Atlassino Academy · Poker in the room · Lesson 5 of 13
The showdown: kickers and split pots
At the showdown the cards decide: the highest five of seven, the kicker when combinations match, a split when everything matches, and a side pot when one player runs out of chips.
The last card is out, and two players turn their cards face up. Both have a pair of queens. Who takes the pot?
The short answer
The player whose highest card outside the pair of queens is higher. At the showdown, the moment the players still in the hand show their cards, each hand is read as its highest five cards out of seven: the two cards in the hand and the five shared cards face up on the table, called the board. When two hands hold the same combination, the cards outside the combination are compared one by one, highest first, and the first one that differs decides; that card is called the kicker. When all five cards match, the pot is split equally.
The board
Player Apair of queens
In the hand
The five cards that play
Kicker: the J♣
Player Bpair of queens
In the hand
The five cards that play
Kicker: the 10♥
The pair of queens and the last two cards of the five are the same in both hands; only the first card outside the pair differs, and that card decides. The amounts on this page are examples, not a suggested stake. Amounts are in Canadian dollars.
Leoformer dealer · rules and maths
I dealt hold’em for years, and the showdown was the part of the hand I read slowest. Players turn their cards over in a hurry, somebody says a word, and the pot wants to go somewhere before anyone has looked properly.
So I laid every hand out the same way: the five cards that play face up, the two that do not pulled back. Lay a hand out like that, and you can see exactly which card decided it.
Both cards up, and the cards speak
When the last round of betting is over and more than one player is still in the hand, the players still in show their cards. In B.C., the rules published by BCLC for B.C. casinos require each of them to turn both cards face up, and one card up with the other face down is not a hand at all.
The seven cards Player A can use. Face up: Q♠ Q♥ J♣ 9♦ 6♣. Pulled down: 4♥ 2♠.
Player A from the picture above, read the way the dealer in B.C. reads the hand that takes the pot: the five cards that make the hand stay face up, and the two that do not play are pulled down.
The cards decide what a hand is, not what a player says about it. Parq Casino prints the rule as “cards speak”, Casino Niagara as “cards talk”, and at Casino Niagara the player who made the last action, the last bet or the last check, turns the hand over first. At Casino Niagara, calling a hand wrongly to get another player to act on it can cost that player the pot.
- In B.C.Once a bet is called, that is, matched by another player, every player may see the hands still in play.
- Parq CasinoAny player dealt into the hand may see a called hand.
- Casino NiagaraWith at least one call, any player may ask to see the two cards of every hand; losing hands are thrown in before the pot is awarded, and the hand that takes the pot stays face up.
- OLG PlaySmart’s teaching pageA player that everyone else folded to may keep the cards hidden.
Each line is the rule of the room or the guide that prints it; the rooms come first, and the teaching page comes last.
When the combinations are equal, the kicker decides
Two hands can hold the same combination, such as the same pair of eights made with a pair on the board. Then the cards outside the combination are compared, highest first, and the first one that differs decides. Casino de Montréal prints the rule without giving that card a name; the deciding card is usually called the kicker, and that is the word this page uses.
| What is compared | Player A | Player B | The comparison |
|---|---|---|---|
| The pair | 8♦ 8♣ | 8♦ 8♣ | the same rank |
| First card outside the pair | A♠ | A♠ | the same rank |
| Second card outside the pair | K♣ | K♥ | the same rank |
| Third card outside the pair | 7♦ | 6♠ | Player A’s is higher: this card decides |
The pair is the same, and so are the first two cards outside the pair; the third card outside the pair, the 7♦ against the 6♠, decides for Player A.
How many cards outside the combination can decide depends on the kind of hand. A straight, a flush, a full house and a straight flush leave nothing outside the combination, because all five cards belong to the hand itself. The order of the kinds of hand, from a royal flush down to no pair, is lesson 7.1.
| The kind of hand | Compared first | Then, outside the combination |
|---|---|---|
| No pair | the highest card | the next four cards, one by one |
| A pair | the pair | up to three cards, one by one |
| Two pair | the higher pair, then the lower pair | one card |
| Three of a kind | the three cards | up to two cards, one by one |
| A straight | the highest card of the straight | none: all five cards are the straight |
| A flush | all five cards, highest first | none: all five cards are the flush |
| A full house | the three cards, then the pair | none |
| Four of a kind | the four cards | one card |
| A straight flush | the highest card of the straight flush | none: all five cards are the straight flush |
A card outside the five never counts, however high: the comparison stops at five cards.
