Here is a sample game involving four players. The players' individual hands will not be revealed until the showdown, to give a better sense of what happens during play:
Compulsory bets: Alice is the dealer. Bob, to Alice's left, posts a small blind of $1, and Carol posts a big blind of $2.
Pre-flop: Alice deals two hole cards face down to each player, beginning with Bob and ending with herself. Ted must act first because he is the first player after the big blind. He cannot check, since the $2 big blind plays as a bet, so he folds. Alice calls the $2. Bob adds an additional $1 to his $1 small blind to call the $2 total. Carol's blind is "live" (see blind), so she has the option to raise here, but she checks instead, ending the first betting round. The pot now contains $6, $2 from each of three players.
Flop: Alice now burns a card and deals the flop of three face-up community cards, 9
K
3
. On this round, as on all subsequent rounds, the player on the dealer's left begins the betting. In this case it is Bob, who checks. Carol opens for $2, Ted has already folded and Alice raises another $2 (puts in $4, $2 to match Carol and $2 to raise), making the total bet now facing Bob $4. He calls (puts in $4, $2 to match Carol's initial bet and $2 to match Alice's raise). Carol calls as well, putting in her $2. The pot now contains $18, $6 from the last round and $12 from three players this round.
Turn: Alice now burns another card and deals the turn card face up. It is the 5
. Bob checks, Carol checks, and Alice checks; the turn has been checked around. The pot still contains $18.
River: Alice burns another card and deals the final river card, the 9
, making the final board 9
K
3
5
9
. Bob bets $4, Carol calls, and Alice folds (Alice's holding was A
7
; she was hoping the river card would be a club to make her hand a flush).
Showdown: Bob shows his hand of Q
9
, so the best five-card hand he can make is 9
9
9
K
Q
, for three nines, with a king-queen kicker. Carol shows her cards of K
J
, making her final hand K
K
9
9
J
for two pair, kings and nines, with a jack kicker. Bob wins the showdown and the $26 pot.
Kickers and ties
Because of the presence of community cards in Texas hold 'em, different players' hands can often run very close in value. As a result, it is not uncommon for kickers to be used to determine the winning hand and also for two hands (or maybe more) to tie. A kicker is a card which is part of the five-card poker hand, but is not used in determining a hand's rank. For instance, in the hand A-A-A-K-Q, the king and queen are kickers.
The following situation illustrates the importance of breaking ties with kickers and card ranks, as well as the use of the five-card rule. After the turn, the board and players' hole cards are as follows.
Board (after the turn)
Bob
Carol
At the moment, Bob is in the lead with a hand of Q
Q
8
8
K
, making two pair, queens and eights, with a king kicker. This beats Carol's hand of Q
Q
8
8
10
by virtue of his king kicker.
Suppose the final card were the A
, making the final board 8
Q
8
4
A
. Bob and Carol still each have two pair (Queens and eights), but both of them are now entitled to play the final ace as their fifth card, making their hands both two pair, queens and eights, with an ace kicker. Bob's king no longer plays, because the ace on the board plays as the fifth card in both hands, and a hand is only composed of the best five cards. They therefore tie and split the pot. However, had the last card been King or lower (except a Queen or Eight which would make a full house, or a Ten which would give Carol a higher second pair), Bob's King would have stayed in game and he would have won.
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