10-20-06, LearnTexasHoldem:

Who won the hand?

I guess I must blame myself for not explaining this properly in an article since "who won this hand" question is the most common one. So as a punishment I'll continue to answer them on this page until I do write about it.

Top 3 Beginner Rooms

Question 1:
Who wins?
Player 1 A7
Player 2 AJ
community 23457

Thanks/John

 

Answer 1:

Unless someone can make a flush (I guess not since you wrote absolutely nothing about any suits) both players "wins" since it is a split pot. Player 1:s best hand is a straight with A2345, which is exactly the same best hand that player 2 can make. Remember, the objective in Texas Hold'em is to make the best possible five card poker hand. The "remaining" cards, the kickers, in this instance the 7 for player 1 and the J for player 2 are simply left out of the process since they have no bearing, in this case, when you make the best possible hand.

 

Question 2:
In heads up. My opponent has a pair of 2's and I have J8 off suit. The community cards are Q54Q5. Who won J8 or 2's?

 

/Thomas

Answer 2:

You won the hand. In Texas Hold'em, you only use five cards to make your hand. In this case your hand would be two pair, Q's and 5's, with J as kicker, and your opponent's hand would be two pair, Q's and 5's, with 4 as kicker (his pair of 2's simply doesn't help him). "Kicker" is what you call the card used to separate two players that have the same made hand (in this case two pair). The fact that you were playing heads-up does not matter at all. The hand ranking is the same no matter how many players are involved in a hand.

 

Question 3:
Hi, I am a beginner at this game and on Friday this situation happened twice. I hope you can bring some clarity to this question, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

There were four playing and the five cards that were down made a straight, lets say they were 8, 9, 10, J, Q.

Well, when we all showed our two cards, no one had a card that continued the straight, like a K or a 7. So, I thought since that was the case, the straight becomes obsolete and then you figure out who had the best hand not including the straight. So, my friend had a 8 and another had an A. I thought my friend with the 8 should win because he had a pair of 8's. But, everyone else said that the player with the A should win because they had the straight with an A. So, then it that is right, the player with the A won using 6 cards. What I am asking is who would win that hand?

Thank you /B

Answer:

Everybody that is in the pot "wins" since everyone has the same straight (89TJQ). There is no such thing as a made hand on the board becoming obsolete! Where did you get a crazy idea like that from? And another thing, in Texas Holdem, as in most poker games, the idea is to make the best possible five card poker hand . There is no such thing as using a sixth card to determine the winner.

If all players involved in a hand has the same five card hand, well then you split the pot among them. Let me give you an example: if there is a royal straight flush (AKQJT in the same suit) on the board then everyone in the pot gets an equal share because no one can make a better hand by using their pocket cards. Remember, you can opt to use both, one ore none of your pocket cards when you make your best five card hand so its perfectly okay to play the board .

As a last comment I must say that continuing a straight downwards wouldn't have mattered either so if anyone would have had a 7 in their hand it wouldn't have made any difference, only if someone had a king and continued the straight upwards would have made a difference.

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