What Is Four of a Kind in Poker?

Four of a kind — universally called “quads” — is a hand made of all four cards of a single rank, plus one unrelated card known as the kicker. An example is K♠ K♥ K♦ K♣ 9♠: four kings with a nine kicker. It ranks third on the poker ladder, beaten only by the straight flush and its top form, the royal flush. Because you need every copy of a rank in the deck, quads is one of the rarest hands you’ll ever make.

Where four of a kind ranks

Quads is the third-strongest hand in poker, behind only the two straight-flush hands. Here’s the top of the ladder:

Only two hands beat quads, both straight flushes. For the full picture of what tops it, see what beats four of a kind. For the complete order, visit the hand rankings hub.

How rare is it? The combinatorics

Poker ranks hands by rarity, and quads is rare because it uses up an entire rank. To count every four-of-a-kind hand:

• Pick the rank for the four cards: 13 ways (aces through kings).
• The four cards of that rank are fixed — there’s only one way to take all four.
• Pick the fifth card (the kicker) from the remaining 48 cards.

That gives 13 × 48 = 624 four-of-a-kind hands. Out of the 2,598,960 possible five-card hands, that’s about 1 in 4,165, or roughly 0.024 percent. Only straight flushes (40 in total) are rarer among the standard categories.

The kicker matters (sometimes)

Four of a kind is completed by four cards, leaving one slot for a fifth card — the kicker. In most one-on-one deals the kicker never comes up, because two players almost never hold the same quads. But in shared-card games like Hold’em, the board can give everyone the same four of a kind, and then the kicker decides.

A worked hand

The board reads 9♥ 9♦ 9♠ K♣ 4♥ in Texas Hold’em.

• Player A holds 9♣ 2♦ → best five: 9♥ 9♦ 9♠ 9♣ K♣ = quad nines with a king kicker.
• Player B holds K♦ K♠ → best five: K♦ K♠ K♣ 9♥ 9♦ = kings full of nines, a full house.

Player A’s quads crush Player B’s full house. This is the classic “boat over” cooler flipped — the full house looks huge until the fourth nine lands. Four of a kind beats a full house every time. Player A wins.

What quads beats and loses to

• Beats: full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, and high card — everything below it.
• Loses to: straight flush and royal flush only.

That makes quads a near-lock. In a typical no-wild-card game you can play it fast and hard; the only hands that top it appear so rarely that folding quads is almost never correct. The exception is a board that clearly threatens a straight flush — a rare spot, but worth a glance before you commit your whole stack.

Quick summary

• Four of a kind = quads: all four cards of one rank plus a kicker.
• Ranks third — only straight flushes and royal flushes beat it.
• 624 combinations, about 1 in 4,165 hands — one of the rarest categories.
• The kicker only matters when the board makes the same quads for everyone.
• Nickname: quads (quad aces, quad kings, and so on).

Bottom line

Four of a kind is one of poker’s monster hands — four of one rank, a kicker on the side, and a place near the very top of the rankings. It beats everything except the two straight-flush hands, and at 1 in 4,165 you’ll savor it when it comes. See exactly what can top it in what beats four of a kind, study the full order at the hand rankings hub, and take it to the Texas Hold’em tables.