the showdown, to give a better sense of what happens during play: Compulsory bets: Alice is the dealer. Bob, to Alice's left, posts a small blind of $1, and Carol posts a big blind of $2. Pre-flop: Alice deals two hole cards face down to each player, beginning with Bob and ending with herself. Ted must act first, being the first player after the big blind. Ted cannot check, because the $2 big blind plays as a bet, and so folds. Alice calls the $2. Bob adds an additional $1 to the $1 small blind to call the $2 total. Carol's blind is "live" (see blind), so there is the option to raise here, but Carol checks instead, ending the first betting round. The pot now contains $6, $2 from each of three players. Flop: Alice now burns a card and deals the flop of three face-up community cards, . On this round, as on all subsequent rounds, the player on the dealer's left begins the betting. Bob checks, Carol opens for $2, and Alice raises another $2 (puts in $4, $2 to match Carol and $2 to raise), making the total bet now facing Bob $4. Bob calls (puts in $4, $2 to match Carol's initial bet and $2 to match Alice's raise). Carol calls as well, putting in $2. The pot now contains $18, $6 from the last round and $12 from three players this round. Turn: Alice now burns another card and deals the turn card face up. It is the . Bob checks, Carol checks, and Alice checks; the turn has been checked around. The pot still contains $18. River: Alice burns another card and deals the final river card, the , making the final board . Bob bets $4, Carol calls, and Alice folds (Alice's holding was and was hoping the river card would be a club to make a flush). Showdown: Bob shows his hand of , so the best five-card hand possible is , for three nines, with a king-queen kicker. Carol shows her cards of , making a final hand for two pair, kings and nines, with a jack kicker. Bob wins the showdown and the $26 pot. Kickers and ties Because of the presence of community cards in Texas hold 'em, different players' hands can often run very close in value. As a result, it is common for kickers to be