Texas Holdem Glossary. Newcomers to Texas holdem often get confused by some of the colorful slang and jargon used at the tables. Weve put together this lengthy and (hopefully) comprehensive Texas holdem terms page to provide definitions for some of the words and phrases you might not be familiar with. If no one has any of the above winning hands, the tie is determined by the highest value card in the hand. If the highest cards are a tie then the tie is broken by the second highest card. Suits are not used to break ties. Once you know the rules of the game, and the hand-ranks, youre ready to dive into real money online poker!
How To Break Ties In Texas Holdem Game
How To Break Ties In Texas Holdem Rules
How To Break Ties In Texas Holdem Tournaments
If youre a beginning poker player and want to learn not only
which hands beat which hands, but how to read the board and
possible hands while playing Texas holdem, youve found the best
page available to help.
While its important to understand how each hand ranks in
comparison to others hands its equally important to understand
how to read the board of community cards, how to read possible
draws, and how to read what hands your opponents may be holding.
Each of these subjects is covered below.
New players should make sure to read each section in order
below. But if you already know how to play poker and are
familiar with the rank of poker hands you can skip to the
sections following the hand rankings section. But its never a
bad idea to refresh your knowledge and it only takes a couple
minutes to read the extra sections. Texas Holdem Hand Rankings
The following list is ranked from highest five card hand to
lowest five card hand. Start reading from the top down and the
first hand you find that a player holds is the winning hand. See
how to break ties below the hand rankings.
Remember that you always make your best five card hand out of
the two hole cards and five community cards. You can use both of
your hole cards and three community cards, one hole card and
four community cards, or just the five community cards, but you
always use exactly five cards to make a hand.
Royal Flush
A royal flush consists of an ace, king,
queen, jack, and ten of all the same suit. In other words,
an ace high straight thats also a flush is a royal flush.
An example of a royal flush is the ace of clubs, king of
clubs, queen of clubs, jack of clubs, and ten of clubs.
Straight Flush
A straight flush is a straight and a
flush that isnt ace high. Straight flushes can be anywhere
from king high down to five high. Two examples of straight
flushes are king of spades, queen of spades, jack of spades,
ten of spades, and nine of spades or the five of hearts,
four of hearts, three of hearts, two of hearts, and ace of
hearts. In the case of the second example, the ace is
counted as a one, or the lowest card in the deck. So if a
straight using an ace as a one is in a tie the ace is always
used as a low card for tie purposes, not high.
Four of a Kind
A four of a kind includes all four
cards of the same rank in the deck. The fifth card doesnt
matter. An example of four of a kind is eight of spades,
eight of hearts, eight of clubs, and eight of diamonds.
Full House
A full house consists of three of a kind
and two of a kind. An example of a full house is the jack of
clubs, jack of diamonds, jack of spades, seven of hearts,
and seven of spades.
Flush
A flush has all five cards the same suit. The
rank of the cards doesnt matter as long as all five cards
are the same suit. Any five hearts is a flush or any five
clubs, etc.
Straight
A straight has five cards in sequential
order. The suits dont matter in a straight.
Three of a Kind
Three of a kind consists of three
cards of the same rank. Example of three of a kind hands
include a hand with three jacks or a hand with three sevens.
Other names for three of a kind include trips or a set. When
the word set is used it usually means a hand with a pocket
pair and one matching card on the board making three of a
kind.
Two Pair
Two pair consists of two different pairs of
matching ranks. Two sixes and two eights is an example of a
two pair hand.
One Pair
One pair is simply two cards of the same
rank. Two nines or two aces are examples of a pair.
High Card
A high card hand is one that doesnt have
any of the hands listed above. The highest ranked card is
designated as the high card for the hand. If the highest
card you have is a king you have a king high hand. How to Break Ties
When two or more hands are tied for the highest hand one of
two things must happen. The first thing is you must decide if
one hand is actually higher than the other / s based on a few
simple rules that we cover next.
