Tie Breakers

I noticed at times equal hands (for ex: 2 pr, kings and sevens) splits the pot regardless of the kicker card, and at other times the pot goes to the player with the higher kicker card. Why does that happen?

Hi jwalms37

When i started with poker it took me a while to understand this:) It works like this.

In Holdem best hand of 5 cards made out of the 7 cards (2 hand cards and 5 community) wins.

When both players have 2 pair it depends on the 5th card to make the best hand, it can be the kicker or a community card, when both players use the same community card (card on the deck) it will be a split pot.

Example, Player 1 has Q K, Player 2 has Q J, on table 99Q78,

Both have QQ99, player 1 has the K, player 2 has the J as kicker, so player 1 wins (kicker is higher than the other cards, 7 8, on table).

But when on table 99Q7A, for both the best hand is QQ99A, than a split pot,

Hope this helps. Greetings Happiness.

There’s a good breakdown of how kickers apply to different situations here: poker texas holdem - How do you determine the winner of a hand? - Board & Card Games Stack Exchange

Also, if you recall any of the hand numbers, we’d be happy to review specific hands and help explain what happened.

Cheers, Lesley