HOW TO READ POKER HANDS
Texas holdem is a community card game and therefore there are always 5 cards that belong to all players so figuring out who has the best hand can be difficult. The most major difficulty sometimes involves the kicker. In the poker game of Texas Holdem each player is dealt two hole cards face down and he/she doesn't have to use either or both of these cards to make his best poker hand. There are several combinations in order to form the best poker hand, 4 community cards and one pocket card, 3 community cards and both your pocket cards or a player may make the best poker hand from the 5 community cards.
An example of this would be as follows:
Player 1: Ace (c) Three (c)
Player 2: Ace (s) Jack (s)
The Board Shows: Ace (d) Seven (c) Five (c) Queen (s) King (s)
Player 1 had a nut flush draw, if a third club came up he would have won the hand with an Ace high flush. However he didn't catch the 5th club so he is left with a pair of Aces which he believes could be the high hand or at least tie since the King, Queen or Seven to split the pot. Unfortunately in this instance Player 2 has a pair of Aces with a Jack kicker. This is what happens when a player is holding a low kicker with the high hand being a pair using one of the community cards.
The Nuts: In Holdem Poker more than any other poker game, there are a variety of hands that constitute "the nuts". The Nut's being the absolute best poker hand that can't lose. How do you recognize the nuts? Well if it looks like a nut hand and it barks and rolls over like a nut hand chances are it is a "nut" hand.
An example of this would be as follows:
You are holding an Ace (h), Ten (h) as your pocket cards.
The Board Shows: Ten (s), Three (h), Two (h), King (s) and Seven (h)
You can thank you lucky stars for the river! You have just been dealt an Ace high flush. Is there any other combination of cards that can beat you? There is no possibility of a full house so you are holding the absolute "Nuts"! This would have been an easy hand to play as you hit the high pair on the flop, the turn card may have made you sweat a little with the possibility of a pair of kings somewhere out there, however you perceiver in hopes of landing either an Ace, Ten or another (h). In this circumstance you lucked out, because chasing a flush isn't always a good idea. The fact that you had a few other outs would make this hand appealing enough to follow through to the end.
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