Moving from the top of the hand rankings above down, in a
Texas holdem game its impossible for more than one player to
have a royal flush unless the royal flush has all five cards on
the board. If all five cards on the board are used in this way
by every player remaining in the hand, all of the players tie.
Its possible for two players to have straight flushes. In
the case of two or more straight flushes, straights, or flushes,
the player with the highest card in her straight or flush has
the highest hand. If one player has a queen high straight and
another has a nine high straight, the player with the queen high
straight wins.
In the event of two or more players holding a full house, the
player with the highest three of a kind has the better hand. If
two or more players hold two pair hands, the player with the
highest pair wins. If each player has the same high pair the
player with the highest second pair wins.
When two or more players have the same high hand of a pair,
or three of a kind, or something similar, the rest of each
players hand is considered. Example
Two players each have a pair of aces for their high hand.
Player A has A A K J 5 and player B has A A J 7 4. Player A wins
the hand because her next highest card after the tied pair of
aces is a king and player B only has a jack. In the event the
Pestana casino park funchal . third card is the same you then compare the fourth card.
If two or more hands have the exact same five card hand then
the pot is split between the winning hands. The suits all have
the same rank as far as value is concerned. Hearts is not worth
more or less than spades, etc. How to Read the Board
When you start playing Texas holdem its important to learn
how to read the board not only to determine what you hold but
also what your opponent could possibly have. This is important
because you dont want to be caught by surprise when you think
you have the best hand and commit a large amount of money to the
pot when another player actually has a better hand. Example
You start the hand with the ace of clubs and the jack of
clubs and the flop has the queen of clubs, nine of clubs, and
ace of diamonds. This looks like a good flop for you because you
have a pair of aces and a chance to hit an ace high flush. The
turn is the two of clubs, completing the best possible flush.
The river is the queen of hearts.
While you still have the best possible flush, when the board
paired on the river it means you no longer have the best
possible hand. Whenever the board pairs it means theres a
possibility that one of your opponents may have a full house.
In the example we just used a player starting the hand with
an ace and queen would have hit the full house on the river. The
same is true for a player starting with pocket nines.
Most of the time in Texas holdem youll still have the best
hand with a flush in these situations, but you always need to
know what the best possible hand is before deciding how much to
risk in the pot.
Other hands to watch out for include possible straights and
boards that have a high likelihood of having two pair.
Good starting hands often have two high cards, so any flop
that holds two or three high cards has a chance to create pairs
or straight possibilities for your opponents who hold high card
starting hands.
Even flops with middle and smaller cards may offer straight
possibilities, especially in unraised pots. In an unraised pot
the blinds get to see the flop for free or a half bet, so even
on a flop with lower cards they may have hit two pair or a
straight draw.
One of the best ways to practice reading the board is by
dealing out hands at home and figuring out every possible hand.
Then start dealing pocket cards for multiple players and play
each one independently in your mind. This way you see many
different pocket cards in combination with the board cards.
If youre still struggling to see all of the possibilities
and hands ask a more experienced player to work with you as you
practice to point out things you may be missing. How to Read Draws
Reading draws kind of goes hand in hand with the last section
about reading the board, but you also need to learn how to
factor in the chances of hitting your draws. Example
If you have four cards to a straight after the turn theres
only a few cards left in the deck that can complete your
straight. If your straight draw is open ended, meaning you can
hit a card on either end to complete it, you have eight cards
left in the deck that can help you.
A hand of seven, eight, nine, ten will complete with any six
or jack. Youve seen your two hole cards and four board cards,
so the deck still has 46 unseen cards. Eight of these cards
complete your straight and 38 of them dont. So the odds of you
completing your straight are 38 to 8. This reduces to 4.75 to 1.
In more simple terms this means that on average if you played
the exact same situation 46 times youd complete your straight
eight times and miss it 38 times.
