Having the Nuts

Marcus Bateman / Marcus Bateman / 12 November 2008 / Leave a Comment

The term 'the nuts' simply refers to a hand that is the best possible one. In flop games the nuts is quite a regular occurrence, where as compared to a game like five card draw (where the nuts has to be a royal flush due to the five hidden cards in each players hands) it is not

This is one of the key reasons that games like hold'em and Omaha have become so popular in recent years, as the nuts gives skilled players a big edge over those who do nut fully understand it.

The key point to think about when considering how important the nuts actually is in poker, is to think about playing a game of no limit hold'em extremely deep stacked. If a player decides to put you all in for say, five buy ins, you need an extremely strong hand to be able to call. However, if you have the nuts, you can instantly call, safe in the knowledge that you will win the pot (or worst case split it - as in the case with the nut straight). This means that when playing deep stacked games, you want to try and look to play hands that can turn into the nuts - simply because you want to be playing hands that you can feel totally comfortable getting your stack in with.

A great example of how important the nuts is when playing deep stacked, yet no so important when playing short, is the nut flush. Suited aces with low kickers are great hands when playing deep stacked hold'em. You can usually get in cheap, hit a monster draw, and often win a huge pot when you hit and are able to get the rest of your stack in happily. Compare this to how suited aces fair when playing short stacked. Here these hands become pretty poor, as you will nearly always be dominated by pairs bigger than your kicker, or aces with bigger kickers. As you don't actually hit the nuts very often, getting your stack in with these hands pre flop when playing short is often a bad idea.

Being able to call and make the big bets that occur towards the ends of hands when playing deep stacked hold'em or Omaha all relies on understanding how - and why - the nuts are so important. The truly great feature of them is that once the board is all out, and you know that there is not a single possible hand that can beat you, you could literally get all the money you have in the world on that hand and you would be 100% to win it - a very rare (and very useful) occurrence in any form of gambling.

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