I had one of the lousiest bad beats of all my poker playing career just a couple of weeks ago. I was playing against two remaining opponents after the flop. My hand was a cool Three of a Kind; I was holding 8-J as starters and the flop showed J-4-J. I knew my hand was not solid enough, so I was moving and placing bets carefully. The turn showed a 2 — they are all different suited — so I knew that I am looking at a possible pot take-down. In raised my opponent and one of the players folded. It’s just him and me for the river. The river showed a 7, so I knew my chances were quite high. I bet twice the size of the pot, thinking no matter how my opponent reacted I can have the pot for sure. He called, and then the showdown. We both had Three of a Kinds; the only problem was his kicker, a close 9.

I was that close to taking down a little over $5,000 of pot money and his kicker literally kicked me out of my game. The fact that my kicker was an 8 almost made me jumped right onto the table in frustration. Yes, that is just how important kickers can be in tiebreakers. Whenever you are analyzing the relative strength of your hand, don’t make the mistake I made by not taking your kicker into considerations. A higher ranked kicker of your opponent’s can cost you a lot of money. Don’t forget that getting beaten by a higher kicker can also put you on tilt in an instant. I learned my lesson the hard way that day, so I’m passing the information to you so that you wouldn’t have to deal with the horrible experience.