Of course the actual deck of remaining cards doesnt have 46
cards because the other players have cards, but you havent seen
them so you have to include them as unseen cards in the deck for
your calculations.
You use the odds in combination with your possible draws to
determine if its profitable to bet, raise, check, or fold.
This can become somewhat complicated when you have multiple
ways to make a hand. Usually each possible draw has a different
chance of winning if you hit it. In the example above you stand
a good chance of winning the hand when you hit your straight,
but if you miss your straight but pair one of your cards on the
river youll have a pair, but the odds of it being good are
slim.
Learn how to read all of your possible draws and how to
determine the odds of each draw being successful and winning if
you hit it. This will help you win more often playing Texas
holdem. How To Break Ties In Texas Holdem Game Reading Your Opponents Possible Hands
Continuing the discussion from the last two sections, once
you learn all there is to know about your possible hands and
draws and the odds you can start using the same things to
determine what hands your opponents can possibly hold and their
chance of completing hands that may be able to beat your hand.
Youll need to learn what hands your opponents like to play
and which ones they dont play if you want to get the best
possible reads, but even if you dont know anything about your
opponents you can still make educated guesses based on the
board, what you hold, and the betting action throughout the
hand.
Remember in an earlier section we mentioned that many good
starting hands have high cards. Other popular starting hands
include pocket pairs and suited hands including an ace. As the
level of competition improves the starting hand possibilities
tend to change. Staring hands with an ace and suited small card
are more likely at the lower levels than at the higher levels of
competition.
Look at the list of good starting hands included in the next
section and then compare them with the current board. Which
hands fit with the way your opponent is playing the hand? Dont
forget that not every player will follow the guidelines listed
below.
Some players, especially at the lower levels, play any ace or
any hand with an ace and any card the same suit as the ace.
At lower levels youll often see hands where a player with an
ace and a small off card hit two pair and beat a hand with a
pair of aces and a large second hole card that doesnt pair up.
This may seem like playing better starting hands doesnt pay
off, but in the long run the player starting with ace queen is
going to win more hands than the player starting with ace three.
Its also important to always consider the players in the
blinds. If they get in for free or half a bet they could have
any two cards. Even for a small raise many players wont fold
anything from the blinds because theyre already invested in the
pot.
You need to consider a wide range of things when trying to
guess what your opponents hold, but with practice you can start
narrowing down their possible hands quickly. As you gain more
experience you can get to the point where youll often have a
good idea where your opponents stand in a hand. Youll still be
surprised sometimes because players do all kinds of crazy things
at the holdem table, but the more you know the better youll be
in the long run.
Another big part of reading your opponents possible hands is
watching them play, even when you arent in the hand, and
remembering everything they do. If they have a big pocket pair
do they always raise before the flop? Do they ever bet into a
draw or do they always check and call? Thinking about these
questions and learning the answers to them and others will make
your play more profitable over time. Best Starting Hands
Heres a list of the best starting hands in Texas holdem. The
list is roughly listed from best to worst, but hand values
change somewhat based on the level of competition, the makeup of
the game, and your ability to play well after the flop.
Not all of these hands can be played from every position or
in every game. But if a hand isnt listed here you should avoid
playing it in any Texas holdem game.
Two card hands followed by a small s means suited. For
example, K Q s means a king and queen of the same suit.
As you become a long term profitable Texas Holdem player
youll find situations where you may be able to play a few hands
profitably that arent on the list. You may be able to play 10 9
s or 4 4 from late position profitably in a few games, but dont
even think about trying it until youre already a profitable
player.
On the other hand youll find many games where hands like K J
and below on the list cant be played profitably. As a rule of
thumb, while youre learning how to be a better player, its
always better to be tight than loose. So only play the best
hands while learning how to play.
You also need to understand how position relative to the
dealer button changes the value of starting hands and what you
can and cant play for a profit. We have an entire page
dedicated to position so you should study it to make sure you
completely understand how to use it. Conclusion
Even experienced Texas holdem players make mistakes when it
comes to reading the board of community cards and trying to
determine what their opponents hold. Once you learn what beats
what, you still have a great deal to learn if you want to be a
winning player.
