Dominated hand
Very often, players may receive hands that are extremely strong however, there happens to be another player on the table who may have a stronger hand. In such a case, the former’s hand is said to be a dominated hand.
Domination, in poker, is used as a term to describe a situation where a player may have a hand that requires fewer outs to become complete, as compared to another player.
There are three main types of dominated hands in Hold’em style poker. The first is when two players hold a pair each, for e.g. A has a Jack-pair while B has a 6-pair. In such a case, B has a hand that is dominated by A’s Jack-pair. Hence B has a dominated hand.
The second situation occurs when a player, say A, has a pair of cards, say a Queen-pair. Player B, meanwhile, does not have a pair, but has a 7-Q or an A-Q. Basically, B’s hand has one Queen, the card that A has a pair of. In such a case, B’s hand is again dominated by A’s hand.
The third case for a dominated hand is in relation to the kicker that the players hold. If two players have one card that is the same for both of them, then the kicker’s rank decides the dominated hand in the round. If player A has an A-J for a hand while player B has an A-K, then Ace being common, A’s hand is dominated by B’s hand due to B having a higher kicker (king) as compared to A (Jack).
Such a situation can often be reversed with the flop, turn or river when, in the first two cases, B might receive one or more favourable cards while there is no significant improvement in A’s hands. For e.g. in the first case where A had J-J and B had 6-6, the flop might throw up a 3-6-9, giving B another 6. In such a case, B’s hand becomes stronger with triple 6s while A’s hand of a Jack-pair is dominated by B.
Forrige begrep: Discard, Neste begrep: Door card
