# Kickers

Though they seem like an insignificant part of a hand, one important thing to pay attention to in Texas Hold'em are your kicker cards.

Kicker cards are defined as those cards which do not directly contribute to the main type of your hand. For example if you have three-of-a-kind queens, the other two cards would be your kickers.

There are many situations where the quality of your kicker means the difference between winning and losing a hand. If your hand and an opponent's are equal except for a kicker, then the winning hand is said to "out-kick" the losing hand. Here are some common situations in Texas Hold'em where kickers may be important in determining who wins or loses a hand:

### Example #1:

versus

Player 1's hand is a Four of a Kind, Sevens, Ace Kicker:
Player 2's hand is a Four of a Kind, Sevens, King Kicker:
In this hand, there are four Sevens on the board giving both players a Four of a Kind, Sevens. Player 1's kicker card is an Ace, whereas player 2's kicker card is only a King. As a result, player 1's hand is better and since it came down to the players' kickers to decide the winner, player 1 is said to out-kick player 2.

### Example #2:

versus

Player 1's hand is a Four of a Kind, Sevens, Ace Kicker:
Player 2's hand is a Four of a Kind, Sevens, Ace Kicker:
This hand is the same as the above, but each player's kicker card is an Ace. This means both player's have the same hand: Four of a Kind, Sevens, Ace kicker.
It was kind of unfortunate for player 1 that the fourth seven came on the turn. Using Poker Academy's Showdown Calculator, you can see that on the flop Player 1 had a 66.7% chance of winning before that happened.

### Example #3:

versus

Player 1's hand is a Pair of Kings with Ace, Jack, Seven kickers:
Player 2's hand is a Pair of Kings with Queen, Jack, Seven kickers:
In this hand, each player makes a pair of Kings. However, player 1 has the better hand since their Ace out-kicks player 2's Queen.

### Example #4:

versus

Player 1's hand is a Pair of Kings with Ace, Queen, Ten kickers:
Player 2's hand is a Pair of Kings with Ace, Queen, Nine kickers:
In this hand, each player makes a pair of Kings. Each player's hand is equal up until their fifth and final card where player 1's Ten out-kicks player 2's Nine, giving player 1 the better hand.