When the board plays, and when the pot is split
Each player makes the highest five-card hand out of seven cards, in any mix: both cards from the hand with three from the board, one card with four, or neither card and all five board cards. When neither card in a hand improves the five on the board, the board plays: that player’s hand is the board itself.
The board
Player Astraight to the nine
In the hand
The five cards that play
The board plays
Player Bstraight to the nine
In the hand
The five cards that play
The board plays
Player Cstraight to the ten
In the hand
The five cards that play
The 10♥ plays
Player A and Player B both play the board, straight to the nine. Player C’s 10♥ makes straight to the ten, and Player C takes the pot; without Player C, Player A and Player B would hold the same five cards and split the pot.
Equal five-card hands share the pot evenly. No suit ranks above another, so suits never break a tie. Every split pot on this page divides into equal whole amounts: when a pot cannot, no document we could read says who gets the chip left over.
The board
Player Apair of kings
In the hand
The five cards that play
The A♣ plays; the 3♦ does not
Player Bpair of kings
In the hand
The five cards that play
The A♥ plays; the 2♣ does not
Both players play A♣ K♠ K♦ Q♣ J♥: the ace in each hand plays, and the low card beside the ace never does.
At Casino Niagara, two players may not agree to share a pot instead of showing the hands down: players may not split pots, or give money back at the table. That is a rule for the cash table at that room; a deal among the last players of a tournament is lesson 7.12.
Short of chips: the main pot and the side pot
In B.C., a hand is played for table stakes: a player can bet only the chips that were on the table when the hand began, and cannot go back to the pocket for more money once the cards are dealt. A player there who faces a bet larger than the chips in front of them may call for those chips, and that player is then all in, with every chip on the table in the pot.
| Player | Put in | Into the main pot | Into the side pot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Player A, all in | $30 | $30 | nothing |
| Player B | $90 | $30 | $60 |
| Player C | $90 | $30 | $60 |
| Player D | $90 | $30 | $60 |
| The pots | $300 | $120 | $180 |
Every player still in puts Player A’s $30 into the main pot; what Player B, Player C and Player D put in beyond that makes the side pot.
In B.C., the part of a bet that nobody matches goes back to the player who made the bet, and the part that other players match forms a side pot among them. A hand can have more than one side pot, and each player has an interest only in the pots that player put chips into.
The main pot: $120
Goes to the highest hand among Player A, Player B, Player C and Player D
The side pot: $180
Goes to the highest hand among Player B, Player C and Player D
If Player A holds the highest hand at the table, Player A takes the main pot, and the highest hand of the other three takes the side pot. If one of the other three holds the highest hand, that player takes both pots.
Poker in a room is played against the other players, not against the house: the room deals, and takes a fee from the pots called the rake. Both pots here are shown before that fee, and no rule we could read says which pot the fee comes out of when there are side pots. Counted together, the players at a table pay every fee the room takes out of the pots; how the fee is worked out is lesson 7.10.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
A pot pushed the other way is not a verdict on your play. Over a handful of hands the cards decide far more than anyone at the table does, and a hand you read perfectly can still go to somebody else.
The chips in front of you when a hand begins are the most that hand can cost you, which makes the money you bring to the table the one amount you choose. Decide that amount before you sit down, and when it is gone, the evening is over.
If it stops being fun
If gambling stops being entertainment, help is available. 19+ in most of Canada; 18+ in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. More on responsible gaming.
Practice: read the showdown
Every showdown in the practice run is a board and two to four hands, face up. Level 1 is two hands where one is plainly higher; level 2 is the same combination in two hands, decided by a kicker; level 3 is equal hands and the board playing; level 4 is four hands with one player all in, and two pots to share out. On levels 1 and 2, each answer names the player and the five cards that player plays; on levels 3 and 4, it names who takes each pot.
