Three of a Kind in Poker: Rules, Rankings and Examples

Three of a kind is one of the hands where winning Hold’em players make their biggest pots, and where many losing players pay theirs off. A set of sevens on a dry board is close to unbeatable; three eights on the board with an ace-king in your hand loses to any pocket pair. Same hand name, completely different hands. The difference comes from how the three of a kind is made and what the board allows.

This guide covers three of a kind from definition to showdown: how it ranks and how two of them are compared, sets, trips and board trips, and the exact odds in five cards, by each street in Texas Hold’em, for pocket pairs and other hands, at tables of every size, and in Omaha, Short Deck, Seven Card Stud, draw poker and video poker. After that come set mining and set over set, kickers, how strong your three of a kind is on real boards, improving to a full house, worked examples, how to play each kind, showdown rules, common mistakes, a quiz and a quick-reference summary.

Every probability here was calculated by the TopSitesPoker.com editorial team, either exactly, by counting every possible combination of cards, or by large simulations where exact counting isn’t practical. The only exceptions are the video poker frequency and return share, which come from the Wizard of Odds. Each example was checked with a hand evaluator.

What Is Three of a Kind?

Three of a kind is a five-card hand with three cards of the same rank and two other cards of two different ranks, such as 7♠ 7♥ 7♦ K♣ 2♠. It’s named by the rank of the three: that hand is “three sevens.” The two other cards are the kickers, and unlike in a full house, they don’t match each other or the three.

Players use three names for the hand, depending on how it’s made in a community-card game like Texas Hold’em:

• A set is three of a kind made with a pocket pair and one matching board card: 7♠ 7♥ in your hand on a board with the 7♦. It’s well hidden, because the board shows only one seven.
• Trips is three of a kind made with one card in your hand and a pair on the board: A♠ 7♠ on 7♦ 7♣ K♠. Everyone can see the pair, so opponents know three of a kind is possible.
• Board trips means all three cards are on the board, and every player shares them; the kickers decide the pot.

In everyday speech, “trips” is also used for any three of a kind, and in Seven Card Stud, three of a kind in your first three cards is “rolled up.” At showdown, the name doesn’t matter; the cards do.

There are 13 ranks for the three and C(12,2) = 66 combinations of two different ranks for the kickers, so there are 858 different three-of-a-kind hands by rank. Each can be made from 4 × 4 × 4 = 64 combinations of suits, giving 54,912 three-of-a-kind hands among the 2,598,960 possible five-card hands.

Rank among the 858	Three of a kind	Example
1 (the best)	Three aces, king-queen kickers	A♠ A♥ A♦ K♣ Q♥
2	Three aces, king-jack kickers	A♠ A♥ A♣ K♦ J♠
66	Three aces, three-deuce kickers	A♥ A♦ A♣ 3♠ 2♥
67	Three kings, ace-queen kickers	K♠ K♥ K♦ A♣ Q♠
793	Three deuces, ace-king kickers	2♠ 2♥ 2♦ A♣ K♥
858 (the worst)	Three deuces, four-three kickers	2♠ 2♥ 2♣ 4♦ 3♥

Each rank of three of a kind has 66 kicker combinations, so the order runs in blocks of 66. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

The table shows how comparisons work: the rank of the three comes first, and the kickers only matter between hands with the same three. Three aces with the worst possible kickers still beats three kings with the best ones.

 

Three cards of one rank plus two unmatched kickers.

Where Three of a Kind Ranks

Three of a kind is the seventh-best hand in standard poker. The full order is royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair and high card. Here’s how it compares with its neighbors:

Hand	Five-card hands	About once in	Seven-card hands (best five)	About once in
Flush	5,108	509	4,047,644	33.1
Straight	10,200	255	6,180,020	21.6
Three of a kind	54,912	47.3	6,461,620	20.7
Two pair	123,552	21.0	31,433,400	4.3
One pair	1,098,240	2.4	58,627,800	2.3

Exact over all 2,598,960 five-card hands and all 133,784,560 seven-card hands. Seven-card counts are by the best five-card hand. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

In five cards, a straight is more than five times as rare as three of a kind, and two pair is a little more than twice as common. With seven cards, three of a kind and the straight end up almost level: as the best hand, three of a kind comes up only about 5% more often. The ranking still follows five-card odds, so in every standard game a straight beats three of a kind.

What three of a kind beats, and what beats it

• It beats two pair, one pair and high card, every time.
• It loses to a straight, a flush, a full house, four of a kind, a straight flush, a royal flush and a higher three of a kind.
• It ties only with three of a kind of the same rank and the same two kickers. In Hold’em that means the three of a kind comes from the board, or from a board pair both players match.

Three of a Kind Rules: What Counts and What Doesn’t

Three of a kind is easy to recognize, but its neighbors cause mistakes: add a pair and it becomes a full house, add a fourth card and it becomes four of a kind, and in community-card games the question of whose cards make it matters a lot. These rules apply in nearly every standard game:

• Exactly three of one rank. Four of a rank is four of a kind; three of one rank plus a pair is a full house.
• Two kickers complete the hand. The hand is always five cards: the three plus the two highest other cards available.
• The three decides first, the kickers second. A higher three of a kind always wins. With the same three, the higher first kicker wins, then the second. Suits never break ties.
• Hold’em and other board games: you can use two, one or none of your hole cards, so a three of a kind can be a set, trips or the board’s.
• Omaha: you must use exactly two hole cards and exactly three board cards. Even when the board shows three of a kind, two of your cards have to play as the kickers.

At showdown, cards speak: three of a kind wins if it’s the best hand, even if you announce something else, as long as your cards are shown [TDA 13]. To win any part of the pot you’re expected to table all your hole cards [TDA 14, 20], including when the board’s three of a kind plays for you.

