In poker, kickers can make or break your hand. A kicker is a card that decides the winner in a tie when the other player has a lower-ranked hand than yours. The highest kicker card wins the hand, and this is one of the most important concepts in poker. In this article, we will learn what a kicker is and how to use it to your advantage.
The kicker is a card that doesn’t belong to any of the combinations that create a poker hand. It only comes into play with poker hands that require fewer than five cards to be made. Kickers decide the rank of poker hands that are otherwise equal in rank, starting with the highest card in the non-combination hand.
In hands such as four-of-a-kind, three-of-a-kind, and two pair, the kicker determines which player wins in a stalemate scenario. For example, if both players have an ace-king, the higher kicker will win the hand, allowing player one to claim the pot.
The same holds true for a flush or straight. Unless there is a high card in the opponent’s five-card hand, your kicker will not play.
However, a high kicker can also be used to determine the winner of a higher-ranked poker hand. Say you have a pair of queens on a KK32 board and your opponent has AK, with a Q kicker. In this case, you can be sure that your queens will outkick his AK, letting you win the hand.
There are other situations where a kicker can help you win a hand, such as when you have a pair and your opponent has a pair of jacks. In this case, you will need to compare the rank of the paired cards. You can then choose to bet against your opponent’s pair of jacks and hope that your kicker will outperform his.
However, it is important to note that a kicker only counts when you have a pair or higher. If you have a pair of twos and your opponent has two pairs, your kicker won’t matter as much, as you will win the hand by default. Also, kickers can be counterfeited, such as if you have A5 on an AQT2 board and the river is a 7, your kicker won’t play.