Start by making sure you know the ranking of all of the
possible hands, and then learn how to read the board. Use your
hole cards with the board to determine not only the best hand
you can form, but also the best hand your opponents could
possibly have. How To Break Ties In Texas Holdem Rules
The next step is learning the odds of you hitting your hands
and using this information to determine the best way to play the
rest of the hand. Finally, you can start using all of the things
youve learned to start making educated guesses about what your
opponents have and are drawing to.
Winning Texas holdem players use all of these things and more
on every hand to give themselves the best chance to win. But
dont panic if this seems like a lot to take in at once. You
dont have to learn it all in one sitting. Bookmark or print out
this page and go over it often while youre learning to be a
better player. Then get started playing and practicing. You can play and
practice for free or start at the low levels so you dont risk
much money while youre learning.
Because of the presence of community cards in Texas hold 'em , different players' hands can often run very close in value. As a result, it is not uncommon for kickers to be used to determine the winning hand and also for two hands to tie. A kicker is a card which is part of the five card poker hand, but is not used in determining a hand's rank. For instance, in the hand A-A-A-K-Q, the king and queen are kickers.
The following situation illustrates the importance of breaking ties with kickers and card ranks, as well as the use of the five-card rule. After the turn, the board and players' hole cards are as follows. How To Break Ties In Texas Holdem Tournaments Bob
K Q
At the moment, Bob is in the lead with a hand of Q Q 8 8 K , making two pair, queens and eights, with a king kicker. This beats Carol's hand of Q Q 8 8 10 by virtue of his king kicker.
Suppose the final card was the A, making the final board 8 Q 8 4 A. Bob and Carol still each have two pair (Queens and eights), but both of them are now entitled to play the final ace as their fifth card, making their hands both two pair, queens and eights, with an ace kicker. Bob's king no longer plays, because the ace on the board plays as the fifth card in both hands, and a hand is only composed of five cards. They therefore tie and split the pot.
From Wikipedia's
Texas Hold'em Poker
The Hold 'em Explosion
Rules
Examples
Strategy
How To Break Ties In Texas Holdem Game
How To Break Ties In Texas Holdem Rules
How To Break Ties In Texas Holdem Tournaments
If youre a beginning poker player and want to learn not only
which hands beat which hands, but how to read the board and
possible hands while playing Texas holdem, youve found the best
page available to help.
While its important to understand how each hand ranks in
comparison to others hands its equally important to understand
how to read the board of community cards, how to read possible
draws, and how to read what hands your opponents may be holding.
Each of these subjects is covered below.
New players should make sure to read each section in order
below. But if you already know how to play poker and are
familiar with the rank of poker hands you can skip to the
sections following the hand rankings section. But its never a
bad idea to refresh your knowledge and it only takes a couple
minutes to read the extra sections. Texas Holdem Hand Rankings
The following list is ranked from highest five card hand to
lowest five card hand. Start reading from the top down and the
first hand you find that a player holds is the winning hand. See
how to break ties below the hand rankings.
Remember that you always make your best five card hand out of
the two hole cards and five community cards. You can use both of
your hole cards and three community cards, one hole card and
four community cards, or just the five community cards, but you
always use exactly five cards to make a hand.
Royal Flush
A royal flush consists of an ace, king,
queen, jack, and ten of all the same suit. In other words,
an ace high straight thats also a flush is a royal flush.
An example of a royal flush is the ace of clubs, king of
clubs, queen of clubs, jack of clubs, and ten of clubs.
Straight Flush
A straight flush is a straight and a
flush that isnt ace high. Straight flushes can be anywhere
from king high down to five high. Two examples of straight
flushes are king of spades, queen of spades, jack of spades,
ten of spades, and nine of spades or the five of hearts,
four of hearts, three of hearts, two of hearts, and ace of
hearts. In the case of the second example, the ace is
counted as a one, or the lowest card in the deck. So if a
straight using an ace as a one is in a tie the ace is always
used as a low card for tie purposes, not high.