Three of a kind or not? Look-alike hands

Cards	Is it three of a kind?	Why
7♠ 7♥ 7♦ K♣ 2♠	Yes	Three sevens with king-deuce kickers
7♠ 7♥ 7♦ K♣ K♠	No, better	The other two cards pair: sevens full of kings
7♠ 7♥ 7♦ 7♣ K♠	No, better	All four sevens: four of a kind
7♠ 7♥ K♦ K♣ 2♠	No	Two pair: two sevens and two kings
Hold’em: 7♠ 7♥ on 7♦ K♣ 2♠ 9♥ 4♦	Yes, a set	Pocket pair plus one board card: three sevens, K-9 kickers
Hold’em: A♠ 7♠ on 7♦ 7♣ K♠ 4♥ 2♠	Yes, trips	One hole card plus the board’s pair: three sevens, A-K kickers
Hold’em: Q♠ J♠ on 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ 5♣ 2♦	Yes, the board’s	Three eights on the board, with your Q-J as kickers
Hold’em: 4♠ 3♠ on 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ Q♣ 5♦	Yes, but the board plays	Your cards are lower than the board’s Q-5 kickers
Hold’em: Q♠ Q♥ on 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ Q♣ 5♦	No, better	The pocket queens and the board queen make queens full of eights
Omaha: 2♣ 3♥ 4♦ 5♠ on 9♠ 9♥ 9♦ K♣ Q♦	Yes, with weak kickers	You must use two hole cards: 9-9-9-5-4, not the board’s K-Q
Short Deck: 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ A♣ K♠ against 10♥ 9♦ 8♣ 7♠ 6♥	Yes, and it may win	Some Short Deck rule sets rank three of a kind above a straight

Each hand checked with a hand evaluator by TopSitesPoker.com, with Omaha hands evaluated using exactly two hole cards and three board cards.

The board-trips rows cause the most confusion. With three eights on the board, everyone still in the hand has three eights, and the pot goes to whoever has the best two kickers, unless someone holds a pocket pair, a card that pairs the board, or the fourth eight. A hole card only counts if it’s higher than at least one of the board’s own two kickers. In Omaha the opposite trap applies: you can’t fall back on the board’s kickers, because two of your own cards must play.

Comparing Two Three of a Kinds

When two players both have three of a kind, compare the rank of the three first: the higher three wins, whatever the kickers. If both threes are the same rank, compare the highest kicker, then the second kicker. If both kickers match too, the hands are identical and the pot is split. Suits never break the tie.

Only two kickers count. A three of a kind is a five-card hand, so with seven cards to choose from, the two cards left over never matter. That’s why a kicker that looks strong can end up not playing at all.

Hand A	Hand B	Winner	Decided by
K-K-K-3-2	Q-Q-Q-A-K	A	The three: kings beat queens; kickers don’t matter
9-9-9-A-4	9-9-9-K-Q	A	First kicker: ace beats king
9-9-9-A-7	9-9-9-A-6	A	Second kicker: seven beats six
9♠ 9♥ 9♦ A♣ 7♠	9♠ 9♥ 9♦ A♥ 7♦	Tie	Same three, same kickers; suits don’t count

Standard high-hand ranking, as used in Hold’em, Omaha, Stud and draw games. The last row assumes shared board cards, as in Hold’em.

 

Only two kickers count, and suits never break a tie.

Three of a kind against three of a kind in Hold’em

In Hold’em, two players can only have three of the same rank when they share board cards: either the board has three of a kind, or it has a pair and both players hold a card of that rank. Then the kickers decide. With different ranks, it’s a set against a set, and the higher set wins:

Board	Player 1	Player 2	Result
7♦ 7♣ K♠ 4♥ 2♠	A♠ 7♠: 7-7-7-A-K	Q♠ 7♥: 7-7-7-K-Q	Player 1 wins on the first kicker
7♦ 7♣ K♠ 4♥ 2♠	7♥ 3♠: 7-7-7-K-4	7♠ 3♥: 7-7-7-K-4	Split pot: neither 3 plays; the board’s K-4 are the kickers
8♠ 8♥ 8♦ Q♣ 5♦	A♠ K♠: 8-8-8-A-K	K♣ J♣: 8-8-8-K-Q	Player 1 wins on the first kicker
8♠ 8♥ 8♦ Q♣ 5♦	A♠ K♠: 8-8-8-A-K	2♣ 2♥: eights full of deuces	Player 2 wins: any pocket pair makes a full house
9♦ 7♦ 2♣ K♠ 4♥	9♠ 9♥: three nines	7♠ 7♥: three sevens	Player 1 wins: set over set

Each result checked with a hand evaluator by TopSitesPoker.com.

The fourth row is the trap of board trips: every player has three eights, and any pocket pair, even deuces, turns them into a full house. The second row shows the other side of kickers: on 7-7-K-4-2, the board’s king and four are the kickers, so a seven with a three makes exactly the same hand as any other 7-3, and the small card in your hand never plays. (A deuce or a four is different: it pairs the board and makes a full house.)

How often does the kicker decide?

Almost always, when three of a kind loses to three of a kind. In our heads-up simulations with both players seeing the river, 99% of the showdowns in which a three of a kind lost to another three of a kind were between two hands with the same three, decided by a kicker. A set losing to a higher set is rare by comparison, because two players rarely both hold pocket pairs that hit.

Suits never break ties

In standard poker, suits have no rank when the pot is awarded. Identical three of a kinds split the pot. If the pot can’t be divided evenly in a flop game, the odd chip goes by position, not suit: under the TDA rules, to the first winning player to the left of the button [TDA 21]. In Stud, it goes to the high card by suit.

Three of a Kind Odds

Three of a kind is the strongest of the common hands: rare enough to win most heads-up pots, common enough to show up every few orbits. Here are the odds for the situations players ask about most, counting hands whose best five-card hand is three of a kind:

Situation	Three-of-a-kind hands	Probability	About once in
Dealt five cards (Five Card Draw before the draw)	54,912 of 2,598,960	2.11%	47.3 hands
Texas Hold’em, by the flop	54,912 of 2,598,960	2.11%	47.3 hands
Texas Hold’em, by the turn (6 cards)	732,160 of 20,358,520	3.60%	27.8 hands
Texas Hold’em, by the river (7 cards)	6,461,620 of 133,784,560	4.83%	20.7 hands
Seven Card Stud (7 cards)	6,461,620 of 133,784,560	4.83%	20.7 hands
Seven Card Stud, “rolled up” in the first three cards	52 of 22,100	0.235%	425 hands
Omaha, by the river (4 hole cards, exactly 2 used)	Simulated	8.78%	11.4 hands
Short Deck, five cards (36-card deck)	16,128 of 376,992	4.28%	23.4 hands
Short Deck Hold’em, by the river	607,200 of 8,347,680	7.27%	13.7 hands
9/6 Jacks or Better video poker, optimal strategy	Sourced figure	7.44%	about 13.4 hands

Exact counts by TopSitesPoker.com, except Omaha (a TopSitesPoker.com simulation of 200,000,000 hands) and video poker (the published figure for full-pay 9/6 Jacks or Better with optimal strategy, from the Wizard of Odds). Short Deck counts treat A-6-7-8-9 as the lowest straight, and Short Deck Hold’em counts hands with three of a kind and no straight, flush, full house or four of a kind. Hold’em, Stud and Omaha figures assume the hand is played to the end.

