ok, so in my home game we play rotations of dealers choice, which involves playing deuces and/or Jokes wild!!

my opinion is that 5 of a kind is the strongest hand, and will beat a royal flush.

so im asking you people, if you were playing in a game with wild cards, how would you rank the hands?

all ideas and explanations welcome.

In my opinion 5 of a kind is an imaginary hand, in normal play it doesn't exist and imo that diminishes it's hand strength. So a royal would be stronger because it can be made under normal circumstances and because it's also more likely for me to get a date with Kate Upton than to get a royal. BUT, I think where it gets tricky is how the Royal is constructed, if it's constructed by using a wild that, to me, also diminishes it's strength. So my ranking would be as follows:

Royal flush - made without wild cards
5 of a Kind
Royal flush - using wild cards

A secondary reasoning for this is because in video poker 4 of a kind made with the 4 actual cards pays out higher than 3 of a kind with a wild.

thanks for the reply.

i even tried to implement the fact that natural hands beat wild-card-made hands..

personally i hate wild card games. gives an edge to lesser skilled players.. anyone can then pickup 2 wilds, and win.

i think by adding the 5oaK as the best hand, it will make it more interesting..

I feel like this goes without saying in normal wild card games. If this point is being fought I would move to take wild card options out of the rotation.

The bold is not true. In fact, the opposite is. Players that adjust properly to wilds have a big edge.

When we play with wild cards... 5 of a kind beats a straight flush, which beats 4 of a kind.

There are no considerations given to the number of wild cards used.

Wild cards are permitted to be any card not already in the players hand.

thats my thoughts exactly. i just cant geteveryone else in the game to agree.
people think that royal flush beats everything in wild games. period.
i tried to explain that a wild card game is a non-natural game of sorts, and that 5 of a kind can be a legit hand, thus beating a royal.


ive tried to get the wild games removed, but coz its dealers choice, everyone has the right to chose.
when i first wanted to play 7card stud, everyone freaked out.. and dont get me started on omaha hi lo.
but the game has accepted many different games, so now its running ok. even 2-7 gets a run!!

just need to fix this wild card hand ranking and get it enforced.

In the past, I've played games with different 'house rules' than I do currently.

One 'house' didn't recognize 5 of a kind.

Another 'house' only allowed wild cards to play with the natural cards... even with 5 wilds, you didn't have 5 aces unless you also had a natural Ace.

No big deal, as long as everyone understands up front.

In a wild card game that does not use jokers as wilds, a royal flush is less likely than 5 of a kind. Does this mean it should rank higher? Probably not... since a royal flush is really just a specific straight flush (the highest one possible) it should be treated as such instead of making a special case for it. A straight flush is much more likely than 5 of a kind.

WAAAAYYYY back in the riverboat days, weren't there five suits for a period of time? Something like Eagle, as the fifth suit?

Five of a kind would be a 'natural' hand, in that case.

Hand strength should be based on rarity of occurance, not perceived naturalness..... with the limitation of ignoring hands such as 75432 as a "monster."

Using 2 wild cards:

13 5K hands (2-Ace) vs. 4 RF hands (one per suit)

One five of a kind = ((6*5*4*3*2)/5!) = 6 ways with wild cards
AAAAW1
AAAAW2
AcAdAhW1W2
AcAdAsW1W2
AcAhAsW1W2
AdAhAsW1W2

One royal flush = (7*6*5*4*3)/5! = 42 ways with wild
1 natural, 5 with W1 subbing for each card, 5 with W2 subbing, and then all of the two-card subs (42 total seems wrong here.... how can there be an odd number of 2-card subs? Am I double-counting the natural?)

So, if I've done this correctly, 78 five of a kinds vs 168 RFs ?


I personally like the Royal > 5k > Straight flush setup, myself

im glad u added the math.
i can use this to support my argument.

i dont see how u can seperate a royal from a normal str flush. the are the same thing.

i see it as 5k -> royal/straight flush

Hadn't heard that. They used the French deck (because they were originally a French colony) which has only had 4 suits for ages.

Plus the game they played back then was 20 card straight poker which is only played with the cards T-A and has to have exactly 4 players who get dealt 5 cards each. An extra suit would mean there would have to be 5 players. Maybe some places added other suits for exactly this reason, to allow more players in the game... but I've never heard of another suit being standard during those times.

If it is truly "your" Home Game, then you get to establish the House rules, no? The games I have played in that allow BS poker (wild cards) ALL rank five of a kind higher than the Royal Flush. You can establish the "natural" over "wilds" as a means of avoiding split pots, if you like.

I agree with this. lesser skilled players can not adjust their game for wild card play.