Kicker in Poker: The Side Card That Breaks Ties
A kicker is a side card that is not part of your made hand but breaks a tie when two players hold the same pair, two pair or three of a kind. In Hold'em, it is usually your second hole card: with A♥Q♣ on A♦ 8♣ 3♥, you have a pair of aces with a queen kicker. Against A♠J♦, that kicker gives you 86.1%; against A♠K♦, only 12.7%.
Compute a kicker battle
A♥Q♣ on A♦ 8♣ 3♥: the kicker decides
Equity with the turn and river to come:
| Opponent | What it holds | A♥Q♣'s equity |
|---|---|---|
| K♠Q♠ | no pair | 98.1% |
| A♠J♦ | aces, jack kicker | 86.1% |
| A♠5♦ | aces, five kicker | 85.4% |
| A♠K♦ | aces, king kicker | 12.7% |
Against K♠Q♠, A♥Q♣ is simply ahead of a hand with no pair. In the last three rows the opponent holds the same pair of aces, and only the kicker changes the result: against a worse kicker A♥Q♣ is a big favorite; against the king it wins only with one of the three remaining queens, and no king, for two pair; the rest of its equity is split pots, when the board gives both players the same full house.
When the kicker does not play
A poker hand is the best five cards out of seven. If the board gives both players better side cards than their own, the kickers do not count and the pot is split. On A♦ 8♣ 3♥, A♥5♣ against A♠4♦ has the better kicker, yet it wins only 26.9% of the time and splits 61.9%: any two turn and river cards above the five leave the board playing for both. See split pots.
A straight, a flush or a full house has no kicker at all, because it uses all five cards. Two pair has one kicker, three of a kind two, one pair three, four of a kind one.
Kickers before the flop
The kicker problem starts before the flop. A♥Q♣ has 26% against A♠K♦ and 73.5% against A♠J♦ when all five cards are to come: sharing the ace means the higher second card usually wins. That is why weak aces are hard to play and why dominated hands lose so much.
How to play a weak kicker
- A good kicker is value. Top pair with a strong kicker can bet for value against worse aces: see top pair, top kicker.
- A weak kicker is a showdown hand. It beats bluffs and worse aces, but big pots with one pair and a weak kicker are often against better kickers or two pair.
- Keep the pot small out of position. A weak kicker rarely stands up to a raise; check and call small bets rather than build a pot.
Keep going
- Which hands beat which: poker hand rankings.
- When the pot is split exactly: split pots in poker.
- Four cards of one rank, and how rare they are: four of a kind in poker.
Sources
- Equities enumerated exactly over every turn and river (and every board before the flop).
- Kicker (poker)), Wikipedia.