One Pair is two cards of one rank plus three unrelated cards, the kickers. It is the ninth strongest hand in the poker hand rankings and the second weakest, above only High Card.
How it works
Two cards share a rank and the remaining three do not combine into anything. Pairs are easy to make with seven cards, so this is the hand that decides most pots in Texas Hold’em. Top pair, second pair and pocket pairs all land here. The winner is usually settled on the kicker.
What beats one pair
Eight hands beat One Pair:
- Two Pair - two cards of one rank plus two of another, 123,552 combinations.
- Three of a Kind - three cards of one rank, 54,912 combinations.
- Straight - five cards in sequence, 10,200 combinations.
- Flush - five cards of one suit, 5,108 combinations.
- Full House - three of a kind plus a pair, 3,744 combinations.
- Four of a Kind - four cards of one rank, 624 combinations.
- Straight Flush and Royal Flush - 36 and 4 combinations.
Only High Card loses to One Pair.
Does one pair beat high card?
Yes. A pair is the lowest made hand, and High Card is what you are left with when nobody has made anything at all. That single matched rank is enough to win the pot against a hand with no combination.
The kicker decides
When two players hold the same pair, the pot goes to the highest remaining card, the kicker. A pair of Jacks with an Ace beats a pair of Jacks with a Nine. If the kickers match too, the next card is compared, and so on.
There are 2,860 distinguishable One Pair hands: thirteen ranks for the pair times the 220 rank triples left for the kickers. That is more than any other hand has, which is why the kicker settles more pots here than anywhere else.
Hence the practical point about hands like A-J or K-J. When you hit your pair, the second card separates you from the same pair with a weaker side card.
Probability
There are two ways to count it, but One Pair is the one hand where they almost agree.
- In a five-card deal: 1,098,240 combinations out of 2,598,960 - that is 42.2569%, or about 1 in 2.37.
- In seven-card Hold’em: 58,627,800 out of 133,784,560 - that is 43.8%, or about 1 in 2.28.
The five-card number comes out like this:
- 13 ranks for the pair x 6 ways to pick two suits from four;
- 220 rank triples for the kickers x 64 suit arrangements;
- 13 x 6 x 220 x 64 = 1,098,240.
Every other hand moves by multiples between the two counts. A Full House lands 18 times more often out of seven cards, a Straight 12 times. One Pair shifts by 4%. In Hold’em it also becomes the most common category of all, overtaking High Card.