Three to a royal

Three to a royal is any three of ten, jack, queen, king and ace in one suit. You are throwing two cards away and most of the time you will end up with nothing, but everything is still live: the royal itself, a straight flush, a flush, a straight, and a pair of jacks or better. Added up, that is worth roughly 1.3 to 1.5 coins for every coin bet, depending on which three royal cards you hold.

That puts it above two holds that feel much more solid. It beats a low pair, and it beats four to a flush — even when the flush draw already contains all three royal cards.

Example: J♥ Q♥ K♥ 3♥ 7♠. Four hearts is right there, but hold only J♥ Q♥ K♥. The three royal cards return about 1.48 per coin bet against 1.34 for the four-card flush. Keeping the 3♥ leaves you drawing one card, and the royal needs two.

It does lose to a high pair, and that is the call to watch. J♥ Q♥ K♥ K♠ 7♦ is a pair of kings — 1.54 against 1.49 for the royal draw. Close, but the pair wins.