Identifying the nuts

[Frelled]

Hi,

Somehow I've missed this part of my poker education.

How do I identify what the nut hand is at the various stages of a holdem hand ?

Especially if I'm holding it.

Is there a quick way to do this in the heat of battle ?

Can't believe I've gone so long without realising I'm not confident about the answer.

Thanks in advance.

[AncientPC]

Experience, take more time in reading the board, playing countless numbers of hands.

[Rhone]

Doing it quickly will take practice. But you might start by working backwards mentally from the best possible hand, asking yourself whether it could possibly be out there. So, start with a royal flush: are there three cards on the board which, when combined with two others, would make TJQKA of the same suit? If not, then think about quads. Are there two cards of the same rank on the board? If yes, then the nuts is quads of that rank (unless the board is double paired, in which case the nuts is quads of the higher ranked pair).

since a paired board seldom means quads, a full house is close to the nuts in these situations. Remember, the board has to be paired for there to be a full house.

not a paired board? are there three cards of the same suit on the board? then a flush is possible, with the nuts being the flush with the highest ranked cards. So if a board has the 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] and A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], then the nuts is the hand that has two diamonds, one of which is the K.

etc...

[guller]

Get a deck of cards and deal out the widow. Evaluate the top 10 or so hands for each stage. After a while of practice it becomes second nature.

Gull

[IsaacW]

I can't tell you what will help with this except experience at the table... after a while you'll just know what the best possible hands are. When you do (and it won't take very long at all) you'll be way ahead of most of the people I play with in the Foxwoods $2/4 games. I couldn't tell you how many times I've heard someone say "I've got the nuts" and turn over A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]6[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] on a 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]2[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]Q[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] board.

Here's a hint: he's actually got the 8th nut hand.

[Pepsquad]

Look for groups of closely ranked cards and same-suits of cards. A little alarm should go off in your head when the board pairs.

[David04]

[ QUOTE ]
Are there two cards of the same rank on the board? If yes, then the nuts is quads of that rank (unless the board is double paired, in which case the nuts is quads of the higher ranked pair).


[/ QUOTE ]
Just wanted to point something out. If the board is paired, and you have one of the cards in your hand, the nuts would be a full house. Example:
The board is A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] A[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img] 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] 3[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] K[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img]

The nuts would be 4 aces, unless you held an ace. If you hold an ace, then the nuts would be aces full of kings.

[K C]

The first thing you want to do is take your time. You don't just want to be thinking about the nuts though, you want to be trying to figure out what your opponents may have, and it's rare that someone has the nuts anyway. This comes up mostly when you have a very strong hand and start getting raised or re-raised, then you want to see what might be out there that could have you beat, rather than just blindly playing back based upon your hand strength.

KC
http://kingcobrapoker.com