Nothing is bet here. The pots are example amounts.
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Level 2 · Kickers
The board
Player A
Player B
The pot: $60, an example pot
The cards are face up. Who takes the pot, and which five cards does that hand play?
- Player B takes the pot, playing K♦ Q♠ Q♥ 9♦ 6♥ Player B holds the same pair as well, but the first card outside the combination is the K♦, against the A♥.
- The pot is split between Player A and Player B The same combination is not yet a split: the cards outside the combination are compared one by one, and the pot is split only when all five cards match. Here the first card outside the combination differs.
- Player A takes the pot, playing A♥ Q♠ Q♥ 9♦ 8♠ Both hands hold the same pair, so the cards outside the combination are compared, highest first: the first of them is Player A’s A♥ against Player B’s K♦. That card is the kicker, and Player A plays A♥ Q♠ Q♥ 9♦ 8♠.
Each hand is read as its highest five cards out of seven. Player A: A♥ Q♠ Q♥ 9♦ 8♠, pair of queens. Player B: K♦ Q♠ Q♥ 9♦ 6♥, pair of queens. A card outside the five never counts.
Every showdown in the practice run is read the same way: each hand as its highest five cards out of seven, compared card by card, and every pot goes to the highest hand among the players who put chips into it.
How the practice run works
Where the showdowns come from. Every showdown is dealt from a shuffled deck with a fixed seed and kept only when it shows the point of its level. The answer is worked out when the page is built: each hand is read as its highest five cards out of seven, the hands are compared card by card, and each pot goes to the highest hand among the players who put chips into it. The wrong answers are named mistakes, such as the lower hand, a kicker missed, the board read as playing when it does not, a card outside the five, a suit, the whole of both pots to the player who is all in, or a side pot shared out in equal parts.
One strip, and no rounds. Every square on the strip is one showdown of this lesson, and all of the squares are there from the start. Your first answer fills the square it belongs to; when the squares of one level are full, the next level begins by itself, with no button in between. Practising a showdown you got wrong turns its cross into “fixed in practice” and does not change the count, because only first answers count.
Your progress stays in this browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Check yourself
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Three quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.
Back to the question we opened with. When both players hold a pair of queens, the player whose highest card outside the pair is higher takes the pot; when every card of the five matches, the pot is split evenly.
Poker rooms and further reading
19+ (18+ in AB, MB, QC) · Play responsibly · the helplines are further up this page
Further reading
- Rules of Play for Table Games — Poker (17.0 Texas Hold’em, 33.0 No Limit and Pot Limit) · BCLCThe rules a B.C. poker room deals by: blinds, the button, the order of play, the rake, the showdown, side pots, table stakes and what makes a bet binding.
- Poker Texas Hold’em · Loto-Québec, Casino de MontréalHow a hand goes in the Montréal poker room, the hands from the royal flush down, and what decides between two equal hands.
- Niagara Casinos General Poker Rules · Casino NiagaraOne Ontario room’s house rules: the waiting list, phones, string raises, the single-chip rule and who shows first.
- Poker at Casino New Brunswick — House Rules · Great Canadian EntertainmentA full set of house rules from one room, including when a ruling can still be asked for and how long you can be away from your seat.
- Poker Room Rules of Play · Parq CasinoA Vancouver room’s short list: one player to a hand, cards speak, show one show all, and what counts as a bet.
- Texas Hold’em · OLG PlaySmartThe blinds, who acts first before and after the flop, and how a tie splits the pot.
- Poker etiquette · OLG PlaySmartThe written and unwritten rules of the table, from the single-chip call to string bets and session fees.
How it’s worked out
Rules, numbers, sources and hosts
Where this happens. Every hand on this page is hold’em at a table in a poker room you can walk into. Each rule is named with the room or the publisher that prints it: the rules published by BCLC for B.C. casinos, Casino de Montréal, Casino Niagara, Parq Casino and OLG PlaySmart’s teaching pages. The Casino de Montréal page is a summary of the main rules; where it differs from the by-law it summarises, the by-law prevails, and we have not read the by-law. Your room may run things differently, and the dealer or the floor can tell you how.
