'The Nuts' in Poker
The nuts is the best hand that can be made based on the cards that are available to the players in the hand. This shouldn't be mistaken with the best hand of all time. For instance, the board reads 10 J 9. The best possible hand, in a game of Holdem, that could be made is the Q K to make the straight flush.
Being able to read the board to work out what the best hand is and how your hand ranks by comparison is a key skill. Without knowing this, you will not be able to tell how strong your hand is. With each card dealt, the nut hand can change.
The term is also given to drawing hands, for instance if you hold A K and the board reads 2 6 10, you have the 'nut flush draw', meaning that any heart that didn't pair the board would give you the best flush possible (the ace high flush or nut flush). When to the straight, it would be called the 'nut straight'. If the turn card was the 10 and the board read 2 6 10 10 you would still need a heart to make an ace high flush but if you held a 10 in your hand, the best possible hand is four of a kind (another 10 hits on the river or a player has 10-10 in hand). Where you know that no other cards in your opponents hands could make them a better hand - you have the nuts.
It's a very comforting place to be when you know you have the best possible hand that is available. It then becomes a matter of trying to extract as much money as possible from your opponents.
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