when does the kicker matters in Texas Hold'em?

Question

I know it matters when both players have the same pairs.

Does it matter when both players have 3 of a kind?

What about a flush where the highest of the suit is in the community cards?

What if both have 2 pairs?

Answer 1

In Texas Hold'em you use your two hole cards (the cards face down in your hand) and the five board cards (the cards face up that everyone uses) to make up your best FIVE CARD poker hand.



In your examples:

When both players have 3 of a kind - Say the board is 77432, and you and your opponent both have a 7. You have 78 and he has 79. In that case your hand (the best FIVE CARD poker hand) would be 77784, and his would be 77794, so he would out kick you.



If their were two board cards that were higher than both yours and your opponents other hole card, then you would split the pot with the same five card poker hand. For example, if the board were 67789, and you had 72 and your opponent had 73, both you and your opponents hand would be 77789.



With a flush on the board, same principle. Make your best 5 card hand. If you do not have any of that suit in your hand, then you are just using the board cards for you hand. If you do have one, and it is higher than the lowest card on the board, you will use the card in your hand and not the one on the board.



Example, if the board were 35679 all hearts, and you have no hearts, you have a 35679 flush. If you opponent had the 4 of hearts in his hand, he'll have the 45679 flush, one notch higher than yours.



With two pair, same thing. If you have the same two pair as your opponent, only if you have a higher hole card than is on the board will you be able to out kick your opponent. And vice versa. If their is a card on the board which is higher than both you and your oppoents kicker, then you will split the pot.



Any questions?



Dan

Answer 2

The kicker plays when both players have the exact same main hand. Also, Kickers are only used when the main hand is less than 5 cards (i.e. pair, 2 pair, 3 of a kind etc.)





Therefore, if both players have the SAME 3 of a kind or if the players both have the SAME two pairs, then yes, the kicker does play.



However, in the case of the flush, there is no "kicker" since the definition of kicker is that it is unrelated to the main hand. Therefore, with a flush (or any 5 card hand), you compare each players cards, in order of rank, and the first player with the higher card wins.



For example: The board has 5C, 7C, KC, 2C, and 9H. Player 1 has 3C, 8C and player 2 has QC, QD. Both players have a King high Flush, but player 2 has the higher 2nd card (Q vs 8) and wins the hand.

Answer 3

Kicker cards only matter when the players have the same hand (for example, both have a pair of 7s, or both have trip 8s). Remember that in Hold'em, only the best five card hand plays, so the kicker may be the same for both players, especially if there are high cards on the board.

Answer 4

It's pretty simple. In Texas Hold Em you always play the best 5 cards using your two cards and the 5 on the board.



The only time kickers don't come into affect is when both of you are using at least 4 cards off the board to make your hand.

Answer 5

in texas you win when you have the better-highest- combination.

ill give you examples on the cases you asked

3 of a kind:

your hand: 23

opponent hand: A3

board: 593 3 J

your combination will be: J9333

the opponents combination will be: AJ333

he wins having the best combination

for the flush with the highest card in the community the case will be the second highest card , if its also in the combiantion then you should be looking at the third etc..

for the other cases its the same think about 5-card combination

Answer 6

haha

i had the same question, and a long time, no one could answer me properly

but the simple answer is:



"You can only have five cards max"

so, kickers apply for pairs, two pairs, trips, and fourofakinds

example:

you have 56789 straight, with King kicker

opponent has 56789 straight too, with Queen kicker

its split pot, because kickers dont come into play



If the highest card is in the community, then you go to the "runner-up" card, assuming you havent maxed out the 5-card rule

Answer 7

If matters everytime someone has an identical hand, i.e. Let's say in the community pile is a Royal Flush of spades, Player one has 8 of spades and ace of diamonds, player two has 9 of spades and 2 of hearts, player two would take the pot since he has the highest spade. But if they both had two pair say K/J, and one player had an ace, that player would take it