When can a hand become the poker nuts?
The first step in determining the best poker hand consists in understanding under which conditions a certain hand is possible. Once you get a grasp of that, you can develop a routine to quickly scan the board and rule out impossible hands. This post will focus on the first part.
Not every poker hand is possible with every Texas Hold’em board and not every hand can become the poker nuts. Consider the following hand ranking to understand what conditions must be met so that someone can hold a specific hand that might be the nuts. Note that all descriptions refer to a full Texas Hold’em board, i.e. with all five cards from flop to river face up.
Straight flush and royal flush
Possible: Since a straight flush has the lowest probability and therefore the highest value, the conditions to get one are also very restrictive.
You can only have a straight flush if:
a) There are at least three cards of the same colour on the board
b) At least three of the cards with the same colour can be used to form a straight (see explanations for straight)
There can only be one type of flush. It’s impossible in Texas Hold’em that someone holds a straight flush of hearts and someone else holds a straight flush of diamonds.
Nuts potential: If a straight flush is possible, it will always be the poker nuts. It’s as simple as that. To determine whether you have the nut straight flush, you need to determine the highest ranking card that can be used to form a straight flush. If you have that card in your pocket, you cannot be beat. Even a split pot is impossible - you will definitely win the entire pot.
Note: A royal flush is only the highest ranking straight flush. This is why it is included in that explanation.
Four of a kind
Possible: Four of a kind is only possible if the community cards contain at least a pair.
Nuts potential: If you hold four of a kind it’s very unlikely that you can be beat but it is possible.
If there are at least three cards of the same colour on the board that can be used to form a straight, then you can lose to a straight flush. Highly unlikely, but possible nonetheless.
Of course you can also lose to a higher four of a kind, which is only possible when there are at least two pairs on the board.
The nut four of a kind will be the one with the higher rank.
Full House
Possible: Really simple: A full house is always possible if there is at least a pair on the board.
Nuts potential: This gets a little tricky. Usually, if you hold a full house, it will be the poker nuts, i.e. there is hardly a higher ranking hand that will beat you.
Watch out for those two cases when you don’t have the nuts with a full house:
a) If there is more than one pair on the board. If that is the case and you do not have the two cards in your pocket that match the same rank as both of the pairs, than someone might hold a four of a kind and could beat you. Watch out for this in particular when the board shows a full house itself.
b) If there are at least three cards of the same colour and they can form a straight (for details see explanations on straight and straight flush)
Even if you are sure that a full house will be the best poker hand, it needn’t be YOUR full house. The rank of the full house is determined by the three of a kind it contains. So don’t forget that someone might hold a pocket pair that could combine with one of the community cards to beat your full house!
You only have the nut full house if you hold the best three of a kind combination possible with the board. Still, you might end up with a split pot.
Flush
Possible: Finding out if a flush is possible is quite easy. If there are three or more cards of the same colour on the board, then a flush is possible. This tells you also that there will always be only one type of flush. I.e. it’s not possible that someone will have a flush of hearts and another player has a flush of clubs.
Nuts potential: Many people get so excited when they have a flush they sometimes forget that, although it is a strong hand, it can lose to other hands that might be possible at the same time. A flush will only be the poker nuts if
a) There is no more than one card of each type on the board (no pairs or more)
b) It is not possible to form a straight with the cards of the same colour (since then a flush could lose to a straight flush).
The nut flush is the flush with the highest possible pocket card. In other words, you need to determine the highest card of the flush colour that is NOT on the board. If you have that card within your private cards, you have the nut flush and you cannot be beat. Note further that in this case you will win a showdown no matter what - if you have a nut flush then a split pot is not possible.
Straight
Possible: Quickly determining straight potential is the trickiest part of board analysis. This is why people often tend to overlook a straight. Actually, it can be quite simple.
First of all, you need to number the cards. All cards with a number will count as their respective number. A jack equals 11, a queen is 12 and a king equals 13. An ace equals either 1 or 14 (see below).