Four of a Kind
A four of a kind includes all four
cards of the same rank in the deck. The fifth card doesnt
matter. An example of four of a kind is eight of spades,
eight of hearts, eight of clubs, and eight of diamonds.
Full House
A full house consists of three of a kind
and two of a kind. An example of a full house is the jack of
clubs, jack of diamonds, jack of spades, seven of hearts,
and seven of spades.
Flush
A flush has all five cards the same suit. The
rank of the cards doesnt matter as long as all five cards
are the same suit. Any five hearts is a flush or any five
clubs, etc.
Straight
A straight has five cards in sequential
order. The suits dont matter in a straight.
Three of a Kind
Three of a kind consists of three
cards of the same rank. Example of three of a kind hands
include a hand with three jacks or a hand with three sevens.
Other names for three of a kind include trips or a set. When
the word set is used it usually means a hand with a pocket
pair and one matching card on the board making three of a
kind.
Two Pair
Two pair consists of two different pairs of
matching ranks. Two sixes and two eights is an example of a
two pair hand.
One Pair
One pair is simply two cards of the same
rank. Two nines or two aces are examples of a pair.
High Card
A high card hand is one that doesnt have
any of the hands listed above. The highest ranked card is
designated as the high card for the hand. If the highest
card you have is a king you have a king high hand. How to Break Ties
When two or more hands are tied for the highest hand one of
two things must happen. The first thing is you must decide if
one hand is actually higher than the other / s based on a few
simple rules that we cover next.
Moving from the top of the hand rankings above down, in a
Texas holdem game its impossible for more than one player to
have a royal flush unless the royal flush has all five cards on
the board. If all five cards on the board are used in this way
by every player remaining in the hand, all of the players tie.
Its possible for two players to have straight flushes. In
the case of two or more straight flushes, straights, or flushes,
the player with the highest card in her straight or flush has
the highest hand. If one player has a queen high straight and
another has a nine high straight, the player with the queen high
straight wins.
In the event of two or more players holding a full house, the
player with the highest three of a kind has the better hand. If
two or more players hold two pair hands, the player with the
highest pair wins. If each player has the same high pair the
player with the highest second pair wins.
When two or more players have the same high hand of a pair,
or three of a kind, or something similar, the rest of each
players hand is considered. Example
Two players each have a pair of aces for their high hand.
Player A has A A K J 5 and player B has A A J 7 4. Player A wins
the hand because her next highest card after the tied pair of
aces is a king and player B only has a jack. In the event the
Pestana casino park funchal . third card is the same you then compare the fourth card.
If two or more hands have the exact same five card hand then
the pot is split between the winning hands. The suits all have
the same rank as far as value is concerned. Hearts is not worth
more or less than spades, etc. How to Read the Board
When you start playing Texas holdem its important to learn
how to read the board not only to determine what you hold but
also what your opponent could possibly have. This is important
because you dont want to be caught by surprise when you think
you have the best hand and commit a large amount of money to the
pot when another player actually has a better hand. Example
You start the hand with the ace of clubs and the jack of
clubs and the flop has the queen of clubs, nine of clubs, and
ace of diamonds. This looks like a good flop for you because you
have a pair of aces and a chance to hit an ace high flush. The
turn is the two of clubs, completing the best possible flush.
The river is the queen of hearts.
While you still have the best possible flush, when the board
paired on the river it means you no longer have the best
possible hand. Whenever the board pairs it means theres a
possibility that one of your opponents may have a full house.
In the example we just used a player starting the hand with
an ace and queen would have hit the full house on the river. The
same is true for a player starting with pocket nines.
Most of the time in Texas holdem youll still have the best
hand with a flush in these situations, but you always need to
know what the best possible hand is before deciding how much to
risk in the pot.
