Is there an unbeatable hand in poker? Brent

Answer

The highest value poker hand in a game without wildcards is an Ace-high straight flush, otherwise known as a royal flush. There are four such hands, so while it can't be beaten it could be tied, though the likelihood of somebody else having the straight flush is extremely low. Consider a random draw of five cards the chance of getting a royal flush is about 1 in a 650 thousand. For two players to draw the royal flush is about a 1 in 300 billion chance.

In Texas Hold'em the odds change slightly. For a player to get an ace-high straight flush is about 1 in 30 thousand. Though it is unlikely that such a hand would ever make it to showdown unless the other player has a monster hand. It should be noted that it is not possible for two players to tie with a straight flush in hold'em unless that straight flush is on the board itself.

In games with wildcards and five of a kind beats a royal flush and five aces is the best hand. In a game with just two or four wildcards this would be an unbeatable hand as no other player could have five aces. Games with more wildcards are almost unheard of thus you can rest assured your five aces in such a game is unbeatable. Nonetheless a straight flush in such games is still an extremely good hand -- not something you should be folding.