Poker Dictionary (106) > Dominated

Dominated (Poker)

'Dominated' is the term that is used where two players have a the same value card with one player being an underdog based on his kicker card. In a game of Hold'em, a player with A10 would be dominated by a player holding AK, the Ace being the shared card. What this means is that if the board read As - Ah- 5s- 3h- 2d, the player with the AK would win against an A10, even though both players had hit an ace. Both players have a pair of aces however the one player has a king kicker and the other the 10. In poker, the player with the highest kicker would win the pot. In this case, the A10 would need to improve to win the hand.

A-K up against A-10 (unsuited) would win 71.76% of the time and would split the pot nearly 5% of the time. Not great stats for the A-10.

Due to the significant nature of a players chances of winning when dominated, it is always advisable to play premium starting hands from early and middle position, leaving the weaker stealing cards to late position. Playing rag aces out of position is a common mistake with new players to the game. With the regularity of big aces (hands like AK, AQ and AJ), an ace on the board presents a big problem for weak aces as it's difficult to get away from unnecessary contributions to the pot, especially when you hit top pair.

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