 

About once in this many hands, counting the best hand. Log scale.

Why seven cards help less than you’d think

For most strong hands, seeing seven cards instead of five multiplies the odds many times over: a straight becomes about 12 times as common, a flush about 15 times. Three of a kind only gets about 2.3 times as common, once in 20.7 hands instead of once in 47.3. The reason is that three of a kind is the hand extra cards most often turn into something better. With seven cards, a three of a kind plus one more pair is a full house, and three of a kind in a hand that also holds a straight or a flush counts as the bigger hand.

That also explains the Short Deck numbers. With only nine ranks, pairs and three of a kinds are everywhere: a five-card three of a kind comes once in 23 hands, about twice as often as in a full deck. In five cards a straight is still rarer, but with the seven cards of Short Deck Hold’em, straights come about twice as often as three of a kind, which is why some Short Deck rule sets rank three of a kind above the straight.

Every rank is equally likely

In five cards, all thirteen ranks of three of a kind are exactly equally likely: 4,224 hands each. With seven cards they stay within about 0.6% of each other, so three aces are no rarer than three sevens. What changes with the rank is how often your three of a kind is beaten by a bigger one, and that depends almost entirely on the board.

Sets: Three of a Kind With a Pocket Pair

The set is the most valuable form of three of a kind in Hold’em. It’s hidden, because the board shows only one card of the rank, and it’s usually far ahead of the one-pair hands opponents play against it. Here are the exact chances for a pocket pair, for a player who sees every card:

With a pocket pair	Probability	About once in
Flop a set (exactly three of a kind)	10.8%	9.3 flops
Flop a set or better (full house or four of a kind)	11.8%	8.5 flops
Have at least three of your rank by the turn	15.5%	6.4 hands
Have at least three of your rank by the river	19.2%	5.2 hands
Finish with three of a kind as your best hand	11.7%	8.5 hands

Exact: two cards of your rank remain among the 50 you can’t see. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

The last row is lower than the one above it because a set often improves. A pocket pair reaches at least three of its rank by the river about once in five hands, but many of those end up as full houses or four of a kind.

 

Two cards of your rank remain among the 50 you can’t see.

Pocket pairs against every other hand

Your starting hand	Share of starting hands	Three of a kind by the flop	By the turn	By the river	Share of all three of a kinds
Pocket pair	5.9% (78 combinations)	10.8% (1 in 9.3)	12.2%	11.7% (1 in 8.5)	14.3%
Any other hand	94.1% (1,248)	1.57% (1 in 64)	3.06%	4.40% (1 in 23)	85.7%
All hands	100% (1,326)	2.11% (1 in 47)	3.60%	4.83% (1 in 20.7)	100%

Exact counts over every flop, turn and river for every starting hand, counting hands whose best hand is three of a kind, including three of a kind on the board. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

Pocket pairs are only 5.9% of starting hands, but they make one in seven of all three of a kinds, and those are the sets. Every other starting hand gets there by matching a pair on the board, or by playing the board’s three of a kind, which is why most three of a kinds in Hold’em are trips or board trips, not sets.

Set mining: the math behind calling with small pairs

“Set mining” means calling before the flop with a small pocket pair mainly to flop a set, and folding when you miss. You flop a set or better 11.8% of the time, so you miss about 7.5 times for every time you hit. To break even, you need to win about 7.5 times your call, on average, every time you do hit: calling $10 before the flop only pays if a flopped set wins you about $75 more on average.

In practice you need more than that. You won’t always get paid when you hit, and sets sometimes lose: heads-up, with both players seeing the river, a set still loses about 11% of the time. That’s why a common guideline is to set-mine only when the effective stacks are around 15 to 20 times the price of the call or more. With shorter stacks, or against opponents who fold too easily after the flop, small pairs lose much of their value.

Set over set

The most famous cooler for three of a kind is two sets on the same flop. When two players each hold a pocket pair, both flop a set or better only 1.04% of the time, about once in 96 flops. When it happens, the lower set is in deep trouble: with 7♠ 7♥ against K♥ K♦ on K♣ 7♦ 2♠, the sevens win only 4.3% of the time, by catching the last seven. In our heads-up simulations with both players seeing the river, a set lost to a higher set about once in 12,000 deals.

How Hold’em Three of a Kinds Are Made

A Hold’em three of a kind can use both of your hole cards (a set), one of them (trips) or none (board trips). Counting every combination of two hole cards and five board cards whose best hand is three of a kind, the split is exact:

How it’s made	Example	Board shows	Share of all Hold’em three of a kinds
A set: a pocket pair and one board card	7♠ 7♥ on 7♦ K♣ 2♠ 9♥ 4♦	One card of the rank	14.3% (1 in 7)
Trips: one hole card and a board pair	A♠ 7♠ on 7♦ 7♣ K♠ 4♥ 2♠	A pair of the rank	57.1% (4 in 7)
Board trips: all three on the board	Q♠ J♠ on 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ 5♣ 2♦	Three of the rank	28.6% (2 in 7)

Exact over all 2,809,475,760 combinations of two hole cards and five board cards; 135,694,020 of them have three of a kind as the best hand. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

The 1 : 4 : 2 split has a simple reason. A seven-card hand whose best hand is three of a kind always has the three plus four unpaired cards. Of the 21 ways to choose which two of those seven cards are your hole cards, 3 give you two of the three (a set), 12 give you one of the three and one other card (trips), and 6 give you two of the four other cards (board trips). Three, twelve and six are in the ratio 1 : 4 : 2.

 

Every seven-card three of a kind splits the same way: 3, 12 and 6 of the 21 hole-card choices.

Why the three kinds play so differently

• Sets are hidden. The board shows one card of the rank, so opponents rarely suspect three of a kind, and they often pay off with top pair or an overpair.
• Trips are visible. Everyone sees the board pair. Anyone with the same rank has trips too, and then the kicker decides; anyone who pairs another board card with a pocket pair has a full house.
• Board trips are shared. Everyone has the same three of a kind, and any pocket pair makes a full house. They’re the weakest of the three, even though they look the strongest.

When does your kicker play?

