Question for the poker players re full houses.

My family had a floating poker game, where every weekend the game would be at another relative's house. 99% of my poker-playing experience was playing in that family game where the game was stud or draw. We never played wild cards and we never played Texas Hold 'Em, which was called Spit in the Ocean back then (and considered a game for the ladies and kids, like anything with wild cards. How times change, huh?).

Anyway, if someone got a full house, let's say three aces and two 10s, it would be announced as "aces full". Three queens and two 4s would be "queens full", and so on; the 3-of-a-kind was the one that was mentioned because in stud poker there was no way anyone else could have the same 3-o-a-k and the pair's rank was inconsequential.

Now when I watch poker tournaments on TV and they're playing Hold 'Em, I notice the player will say, "Tens full of aces" or "Fours full of queens", which sounds backwards to me.

Is it because in Hold 'Em there can be duplicate 3-of-a-kind hands because of the community cards and the pair is more important because it will be the tie-breaker? Or did my father teach me the terminology backwards and I've been saying it wrong for the last 60 years?

For your games, the announcement is correct, and yes, its because of the community board, that the FH is announced different, and not usually pairs first. Announcement varies a bit... so whatever is clear is always recommended. Aces over 10's is NOT recommended as it also means two-pair. Aces full over 10's is better.

Quote: tsmith

Is it because in Hold 'Em there can be duplicate 3-of-a-kind hands because of the community cards and the pair is more important because it will be the tie-breaker? Or did my father teach me the terminology backwards and I've been saying it wrong for the last 60 years?

What TV poker show are you watching? If it's one of the regional ones, they probably are just getting it backwards. Remember, a lot of these are done by sports commentators who know as much about poker as a 4-year old. And that could be offensive to 4-year olds.

You are saying the terminology correctly. Aces full, means A-A-A + the pair. Even if there is 3-of-a-kind on the board, it's still aces full... aces full of kings, beats aces full of queens, etc.

Quote: tsmith

Now when I watch poker tournaments on TV and they're playing Hold 'Em, I notice the player will say, "Tens full of aces" or "Fours full of queens", which sounds backwards to me.

Just to be clear, when you heard the player say, "Tens full of aces", was the hand he was describing, "T,T,A,A,A"?

If so, I have never heard the hand described this way.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I could swear I've heard that exact hand T,T,A,A,A described that way, if not by the player then by the game's play-by-play guy.

Maybe it's the "full of" part that's throwing me off, since we never said it that way, as I said before. We just said "aces full" without the "of" anything part because in stud it didn't matter what the pair was.

I'll do some youtube surfing and see if I can come up with anything.

Quote: tsmith

Maybe I'm wrong, but I could swear I've heard that exact hand T,T,A,A,A described that way, if not by the player then by the game's play-by-play guy.

Maybe it's the "full of" part that's throwing me off, since we never said it that way, as I said before. We just said "aces full" without the "of" anything part because in stud it didn't matter what the pair was.

I'll do some youtube surfing and see if I can come up with anything.

The, "T,T,A,A,A" hand would correctly be described as, "Aces full of Tens". To call it "Tens full of Aces" would not be accurate. In community card games, the, "full of..." part is important for the reason you previously stated.

AyeCarumba is correct pursuant to standard usage. If a container is, "Full of," something that means that it is holding it. The three cards, in this case, serve as the container in which the two cards are being held. If the two cards were holding the three cards, then that would be an imbalance. The container would be holding greater than its availability which would result in an overflow. The presentation of A-10-A-10-A is balanced and shows that the Aces are containing the Tens in a manner that would not cause such an overflow as the volume of the container is capable of holding its contents.

I've never heard it put quite that way before.

It's not that I do not understand the concept of a full house; I've been playing poker my whole life. I'm simply questioning whether someone else might be describing the hand incorrectly.