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Odds of quads, a full house and two pair

Question

Five cards are dealt from a shuffled standard deck. Find the probabilities of being dealt (a) four of a kind, (b) a full house (three of one rank and two of another), and (c) exactly two pairs.

Short answer

(a) 6242,598,960≈0.00024\tfrac{624}{2{,}598{,}960}\approx0.00024; (b) 3,7442,598,960≈0.00144\tfrac{3{,}744}{2{,}598{,}960}\approx0.00144; (c) 123,5522,598,960≈0.0475\tfrac{123{,}552}{2{,}598{,}960}\approx0.0475. Counts: 13⋅4813\cdot48 for quads; 13(43)⋅12(42)13\binom43\cdot12\binom42 for a full house; (132)(42)2⋅44\binom{13}{2}\binom42^2\cdot44 for two pair, all over (525)\binom{52}{5}.

Adapted from Zhou, A Practical Guide to Quantitative Finance Interviews, sec. 4.2 Combinatorial Analysis, 'Poker hands', p.64; question and answer rewritten by SelfMadeQuant.com.

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