Your hand in Rock-leigh poker will be taken from just six cards: the 4 hole cards dealt to you, plus one of the pairs of board cards. This means that you must have at least 3 and preferably 4 well coordinated hole cards to play. It also means that, while it is always preferable to hold cards that have multiple ways of winning, that will be more difficult to accomplish in this game.

The best starting hand you could hope for is 4 of a kind. Unfortunately, it's about a 20,000 to 1 long shot. Excellent realistic starting hands for high includes trips, two pair or four to a straight flush. Each of these are just one board card away from becoming huge hands. Four cards to a flush is also a decent starting hand, while four cards to a straight is typically not worth playing, unless it can be played for low. With the exception of starting with trips, having just 3 cards to these hands will require the help of both cards from one of the board pairs and that is much more difficult. But, if they include multiple possibilities like a pair or 3 low cards, they may be worth playing.

Excellent starting hands for low are obvious: 4 cards of 6 or lower. Such a hand will also include straight possibilities, vulnerable though it is. Having 3 to a flush (including the ace) gives an additional possibility. Click here for playing tips for high-low split.

Probabilities of being dealt hands with 4 cards. This information is useful in games in which you can use 4 hole cards (eg. Rock-leigh, Forty-two, Criss-cross, Hex). These are the probabilities of these hands being dealt as your 4 hole cards. While it is slightly less probable to be dealt a 4 card straight vs a 4 card flush, that does not affect the ranking of your final hand. A flush still beats a straight.

4 Card Hand	Probability
4 of a kind	0.005 %
Straight flush	0.016 %
3 of a kind	0.92 %
Flush	1.04 %
Straight	1.02 %
2 pair	3.04%