The Nuts in Poker: Find the Best Possible Hand on Any Board
The nuts is the best possible hand given the board: a hand nobody can beat at that moment. On 8♥ 7♣ 6♦ 2♠ 3♣ it is a ten-high straight, T‑9; on K♠ 9♦ 4♣ 2♥ 7♠, with no pair, flush or straight possible, it is a set of kings. To find it, check the board in order: straight flushes, pairs, suits, then connected ranks. The nuts on the flop can change by the river.
The nut flush out of position
In the big blind with A♠T♠, you called the button's open and its 33% c‑bet on T♣ 6♠ 4♠: top pair and the nut flush draw. The turn J♠ completes your ace-high flush and the button bets 70% of the pot. Fold, call, check‑raise to 3x or check‑raise all‑in?
See the answer
The hand. With the A♠, no other flush can be higher, and the board is not paired: no full house is possible yet. No opponent can hold a better hand: you have the A♠.
What can still beat it. A set can fill up on the river: against J♣J♥, A♠T♠ keeps 79.5%. Against K♠Q♠, the second-best flush, it has 100%.
The decision. The author's answer is the check‑raise to 3x: calling gives up value from the worse flushes, two pair and sets that will pay, and an all‑in folds out the hands you want to keep in.
Find the nuts, check by check
- Three cards of one suit within five ranks? Then a straight flush may be possible, and it beats everything: on J♥ T♥ 9♥, K♥Q♥ makes one.
- Is the board paired? Then four of a kind and full houses are possible. On Q♣ Q♦ 5♠ 9♥ 2♣, the nuts is Q♠Q♥, four queens.
- Three cards of one suit? Then a flush is possible, and the highest card of that suit that is not on the board makes the best one. On T♣ 6♠ 4♠ J♠, whoever holds the A♠ cannot be beaten by another flush.
- Three cards within five consecutive ranks? Then a straight is possible; count the ace low as well (A‑2‑4 allows a wheel). On 8♥ 7♣ 6♦, T‑9 makes the highest straight.
- None of the above? The nuts is a set of the top card: on K♠ 9♦ 4♣ 2♥ 7♠, K‑K.
The nuts on the flop is not the nuts on the river
T♠9♠ on 8♥ 7♣ 6♦ holds the nut straight. Its equity with the turn and river to come:
| Opponent | What it holds | T♠9♠'s equity |
|---|---|---|
| A♥8♠ | top pair | 96.7% |
| 5♣4♣ | the low straight | 95.1% |
| J♥9♥ | open-ended draw, but a five gives it a lower straight: only a ten or a backdoor heart flush beats T‑9 | 83.8% |
| 6♠6♥ | a set, drawing to a full house | 65.1% |
The set is the danger: every board that pairs gives it a full house (or four of a kind) that beats the straight. A hand that is the nuts now wants to bet while it is ahead, as in protection bets.
Keep going
- Which hands beat which: poker hand rankings.
- When your range holds more nuts than the opponent's: range advantage and nut advantage.
- Drawing to the best flush: the nut flush draw.
- Why a set is stronger than it looks: set vs trips.
- When a strong hand loses to a stronger one without a mistake: cooler in poker.
- When two hands tie, and who gets the odd chip: split pot.
- The lowest straight, ace to five: the wheel straight.
- Three of a kind plus a pair, and how often it fills: the full house in poker.
- Four cards of one rank, and how rare they are: four of a kind in poker.
- Five cards of one suit, and which flush wins: the flush in poker.
Sources
- Best hands found by checking every possible two-card holding on each board; equities enumerated over every turn and river.
- Definition: PokerNews, "Nuts" (poker terms).