UND-Pilsa Blog

A poker player’s hand is said to be ‘dominated’ in the game of poker when they share cards with their opponent but have a weaker kicker or accompanying hole card, and thus are a rather large underdog for the pot. An Ace King, for instance, would be said to dominate an Ace Queen, as if both hands go unimproved, the ace king will win.

The opponent with a dominated poker hand has only one ‘live card,’ so to say, as the ace is no good for him, and he therefore needs to catch a queen or some variation of cards to make a straight or a flush (assuming the opponent doesn’t also make a better straight or flush at the same time.

In instances such as these, the dominated hand is usually a 2 to 1 favorite to win the pot before the flop; therefore, though the hand is ‘dominating’ it is by no means a cinch. Many players will get flabbergasted when the hand that dominated before any other cards came out gets caught up with (which seems to happen even more than the 2-1 odds would suggest, simply because it’s easier to remember the times when your dominating hand lost than when you yourself sucked out).