The kicker in poker is a hole card that doesn’t help make the hand’s rank and is only used to break a tie when players have hands of the same strength. In other words, it is the remaining unpaired player’s card that will decide if they win or lose the hand.
Kicker Poker Example:
Let’s say you have a K J hand and your opponent has a K T hand. After the turn, the board reads K 9 8 5 4. While both of you have a pair of kings, your jack is the higher kicker than their ten, meaning you win the showdown.