What are the Poker Nuts and why is it relevant?
You might have heard poker pros, friends or poker buddies refer to Poker Nuts, The Nuts in Poker, or simply The Nuts. Of course, they’re not talking about dried seeds and fruit when they tell you: “I’m glad you called, cause I’ve got the nuts anyway!”
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But what is it then and why is it important to you as a poker player?
Generally, Poker Nuts refers to the best possible hand in poker in a given betting situation. Simply put, if you have the nuts, nobody can beat you.
In their famous book “Gambling For a Living”, poker authorities David Slansky and Mason Malmuth give their no. 1 strategy tip for becoming an excellent Texas Hold’em player:
“Know what the best possible hand is and how likely it is to be out”
If you don’t know what the nuts are to begin with, you will not recognize when you actually HOLD the nuts. Do you think it could be useful to know when you can’t be beat and when it’s possible? I guess so…
Let me get more specific here:
Imagine you hold three of a kind on the river but fail to recognize that the board makes a flush possible. You happily call a substantial raise by your two opponents who have both made the flush and lose significant money in the process. You might even get blown out of a tournament if another player puts you all in.
Another case might be that you have the second highest pair on the river. Your opponent raises and you give him credit for the top pair. After careful consideration, you fold, but you failed to recognize that your cards and the board actually assembled the nut straight!
Both cases do cost you money. In the first case, you lose money because you thought you held the best poker hand possible when actually you didn’t. In the second case, you lose money because you believed you were beaten when actually you held the poker nuts!
Carefully examining the board to always recognize the poker nuts is therefore incredibly important. It sometimes even happens to experienced players that they fail to recognize the best poker hand, because they got all excited about flopping a set or hitting top pair.
The crucial thing is to be really quick in reading the board and determining the best poker hand possible. Especially when you’re playing poker in the internet, ticking clocks and rapidly decreasing status bars put pressure on you to act. Many new players don’t take the time to examine the board and identify the poker nuts. Don’t make that mistake!
Tags: Best poker hand, Poker nuts
