Explanation of Nuts
“The nuts” in poker refers to the best possible made hand at any given time.
“The effective nuts” refers to the best possible made hand once we take into account card removal effects or range information. For example, in Hold’em:
Board: Q♣T♣8♣
Hand: A♦J♣
The “nuts” on this board texture is actually the Jc9c for the straight-flush. Of course, we know that this hand is technically impossible since we hold the Jc ourselves. The effective nuts is hence the Ace-high club flush.
The term “stone cold nuts” is frequently used to emphasise that no better possible hand is available i.e. we have the absolute nuts.
Example of Nuts used in a sentence -> We 3bet preflop and flopped the stone cold nuts.
How to Use Nuts as Part of Your Poker Strategy
A fundamental skill in poker is being able to recognize which hand constitutes the absolute and the effective nuts on every possible board texture.
Effective nuts also takes into account players’ ranges. If the absolute nuts is not within any player’s range, then the strongest possible available holding (based on the ranges) is referred to as the effective nuts.
Effective nuts may also refer to any hand which is so strong that it would be a cooler if it is beaten. We might flop middle set in Hold’em and refer to it as the effective nuts even if our opponent can have top set in his range. This is because we never plan to fold our middle set regardless of the action.
Nuts in Poker – FAQ
Why do they call it the “nuts”?
No-one knows for certain. The most popular theory is that a player would remove the nuts from his wagon wheels (think wild west) when making an especially large wager. This would prevent him from fleeing quickly if he lost the bet. Of course, gamblers might only ever go to this extent if they legitimately held the best possible hand hence “the nuts”.
Is there a ruling where a player is obligated to raise when holding the nuts?
In tournaments, there is often a ruling where a player must always raise the stone cold nuts when acting last on the river. Since there is no reason why a player would not raise the best possible hand in this scenario, smooth calling is considered a type of “soft-playing” or “collusion” and can incur a penalty. This only applies to tournaments (not cash games) and it only applies when closing the action on the river (not any other spot).
What does it mean when a player is “drawing to the nuts”?
We are “drawing to the nuts” when we hold a draw that will make the nuts if it hits. For example, the Ace-high flush draw is typically referred to as the “nut flush draw” since it will be the best possible flush if it hits.
What is the nut straight in poker?
The “nut straight” means the best possible straight given the current arrangement of community cards. For example, on a 89T flop, a player who holds QJ will have the “nut straight”. The term is mostly used in community card games like Hold’em, since in draw games like 5-card draw, the nut straight is always TJQKA.
What does it mean to “check back the nuts”?
This simply means to check while in position and holding the nuts. This would usually imply some sort of “slowplay”, since the player with the nuts is taking a passive action (checking) rather than an aggressive action (such as betting).
See Also
