Posted 4/11/2022 by admin

Poker Straight Rules King Ace Two

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Straight Poker Rules

One questions I hear all of the time from poker players new to Texas Hold'em is “what is a kicker and when does it count?”. At first, it can be quite a confusing concept to wrap your head around but once you have an understanding of what a kicker is, it's actually quite simple.

Poker Straight King Ace Two would end up depositing funds to play for Poker Straight King Ace Two real money. Even if he doesn’t end up playing for Poker Straight King Ace Two real money, he Poker Straight King Ace Two would still make a deposit to cash out his winnings. The way featured Upswing Poker coach Doug Polk would play Ace-King in an ace-kingless board is as follows: Check-call if it’s a type 1 good board. Bet-fold if its a type 2 ok board. Check-fold if it’s a type 3 bad board. Five consecutive cards form a Straight. A♥, K♦, Q♠, J♦, 10♣. Q♦, J♣, 10♥, 9♥, 8♠. 7♥, 6♣, 5♥, 4♦, 3♣. 5♠, 4♠, 3♥, 2♦, A♥. Between two straight flushes, the one containing the higher top card is higher. An ace can be counted as low, so 5-4-3-2-A is a straight flush, but its top card is the five, not the ace, so it is the lowest type of straight flush. The highest type of straight flush, A-K-Q-J-10 of a suit, is known as a Royal Flush.

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. E.g. 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.

One key point to keep in mind is that the best 5-card hand wins in poker. Winners are usually determined from the rank of a hand (e.g. flush vs full house or Ace-high flush versus King-high flush) but when both players hold the same hand rank, a kicker must come into play to separate the winners from the losers by making a 5-card hand.

So you might be wondering who wins in this scenario:

Well think about it for a minute, and then if you can't work it out, have a read of the list below.

Table Of Contents

How To Determine When A Kicker Play

How To Determine When A Kicker Play

Here is a list of the hands in poker and how/if a kicker is played:

High card:

A high card plays when neither player has a pair or better. When both players have a high card, all cards can be counted as a kicker. Take your two hole cards and five community cards, then start with the highest-ranking card and compare to your opponent while ignoring the two weakest cards of the 7 total.

An example of where a high card kicker plays:

Your hand: A♠ 9♣
Your opponent's hand: A♥ 5♠
The community cards: K♥ Q♣ 8♦ 2♠ 3♠
Your best 5 cards: A♠ K♥ Q ♣ 9♣ 8♦
His best 5 cards: A♥ K♥ Q♣ 8♦ 5 ♠

We ignore the 3♠ and the 2♠ on the board since they are lower than the other 5 cards.

And now, let's take this situation where one of your kickers doesn't play:

Your hand: A♣ 7♠
Opponents hand: A♥ 5♥
The community cards: K♦ Q♦ 9 ♣ 8♥ 3♣
Your best 5 cards: A♣ K♦ Q♦ 9 ♣ 8♥
Hist best 5 cards: A♥ K♦ Q♦ 9 ♣ 8♥

I.e. the 5♥ and the 7♠ are both lower than the other 5 cards on the board and therefore the pot is split.

One pair:

With one pair a kicker is used when your second card is better than your opponent and the remaining cards on the board.

Your hand: A♥ K♥
Opponents hand: A♦ Q♣
The community cards: A♣ T♦ 7♠ 5♠ 2 ♦
Your best 5 cards: A♥ A♣ K♥ T♦ 7♠
Hist best 5 cards: A♦ A♣ Q♣ T♦ 7♠

In this case, you have your opponent out kicked with the hand of a pair of Aces with King kicker vs a pair of Aces with a Queen kicker.

Two pair

A single card kicker plays with two pair only when you do not make two pair with both of your hole cards. For example:

Your hand: A♥ K♥
Opponents hand: A♦ Q♣
The community cards: A♣ T♦ 7♠ 5♠ 5♦
Your best 5 cards: A♥ A♣ 5♠ 5♦ K♥
Hist best 5 cards: A♦A♣ 5♠ 5♦ Q♣

The pot will be split if both players have the same two pair using both their hole cards.

Two pair winners are determined by first determining the best highest-ranked pair between you and your opponent, and then if these are the same, you compare the 2nd pair.

