If you’ve ever played poker, you know how frustrating it can be to be out of the pot when you’re way ahead in a hand. That’s when the mathematically unlikely final card makes it nearly impossible for you to win. You were in a great position and played well, but you just got unlucky. This type of losing streak is often referred to as “sucking out.” It is a far cry from a bad beat caused by chance, and you created your own demise.

In poker, a player’s hand is ranked according to the ranking of the cards in their hand. Standard poker hands consist of two hole cards and five face-up cards. A high card is known as a kicker. Another card is known as a nut. The nut may change over the course of the game, but it is never lower than nine. The higher card, the better the hand, the better. This strategy will help you win more often in poker than in many other card games.

When you have a higher-ranking hand, the odd chip goes to the player with the highest-ranking hand. However, if two players have the same-ranking hand, the pot will be split as evenly as possible. In this scenario, the player with the highest-ranking hand by suit receives the odd chip. This method is called “pot-size bluffing,” and it should only be used by experienced players.