Secondly, you must consider the number of cards that will help you form a straight. For example, if there’s a pair on the board, you can only use one card of that pair to form a straight, the other one is useless. Hence, out of five cards only four can be used for a straight.
Rule: Each pair on the board decreases the possible straight cards by 1.
Rule: Three of a kind on the board decreases the possible straight cards by 2.
You need at least three possible straight cards to make a straight.
Let’s first consider the case when there are five individual cards on the board (i.e. no pair or more of the same rank). This is also the most important one because it is the only time that a straight can be the nuts (see below):
Determine the highest card, the lowest card and the card “in the middle”. Calculate high card minus middle card and middle card minus low card. Next, take the two remaining cards and calculate the difference. If one of these numbers is smaller or equal to 4, then a straight is possible.
Special case: if the board contains an Ace, the number of possible straight cards actually INCREASES by 1. This makes a straight more likely, because it’s as if there were six cards on the board. In this case, do the same as before, always counting the Ace as 14 when you begin. If you haven’t found a straight potential by doing that, pick the second-lowest ranking card on the board (excluding the ace) and calculate the difference to the ace, this time counting the ace as 1. If that number is equal to or smaller than 4, a straight is possible.
Let’s now consider the case where we only have four possible straight cards, i.e. the board contains a pair. This case is less important, because a straight will not be the nuts in this case (see below). This is how it works:
Take the highest card and subtract the second-lowest card. Then take the second-highest card and subtract the lowest card. If one result is smaller or equal to 3, a straight is possible.
Now the last case: board shows three of a kind. Although you’re probably not worrying about a straight with such a board, here’s how you determine whether a straight is possible.
Take the highest card and subtract the lowest card. If the result is smaller than or equal to 4, a straight is possible.
Got confused? It’s actually quite simple once you get used to it. Check out these examples for clarification of straight possibilities.
Nuts potential: A straight can only be the best poker hand if there are five or more cards that can be used to form a straight, i.e. there must not be more than one card of each rank on the board. If there’s a pair on the board, a straight can lose to a full house or four of a kind. Same with three of a kind on the board.
The nut straight will be the straight with the highest possible card.
Three of a Kind
Possible: Three of a kind is the highest ranking hand that is ALWAYS possible no matter what the community cards are. Someone holding pocket pair can always make a set by combining his two cards with a fitting card from the board.
Nuts potential: Since three of a kind is the highest hand that is always possible independent of the board, it follows that is must be the nuts if (and only if) no higher ranked hand is possible with a specific board. Specifically, for three of a kind to be the nuts, there may be no more than one card of each rank on the board. The player with the nuts will hence hold a pocket pair that matches the highest ranking card on the board.
Practically speaking, if you have ruled out flush and straight potential and hold pocket pair that match the highest card among the community cards, you have the poker nuts. Conversely, if you hold one card that combines with a pair on the community board, you DO NOT have the nuts because a full house is possible.
Two pair
Possible: It’s always possible to hold two pair even if there are no two cards of the same rank among the community cards. For example, if the board shows (amongst others) a King and a Ten, a player holding another King and a Ten as his pocket cards will have two pair.
Nuts potential: Two pair can never be the poker nuts as they can be beaten by someone holding three of a kind, which is a hand that is possible with every Texas Hold’em board.
Single Pair
Possible: No matter what the community cards show, it is always possible to form a pair with them. A single pair can always be - and often is - a winning hand.
Nuts potential: A single pair can never be the best poker hand. Somebody might hold two pair, which is always possible no matter what the board shows.
High Card
Possible: Since the highest pocket card(s) determines the winner if nobody else holds a better hand, it is of course always a possible winning hand per definition.
Nuts potential: High cards can never be the poker nuts since they can be beaten by a pair which is possible in any given board. Recall that the nuts are the best possible poker hand. This means you must be sure that nobody can beat that specific hand. But a high card can ALWAYS be beaten.
Wow, that was a long post. The next post will incorporate all the information above to assemble a routine that I use to quickly scan the board for possible hands. Check it out!
Tags: Best poker hand, Poker nuts