Can you now work out the example we gave in the introduction? Here is broken down:

Your hand: A♣ 2♦
Opponents hand: A♦ 7♠
The community cards: A♥ 9♥ 9♣ J♦4♣
Your best 5 cards: A♣ A♥ 9♥ 9♣ J♦
Hist best 5 cards: A♦ A♥ 9♥ 9♣ J♦

Therefore the pot will be split since neither the 7♠ nor the 2♦ are played and both players have the same hand.

Three of a kind:

A kicker with three of a kind is determined in the same way as one pair. If you have AK on an AA752 board, vs AQ you will have the best 5 cards with AAAK7 vs AAAQ7.

Your hand: A♥ K♥
Opponents hand: A♦ Q♣
The community cards: A♣ A♠ 7♠ 5♥2♦
Your best 5 cards: A♥A♣ A♠ K♥ 7♠
Hist best 5 cards: A♦ A♣ A♠ Q♣ 7♠

You have the best five cards in this scenario because the K♥ plays after the three Aces.

Note the difference between an ordinary 3 of a kind and a set – a set is when you make three you of a kind using the two hole cards whereas an ordinary three of a kind is when you have three of the same card using only one of your hole cards.

Take this example of having 99 on an A9642 board, you have three of a kind (or set) on this board but it's impossible for anyone else to also have 99.

So there are no kickers when you have a set, because it's impossible for your opponent to have three cards of the same rank, but a kicker can count for an ordinary three of a kind where only one card is used from your hole cards.

Straight:

There is no kicker with a straight because a straight is made using 5 cards.

Flush:

Similar to a straight, there can be no kickers with flushes as these hands require the 5 cards to be used.

Full house:

There are no kickers with a full house. Hands are ranked in a similar way to two pair.

Firstly, the best three of a kind is the winner, if both players have the same three of a kind, the best pair wins. If both players have the same three of a kind and pair, the hand will always be split.

Four of a kind:

A kicker does not play with a four of a kind (quads) unless the four of a kind is on the board.

Your hand: A♥ 5♠
Opponents hand: K♦ J♦
The community cards: Q♥ Q♦Q♠ Q♣ 4♦
Your best 5 cards: Q♥ Q♦Q♠ Q♣ A♥
His best 5 cards: Q♥ Q♦Q♠ Q♣ K♦

You will win this hand as your Ace kicker players after the four Queens.

Straight flush/Royal Flush:

Similar to a straight and flush, kickers do not play as a straight or royal flush require 5 cards.

Here is a summary of when kickers do and don't count in poker:

Hand Type	Does a kicker count?
Ace high	✔️ Yes
One pair	✔️ Yes
Two pair	✔️ Yes
Three of a Kind	✔️ Yes
Straight	❌ No
Flush	❌ No
Full House	❌ No
Four of a kind	✔️ Yes
Straight Flush	❌ No
Royal Flush	❌ No

When A Kicker Doesn't Play

We already mentioned when a kicker doesn't play e.g. in a straight, flush or full house. However, a kicker also won't decide the winner when you and your opponent has the same hand e.g. A5 vs A5.

A kicker also doesn't decide the best hand when there are better kickers already on the board.

For example, if you have A4 and your opponent has A3 on an AK762 board, the best 5 cards for both opponents is AAK76 and the kicker won't be included in the hand. Therefore, the pot will be split between the two players despite us having a better hole card than our opponent.

Kickers can also be counterfeited. If you have a hand of A5 on a AQT2 board, any card higher than a 5 on the river will mean that your kicker has been counterfeited and won't play. E.g. if the river was a 7 the best 5 cards would be AAQT7.

When Is A Kicker Important?

A kicker most often comes into play when you have a high card or single pair.

However, the best hand you can get with a kicker is AK, because if your opponent has an Ace or King in their hand, you will have them outkicked and you will be a big favourite to win the hand (roughly 75% favourite).

AK always makes top pair top kicker which is the best one pair hand you can make.

Since players most often play high-rank hands, kickers are most important when you have a high card. This is why it is not advisable to play weak ace hands (e.g. A2 or A3) very often (see poker position).

A2 will make top pair bottom kicker on an ace-high board (e.g. AQ753) and is a significantly weaker hand than top pair top kicker.

If you do happen to have top pair bottom kicker on an ace-high board, it is quite likely that you could be facing another ace with a better kicker (or better) if a lot of money goes into the pot.

Being outkicked is one the common poker mistakes I recommend watching out for, so make sure you carefully consider your kicker the next time you are on the table!

Basic ace-king strategy.

The worst possible outcome for ace-king is to be in a multi-way limped pot out of position and then to miss the flop. Under these circumstances the hand should usually be folded to any serious betting action from opponents.

Ace-King is a hand that you definitely do not want to be playing against multiple opponents.

Ace-king is in fact a drawing hand – you will usually need to improve to win a showdown. At the same time this hand has a strong likelihood of improving to become the best hand, any ace or king on the board will give you top pair with top kicker. This makes ace-king a hand to play strongly and positively until you encounter resistance, both before the flop and in later betting.

The ideal situation with this hand is that you take control before the flop by playing aggressive and positive poker. Raising, especially from position, will thin the field – ideally to a single opponent. If that opponent checks to you on the flop you will often be able to take the pot away from them with a continuation bet. When this gets called you have the added advantage of being able to see the river for free if your opponent checks to you after the turn.

You might like the multi-way cbetting video for strategy on dealing with tricky flops when facing 2 or more players. Hand 2 (3:22) and Hand 5 (12:36) use AK as examples.

Stack sizes and playing ace king.

The stack size of both you and opponents in the hand are a critical factor in playing ace-king. If the effective stacks (shortest stack in play) are small then your best move is often to get all-in before the flop with this hand. This is common in tournament situations and has two possible outcomes both of which are positive.

If you are up against small stacks, you should try and get all-in before the flop with ace king.

Either the pre-flop raiser (plus any caller) folds allowing you to take a good sized pot. Or if you are called – for example by a pair lower than Kings – you get to see all 5 board cards to improve your hand. This means you are only a little under 50% to win the hand – your pot equity will also be increased when there is blind money or a 3rd player who entered the pot then folded to your re-raise.

When you have a deep stack holding ace-king a pre-flop re-raise can give you valuable information on your opponent's hand. For example an opponent raises 3 times the big blind from middle position and you re-raise a total of 8 or 9 blinds from the button. When you're opponent is holding the hands you really fear – pocket aces or kings – he is likely to put in a re-raise here.

Be wary of 3-bets when you are deep stacked after making a re-raise with ace-king. This could very well mean that your opponent holds aces or kings.

However, pairs QQ and below and other ace-high hands are more likely to call. Not only have you defined your opponents hand, you have taken control of the hand before the flop – putting you in a position to take the pot away fairly often those times that you do miss the flop.

Player tendencies.

The tendencies of specific players, and indeed the table dynamic as a whole, will also affect the way that you play ace-king. Before the flop you may raise to isolate a particularly weak player seated to your right. However when a 'rock' in the same seat has entered the pot a flat call may be the best strategy – as such an opponent is more likely to tell you whether they liked the flop with their post-flop betting patterns.

Another opponent specific move occurs at a 'wild table' here you can flat call a raise from early position in the hope that a wild player later in the betting will re-raise, you can then push all-in over the top representing aces or kings. When called you still have very good equity against the wild player's range – in addition to the overlay of the dead money in the pot. Since ace-king does not play well in a multi-way pot caution is required with this move – you need to be sure that an opponent will re-raise ahead most of the time.

Poker Straight Rules King Ace Two Seater

When the betting gets heavy ahead of you a good rule of thumb for playing ace-king, especially when not too deep stacked, is to be the player making the all-in bet and not the one calling this. Ace-king is almost 50% to win against pairs Q-Q and below and 30% to win against pocket Kings. However, when you are the player making the last big bet you have the added benefit of fold-equity. The chance that you're opponent may fold increasing the profit from playing this hand considerably.

How to play ace king evaluation.

Good no-limit Holdem play with ace-king involves all of the factors discussed above – but also and awareness of how they work together. For example a re-raise from position to define your opponents hand is only useful against a reasonably competent opponent, from position and with a deep stack.

Against a weaker opponent or with a short stack (15 blinds or less) your best move might be to push all-in immediately. The combination of 'fold equity' with your winning chances giving this play a positive expectation.

Go back to the awesome Texas Hold'em Strategy.

Straight Poker Rules

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