The Nut Hand in Poker
Author: Jim Green
Summary: Knowing what the nut hand is can save you from embarassing and expensive mistakes.
The Nuts. Or, if you prefer, the Stone Cold Nuts. The best possible hand, the hand that has all others beat. It is a truly great feeling to have the nuts in a holdem game. It is a truly sickening feeling to think you have the nuts and realise after the fifth bet headsup that you don’t.
So, this article will try to help you learn to spot the real nuts, rather than false-nuts.
The lowest possible nut hand is a set (three of a kind using a pocket pair). If the board has not paired, has no three-flush, and no possible straight, then a pocket pair matching the highest card on the board is the nut hand. Paired and flush boards are easy to spot, straights slightly less so. Basically, if there are three cards within a five rank spread, there is a possible straight. Beyond that, you just have to have to have a quick look and check there’s no possible straight.
If there’s a possible straight, but no flush, or pair, then the highest cards that complete the straight is the nuts. If 567 are on the board, then 89 makes the nut straight, not 48 or 34. These are called the ignorant end of the straight, and ignorance is definately not bliss when it comes to holdem.
When there are three or more cards to a suit on an unpaired board, the Ace high flush is usually the nuts. The exception is if a straight flush is possible – always look twice for a straight flush if your bet with an ace-high flush is raised.
If the board pairs, the nuts is quads (four of a kind) – unless you have one of the cards of that rank, in which case, the best possible full house (three of the highest ranked card on board, and two of the next) is the nuts. Similarly on a double paired board, unless you have one of each paired card, the best possible quads are the nuts.
All of these are academic if a straight flush is possible, especially the nut ace-high royal straight flush (as someone once referred to it in my hearing). Three cards to a straight of the same suit on the board, and we’re talking straight flush to be 100% sure your hand is the winner.
Perhaps some examples are in order.
Board is As 2c 7s Qs 6d – the nut hand is? …. AA for top set.
Board is 4c 8s Qs 7c Ad – the nut hand is? …. 56 for the 45678 straight
Board is 3c As 8d Qc 4c – the nut hand is? …. Ax clubs for the ace high flush
Board is 2c 2d Qs 3d Ad – the nut hand is? …. 45 diamonds for the A2345 straight flush
Board is 4d 8d 9h Th 4s – the nut hand is? …. 44 for the quads, unless you have a 4, in which case it’s TT for the TTT44 full house.
Now, having spent all this time learning how to spot the nuts, I’m going to try and restore your confidence in your strong hands.
Obviously, there will always be a nut hand out there, and most of the time, you won’t have it. That doesn’t mean you should live in fear though, usually, your decent hands will hold up.
Some things to think about:
1) The less players saw the flop, the less chance the nut hand is out there.
2) The later on the board the nut cards are, the less chance the nut hand is out there – you are far more likely to see JT claim the pot on a board of AKQ 5 8 than if the cards came 5 8 A K Q – the second board gives JT far less reason to stick around.
3) The more improbable the nut hand, the less likely it’s out there (AK to fill a QJT straight is pretty common, 36 to fill 245 is less so, and running in to two card straight flushes very rarely happens).
4) Think about your opponent – how many hands does he play? The tighter a player is, the less likely they have improbable hands.
5) Think about the way the hand went down – would your opponent have played the nut hand in the way he played this one?
I hope that this helps, and that you don’t need to think about it too often because you’re the one holding the nuts and plotting how to get the most money out of your opponents. Don’t be afraid to bet, raise, and even re-raise with strong hands, but similarly, don’t think that they are invincible.