With trips, your second hole card plays as a kicker exactly half the time. The three of a kind plus the four other cards leaves four candidates for the two kicker spots, and your card is one of the top two in half the cases. With board trips, both hole cards play one time in six, one of them plays two times in three, and neither plays one time in six. So a strong kicker matters most with trips, where it’s the difference between splitting, winning and losing to another player holding the same rank.

How Strong Is Your Three of a Kind?

Whether three of a kind is a monster or a trap depends on how it’s made and what the board allows. Here’s the same hand type on three river boards, counting every hand an opponent could hold:

Board and your hand	What you have	Opponent hands that beat you (of 990)	Hands that tie
Dry, unpaired board: K♠ 7♦ 2♣ 9♥ 4♠
K♥ K♦	Top set, the nuts	0	0
7♥ 7♣	Middle set	6: pocket kings and pocket nines	0
2♥ 2♦	Bottom set	12: any higher set	0
K♦ Q♠	Top pair (for comparison)	105	6
Paired board: 7♦ 7♣ K♠ 4♥ 2♠
A♠ 7♠	Trips with the best kicker: 7-7-7-A-K	18: every full house	3
Q♠ 7♥	Trips: 7-7-7-K-Q	22: 18 full houses and 4 A-7s	3
7♥ 3♠	Trips, kicker doesn’t play: 7-7-7-K-4	50: 18 full houses and 32 better sevens	3
A♥ A♦	Two pair, aces and sevens (for comparison)	96	1
Three of a kind on the board: 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ Q♣ 5♦
A♠ K♠	Board trips, best kickers: 8-8-8-A-K	341: 297 full houses and 44 four of a kinds	9
K♠ J♠	Board trips: 8-8-8-K-Q	477	93
3♠ 2♠	The board plays: 8-8-8-Q-5	957	33
Q♠ Q♥	Queens full of eights	44: any hand with the last eight	0

Exact counts over every possible opponent holding, with a hand evaluator by TopSitesPoker.com.

On a dry board, a set is close to unbeatable: even the bottom set loses only to the 12 hands that make a higher set. On a paired board, trips with a good kicker lose only to full houses, but a weak kicker adds 32 more hands that beat you: the last seven with a better kicker. And on a board with three of a kind, the numbers flip completely: with the best possible kickers, A-K, you still lose to more than a third of all hands, because every pocket pair and every hand that pairs the queen or the five makes a full house.

The lesson is that three of a kind is a strong hand when it’s yours and a weak one when it’s everybody’s. The more of it sits on the board, the more hands beat it.

Paired Boards: When Trips Are Possible

Trips and board trips both need a paired board, so it helps to know how often the board pairs, and how often an opponent holds the card that goes with it. Here’s how often each kind of board appears on each street:

Board	Flop (3 cards)	Turn (4 cards)	River (5 cards)	What it means for three of a kind
No pair	82.8%	67.6%	50.7%	Only a set is possible
One pair	16.9%	30.4%	42.3%	Trips possible for anyone holding the rank
Two pair	—	1.04%	4.75%	Trips possible in two ranks; full houses common
Three of a kind or more	0.24%	0.93%	2.28%	Board trips: everyone has it

Exact over all possible boards of each size. The river’s “three of a kind or more” includes the rare boards that are a full house or four of a kind. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

By the river, the board is paired about half the time. That’s why trips are four times as common as sets in Hold’em: a set needs your own pocket pair, while trips only need one card that matches a board pair, and board pairs are everywhere.

Does anyone else have trips?

When the board pairs, say 7-7 among the five board cards, two sevens are left if you don’t hold one, and one if you do. The chance that at least one of your opponents holds a remaining seven depends only on how many opponents there are. If everyone’s cards were random:

Opponents	You don’t hold a seven: someone has one	You hold a seven: someone has the last one
1	8.8%	4.4%
2	17.2%	8.9%
3	25.2%	13.3%
5	39.9%	22.2%
8	59.0%	35.6%

Exact: 2 or 1 remaining sevens among the 45 cards you can’t see on the river. Calculated by TopSitesPoker.com.

Heads-up, an opponent holds a seven less than one time in eleven, and when you hold one yourself, about one time in 22. At a full table the numbers climb fast, and in a real game the players still in the pot on a paired board are much more likely to hold the rank than a random hand is. That’s the practical reason to respect a raise on a paired board: the math says trips are rare for a random hand, but the betting says the hand isn’t random.

The same logic explains why a strong kicker matters. If an opponent does hold the last seven, you’re tied on the three and the kicker decides. With an ace kicker you usually win or split; with a small one, you usually lose.

Three of a Kind at the Table: How Often, and How Often It Wins

The odds so far describe one player’s cards. At a real table, what matters is how often anyone has three of a kind, and how often it holds up. We simulated 400,000,000 Texas Hold’em deals for each table size from two to nine players, with every player seeing the river.

Players	Someone’s best hand is three of a kind	A set loses to a higher set	All three of a kinds: wins	Splits	Loses
2	1 in 11.5 deals	1 in 11,957 deals	72.7%	3.5%	23.8%
3	1 in 8.3 deals	1 in 4,512 deals	62.5%	2.9%	34.6%
4	1 in 6.6 deals	1 in 2,507 deals	55.8%	2.9%	41.4%
5	1 in 5.5 deals	1 in 1,657 deals	50.6%	3.0%	46.3%
6	1 in 4.7 deals	1 in 1,204 deals	46.4%	3.3%	50.3%
7	1 in 4.2 deals	1 in 930 deals	42.7%	3.6%	53.7%
8	1 in 3.7 deals	1 in 751 deals	39.4%	3.9%	56.7%
9	1 in 3.4 deals	1 in 627 deals	36.3%	4.2%	59.5%

TopSitesPoker.com simulation, 400,000,000 deals per table size, every player seeing the river. “A set loses to a higher set” counts deals in which a set lost at showdown to a higher set. The last three columns include board trips.

Three of a kind is everywhere at a full table: at nine players, someone’s best hand is three of a kind in about 29% of deals where everyone sees the river. The overall win rate looks poor, though, and that’s because of board trips. When the board shows three of a kind, several players share it, and it takes only one pocket pair to beat all of them.

