Poker Kicker

In Texas Hold'em poker, there are some cases where a particular card, often called kicker, acts as a tiebreaker between players to determine who wins the pot, or if the pot has to be shared. For some combinations such as three or four of a kind, there is no doubt: the kicker is the 5th card of the chosen combination, and determines the winner.

• Here is the definition: 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.
• Pair of Fours Jack Kicker. Texas HoldEm Poker. June 29, 2019 Jack of all trades wins this one. That’s Player 1 to you. Texas HoldEm Poker Turn.

Your kicker is the second card you are playing in a game of Texas Hold’em. To some, understanding the hand strengths is enough to get by in poker. To the rest of us, we know there is a little more to it. Unfortunately, in Texas Hold’em, you are not going to make royal flushes and 4 of a kind very often. You are more likely to end most hands with one pair or high card, this is where your kicker plays.

Kicker Problems

You may have heard the phrase “kicker problems” before. This is when you’ve made a top pair type hand, read your opponent for similar hand but identified a problem – your kicker is low. Understanding when your kicker is no good and getting out of the way is an important skill to develop to help curb your potential losses in poker. To win at poker, you will have to learn to minimise your losses and sorting out kicker problems is one way. One of the biggest problems’ beginners have is overplaying ace rag, not realising the rag is the kicker costing them money.

Example Poker Kicker Hand

You’re in a $1/$2 cash game and a conservative old gentlemen limps in from early position (nice game eh?), 2 others limp in late position, and you complete from the SB with Ac 3c.

Texas Holdem Poker Kicker Rules

The flop comes:
As 9d 6d.

You check, BB checks and the conservative old gent bets out $9 into $10. The button calls and action is on you: What do you do?

This is a spot where you are probably up against another ace in the hand. An observant player will recognise the early position limper almost certainly has an A 10 + type hand and is way ahead. Rather than calling with your top pair and potentially losing $10 +, folding would be a wise move here.

When does a Kicker Count in Poker?

Texas Hold’em is played on best 5 card hand. Remember, the community cards are yours and your opponents. If the secondary card in yours and your opponent’s hole cards exceed that of the board, then the kicker will count. So if you have K-2 and your opponent has K-8 on a board run out of K-3-5-J-J than the 8 plays because the best hand is:

K-K-J-J-8 > K-K-J-J-5

Kings and Jacks with an 8 kicker beats Kings and Jacks with a 5 kicker.

The kicker’s can only count in the following hands:

• High Card
• One Pair
• Two Pair

Final Thoughts

Understanding your poker kicker and when it counts is very important to being a solid player. You need to combine hand reading, hand selection and table awareness to judge whether a kicker will be your friend or foe. If you’re ever unsure, stick to playing solid starting hands and you stand a better chance.

Kicker

Texas Holdem Poker Kit

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1. The unpaired hole card that accompanies a made pair in a Texas Hold'em game.
2. An unpaired card in your hand that often plays as a high card.
The term “kicker” is most commonly used in all varieties of Texas Holdem. In this type of poker game, each player is dealt a starting hand of exactly two hole cards. These cards are dealt face down and are each individual’s private cards. The rest of the cards are community cards and are dealt face up, in the center of the table, for all players to share. Frequently, a player will make a pair by matching one of his hole cards with one of the community cards. The remaining unpaired hole card is referred to as “the kicker.” This card is of supreme importance in Texas Holdem, because it often plays. When it does, it can often be the card which determines who wins and who loses.
It is especially important when two or more players all make the same pair, by matching one of their hole cards with the same card on the board. Since each player has only a two card hand, when both players make an identical pair, the kicker is the only difference between the two hands. Since one pair often wins in Hold’em, it is relatively common for hand ranking to come down to a kicker. This is one reason that you should be mindful of the quality of your kicker during the preflop hand selection process.
Since it is relatively common for multiple players to make the same pair in a Hold’em game, you will want to make sure that you come out on top the majority of times that it occurs when you are involved This is one reason it is correct to adopt tight starting hand requirements. If you only play high cards, you will always have a decent kicker, if not the top kicker, nearly every time you pair. This step of tightening up preflop can simplify the game and make it easier to play well, especially if you're a new player. If you do this, you will not have to spend so much of your time or mental resources evaluating if your kicker is a problem.

Texas Holdem Poker Cheat Sheet

Texas Holdem is not the only poker game where two or more players can make the same pair, it just happens more frequently in Holdem games, because all players are sharing the same community cards. This means that kickers will come into play far more often in Holdem games than they will in other types of poker games, like Seven Card Stud. When two players make the same pair in a Seven Card Stud game, up to three kickers can be involved in determining which hand ranks highest, since each hand is composed of a player’s best five cards. Sometimes a player will make the same pair as their opponent, and will also match their opponent’s top kicker. In this situation it becomes necessary to go to the second and sometimes the third kicker to determine who has the higher ranked hand. It is also possible for two players to make the same two pairs in Seven Card Stud. When this happens, the player with the highest kicker has the higher ranked hand and is entitled to the pot. As is the case in Texas Hold’em, if two players make identical hands, with all kickers matching, the result is a split pot.
Kickers only matter if the ranking of the hands is close. In Seven Card Stud games they are only relevant in hands containing no pair, one pair, or two pair. In Texas Hold’em, because community cards are used, hands containing three of a kind may also have their final rankings determined by kickers. This coupled with the fact that lower ranked hands like one pair frequently go down to the kicker in Holdem, makes kickers a major factor in Holdem games. The quality of your kicker is always a concern in a Holdem game. This is not the case in Seven Card Stud. Since each player holds their own cards, and community cards are not typically used in Stud games, kickers are not much of a concern. Most of the time, players don’t have hands that are close enough for their kickers to matter, and when they do it is often more a matter of luck than skill. In a Holdem game, you can avoid kicker problems by simply avoiding hands before the flop which contain marginal kickers. In a Stud game, it is not really possible to preempt kicker problems through tighter hand selection on third street, as the issue tends to come up later in the hand. Clearly, kickers do not have the impact in a Stud game that they have in Holdem. While they can still affect the outcome of the hand, kickers simply don’t have the strategic relevance in Stud as they do in Holdem.
Usage: Good Kicker, Kicker Kicks, Top Pair Top Kicker (TPTK)
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