Poker question (kicker help)

[Draft Dodger]

I'm having a hard time getting the kicked figured out, and it keeps biting me in the ass, so I'd like to present a few hands similar to what I've gotten burned on and hopefully you can straighten me out.

one pair:

sample hand:
shared cards: 10-10-K-3-5
me: 6-7
him: J-8

crappy hands for both, just a pair. I had thought that there was only one kicker (the K in this case), so was expecting a tie there - both of us having a pair of 10's with a King kicker. but, it looks like I'm wrong, and he had the next best card after the king, so he won.

two pair & 3 of a kind:
in the rare chance me and someone else have the same 2 pair (or the same set), does the kicker come into play, or is it a tie?

finally, flushes (although I am cursed to NEVER get one) - if the highest card is the same for both hands, do you check for the next highest card? or is it just a tie?

[SoxWin]

I was under the impression the kicker was the highest of your hole cards, but I'm not even a novice, let alone a pro. When me and my buddies have a poker night, that's the way we play it

[MJ4H]

all cards in a 5 card hand play.

in 2 pair hands, the the highest pair is the first tie break, the bottom pair is the second, and the 5th card of the hand is the third tie break.

in 3 of a kind hands, the rank of the three of a kind is the first tie break, the highest single card is next, and the 5th card of the 5 card hand breaks any remaining ties.

in flushes, if the highest card is the same, the second highest breaks the tie, all the way down to the 5th highest.

[SoxWin]

Taken from

Kickers take on special importance in Texas Hold'em, because a common winning hand is one pair of a card in a player's hand matched with a card on the board, while the player's second card acts as a kicker. For example, if one player holds A-Q, a second player holds A-10, and the board is A-J-8-5-3, the player with the Q kicker wins because A-A-Q-J-8 defeats A-A-J-10-8. If the board, however, were A-K-5-9-5, the players would tie, because both would play the hand A-A-5-5-K; in this case it is said that the players' kickers "don't play", or that the "kicker on the board plays".

[MJ4H]

some examples:

hand 1: KT
hand 2: KJ

Board K9942

both players have two pair, Kings and Nines. The full five card hand for each player is:

Hand 1: KK99T
Hand 2: KK99J

So hand 2 wins because of the 5th card (J beats T kicker)

A 3 of a kind hand:
Hand 1: 92
Hand 2: 97
Board: AKQ99

Now, this is a split pot, because both players' 5 card hands (remember you make the best possible 5 card hand out of the 7 available to you) are 999AK (the 7 nor the 2 play).

Flushes example:
Hand 1: 5h 8s
Hand 2: 4h 3h
Board: Ah Qh Th 8h 4s

Both players have a flush, but hand 1 has a higher flush (AQT85 vs AQT84)

If instead the board were Ah Kh Qh Th 7h the pot would be split, since both players use the board cards as their 5 card hands (hand 1's 5h is not as good as the 5th best board card, and hand 2's 4h has the same problem).

I hope this helps.

[Draft Dodger]

that clears everything up - thanks guys...