Sets, trips and board trips

Splitting the same simulations by how the three of a kind was made shows three very different hands:

Players	Set: wins	Set: loses	Trips: wins	Trips: splits	Trips: loses	Board trips: wins	Board trips: loses
2	89.3%	10.7%	91.2%	1.3%	7.5%	27.4%	63.1%
3	80.7%	19.3%	83.5%	2.4%	14.1%	11.2%	83.3%
6	62.8%	37.2%	64.9%	5.2%	29.9%	1.1%	97.8%
9	51.4%	48.6%	50.7%	7.3%	42.1%	0.1%	99.7%

TopSitesPoker.com simulation, 400,000,000 deals per table size, every player seeing the river. A set never splits: no other player can hold the same three. Board-trips splits are the remainder.

 

Every player seeing the river; board trips are shared, so any pocket pair beats them.

Heads-up, sets and trips win about nine times in ten. Board trips win only 27% of the time, because the other player also has the three of a kind and needs only a better kicker, or any pair that makes a full house. At a nine-handed table with everyone in to the river, board trips almost never win: some other player nearly always has a pocket pair or a card that pairs the board.

What beats three of a kind

Across all three of a kinds, heads-up, the losses break down like this: a full house 9.6%, another three of a kind 8.5% (almost all of it the same three with a better kicker), a straight 2.5%, a flush 1.9% and four of a kind or better 1.3%. At nine players the full house dominates even more: 25.9% of all three of a kinds lose to one, 10.7% to a straight, 8.2% to a flush, 10.3% to four of a kind or better and only 4.4% to another three of a kind.

What these numbers mean in a real game

Real hands aren’t played with everyone going to the river, and players with nothing fold. So treat the simulations as a picture of how crowded the top of the rankings gets, not a prediction for any single pot. Three practical points follow:

• A set or trips with a good kicker is a hand to bet. Heads-up it wins about nine times in ten.
• The more players, the more respect a paired board deserves. Full houses are the biggest danger to three of a kind at every table size.
• Board trips are a kicker contest, not a big hand. Play them like one pair.

Improving Three of a Kind, and What It’s Up Against

Three of a kind on the flop is rarely the end of the story. It can improve to a full house or four of a kind, and it can be outdrawn by straights and flushes. Here are the exact chances of improving:

Your hand on the flop	Example	Outs to a full house or better	By the river (from the flop)	On the river (from the turn)
A set, on an unpaired board	7♠ 7♥ on 7♦ K♣ 2♠	7 on the turn; 10 on the river if the turn misses	33.4%	21.7%
Trips, with a pair on the board	A♠ 7♠ on 7♦ 7♣ K♥	7 on the turn; 10 on the river if the turn misses	33.4%	21.7%
Two pair (for comparison)	K♠ 7♥ on K♦ 7♣ 2♠	4	16.7%	8.7%

Exact over every possible turn and river, checked with a hand evaluator by TopSitesPoker.com. The river column is for a turn that didn’t improve the hand.

With a set of sevens on 7♦ K♣ 2♠, the last seven gives you four of a kind, and the three remaining kings and deuces pair the board for a full house: 7 outs on the turn. If the turn is a blank, its three remaining cards join your outs, 10 on the river. So a set fills up about one time in three by the river, and that’s its insurance when it’s behind: even against a made straight or flush, a set on the flop still has real chances.

A set against the hands it meets

Here’s how a set, and a few other three of a kinds, fare against common hands on the flop, counted over every possible turn and river:

Flop	Your hand	Opponent	Your chance to win by the river
7♦ K♠ 2♣	7♠ 7♥ (set)	A♣ K♣ (top pair, top kicker)	94.7%
7♦ K♠ 2♣	7♠ 7♥ (set)	A♣ A♦ (overpair)	91.1%
7♦ 8♦ 2♣	7♠ 7♥ (set)	A♦ Q♦ (nut flush draw)	75.4%
7♦ 8♠ 2♣	7♠ 7♥ (set)	10♣ 9♥ (open-ended straight draw)	74.1%
7♦ 8♠ 6♣	7♠ 7♥ (set)	10♣ 9♥ (a made straight)	34.9%
K♣ 7♦ 2♠	7♠ 7♥ (set)	K♥ K♦ (a higher set)	4.3%
7♦ 7♣ 2♠	A♠ 7♠ (trips, ace kicker)	K♥ 7♥ (trips, king kicker)	79.5%
7♦ 7♣ 2♠	9♠ 7♠ (trips)	Q♥ Q♦ (overpair)	91.4%

Exact over all 990 turn-and-river combinations for each matchup, with a hand evaluator by TopSitesPoker.com; ties count as half a win. No cards are folded or known to be dead.

 

Exact over every turn and river; ties count as half a win.

Against one-pair hands, a set is a huge favorite, above 90%. Against draws it’s still about a 3-to-1 favorite, because even when the draw comes in, the set can fill up. Against a made straight on the flop it’s about a 2-to-1 underdog, not dead, and against a higher set it’s nearly drawing dead. Trips with a better kicker win 71.2% of the time against the same trips with a worse kicker and split another 16.7%, mostly when the board pairs again and both players end up with the same full house.

When the flush or straight arrives

If the turn completes an opponent’s draw, the set becomes the one drawing. With 7♠ 7♥ against a made flush on 7♦ 8♦ 2♣ 4♦, the set wins only 22.7% of the time: its 10 outs on the river, the last seven, the three remaining eights, deuces and fours, are all it has. That’s close to the 25% a half-pot bet asks for, and when the set fills up it often wins a big river bet, so it’s rarely an easy fold.

Three of a Kind Examples

These examples cover the three kinds of Hold’em three of a kind, the kicker battles and coolers they lead to, and how Omaha, Seven Card Stud and Five Card Draw change the picture. Every hand was checked with a hand evaluator.

Example 1: top set on a dry board

You hold K♥ K♦ and the board is K♠ 7♦ 2♣ 9♥ 4♠. You have three kings with 9-7 kickers. The board isn’t paired, no flush is possible and no straight fits, so no hand beats you. A flopped top set on a board like this is about as strong as a Hold’em hand gets without being a full house.

Example 2: set under set

Same board, K♠ 7♦ 2♣ 9♥ 4♠. You hold 2♥ 2♦ for three deuces; your opponent holds 7♥ 7♣ for three sevens. Both of you have a set, and the higher one wins. Only 12 of the 990 hands an opponent could hold beat bottom set here, but when both players flop a set, the money usually goes in, and the lower set pays.

