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Ties and Split Pots

Since Holdem uses five community cards, shared by all the players, it is not uncommon to have two or more hands of the same rank competing at the showdown: two full houses, two flushes, also sometimes two straight flushes. It is only a tie if all five cards are identical. Suits don't count in the rankings. One suit does not outrank another.

For instance he board is 4♠ 4♥ 4♦ 4♣ 7♦ . Every player still active in the pot (anyone who has not folded) has four 4s. The tie is broken on fifth card. Anyone holding an Ace in their hand has an unbeatable hand. If two players hold an Ace, they split the pot. If no one holds a card higher than a 7, then all the active players spilt the pot.

Full houses are ordered by the rank of the triplet. That means 3, 3, 3, 4, 4 will beat 2, 2, 2, a, a. In poker variations that don't use community cards, the rank of the pair never enters into a comparison of two full houses. Not at least in Holdem. Suppose we have a flop of 2♠ 2♣ 7♥ Q♥ K♠ . One player has a K♥ 2♥ another player has Q♦ 2♦ and the third player has 7♠ 7♣ . The player with the 77 has the best hand, 7s full of deuces (7♥ 7♠ 7♣ 2♠ 2♣ ). The second best hand is deuces full of king (2♠ 2♣ 2♥ K♠ K♣ ), and the worst hand of the three is deuces full of Queens 2♠ 2♣ 2♦ Q♥ Q♦ .

Another occurrence is two players having the same two pair. For example you have A♦ J♦ . And the other player has A♥ T♥ and the board is A♠ 5♦ 4♥ 4♣ 9♣ . You both have two pair, aces over fours. But your five-card hand gives you A♠ A♦ 4♥ 4♣ J♦ betting the other player A♠ A♥ 4♥ 4♣ T♥ . The fifth card called a "kicker," breaks the tie. Holdem is often generally referred to as a game of kickers. It is that tie breaking role of the kicker that's being referred to. It happens more often than you might think.

Note in the above example, if the last card on the board had been a King instead of 9, you both would have a King kicker and would split the pot. You don't go beyond the five-card hand to break ties.

Sometimes no one can beat the hand consisting of the five cards on the board. For example the board contains K♠ K♥ K♦ K♣ A♠ . Another example would is a board of A♥ K♥ 7♥ 4♥ 2♥ and no one holds a Heart in their hands. Whenever this happens, it is a tie and all active hands split the pot. Note that if anyone had a Heart they would have a higher flush than the board.

RANK OF POKER HANDS

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