Texas Holdem,
Hand Selection
June 2 2008
Guess what? Kickers matter. They matter a lot more than many beginner poker players give them credit for. A big mistake a lot of rookie poker players make is over-valuing an ace. When you’re playing Texas Holdem, the card in your hole cards next to the ace (the kicker) is just as important as the ace itself.
So many players are so high on the ace they don’t realize how vulnerable it can be when paired up with a lousy card. Hands like A-3 and A-6 really aren’t very good. Let’s say you’ve got your great A-3 hand and the flop hits A-Q-9. You’ve got a pair of aces – time to celebrate, right? Actually, there’s a chance that pair of aces could cost you a ton of money.
The numbers show that whenever you’re dealt an ace at a 10-player table, another player will also have an ace 62 percent of the time. On that flop, if another player has an ace with a better kicker than your 3, then you’re likely toast. You don’t even want to think about the trouble you’re in if they’re holding A-Q or A-9.
Some of you may be making the argument: “What if I make two pair with my A-3?” That’s great, you’re in good shape unless of course someone else has the aforementioned A-Q or A-9. If that happens, you’re in even worse shape because you’ll likely bet more with the stronger hand and end up losing even more money.
The moral of our short little story is this: Kickers play a big part of your hand. Never focus on just one of your cards because the other one is just as important and could cost you a lot of cash if you don’t pay attention to its real value.
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