When we talk about three of a kind in poker we are now in a situation where we can talk about having the “nuts”. This simply means that you have the best possible hand on the board and your hand can’t be beaten - and therefore will not be folding to any bet that is made! Three of a kind is the 4th strongest hand you can make in poker, ahead of a high card, a pair, and two pairs, but behind to straights, flushes, full houses and straight flushes.
However when there are no possible straights and flushes available the highest three of a kind hand will typically win out. There are two different types of three of a kind that you can have, and while they are both have the same value when the hands are turned face up there is certainly one that most players prefer to the other. The first of these two types is what most players would traditionally refer to as three of a kind, and that is when there are two of the same card out amongst the community cards and you have the 3rd of that card in your hand. So if you were dealt KQ and the flop came QQ4 then you would of course have three of a kind. The same rules that apply to one pair will apply to three of a kind with the higher three of a kind beating a smaller one. In the case of a tie the player who has the highest cards to go along with their three of a kind wins.
To illustrate this take a J J 8 4 2 board with the two players having QJ and J7 respectively. Both players have made three of a kind Jacks however the QJ hand will take the pot due to the fact that the Q is the highest card after the three Jacks. The second type of the three of a kind has a special name which is called a “set”. This is when you are holding a pocket pair in your hand, say a pair of 9’s and another 9 comes out on the board. This is the most prefered three of a kind to have in poker for two reasons. The first is simply because of it’s strength. On a board like the J J 8 4 2 like we discussed earlier having J7 wasn’t very good as there were a lot of bigger Jacks(J8 or better) that beat it.
However when you are holding a set, say 99 on a Q 9 7 5 2 board it is not possible for another player to have three of a kind 9’s with a bigger kicker so you can feel a lot safer about your hand. The second reason having a set is a much prefered way of three of a kind is because it disguises the strength of your hand very well. In the first example it is very easy to see that a player could have three of a kind since all they need is to have a J in their hand, however with a set your opponent will not know whether you have a pair, two pair, or three of a kind and so they are more likely to pay off any bet you make with your three of a kind! When you have a pocket pair you flop a set about 1 every 7 and a half times so our advice would be to just be a little cautious with your two pair hands when facing heavy action as three of a kind comes about a little more often than you may have thought!
