texas holdem: the kicker

forgive me if i describe this badly, i am new to poker

so i've played online of rplaychips for a while, and i've watrtched a lot of poker on tv and i'm confused about the kicker

some people tell me that your kicker has to come from your 2 hole cards but i have watched some tv shows where the the best hand and the kicker all come from the 5 cards on the board

having played online poker i have also seen (been beaten by a higher kicker from someone elses hole cards when there is a higher kicker on the board) the kicker come from the hole cards and not from the board (like there is a king kicker on the board but i lose because i have a jack kicker in my hand and my opponent has a queen kicker: say if there are 4 aces on the board and 1 king should it not be a split pot with the king acting as kicker? that is what happened when i was watching poker on tv the other day

i'm confused, can anyone illuminate this for me plz?

Unusual situation but if the board is
AAAAK
you have J
opponet Q

Split pot

Best 5 cards count

If board is
AAAA 2
you have J
opponent has Q

you lose best 5 cards are counted

thanks man

this is absolutely how i saw it and how it happened on the tv but on many occasions a situation like this has happened on party poker and the kicker on the board is disregarded and the kicker has come from the hole cards and i have lost: annoying becasue i have bet in these situations thinking that the kicker was on the board

are there different rules for some sites?

Lab Man answered your question about the quads very well, But in my opinion, the part that I have highlighted above I think you may have been mistaken, the only think I can think of that may have happened as you said is that there was AAAK with the final card being anything from a 2 to a 10, then and only then will a higher hole card come into affect.

For example You have AAAKJ

and your opponent will have the winning hand with AAAKQ.

I hope that clears it all up for you, it is always the best 5 cards you can make from the board and your hole cards, sometimes that will be all of the 5 cards on the board.

If you ever see AAAAK on the board go all in, you may be playing against a noob that has no idea and they may fold.

Your hand is made up of the best five card combination out of any of the two cards in your hand and the five on the board so you can use both, one or none of your cards in your hand*.

Your "kicker" usually comes from your hand because the community cards are shared but it doesn't have to be in your hand. Note that "kicker" is just the term we use to describe the extra card that's hanging around after you've taken pairs and other cards into consideration. If you're having trouble understanding the concept it's best not to think in terms of kickers at all - just work out what the best five card hand each player can make is and it should become pretty obvious.

Examples:

Board: AQ993
Player 1: AK
Player 2: A7

Player 1's best hand is AA99K. Player 2's is AA99Q. Both have aces and nines but player 1 has a king kicker and player 2 has the queen on the board. The king wins because AA99K is the best five card hand.

Board: AQ993
Player 1: AJ
Player 2: A7

Player 1's best hand is AA99Q. Player 2's hand is AA99Q. Both have the same hand with the same kicker so the pot gets chopped. The fact that player 1 also holds a jack, which is higher than player 2's seven, is irrelevant because you only play a five card hand and in this case the "kicker" both players use is the queen on the board.

Feel free to post any example hands that are confusing you and I'm sure we'll be able to clarify them. But in any case, just write down what the best five-card combination each player can make is and it should start to become obvious.


* Note that this applies to Texas hold 'em only. Omaha and other games have different rules about how many cards you have to use from your hand.

thank you buddy

so if we both have a set of aces and share the best kicker then the next card down counts as another kicker?

if so that would clear things up for me a bit because i would have thought both having a set and the same kicker it would be a split pot, i didn't relizze that 5 cards would be used if the winning hand was a set

is that right?



thanks to both of you

thanks oz

some really good advice on this forum

Your welcome, Like Oz said it is the best 5 cards out of the 7 that are available to you, by 7 I mean the 5 community cards + your 2 hole cards then you make the best 5 card hand.