Atlassino Academy · Poker in the room · Lesson 9 of 13
The nuts, the board and blockers
Before a big bet, one question settles a lot: what is the strongest hand this board allows? Here is how to read it off the board, and what your own two cards change.
The board — the shared cards in the middle of a hold’em table — reads K♣ 10♦ 9♠ 5♥ 2♣. What is the strongest hand anyone at the table could be holding?
The short answer
A straight to the king, made by a queen and a jack in the hand. At the table that hand has a name: the nuts. With no pair on this board and no three cards of one suit, nothing above a straight can be made here, and only one straight is open. Every card that comes can move the nuts, so it is read again after each one.
| Place | The hand | Two cards that make it | Two-card hands |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 the nuts | Straight to the king | Q♠ J♠ and others | 16 |
| 2 | Three kings | K♥ K♠ and others | 3 |
| 3 | Three tens | 10♥ 10♠ and others | 3 |
| 4 | Three nines | 9♦ 9♥ and others | 3 |
| 5 | Three fives | 5♦ 5♠ and others | 3 |
| 6 | Three twos | 2♥ 2♠ and others | 3 |
Only one straight is open on this board; every hand under it is three of a kind or less.
Leoformer dealer · rules and maths
When I dealt, the player who looked surest at the table was often holding the second hand on the board, not the first. Nobody had shown a card. The board had been saying what the strongest hand was since the last card came, and anyone could have read it.
So read the board before you read the players: what is the strongest hand these cards allow, and what is the next one down.
The nuts is the strongest hand the board allows
The nuts is the strongest hand any two cards could make with the board in front of you. It belongs to the board, not to anyone’s hand: it can change when the first three shared cards come (the flop), again with the fourth (the turn) and again with the fifth (the river).
In hold’em a player’s hand is the highest five cards that player can make out of seven: the two in the hand and the five on the board, in any mix, including all five from the board. So the hands a board allows are ranked by taking every pair of cards still unseen, putting it with the board, and ordering what comes out.
- Three cards of one suit within five ranks of each other?A straight flush is possible, and nothing ranks above it.
- A pair on the board?Four of a kind is possible, and a full house with it.
- Three cards of one suit?A flush is possible.
- Three cards within five ranks of each other, the ace counting high or low?A straight is possible.
- None of these?The nuts is three of the highest card on the board, made with a pair in the hand: a set.
Go down the questions in order, starting with the first, and stop at the first one the board answers yes: that line names the kind of hand the nuts is. Among hands of that kind, the highest one is the nuts.
In the house rules of the poker room at Casino New Brunswick, the word turns up in a rule against soft play — going easy on another player: players may not check a hand down, passing without a bet to the end, and a player who acts last on the river may not refuse to bet the nuts. The rule uses the word without defining it.
Three kinds of board, three different nuts
Three kinds of board come up again and again, and each moves the nuts somewhere different. A pair on the board makes four of a kind possible; three cards of one suit make a flush possible; and five cards that already make a straight hand that straight to everyone at the table.
A pair on the board
- The nutsFour nines1 two-card hand: 9♦ 9♠
- The next hand downFull house, jacks over nines3 two-card hands, such as J♥ J♠
Three cards of one suit
- The nutsFlush with A♥ K♥ Q♥ 8♥ 3♥1 two-card hand: A♥ K♥
- The next hand downFlush with A♥ Q♥ J♥ 8♥ 3♥1 two-card hand: A♥ J♥
A straight on the board
- The nutsStraight to the jack16 two-card hands, such as J♠ 10♠
- The next hand downStraight to the ten162 two-card hands, such as 10♠ 2♠
- Plays the boardStraight to the nine903 two-card hands improve nothing
On each board the nuts and the next hand down are counted over every pair of cards still unseen.
On the third board, every player whose own two cards add nothing to the five on the table plays the board: their hand is the board’s straight, the same for all of them. How a pot is shared when it comes to that is lesson 7.5.
The hand just under the nuts is worth knowing too. On the flush board the next hand down is another ace-high flush, because two flushes are compared card by card from the highest down; on the paired board it is a full house; on the straight board it is a lower straight.
Your own cards take hands away from everyone else
A blocker is a card in your own hand that another hand would need. Because you hold it, nobody else can, and every two-card hand that needs it is gone for the rest of the table.
Your card is in every such hand
The board
Your two cards
- Strongest on this boardFlush with A♦ K♦ J♦ 8♦ 4♦1 two-card hand: A♦ K♦
- Strongest left for anyone elseFlush with K♦ Q♦ J♦ 8♦ 4♦1 two-card hand: K♦ Q♦
Your card is in some of them
The board
Your two cards
- Strongest on this boardStraight to the ace16 two-card hands, such as K♠ Q♠
- Strongest left for anyone elseStraight to the ace12 two-card hands, such as K♠ Q♠
On the left, every ace-high flush on this board needs your A♦, so the strongest flush left for anyone else is king-high. On the right, your K♦ is in 4 of the 16 two-card hands that make the straight to the ace, and 12 are left for someone else.
A blocker says what the other players cannot hold, never what they do hold. Your A♦ does not make your hand any stronger either: four diamonds with the board are still not a flush.
Before a big bet
Three questions, and every answer comes straight off the table.
- What is the strongest hand this board allows?Go down the five questions, starting with the first.
- What is the next hand down?The same five questions, one step lower.
- Which of those hands do my own two cards take away?Any hand that needs a card you hold.
None of the three questions says what another player holds; together they say what another player could hold.
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Being sure is a feeling; the board is a fact. A big bet made on a feeling is still a big bet, and a pot that goes the other way still costs what was put in.
Decide at home how much money and how much time the evening at the poker table gets, and stop when either runs out. A hand that went wrong is not a reason to buy in again.
If it stops being fun
If gambling stops being entertainment, help is available. 19+ in most of Canada; 18+ in Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec. More on responsible gaming.
Practice: find the nuts
Level 1 shows a board and asks for the nuts. Level 2 asks for the hand just under it. