Flopping a Pair
When one of the three cards on the flop matches one of the cards in your hand, you’ve flopped a pair.
An example is if you hold A 
9 and the flop is K 
9 
4 
.
You have a pair of 9s. We call that the second pair.
Note that if the flop had been 4 4 3 you’d also have a pair, a pair of 4s also.
When we say you’ve flopped a pair, we’re usually not referring to situations where the pair is on the board. Some pairs, however, are better than others.
Top Pair
Top pair” is when one of your cards matches the highest card on the board.
If the flop is Q 9 4 , then any player who holds a Queen has the top pair.
Your kicker (your unpaired card) matters in this situation.
For example, if you hold Q 2 , then any other player with a Queen has a better hand than you.
in terms of the top pair being the likely best hand on the flop.
There are exceptions to this, but it’s generally a good starting point.
It’s because of the increased likelihood of flopping the top pair that higher ranking cards are better to play than lower ranking hands.
The next table illustrates this.
CHANCES OF FLOPPING THE TOP PAIR |
|
If you hold an unpaired |
Percent of the time it will be the highest card on the flop |
Ace |
16.6% |
King |
13.9% |
King |
11.3% |
Jack |
9.1% |
T |
7.1% |
9 |
5.4% |
8 |
3.9% |
7 |
2.6% |
6 |
1.6% |
5 |
0.8% |
4 |
0.3% |
3 |
0.1% |
2 |
0.0% |
Entering a Public Cardroom / The Play of the Game / The First Betting Round
