Everything about Nut Hand totally explained
In
poker, the
nut hand, or simply
the nuts, is the strongest possible hand in a given situation. The
second-nut hand or
third-nut hand (and so on) may refer to the second and third best possible hands. The term applies mostly to
community card poker games where the individual holding the strongest possible hand, with the given board of community cards, has the nut hand.
The term can be used more loosely to refer to any very strong hand.
Usage in context
In
Texas hold 'em, if the board is
5♠ 6♠ A♣ 9♠ 5♥, a player holding
7♠ 8♠ has the nut hand, a
9-high
straight flush of spades, and can't lose. On the same board, the hand
5♣ 5♦ would be the second-nut hand,
four of a kind fives; the third-nut hand would be any pair of the remaining three aces, making a
full house, aces full of fives.
It is important to note that the
actual nut hand may not be the same as the
absolute nut hand; for example, if the board is
7♥ 2♣ K♠ K♥ 3♦ a player with
K♣ K♦ has the absolute nut hand. However, any player with
K-7 knows that he's the nut hand as it's impossible for another player to have two kings.
In
high-low split games one often speaks of "nut-low" and "nut-high" hands separately. In
Omaha hold 'em, if the board is,
5♠ 6♠ A♣ 9♠ 5♥, any player with
2-3 makes the nut-low hand,
6-5-3-2-A, while a player with
2-4 makes the second-nut-low hand,
6-5-4-2-A (the nut-high hands remain the same as in Texas hold 'em, in this case
7♠ 8♠ to make a straight flush).
Terms such as "nut
flush" or "nut full house" may be used to refer to the strongest hand possible in a particular category, even though it may not be the nut hand overall. For example, a pair of aces with the above board could be called the "nut full house", even though there are two higher (but very unlikely) hands possible. Terms such as "second-nut flush" and "third-nut
straight" are also applicable.
Origins
A common and certainly apocryphal
folk etymology is that the term originated from the historical poker games in the colonial west of America, where if a player bet everything he possessed, he'd place the nuts of his wagon wheels on the table to ensure that, should he lose, he'd be unable to flee and would have to make good on the bet. Since it would be expected that a player would only make such a bet when he'd the best possible hand, the folk lore says that this is how the best possible hand came to be known as the nuts.
A far more likely explanation is that "the nuts" originated from the old English usage of "nuts", meaning "any source of pleasure".
Another seemingly fitting explanation is that the term was derived from the UK English slang "the dog's bollocks" or "the mutt's nuts", meaning "the absolute best". However, this phrase originated around 1989, and the term "the nuts" pre-dates it.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Nut Hand'.
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