Texas Holdem Poker Kicker Rules
A kicker is a card in poker that decides the winner if two or more players are tied with the same hand rank. A player with AK will outkick an opponent’s AQ on a AJ932 board. Both players have a pair but AK has the better 5-card hand of AAKJ9 vs AAQJ9 where the K/Q, J, and 9 count as kickers. A kicker may also be retained in order to deceive an opponent, for example, to represent a three-of-a-kind when the player has only a pair. Kickers in Texas hold 'em Edit Kickers take on special importance in Texas hold 'em, because a common winning hand is one card in a player's hand matched with a card on the board, while the player's second.
All poker played on our website (except for Badugi) is considered a 'five-card' game, in that a poker hand is the best five cards you can put together. In Hold'em, for example, you must make your best five-card hand using any combination of community cards (displayed on the board or table) and hole cards (the cards you actually are holding). In Badugi, players make the best four-card hand.
Some hands (like three of a kind) still need five cards to qualify as a complete hand. To fill out the hand, the best remaining unpaired cards are played as 'kickers', in which higher ranking kickers beat lower ranking kickers. If both players play the exact same five-card hand, the hand is a tie and the pot is split.
Here are a couple of examples that should illustrate the concept more clearly:
- You: J7
- Him: J6
- Board: J552A
- Your Hand: JJ55A
- His Hand: JJ55A
You each play the jack in your hand and the J55A from the board, which results in you both having two pair, jacks and fives. You each are playing only one hole card (the jack), and four board cards. You each have an ace kicker from the board, and this results in a split pot. Your 7 does not come into play at all, as it cannot help improve your best FIVE-CARD hand (it would be a sixth card).
If, however we had:
- You: J7
- Him: J6
- Board: J5524
- Your Hand: JJ557
- His Hand: JJ556
Texas Holdem Poker Kicker Rules Printable
Here, you each would play your hole card kickers, because they are better than the 4 on the river. Now the 4 on the river does not actually factor into play, and your two pair 'outkicks' your opponent's two pair by virtue of your better card (kicker).
Whether the pot is split or won outright comes down to whether your hole card actually plays; whether it is better than any other card on the board that could make a better hand than your kicker.
Texas Holdem Poker Kicker Rules Pdf
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A kicker, also called a side card, is a card in a pokerhand that does not itself take part in determining the rank of the hand, but that may be used to break ties between hands of the same rank.[1][2] For example, the hand Q-Q-10-5-2 is ranked as a pair of queens. The 10, 5, and 2 are kickers. This hand would defeat any hand with no pair, or with a lower-ranking pair, and lose to any higher-ranking hand. But the kickers can be used to break ties between other hands that also have a pair of queens. For example, Q-Q-K-3-2 would win (because its K kicker outranks the 10), but Q-Q-10-4-3 would lose (because its 4 is outranked by the 5).
Kickers in draw poker[edit]
The term is also used in draw poker to denote an unmatched card (often an ace) retained by a player during the draw in the hope that either it will be paired on the draw, or else play as a kicker (in the first sense) on the showdown. A kicker may also be retained in order to deceive an opponent, for example, to represent a three-of-a-kind when the player has only a pair.
Kickers in Texas hold 'em[edit]
Kickers take on special importance in Texas hold 'em, because a common winning hand is one card in a player's hand matched with a card on the board, while the player's second card acts as a kicker. For example, if one player holds A-8, a second player holds A-7, and the board isA-K-6-5-4, the player with the A-8 will outkick the player with the A-7, since A-8's best hand is A-A-K-8-6, while the A-7's hand is A-A-K-7-6.However, if the board held A-K-Q-J-3, the players would tie, because both would play the hand A-A-K-Q-J; in this case it is said that the players' kickers 'don't play', or that the 'kicker on the board plays'. In this case, there would be a split pot.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Krieger, Lou (2006). The Poker Player's Bible. Struik. p. 249. ISBN978-1-77007-469-9.
- ^Wolpin, Stewart (1990). The Rules of Neighborhood Poker According to Hoyle. New Chapter Press. p. 335. ISBN978-0-942257-19-9.