I just lost with my 33 to a K9. The table has T5T56, that is 2 pairs on the table, then my pair of 3's loses to K9. Why? Doesn't a pair of 3's or any pair beat high card king? Robert

Answer

When playing Texas Hold'em it can be easy to get blinded by a pocket pair. You're the loss to the king here is entirely correct. To understand just consider the basic make-up of a hold'em hand: each player users their 5 best cards to make a hand. I'll add a few suits in to make this clearer, so you are holding:

Your opponent holds:

And the table shows:

So what are the best hands for the two players? We simply pick the best cards for each player, so for you and your opponent those hands are:

That pair of fives is higher than your pocket threes, thus you use that pair instead of your threes. That is, your threes have been counterfeited by the second pair on the board. By standard poker hand rules you now both have the same two pair, but your opponent has a king kicker to your three.