Numbers. Every hand is read by our hold’em engine, which builds each hand’s highest five cards out of seven and compares hands card by card; the pots are worked out from what each player put in. The practice deals come from a seeded shuffle. Every amount is an example. Every figure carries a machine-readable key and is recomputed by the same engine on every build.
What is deliberately absent. The order of the hands and how rare each one is are lesson 7.1. How the betting goes, and when a short all-in bet lets other players raise again, is lesson 7.2. The room, the waiting list and the buy-in are lesson 7.3. Showing your cards to one player, protecting your hand and asking for a ruling when a hand is misread are lesson 7.4. How far ahead a hand is before the flop is lesson 7.6, and the strongest hand a board allows is lesson 7.9. The room’s fee is lesson 7.10, and a deal at a tournament’s final table is lesson 7.12. Who gets a chip that cannot be split, and which pot the fee comes out of when there are side pots, no document we could read says, so neither is worked out here.
Sources. Every claim on this page carries a button with the sentence it rests on, the publisher who wrote that sentence and the date we read it.
Hosts. Leo and Maya are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former dealer and a former floor supervisor, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.
No promise. Poker in a room is played against the other players, and the room takes its fee from the pots. Reading a showdown correctly tells you who takes a pot; nothing on this page is a way to earn money at poker, and nothing here says how an evening at a table would end.
When the combinations are equal
When more than one five-card hand contains identical combinations, the five-card hand with the highest ranking card that is not part of any of the above combinations is the winning hand.
If two players have identical combinations, the winner is the hand with the highest of the cards not in the combination.
However, if all the cards that are not part of a combination are of equal rank, the hands are considered to be identical.
A tie occurs when more than one player has the same value of high card not in the combination.
Table stakes and side pots
A Player confronted by a bet larger than their stack may call for the amount of chips in front of them.
The excess portion of the bet is returned, raised or used to form a side pot with player(s) matching the amount raised.
There is no limitation as to the number of side pots.
Player(s) only have an interest in a pot(s) to which they have contributed.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 6.1 to 6.2.2
Each Player competes against all other players in the game except in the case of a side pot.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 1.2 to 3.5
A Player may bet no more money than they had on the table at the beginning of that hand and consequently cannot go back to their pocket for more money once a hand is dealt.
A Player also may not take a portion of their money off the table, unless they leave the game and take their entire stack out of play.
Section 33.0 No Limit/Pot Limit, introduction (table stakes)
All games are table stakes.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Casino New Brunswick — Poker · read
Chips may not leave the gaming table except to pay the server, purchase drinks/food or prescribed by the House.
A maximum of $25 may be taken from a Player’s stack when going on a Meal Break.
Removing chips from the table while playing is not permitted, unless permission has been given from a supervisor or manager.
Cards speak
“Cards speak” – the value of each live hand will be determined by the combined face value of the hand.
Players are required to show all hole cards to be declared a winner. Cards speak.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Casino New Brunswick — Poker · read
Cards talk. A winning hand must show all cards face up on the table. The player instituting the last action (checking or betting) must turn their hand over first.
A player miscalling a hand with the intent to cause another player to act on their hand risks forfeiture of the pot and/or removal from the Poker Room.
What’s more, the winning hand in a showdown must be shown face up on the table for all to see.
Both cards at the showdown
When all options have been exercised, the remaining Players shall expose both their cards in a showdown.
One card face up and the other face down is not a valid hand.
The Dealer shall read the winning hand by leaving the cards used to make the hand up and pulling the cards not used in the hand down.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 10.14 to 10.15
Cards speak
“Cards speak” – the value of each live hand will be determined by the combined face value of the hand.
Players are required to show all hole cards to be declared a winner. Cards speak.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Casino New Brunswick — Poker · read
Cards talk. A winning hand must show all cards face up on the table. The player instituting the last action (checking or betting) must turn their hand over first.
