Poker Kicker Explained (With Examples That Win You Pots)

“Who wins when both players have the same hand?”

It’s a question I get all the time from beginners learning Texas Hold’em—and the answer almost always comes down to the kicker.

At first, kickers can seem confusing. But once you understand how they work, it’s a simple concept that shows up in a lot of hands—often deciding who rakes in the pot and who walks away with nothing.

So what is a kicker in poker?

A kicker is a side card used to decide who wins when both players have the same hand.

For example:

You have A♠ K♣
Your opponent has A♥ Q♦
The board is: A♦ J♣ 9♠ 3♦ 2♣

Both of you have a pair of Aces, but your next highest card is a King, while your opponent has a Queen.

✅ You win because A-A-K-J-9 is better than A-A-Q-J-9.

Here’s the golden rule to remember:

Only the best five cards matter.

If the main hand rank (like a pair or two pair) is tied, the kickers step in to break the tie.

Let’s walk through exactly how kickers work— 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.

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 is used when nobody has a pair or better. The player with the highest single card wins.

If both players have the same high card, you compare the next highest cards, one by one, until someone wins.

You always make your best 5-card hand using your 2 cards and the 5 on the table — just use the top 5, and ignore the lowest 2.

An example of where a high card kicker plays:

Hero's best 5 cards: A♣ K♦ Q ♦ 9♣ 7♠
Villain's best 5 cards: A♥ K♦ Q♦ 9♣ 5♥

✅ Who wins?

Both have Ace high
Both use K♦ Q♠ 9♣ from the board
But the Hero has a 7 kicker, and the Villain has a 5 kicker
Since 7 is higher than 5, Hero wins!

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

Let’s pick the best 5 cards available to each:

Hero’s best hand: A♣ K♦ Q♦ 9 ♣ 8♥
Villain’s best hand: A♥ K♦ Q♦ 9 ♣ 8♥

Both players use the same five cards:

Ace high
With King, Queen, 9, and 8 as kickers.

Notice that the 7♠ (Hero) and the 5♥ (Villain) don’t come into play — they are too low to make the top 5-card hand, so they’re ignored.

Since both players have exactly the same best hand, the result is a split pot — each player gets half the chips.

✅ Key Lesson for Beginners:

Sometimes your second card (kicker) doesn’t help you at all, i.e. when the five best cards are already on the board.

This is called a “kicker not playing” situation — and it often leads to a tie.

♣♣ One pair:

When both players have one pair, the rest of the cards — called kickers — are used to break the tie.

In this example, both the Hero and the Villain have a pair of Aces. But one of them wins, and it's all because of the kicker.

Your best 5 cards: A♥ A♣ K♥ T♦ 7♠
Hist best 5 cards: A♦ A♣ Q♣ T♦ 7♠

✅ Who Wins?

Hero wins because King beats Queen.

Even though both players have the same pair (Aces), the kicker (second highest card) decides the winner.

💡 Beginner Tip:

If you and your opponent both have the same pair, look at the next highest cards. The one with the highest kicker wins the pot.

In this case, Hero’s King kicker is stronger than Villain’s Queen kicker — so Hero takes it down.

If both players have the same pair and the same first kicker, the next kicker (third highest card) comes into play to break the tie.

Kickers are checked one by one, in order of strength, until a difference is found — or the hand ends in a split.

♠♠ ♥♥ Two pair

A kicker can still matter when players have two pair—but only if both players share the same two pair and their hole cards leave room for a kicker.

In this example, both Hero and Villain have the same two pair: Aces and Fives. Let's see how the kicker decides who takes the pot.

Hero's best 5 cards: A♥ A♣ 5♠ 5♦ K♥
Villain's best 5 cards: A♦ A♣ 5♠ 5♦ Q♣

✅ Who Wins?

Hero wins because King beats Queen as the kicker.

Even though both players have identical two pair (Aces and Fives), the kicker card decides who wins.

Two pair Quiz

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

Here, both players have the exact same two pair (Aces and Nines), and the fifth card (Jack) is already higher than either player's hole cards.

Your best 5 cards: A♣ A♦ 9♥ 9♠ J♦
Hist best 5 cards: A♦ A♥ 9♥ 9♠ J♦

Sometimes neither player’s kicker will matter—like in this example, when the best five cards come directly from the community cards.

♠♠♠ Three of a kind:

When two players both have three of a kind, the winner can come down to their kickers just like a single pair.

Your best 5 cards: A♥A♣ A♠ K♥ 7♠
Hist best 5 cards: A♦ A♣ A♠ Q♣ 7♠

✅ Who Wins?

Hero wins because the King kicker beats the Villain's Queen kicker.

Both players share identical three-of-a-kind (Aces), so the higher kicker decides the winner.

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.

5️⃣ ➡️ or 💧 Straight/Flush:

There is no kicker with a straight or flush because a straight and flush are made using 5 cards.

♠♠♠ ♥♥ 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 (Quads)

With four of a kind, the kicker only matters if the four matching cards (quads) are on the board. When both players share the same quads, the fifth card (the kicker) determines the winner.

In this example, the board shows four Queens, meaning both players already have quads. That leaves just one card from each hand to act as a kicker.

Your best 5 cards: Q♥ Q♦ Q♠ Q♣ A♥
His best 5 cards: Q♥ Q♦ Q♠ Q♣ K♦

✅ Who Wins?

Hero wins because the Ace kicker beats the King.

With quads on the board, the only thing that can separate two players is the kicker—the highest remaining card in their hand.

🂡🂭🂮🂫🂪 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

❌ When a Kicker Doesn’t Matter

Sometimes your kicker doesn’t help you at all. Here’s when that happens:

✅ In hands like a straight, flush, or full house, the kicker isn’t used — the main hand already decides the winner.
✅ If both players have the same hand, like A♠ 5♥ vs A♦ 5♣, it’s a tie — kickers don’t help because they’re the same.
✅ If the best kicker is already on the board, your own kicker might not matter.

💡 What’s a Counterfeited Kicker?

This means the kicker you had is now useless because the board gave everyone a better one.

Example:

You have A♠ 5♦ and the board is A♥ Q♣ T♦ 2♠.

Your 5 is the kicker…

But if the river is a 7♣, now everyone has A-Q-T-7-2.

➡ Your 5 kicker is replaced — or “counterfeited.”

How Well Do You Understand Kickers in Poker

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!

Poker Kicker Explained (With Examples That Win You Pots)