A kicker is an unpaired card that plays in making your five card hand. For instance, you have AQ as your hole cards in a Hold’em game. The board is Q 4 2 5 5. You have two pair queens and fives but that is only 4 cards, the next highest card either in your hand or on the board will complete your Hold’em hand. So your playing hand is QQ 55 A, you have two pair with an ace kicker. You would win the hand over any player holding KQ or QJ or any other Qx hand, except Q5 because those hands will also have queens and fives but they have a lower kicker. Except the Q5, which makes a full house.

Be careful in applying this concept to an Omaha game, remember in Omaha you must play two and only two cards from your four card hand, so if the board is Q 4 3 5 5 and you have AQxx, you have the same hand as in Hold’em: two pair with an ace kicker. But if the ace was on the board (Q 4 A 5 5) and your Omaha hand was Q J 9 8, the you would have queens and fives with the jack kicker from your hand because your hand is the Q 5 5 from the board and the Q J from your hand.

Kickers are a big issue in Hold’em when you play a starting hand of Ax and the x card gets paired; you have flopped a pair with the best kicker. If you have the AQ starting hand and the board comes Q 4 3, you have top pair, top kicker; in online forums you will often see this situation abbreviated as TPTK.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #43

A lot of poker advice asks the new player to read a book or run a simulation or play some hands. Periodically, we are going to do some of that work for you. In this post we are going to look at pocket nines versus other potential poker hands.

We have done our calculations using a Poker Hand Calculator; there are dozens of these useful tools on the web. For these calculations we have used Poker Stove for no other reason then it was loaded on the computer I am using. All the hand calculators work the same, try a few and pick the one you like.

99 versus one random hand: Often players do not make this calculation and they should. If you are in the small blind and all have folded to you; what are your odds with 99 against the random hand in the big blind? 99 = 72% random hand = 28%

99 versus two random hands: Same situation but now you are the button with only the two blinds to deal with. You are now 53% to win against two random hands, which is why you raise to get at least one folder and increase your odds to 72%. Of course, any caller is not likely to have just a random hand.

99 versus any over pair: If you run into AA, KK, QQ, JJ or 1010, you are an underdog between 80% and 82% depending on suits. Against the under pairs 88 to 22 you are exactly the same favorite 80% to 82% over them.

99 versus AK: You are a 56% to 44% favorite; 52% if the AK is suited. Just about those same numbers hold true for AQ, AJ and A10. Against an ace/small A8 to A2, your numbers go way up to 71%, nearly as good as against the whole range of random hands.

So, what does all this tell you? Well if you just read over the numbers a couple of times; perhaps write them down. You don’t need to be exact but knowing you are a 4 to 1 underdog to bigger pairs and a 4 to 1 favorite against under pairs; this is basic information every poker player should know.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #42

This is an easy difference to learn as far as the terminology goes. When you hold a pair in your hand and the board (community cards) has one more of those cards, you have a “set”. For example, you have AA for your down cards and the flop is J A 6. You have flopped a set of aces.

If, however, you have three of a kind with one of those cards in your hand and two on the board then you have “trips”. For instance, you have KQ in your hand and the board shows K 2 6 10 K, you have trip kings not a set.

The difference is huge in playing the hand for the simply reason that with trips you may not be the only player with that set. In our example you KQ would be ahead of all hands except all potential flushes and AK. With AK the player would also have trip kings but with a bigger kicker than you (A over Q).

You will hear players using ‘set’ when they mean ‘trips’ and ‘trips’ when they mean to say a ‘set’. Particularly when you are discussing hands in a forum or with your poker friends be sure to give accurate information. Trips is not a set and a set is a much stronger hand than trips.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #41

There are three ways that “card protection” becomes an issue, particularly for new players. The first and most obvious is that you do not want other players at the table to see your down cards. Just a few short practice sessions at home with a deck of cards will give you the most comfortable way for you to peek at your hole cards. Remember in all instances the rule is: “A player is responsible for protecting their hand.”

Which brings us to the second part of protecting your cards. If for any reason a dealer scoops your cards, your hand is dead. This is particularly important for players seated to the immediate right or left of a busy dealer. If your cards are laying on the table without your hand or a chip (card protector) on them and the dealer pulls them into the muck, you lose! There is no appeal, unprotected cards get mucked all the time, so Protect Your Hand.

Finally, perhaps most importantly, there is another rule that says: “You must have hand to win a pot.” Now I know that sounds like a silly rule, of course you need to have a hand, but wait….

You are in a hand against a player at the far end of the table, you bet big and after some thought he folds. You smile and toss your cards into the muck, awaiting the dealer pushing you the pot. Wait! Another player down at the far end of the table still has cards! He was considering a call but you have just tossed away your winning hand, you lose, you don’t have a hand. Never relinquish your cards until the dealer pushes you the pot. Never toss your hand away until you see you are beat or until you get that pot.

And most importantly, learn these lessons here and not at the table where it costs you a big win. This is a much cheaper lesson.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #40

Bluffing is one of those poker topics that we will be coming back to often. Bluffing is the simpliest complex play in poker. If you bet into a pot with what you are convinced is not the winning (or leading) hand, you are bluffing. Sure you could be on a draw with four cards to a flush or a straight and that is often called a semi-bluff. But a pure bluff is when you bet without the winning hand.

The obvious question is: Why Bluff? And while there are several complex answers to that question, there is also a very simple one.

You cannot and will not be a successful poker player, you will not be a winning poker player, if you do not win hands with bluffs. The simple math is that we are not dealt enough high quality hands to beat nine other poker players straight-up based on just the cards. The reason poker hands are not dealt face-up like blackjack is because there are interpersonal skills involved in winning at poker. Bluffing is one of those skills.

So, how do you learn to bluff? Again a simple answer, just do it! Pick a hand where you are in late position at first and raise the pot pre-flop with any two cards. Then bet the flop not matter what cards are in the flop [OK, if your raise with 24o and the flop is Ah, Kh, Qh; you can call off the practice bluff]. Learning to bluff means not only making the play but also having the experience of raking in a pot while you muck two absolutely worthless cards. You have to do it to learn to bluff.

More bluffing lessons to follow.

-This is Beginner’s Poker Blog Post #39