A player miscalling a hand with the intent to cause another player to act on their hand risks forfeiture of the pot and/or removal from the Poker Room.
What’s more, the winning hand in a showdown must be shown face up on the table for all to see.
Who may see a hand
All Players are entitled to see all active players' hands provided a bet is called.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 10.14 to 10.15
A called hand may be seen by any player that was dealt in, unless abused.
If there is at least one caller, all patrons must show their two hole cards upon the request of any players.
All losing hands will be mucked before the pot is awarded.
The winning hand will remain face up until after the pot has been awarded.
If a player wins because everyone else folds, they can choose not to show their hand.
When the combinations are equal
When more than one five-card hand contains identical combinations, the five-card hand with the highest ranking card that is not part of any of the above combinations is the winning hand.
If two players have identical combinations, the winner is the hand with the highest of the cards not in the combination.
However, if all the cards that are not part of a combination are of equal rank, the hands are considered to be identical.
A tie occurs when more than one player has the same value of high card not in the combination.
The highest five of seven
Each Player attempts to achieve the best five-card poker hand using the two cards dealt to them and the five common cards dealt.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 1.2 to 3.5
During the showdown, each player who is still in the game and still has his two cards forms the highest possible ranking five-card poker hand in order to win the pot.
He may use his two cards and three of the five community cards, one of his two cards and four of the five community cards, or all five community cards.
The object of this popular version of Poker is to create the best 5-card Poker high hand using any combination of the seven cards.
Equal hands split the pot
Try to win your opponents’ chips by forming a five-card hand, the value of which must be greater than those of the other players.
The player with the highest ranking hand at the end of the showdown wins the pot.
If two or more players have identical hands, the pot is split evenly among these players.
All players left in the hand turn over their cards. The best hand among the players still standing wins. If any players tie, they split the pot evenly.
Ranks and suits
In decreasing order, the rank of the cards is as follows: Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2.
Most forms of poker use a single 52-card deck in which all suits are considered equal in value.
No sharing a pot by agreement
Players may not split pots, or give any other player’s money back at the table.
Table stakes
A Player confronted by a bet larger than their stack may call for the amount of chips in front of them.
The excess portion of the bet is returned, raised or used to form a side pot with player(s) matching the amount raised.
There is no limitation as to the number of side pots.
Player(s) only have an interest in a pot(s) to which they have contributed.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 6.1 to 6.2.2
Each Player competes against all other players in the game except in the case of a side pot.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 1.2 to 3.5
A Player may bet no more money than they had on the table at the beginning of that hand and consequently cannot go back to their pocket for more money once a hand is dealt.
A Player also may not take a portion of their money off the table, unless they leave the game and take their entire stack out of play.
Section 33.0 No Limit/Pot Limit, introduction (table stakes)
All games are table stakes.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Casino New Brunswick — Poker · read
Chips may not leave the gaming table except to pay the server, purchase drinks/food or prescribed by the House.
A maximum of $25 may be taken from a Player’s stack when going on a Meal Break.
Removing chips from the table while playing is not permitted, unless permission has been given from a supervisor or manager.
Side pots
A Player confronted by a bet larger than their stack may call for the amount of chips in front of them.
The excess portion of the bet is returned, raised or used to form a side pot with player(s) matching the amount raised.
There is no limitation as to the number of side pots.
Player(s) only have an interest in a pot(s) to which they have contributed.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 6.1 to 6.2.2
Each Player competes against all other players in the game except in the case of a side pot.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 1.2 to 3.5
A Player may bet no more money than they had on the table at the beginning of that hand and consequently cannot go back to their pocket for more money once a hand is dealt.
A Player also may not take a portion of their money off the table, unless they leave the game and take their entire stack out of play.
Section 33.0 No Limit/Pot Limit, introduction (table stakes)
All games are table stakes.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Casino New Brunswick — Poker · read
Chips may not leave the gaming table except to pay the server, purchase drinks/food or prescribed by the House.
A maximum of $25 may be taken from a Player’s stack when going on a Meal Break.
Removing chips from the table while playing is not permitted, unless permission has been given from a supervisor or manager.
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