Example 3: trips and the kicker

The board is 7♦ 7♣ K♠ 4♥ 2♠. You hold A♠ 7♠ for 7-7-7-A-K; your opponent holds Q♠ 7♥ for 7-7-7-K-Q. The three of a kind is the same, so the first kicker decides: your ace beats their king. With the same board and a Q-7, you’d lose to exactly four hands with three of a kind: the last seven with an ace.

Example 4: one pip decides

Same board, 7♦ 7♣ K♠ 4♥ 2♠. You hold 7♥ 3♠; your opponent holds 7♠ 5♥. Your best five cards are 7-7-7-K-4, because your three is lower than the board’s four. Your opponent’s five is higher than the four, so their hand is 7-7-7-K-5, and they win on the second kicker.

Example 5: board trips and a pocket pair

The board is 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ Q♣ 5♦. You hold A♠ K♠ for three eights with the best possible kickers, A-K. Your opponent holds 2♣ 2♥ and has eights full of deuces. On a board with three of a kind, any pocket pair beats every kicker.

Example 6: board trips, split pot

Same board, 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ Q♣ 5♦. You hold A♥ 4♣ and your opponent holds A♦ 3♣. Both of you have 8-8-8-A-Q: the aces play, the small cards don’t, and the pot is split.

Example 7: the set fills up

You hold 7♠ 7♥ on 7♦ 8♦ 2♣ 4♦, and your opponent has the nut flush with A♦ Q♦. The river is the 8♣, pairing the board: you have sevens full of eights and win. From the turn, you had 10 outs to do this, 22.7%.

Omaha: two of your cards must play

The board is 9♠ 9♥ 9♦ K♣ Q♦. You hold 2♣ 3♥ 4♦ 5♠. In Hold’em you’d play the board’s 9-9-9-K-Q. In Omaha, you must use exactly two hole cards and three board cards, so your best hand is 9-9-9-5-4. An opponent holding A♣ 6♥ 4♠ 3♣ has 9-9-9-A-6 and wins.

Seven Card Stud: rolled up

Being dealt three of a kind in your first three cards happens about once in 425 hands. Ignoring the other players’ cards, rolled-up trips improve to a full house or four of a kind by seventh street 40.2% of the time: 32.0% for a full house and 8.2% for four of a kind.

Five Card Draw: keep the kicker or not?

You’re dealt 7♠ 7♥ 7♦ K♣ 2♠. Drawing two cards, you improve 10.4% of the time: a full house 6.1% and four of a kind 4.3%. Keeping the king and drawing one improves only 8.5% of the time, a full house 6.4% and four of a kind 2.1%. Drawing two is the better play for improving; some players keep a kicker anyway to disguise their hand.

How to Play Three of a Kind

Three of a kind wins most heads-up pots it reaches, but how you play it depends on which kind you have. A set, trips and board trips look alike on paper and play completely differently.

Playing a set

A set is the hand you’ve been waiting for with a small pocket pair, and its biggest strength is that it’s hidden. Opponents with top pair, an overpair or a strong draw will often put a lot of money in against it. On most boards the right approach is to build the pot: bet or raise when you’re likely to get called by worse hands, and don’t give free cards on boards where straights and flushes are possible. Against a flush draw on the flop, a set is about a 3-to-1 favorite, so charging the draw is almost always better than letting it see the turn for free.

On very dry boards, like K-7-2 of three suits, slowing down can make sense, because few hands can call a big bet and few cards can hurt you. The more connected and suited the board, the less a slow play is worth.

Playing trips

With trips, the board pair tells everyone that three of a kind is possible, so your hand is weaker than its name. Two questions decide how hard to play it:

• How good is your kicker? With an ace or king kicker you beat most other trips; with a small kicker, another player with the same rank usually has you beaten or ties you.
• Could someone have a full house? On 7-7-K, anyone with pocket kings, K-7, or a pocket pair that matches a later board card has a full house. When a player who rarely bluffs puts in a big raise on a paired board, trips with a weak kicker are often behind.

Playing board trips

When the board shows three of a kind, everyone has it. Your hole cards only matter as kickers, and any pocket pair beats you with a full house. Treat board trips as a one-pair hand at best: an ace in your hand is worth something, a small card is worth almost nothing, and big bets from opponents usually mean a full house or the fourth card.

Watching the dangerous cards

• A third card of a suit makes a flush possible; a four-card run on the board makes a straight possible with a single card.
• A card that pairs the board gives your set a full house, but it can also give an opponent with trips or two pair a bigger full house, especially when it pairs a higher card.
• An overcard to your set doesn’t hurt it: a set of sevens still beats a pair of aces. It only matters when it gives someone a straight or a higher set.

Before the flop: small pairs and the set-mining rule

Calling with small pocket pairs to flop a set is profitable only when you can win a lot when you hit: you flop a set or better once in 8.5 flops, so you need to win about 7.5 times your call on average when you do. A common guideline is to set-mine when the effective stacks are around 15 to 20 times the call or more. With short stacks, or against players who won’t pay you off, small pairs are much weaker hands than they look.

Three of a Kind in Other Games

Omaha

Omaha’s four hole cards make three of a kind more common: a player who sees the river has it as their best hand about once in 11 hands. But the rule that you must use exactly two hole cards and three board cards changes how it’s made:

• Sets need a pocket pair, exactly as in Hold’em, and they’re beaten far more often: with four cards each, many more players hold pairs, so set over set is a much more common cooler than in Hold’em, and a bottom set is a much weaker hand.
• Trips need one card of the rank and one more hole card. On 7-7-K, a hand with a seven uses it plus one other hole card, which becomes one of your two kickers; the other kicker comes from the board.
• Board trips don’t let the board play. Two of your hole cards must be the kickers. On 9-9-9-K-Q, 2-3-4-5 in your hand gives you 9-9-9-5-4, not the board’s K-Q.

Because full houses are so common in Omaha, three of a kind rarely wins a big multiway pot there. It’s a hand to win small pots with, and to fold when the board pairs and the betting gets heavy.

Short Deck (6+ Hold’em)

Short Deck removes the 2s through 5s, leaving nine ranks. Three of a kind becomes common: once in about 23 five-card hands, and about once in 14 hands for a Short Deck Hold’em player who sees the river. In that game straights come about twice as often as three of a kind, and some Short Deck rule sets respond by ranking three of a kind above the straight; others keep the standard order. Check the rules before you play, because the difference decides real pots.