Other hands to watch out for include possible straights and
boards that have a high likelihood of having two pair.
Good starting hands often have two high cards, so any flop
that holds two or three high cards has a chance to create pairs
or straight possibilities for your opponents who hold high card
starting hands.
Even flops with middle and smaller cards may offer straight
possibilities, especially in unraised pots. In an unraised pot
the blinds get to see the flop for free or a half bet, so even
on a flop with lower cards they may have hit two pair or a
straight draw.
One of the best ways to practice reading the board is by
dealing out hands at home and figuring out every possible hand.
Then start dealing pocket cards for multiple players and play
each one independently in your mind. This way you see many
different pocket cards in combination with the board cards.
If youre still struggling to see all of the possibilities
and hands ask a more experienced player to work with you as you
practice to point out things you may be missing. How to Read Draws
Reading draws kind of goes hand in hand with the last section
about reading the board, but you also need to learn how to
factor in the chances of hitting your draws. Example
If you have four cards to a straight after the turn theres
only a few cards left in the deck that can complete your
straight. If your straight draw is open ended, meaning you can
hit a card on either end to complete it, you have eight cards
left in the deck that can help you.
A hand of seven, eight, nine, ten will complete with any six
or jack. Youve seen your two hole cards and four board cards,
so the deck still has 46 unseen cards. Eight of these cards
complete your straight and 38 of them dont. So the odds of you
completing your straight are 38 to 8. This reduces to 4.75 to 1.
In more simple terms this means that on average if you played
the exact same situation 46 times youd complete your straight
eight times and miss it 38 times.
Of course the actual deck of remaining cards doesnt have 46
cards because the other players have cards, but you havent seen
them so you have to include them as unseen cards in the deck for
your calculations.
You use the odds in combination with your possible draws to
determine if its profitable to bet, raise, check, or fold.
This can become somewhat complicated when you have multiple
ways to make a hand. Usually each possible draw has a different
chance of winning if you hit it. In the example above you stand
a good chance of winning the hand when you hit your straight,
but if you miss your straight but pair one of your cards on the
river youll have a pair, but the odds of it being good are
slim.
Learn how to read all of your possible draws and how to
determine the odds of each draw being successful and winning if
you hit it. This will help you win more often playing Texas
holdem. How To Break Ties In Texas Holdem Game Reading Your Opponents Possible Hands
Continuing the discussion from the last two sections, once
you learn all there is to know about your possible hands and
draws and the odds you can start using the same things to
determine what hands your opponents can possibly hold and their
chance of completing hands that may be able to beat your hand.
Youll need to learn what hands your opponents like to play
and which ones they dont play if you want to get the best
possible reads, but even if you dont know anything about your
opponents you can still make educated guesses based on the
board, what you hold, and the betting action throughout the
hand.
Remember in an earlier section we mentioned that many good
starting hands have high cards. Other popular starting hands
include pocket pairs and suited hands including an ace. As the
level of competition improves the starting hand possibilities
tend to change. Staring hands with an ace and suited small card
are more likely at the lower levels than at the higher levels of
competition.
Look at the list of good starting hands included in the next
section and then compare them with the current board. Which
hands fit with the way your opponent is playing the hand? Dont
forget that not every player will follow the guidelines listed
below.
Some players, especially at the lower levels, play any ace or
any hand with an ace and any card the same suit as the ace.
At lower levels youll often see hands where a player with an
ace and a small off card hit two pair and beat a hand with a
pair of aces and a large second hole card that doesnt pair up.
This may seem like playing better starting hands doesnt pay
off, but in the long run the player starting with ace queen is
going to win more hands than the player starting with ace three.
Its also important to always consider the players in the
blinds. If they get in for free or half a bet they could have
any two cards. Even for a small raise many players wont fold
anything from the blinds because theyre already invested in the
pot.
