Nuts Review

What is Nuts?

The term ‘nuts’ refers to the strongest hand available at any given time. Players commonly use this term in Poker, and it is based on how the cards are arranged in the game. However, it is most commonly used during community card Poker games, like Texas Hold Em or Omaha, in which players can easily determine the value of the nuts at the moment, but in the long run, the nuts themselves may change. Nuts are not actually referring to the hand that’s dealt to a player, but instead, the strongest hand that is possible, given the cards that were dealt. Therefore, it is very possible that none of the players have any nuts some or even most of the time. In some cases, the second strongest hand is called the second-nut, and so on.

Nuts Explained

People commonly believe that the term ‘nuts’ was initially used at the American border, although this is not a verified fact. Players that were extremely confident in their hand would use all they had to place a wager, down to their wagon-wheels’ nuts. If they didn’t have these, they would be forced to pay up, and wouldn’t be able to get out of it. However, although a nut is the best possible hand at a game, it is also sometimes used to describe a hand that a player has already played, that is, the Nut Straight. A good Poker player should be able to identify the nut, as it allows the player to view their hand from a better point of view.

If the first three cards in a Texas Hold Em game are 5, 6 & 9, for instance, the Nuts, in this case, will be 7 and 8. Nuts are not determined based on whether a player has these cards or not. So, if a seven is displayed at a turn, then the nuts will promptly change to 8 and 10. These constant changes will result in some nuts being less strong when participants are playing games like Omaha Hold Em, which includes nine cards. However in draw games, like a 5-card draw, for example, the nuts will neither increase nor decrease since the players don’t see the cards.