Kicker
Hands Level · Beginner Aliases: side card
A kicker is a side card that is not part of the main hand and breaks ties between equal hands.
What is Kicker
A kicker is the remaining high card used to decide a pot when both players hold the same primary hand. Say you have A♥Q♦ and your opponent has A♠J♣ on a board of A♣8♦5♠2♥2♣: both hold aces and twos, but your queen kicker beats their jack, so you win. Your kicker does not always come into play. Hold’em uses the best five cards, so if the board already supplies a higher fifth card, a small side card contributes nothing. When judging top pair, a strong kicker usually extracts more from weaker pairs of the same rank — but against heavy action the whole range still matters, and a pretty kicker is not a reason to call down.
On the felt
Table6-max cash game
PositionBTN vs BB
FlopA♣8♦5♠2♥2♣
ActionWin at showdown with A♥Q♦ on the queen kicker
Example
You hold A♥Q♦ and your opponent A♠J♣ on A♣8♦5♠2♥2♣. Both share aces and twos, but your queen outkicks the jack and takes the pot at showdown.
Common mistakes
- Assuming your second card is always the kicker. It only counts when it makes the best five cards and is needed to break a tie.
- Treating top pair with a top kicker as the nuts. Two pair, sets and completed draws all still beat one pair comfortably.
Related terms
Bad Beat
A bad beat is a hand that was a heavy favourite when the chips went in but lost to an unlikely runout.
Cooler
A cooler is a collision where both players hold very strong hands and neither can reasonably avoid it.
Flop
The flop is the first three community cards, dealt together, and the second betting street.
Full House
A full house is a five-card hand made of three of a kind plus a pair.
Nuts
The nuts is the strongest possible hand on the current board — no legal holding can beat it.
River
The river is the fifth and final community card, followed by the last round of betting.