Seven Card Stud

In Seven Card Stud, three of a kind in your first three cards, “rolled up,” happens about once in 425 hands. It’s one of the strongest starting hands in the game, and ignoring the other players’ cards it improves to a full house or better by seventh street 40.2% of the time. Across whole hands, a player who stays to seventh street finishes with three of a kind as their best hand 4.83% of the time, the same as a Hold’em player who sees the river.

Five Card Draw

You’re dealt three of a kind about once in 47 hands. Drawing two cards improves it 10.4% of the time; keeping a kicker and drawing one improves it 8.5% of the time.

Lowball games

In deuce-to-seven lowball, ace-to-five lowball and Razz, three of a kind is a terrible hand, because pairs count against you and three of a kind is worse than any pair. In hi-lo split games, it can win the high half; the low half is judged separately, with its own five cards.

Video poker

In Jacks or Better, three of a kind pays 3 for 1 and is one of the most common winning hands: with optimal play on a full-pay 9/6 machine it comes up about 7.4% of the time, once in about 13 hands, and it accounts for about 22% of the machine’s total return. The strategy is simple: when you’re dealt three of a kind, hold the three and draw two. In 9/6 Jacks or Better, that’s worth 4.30 credits for every credit bet; keeping a kicker and drawing one is worth only 3.85, because it halves your chance of four of a kind.

Three of a Kind at Showdown and in Promotions

At showdown

• Show all your cards. Cards speak, so three of a kind wins even if you announce “two pair” [TDA 13]. To win any part of the pot, you’re expected to table all your hole cards [TDA 14, 20], and that includes pots where the board’s three of a kind plays for you.
• Read the kickers yourself. When two players have the same three, the kickers decide, and on paired boards it’s easy to miss that a board card outranks your kicker. Check both five-card hands before anything is mucked.
• Watch for full houses. On a board with three of a kind, any pocket pair makes a full house. On a paired board, so does a pocket pair that matches another board card, or a hand with one card of the board’s pair and one of another board rank. Many “three of a kind wins” arguments end with the dealer pointing out a full house.
• Keep your cards until the pot is pushed. Under TDA rules, cards are dead once the dealer pushes them into the muck or they can no longer be identified and retrieved [TDA 15], and most rooms work the same way.
• In flop games, odd chips go by position, not suit. Split pots between identical three of a kinds are common with board trips, and under TDA rules any odd chip goes to the first winner to the left of the button [TDA 21]. In Stud, it goes to the high card by suit.

The TDA rules apply only in events and rooms that adopt them. Many home games and some cardrooms use their own procedures, so check the posted rules where you play.

Promotions and jackpots

Three of a kind almost never wins a high-hand promotion, because over a qualifying period a straight, flush or full house usually turns up. Bad-beat jackpots need much bigger losing hands, typically a high full house or four of a kind. Some side bets, bonus games and room promotions pay for three of a kind, but those payouts are set by the game or the promotion, not by poker’s hand rankings. Check the posted requirements.

Common Three of a Kind Mistakes

Mistake	Example	The fix
Calling three of a kind with a pair on the side a “three of a kind”	7-7-7-K-K	That’s a full house, a better hand
Comparing kickers before the three	K-K-K-3-2 against Q-Q-Q-A-K	The three decides first: kings win
Counting a kicker that doesn’t play	7♥ 3♠ on 7♦ 7♣ K♠ 4♥ 2♠	The board’s K-4 are your kickers; your 3 never plays
Treating trips like a set	Q♠ 7♥ on 7♦ 7♣ K♠	The board pair is visible, and a better seven or a full house beats you
Overvaluing board trips	A♠ K♠ on 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ Q♣ 5♦	Any pocket pair makes a full house; you lose to 341 of 990 hands
Slow-playing a set on a wet board	7♠ 7♥ on 7♦ 8♦ 6♣	Straights and flushes arrive quickly; charge the draws
Folding a set too easily	A set facing a turn bet after a flush card	A set still has 10 outs, 22.7%, and wins big when it fills up
Set-mining with short stacks	Calling 10% of your stack with 4-4	You need to win about 7.5 times the call when you hit; stacks of 15 to 20 times the call are a common minimum
Letting the board play in Omaha	2-3-4-5 on 9-9-9-K-Q	Two hole cards must play: 9-9-9-5-4
Keeping a kicker in draw poker or video poker	7-7-7-K-2	Hold the three and draw two: more improvements, and twice the four-of-a-kind chance
Assuming Short Deck ranks it the standard way	Three of a kind against a straight	Some Short Deck rule sets rank three of a kind higher; check the rules

Each example checked with a hand evaluator by TopSitesPoker.com.

Test Yourself: Three of a Kind Quiz

Ten questions on reading, comparing and playing three of a kind. Decide before you read the answer. Every hand was checked with a hand evaluator.

#	Question	Answer	Why
1	Which wins: K-K-K-3-2 or Q-Q-Q-A-K?	K-K-K-3-2	The rank of the three decides before the kickers
2	What’s the difference between a set and trips?	A set uses a pocket pair; trips use one hole card and a board pair	Both are three of a kind; the set is better hidden
3	Hold’em: the board is 7♦ 7♣ K♠ 4♥ 2♠. A♠ 7♠ against Q♠ 7♥: who wins?	A♠ 7♠	7-7-7-A-K beats 7-7-7-K-Q on the first kicker
4	Same board. 7♥ 3♠ against 7♠ 5♥: who wins?	7♠ 5♥	7-7-7-K-5 beats 7-7-7-K-4; the 3 doesn’t play
5	Hold’em: the board is 8♠ 8♥ 8♦ Q♣ 5♦. A♠ K♠ against 2♣ 2♥: who wins?	2♣ 2♥	Eights full of deuces beats three eights
6	How often does a pocket pair flop a set or better?	11.8%, about once in 8.5 flops	Two cards of your rank remain among 50
7	You flop a set on an unpaired board. How often does it fill up by the river?	33.4%	7 outs on the turn, 10 on the river if the turn misses
8	What share of Hold’em three of a kinds are sets?	1 in 7 (14.3%)	Sets, trips and board trips split exactly 1 : 4 : 2
9	Omaha: you hold 2-3-4-5 and the board is 9-9-9-K-Q. What’s your hand?	9-9-9-5-4	Two hole cards must play, so the board’s K-Q can’t be your kickers
10	Video poker: dealt 7-7-7-K-2 in Jacks or Better. What do you hold?	The three sevens	Drawing two is worth 4.30 per credit; keeping the king, 3.85

Frequently Asked Questions

What is three of a kind in poker?

