects these two Texas Cities), San Jose to Gilroy, Gilroy, Thirty Miles of bad road (the distance between San Jose and Gilroy, California, used to be 30 miles, although the two cities are now adjoining)
7 of Clubs 7 of Diamonds 7 of Hearts - 21, Slot Machine, Jackpot (all named after results in other casino games like Blackjack and Slots)
6 of Clubs 6 of Diamonds 6 of Hearts - The Devil, The Beast, Lucifer, Devil's Area Code
5 of Clubs 5 of Diamonds 5 of Hearts - Washington Monument, Pork Chop Sandwiches
4 of Clubs 4 of Diamonds 4 of Hearts - Grand Jury
2 of Clubs 2 of Diamonds 2 of Hearts - Huey, Dewey, and Louie (three ducks)

Two Pairs

Two pairs, each with two cards of the same rank. Notable named two pair combinations include:

Ace of Clubs Ace of Diamonds 8 of Clubs 8 of Diamonds - Dead Man's Hand (Arrows and Nooses)
King of Clubs King of Diamonds Queen of Clubs Queen of Diamonds - Mommas and Poppas
King of Clubs King of Diamonds 9 of Clubs 9 of Diamonds - Pair of Dogs (because it's K9K9-- two canines)
Queen of Clubs Queen of Diamonds 3 of Clubs 3 of Diamonds - San Francisco Waiters (Queens with Trays/Treys)
Jack of Clubs Jack of Diamonds 5 of Clubs 5 of Diamonds - Jackson Five (Jacks and Fives), Motown, Rock and Roll
Jack of Clubs Jack of Diamonds 3 of Clubs 3 of Diamonds - Hookers with Crabs (because the Jacks hook and the 3 is like a sideways crab)
9 of Clubs 9 of Diamonds 8 of Clubs 8 of Diamonds - Oldsmobile
9 of Clubs 9 of Diamonds 6 of Clubs 6 of Diamonds - Dinner for Four
3 of Clubs 3 of Diamonds 2 of Clubs 2 of Diamonds - Socks and Shoes, Mites and Lice, Mits and Mites, Nits and Lice

One Pair

Two cards of the same rank. The poker hand that contains a single pair that is the most worth noting is the Princess Leia (an A-A-2-3), so called because the room in which Leia was imprisoned in Star Wars was room A-A-2-3. The best known names given to (pocket) pairs include:

Ace of Clubs Ace of Diamonds - Pocket Rockets, Bullets, American Airlines
King of Clubs King of Diamonds - Cowboys, King Kong
Queen of Clubs Queen of Diamonds - Bitches, Double date, Canadian Aces, Siegfried and Roy
Jack of Clubs Jack of Diamonds - Fish Hooks
9 of Clubs 9 of Diamonds - German Virgin (no, we don't know why.)
8 of Clubs 8 of Diamonds - Snowmen
7 of Clubs 7 of Diamonds - Sunset Strip, Hockey Sticks
6 of Clubs 6 of Diamonds - Route 66
5 of Clubs 5 of Diamonds - Speed limit
4 of Clubs 4 of Diamonds - Magnum, Sail Boat
3 of Clubs 3 of Diamonds - Crabs
2 of Clubs 2 of Diamonds - Ducks

Poker Ace Straight Rules

High Card

While the high card is the lowest possible hand in poker (every poker hand automatically has a 'high card' in it-- the card with the greatest value), it comes into play in some poker variants more than others. Poker rookies often underestimate the value of the high card.

Texas Hold'em, for instance, is frequently referred to as a game of high cards because a player with higher cards always has an advantage. If player 1 holds K-Q and player 2 holds J-10, there are three possible outcomes:

Poker Ace Straight

The flop makes player 1's hand, and player 1 wins.
The flop makes player 2's hand, and player 2 wins.
The flop doesn't make either player's hand, and player 1 wins again.

The player with high cards has a statistical advantage and will win 63% of the time.

Poker Hands Ace Low Straight

Well known nicknames given to pocket hands are:

Poker Straight Ace Low

Ace of Clubs King of Diamonds - Big Slick, Anna Kournikova (looks great, never wins!)
Ace of Clubs Queen of Diamonds - Big Chick
Ace of Clubs Jack of Diamonds - Black Jack, Jack-Ass
King of Clubs Queen of Diamonds - Royalty, Marriage
King of Clubs Jack of Diamonds - Kojak
Jack of Clubs 5 of Diamonds - Jackson Five
Queen of Clubs 3 of Diamonds - Gay Waiter
9 of Clubs 5 of Diamonds - Dolly Parton
Ace of Clubs 8 of Diamonds - Dead Man's Hand (player Wild Bill Hickok was shot in 1876 after winning with it!)
King of Clubs 9 of Diamonds - Canine
Jack of Clubs 4 of Diamonds - Flat Tire