A high card in poker is the highest of the cards in play. This goes according to standard rankings. If the king is the highest ranked card in a five-card hand, the high card is the king, and the hand is referred to as a king-high hand. The high card is usually self-explanatory.

High Card Poker Hands

In most variations and forms of poker, such as Texas Hold’em and Omaha, a high-card poker hand is one in which the best hand reflects the highest card. In a Hold’em hand of K-Q-7-4-2, with no flush in play, this is a king-high hand in which the king is the high card. 

The name is counterintuitive. A hand that wins with a high card is actually the lowest ranking of poker hands. It means that the best five-card hand contains no pair, three of a kind or four of a kind, no straight or flush. The best that the high-card hand has to offer is that high card, the highest of them all, according to high card rules.

Most players don’t bet with a simple high card unless they are bluffing or chasing a straight or flush on the board. If they miss their draws and must show the hand, they will need to show that high-card hand. If their opponent was also playing a high card, the hand with the highest card wins. These are generally not the best poker winning hands, but occasionally, they will be.

There is another purpose for the high card in poker, and this is to break a tie. If two players have identical hands, the one with the highest other card wins. 

For example, in a Texas Hold’em hand, say Joe Poker and Jane Poker (no relation) each have a jack as one of their hole cards. When the community cards offer a jack on the flop and another on the river, both players end the hand with three of a kind. They tie, but the way to break the tie is to see who has the high card to go with the trip jacks. Joe has a queen as his other hole card, but Jane has a king. Jane then wins the hand with trips with a king kicker. The high card was the king and won the hand for Jane.

High Card for Button

One last use for the high card in poker involves starting a new table in a poker room, card club, or in a home poker game. The traditional way to determine the position of the button for the very first hand is to deal a card to each player, and the high card wins the button.

The button in poker is the coveted position in many game variations. In games like Hold’em, the player with the button acts before the blinds preflop, which means that he or she sees all the action before the blinds act, providing an opportunity to get out of the way of big hands or raise the button to try to take the blinds and limped bets. There are entire poker lessons focusing on mastering the button position.

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