Three cards of the same rank plus two unmatched cards, such as 7♠ 7♥ 7♦ K♣ 2♠. It’s the seventh-best hand in standard poker, below the straight and above two pair.

Does three of a kind beat two pair?

Yes, always. Three of a kind is more than twice as rare as two pair in five cards.

Does a straight beat three of a kind?

Yes, in standard poker. Some Short Deck rule sets are the exception and rank three of a kind above a straight.

What beats three of a kind?

A higher three of a kind, a straight, a flush, a full house, four of a kind, a straight flush and a royal flush.

What’s the difference between a set and trips?

Both are three of a kind. A set is made with a pocket pair and one matching board card; trips are made with one hole card and a pair on the board. A set is better hidden, and it can’t be tied by another player’s three of a kind.

If two players have three of a kind, who wins?

The higher three wins. If both have the same three, which in Hold’em only happens with board cards, the higher first kicker wins, then the higher second kicker. If everything matches, the pot is split.

Do kickers matter with three of a kind?

Yes, two of them, but only between hands with the same three. With trips in Hold’em, your other hole card plays as a kicker only when it’s among the two highest cards available; on 7-7-K-4-2, a seven with a three plays the board’s king and four.

What are the odds of getting three of a kind?

1 in 47.3 in a five-card hand. In Texas Hold’em, a player who sees every card has three of a kind as their best hand about once in 28 hands by the turn and once in 20.7 by the river. It’s the same 1 in 20.7 in Seven Card Stud and about 1 in 11 in Omaha.

What are the odds of flopping a set?

With a pocket pair, 10.8% for exactly a set and 11.8% for a set or better, about once in 8.5 flops. By the river you’ll have at least three of your rank 19.2% of the time.

How often does a set lose?

Heads-up, with both players seeing the river, a set wins about 89% of the time and loses about 11%, to straights, flushes and the occasional higher set. At nine players with everyone seeing the river, it wins only about half the time.

What is set over set?

Two players flopping sets at the same time. When two players hold pocket pairs of different ranks, both flop a set or better about once in 96 flops. The lower set is then in deep trouble: averaged over every such flop, it wins only about 5% of the time.

What is set mining?

Calling with a small pocket pair mainly to flop a set. Because you flop a set or better only once in 8.5 tries, you need to win about 7.5 times your call when you hit just to break even, so it works best with deep stacks.

What happens when three of a kind is on the board?

Everyone has it, the kickers decide, and any pocket pair makes a full house. With the best possible kickers, A-K on 8-8-8-Q-5, you still lose to 341 of the 990 hands an opponent could hold.

What is “rolled up”?

In Seven Card Stud, being dealt three of a kind in your first three cards. It happens about once in 425 hands.

Is three of a kind a good hand in Omaha?

Less than in Hold’em. Full houses and straights are much more common in Omaha, so three of a kind wins smaller pots and is often beaten in big multiway ones.

What should I hold with three of a kind in video poker?

Just the three. In 9/6 Jacks or Better, holding three of a kind and drawing two is worth 4.30 credits per credit bet; keeping a kicker is worth 3.85.

Three of a Kind: Quick-Reference Summary

Question	Answer
What it is	Three cards of one rank plus two unmatched kickers
How many exist	858 by rank; 54,912 five-card hands
Rank	Seventh: beats two pair; loses to a straight and everything above (some Short Deck rules rank it above a straight)
Comparing two	Higher three wins; same three: first kicker, then second; all equal: split
Set, trips, board trips	Pocket pair plus board card; one hole card plus board pair; all three on the board. They split exactly 1 : 4 : 2
Odds in five cards	1 in 47.3
Odds by the Hold’em river	1 in 20.7 (1 in 28 by the turn)
Flopping a set	10.8% exactly; 11.8% set or better (1 in 8.5)
Filling up	A flopped set or trips: 33.4% by the river, 21.7% from the turn
Set over set	Two pocket pairs both flop a set or better 1 in 96; the lower set wins about 5%
At showdown, heads-up, both players seeing the river	Set wins 89%; trips 91%; board trips 27%
Omaha / Short Deck	About 1 in 11.4 / 1 in 13.7 by the river
Video poker (9/6 Jacks or Better)	Pays 3 for 1, about 7.4% of hands; hold the three and draw two

About This Guide

This guide uses the standard poker hand rankings used in casinos, cardrooms and online, and the TDA 2026 rules (version 1.0, September 7, 2026) where showdown procedure is concerned. House rules, especially on Short Deck, promotions and split-pot procedure, vary, and the rules of the room or site where you play always apply.

Every probability except the video poker frequency and return share was produced by the TopSitesPoker.com editorial team rather than copied from other sources:

• Exact counts: five-, six- and seven-card counts over all 2,598,960, 20,358,520 and 133,784,560 hands; starting-hand, route and kicker figures over all 2,809,475,760 combinations of two hole cards and five board cards; set odds, set-over-set and Stud and draw improvement odds over every possible run of cards; Short Deck over all 376,992 five-card and 8,347,680 seven-card hands; and every example, board, equity and opponent-holding figure over all possible remaining cards.
• Simulations: the Omaha figure from 200,000,000 simulated hands, and the table-size, win-loss and set-over-set figures from 400,000,000 simulated deals per table size, with every player seeing the river.
• Video poker: the hold values are exact over every possible draw. The three-of-a-kind frequency under optimal 9/6 Jacks or Better strategy and its share of the return are published figures from the Wizard of Odds.
• Evaluator checks: every example, look-alike hand, comparison and quiz answer was verified with a hand evaluator, with Omaha hands evaluated using exactly two hole cards and three board cards.

Hold’em, Omaha and Stud figures assume every hand is played to the end. Real players fold often, so three of a kind, and the coolers it runs into, appears less often in real games than these figures suggest.

The Bottom Line

Three of a kind is three cards of one rank with two kickers, the seventh-best hand in poker. The three decides first, the kickers second, and only two kickers ever count. In Hold’em it comes in three forms: the hidden set, the visible trips and the shared board trips, in an exact 1 : 4 : 2 ratio, and they play like three different hands.

A pocket pair flops a set or better about once in 8.5 tries, and a set wins about nine heads-up pots in ten and fills up a third of the time when it’s behind. Trips need a good kicker and respect for full houses; board trips are a kicker contest that any pocket pair wins. Know which one you have before you bet, and you’ll avoid the most expensive three-of-a-kind mistakes.