You need to consider a wide range of things when trying to
guess what your opponents hold, but with practice you can start
narrowing down their possible hands quickly. As you gain more
experience you can get to the point where youll often have a
good idea where your opponents stand in a hand. Youll still be
surprised sometimes because players do all kinds of crazy things
at the holdem table, but the more you know the better youll be
in the long run.
Another big part of reading your opponents possible hands is
watching them play, even when you arent in the hand, and
remembering everything they do. If they have a big pocket pair
do they always raise before the flop? Do they ever bet into a
draw or do they always check and call? Thinking about these
questions and learning the answers to them and others will make
your play more profitable over time. Best Starting Hands
Heres a list of the best starting hands in Texas holdem. The
list is roughly listed from best to worst, but hand values
change somewhat based on the level of competition, the makeup of
the game, and your ability to play well after the flop.
Not all of these hands can be played from every position or
in every game. But if a hand isnt listed here you should avoid
playing it in any Texas holdem game.
Two card hands followed by a small s means suited. For
example, K Q s means a king and queen of the same suit.
As you become a long term profitable Texas Holdem player
youll find situations where you may be able to play a few hands
profitably that arent on the list. You may be able to play 10 9
s or 4 4 from late position profitably in a few games, but dont
even think about trying it until youre already a profitable
player.
On the other hand youll find many games where hands like K J
and below on the list cant be played profitably. As a rule of
thumb, while youre learning how to be a better player, its
always better to be tight than loose. So only play the best
hands while learning how to play.
You also need to understand how position relative to the
dealer button changes the value of starting hands and what you
can and cant play for a profit. We have an entire page
dedicated to position so you should study it to make sure you
completely understand how to use it. Conclusion
Even experienced Texas holdem players make mistakes when it
comes to reading the board of community cards and trying to
determine what their opponents hold. Once you learn what beats
what, you still have a great deal to learn if you want to be a
winning player.
Start by making sure you know the ranking of all of the
possible hands, and then learn how to read the board. Use your
hole cards with the board to determine not only the best hand
you can form, but also the best hand your opponents could
possibly have. How To Break Ties In Texas Holdem Rules
The next step is learning the odds of you hitting your hands
and using this information to determine the best way to play the
rest of the hand. Finally, you can start using all of the things
youve learned to start making educated guesses about what your
opponents have and are drawing to.
Winning Texas holdem players use all of these things and more
on every hand to give themselves the best chance to win. But
dont panic if this seems like a lot to take in at once. You
dont have to learn it all in one sitting. Bookmark or print out
this page and go over it often while youre learning to be a
better player. Then get started playing and practicing. You can play and
practice for free or start at the low levels so you dont risk
much money while youre learning.
Because of the presence of community cards in Texas hold 'em , different players' hands can often run very close in value. As a result, it is not uncommon for kickers to be used to determine the winning hand and also for two hands to tie. A kicker is a card which is part of the five card poker hand, but is not used in determining a hand's rank. For instance, in the hand A-A-A-K-Q, the king and queen are kickers.
The following situation illustrates the importance of breaking ties with kickers and card ranks, as well as the use of the five-card rule. After the turn, the board and players' hole cards are as follows. How To Break Ties In Texas Holdem Tournaments Bob
K Q
At the moment, Bob is in the lead with a hand of Q Q 8 8 K , making two pair, queens and eights, with a king kicker. This beats Carol's hand of Q Q 8 8 10 by virtue of his king kicker.
Suppose the final card was the A, making the final board 8 Q 8 4 A. Bob and Carol still each have two pair (Queens and eights), but both of them are now entitled to play the final ace as their fifth card, making their hands both two pair, queens and eights, with an ace kicker. Bob's king no longer plays, because the ace on the board plays as the fifth card in both hands, and a hand is only composed of five cards. They therefore tie and split the pot.
From Wikipedia's
Texas Hold'em Poker
The Hold 'em Explosion
Rules
Examples
Strategy
