'Over Cards' in Poker

When a player has hole cards of higher value than the visible shared cards in a game of Hold'em, they would be said to have 'over cards'. For instance if you were to hold 10-10 pre flop, the best result is to hit a 10 o0n the flop, however on the flop you don't want to see cards higher than a 10. The reason for this is that there's more chance your behind if there are over cards to your 10's. If the flop hit A-K-9 - this would be a danger flop for a pair of 10's. Aces and kings are eminently playable and so you would have considerably less confidence in your mid pair than you would have if the flop had come 2-5-7.

Where no over-cards, there is also a greater chance of winning a bigger pot. On a board of 2-5-7, a player with a 7 with a good kicker would think they have the best hand. Your pair would be well disguised and would only be revealed through bet sizing or at showdown.

Lets now assume you hold Q Q, which by all accounts is a pretty good starting hand (3rd best in Hold'em). There are no raisers and the board reads 5 6 10. Looking at this board there is a real opportunity to extract chips from your opponents, especially if a player has paired his 10. A player holding A-10 will find it very difficult to fold top pair with a good kicker. In terms of your hand, you have no over cards (a card on the board higher than a Q) so there's a good chance your ahead in the hand. The biggest danger you face will be a player hitting a set or making two pair.

For more on how Hold'em hands are ranked see our hand rankings).

Strength in Over cards

Hole cards play an important in Hold'em. Players are trying to connect their hole cards with the board to make the best possible hand. Where players hit top pair on the board, having an over card adds strength to the hand as it means that they have a stronger kicker. It doesn't mean that the hand is ahead, however the stronger the kicker card, the more likely this is.

A strong pre flop hand can very quickly become weak when it misses the flop. Whilst there might be the implied odds in certain situations to call a bet with only over-cards, most of the time this isn't advisable as you won't be getting the odds to justify the call. For this reason, it's seen as a weak play.