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Dominated hand

A hand that shares a card with a stronger holding of the same shape, such as two ace-high hands, and so is a significant underdog before any board even falls.

A dominated hand looks live before the flop, since both hands share a high card and could pair it, but the shared card means one side is drawing to only a handful of outs while the other is already comfortably ahead. It is a distinct and worse spot than facing a completely unrelated hand of similar rough strength, because the very card that looks like an out for the weaker hand is often already accounted for.

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