In poker, the nut hand, or simply the nuts, is the strongest possible hand in a given situation. The second-nut hand or third-nut hand (and so on) may refer to the second and third best possible hands. The term applies mostly to community card poker games where the individual holding the strongest possible hand, with the given board of community cards, has the nut hand. A game of Texas holdem, the most popular form of poker, in progress. ... // Probably starting about the time of World War II, many modern poker games used Community cards (also called shared cards or window cards), which are cards dealt face up to the center of the table and shared by all players. ...

The term can be used more loosely to refer to any very strong hand.

Equivalent but less common term: "the joint", as in: "flopped the joint".

Usage in context

In Texas hold 'em, if the board is 5♠ 6♠ A♣ 9♠ 5♥, a player holding 7♠ 8♠ has the nut hand, a 9-high straight flush of spades, and cannot lose. On the same board, the hand 5♣ 5♦ would be the second-nut hand, four of a kind fives; the third-nut hand would be any pair of the remaining three aces, making a full house, aces full of fives. Texas hold em (also holdem, holdem) is the most popular of the community card poker games. ... // This article refers to standard poker hands only, otherwise refer to non-standard poker hand In poker, certain combinations of cards, or hands, outrank other hands, based on the frequency with which these combinations appear. ... // This article refers to standard poker hands only, otherwise refer to non-standard poker hand In poker, certain combinations of cards, or hands, outrank other hands, based on the frequency with which these combinations appear. ... // This article refers to standard poker hands only, otherwise refer to non-standard poker hand In poker, certain combinations of cards, or hands, outrank other hands, based on the frequency with which these combinations appear. ...

It is important to note that the actual nut hand may not be the same as the absolute nut hand; for example, if the board is 7♥ 2♣ K♠ K♥ 3♦ a player with K♣ K♦ has the absolute nut hand. However, any player with K-7 knows that he has the nut hand as it is impossible for another player to have two kings.

In high-low split games one often speaks of "nut-low" and "nut-high" hands separately. In Omaha hold 'em, if the board is, 5♠ 6♠ A♣ 9♠ 5♥, any player with 2-3 makes the nut-low hand, 6-5-3-2-A, while a player with 2-4 makes the second-nut-low hand, 6-5-4-2-A (the nut-high hands remain the same as in Texas hold 'em, in this case 7♠ 8♠ to make a straight flush). For methods of splitting a pot, see Splitting poker pots. ... Omaha hold em (or Omaha holdem or simply Omaha) is a community card poker game (flop game) similar to Texas hold em, where each player is dealt four cards and must make his best hand using exactly two of them, plus exactly three of the five community cards. ...

Terms such as "nut flush" or "nut full house" may be used to refer to the strongest hand possible in a particular category, even though it may not be the nut hand overall. For example, a pair of aces with the above board could be called the "nut full house", even though there are two higher (but very unlikely) hands possible. Terms such as "second-nut flush" and "third-nut straight" are also applicable. // This article refers to standard poker hands only, otherwise refer to non-standard poker hand In poker, certain combinations of cards, or hands, outrank other hands, based on the frequency with which these combinations appear. ... // This article refers to standard poker hands only, otherwise refer to non-standard poker hand In poker, certain combinations of cards, or hands, outrank other hands, based on the frequency with which these combinations appear. ...

Origins

A common and certainly apocryphal folk etymology is that the term originated from the historical poker games in the colonial west of America, where if a player bet everything he possessed, he would place the nuts of his wagon wheels on the table to ensure that, should he lose, he would be unable to flee and would have to make good on the bet. Since it would be expected that a player would only make such a bet when he had the best possible hand, the folk lore says that this is how the best possible hand came to be known as the nuts. Folk etymology or popular etymology is a linguistic term for a category of false etymology which has grown up in popular lore, as opposed to one which arose in scholarly usage. ...

See also

• Poker
• Poker jargon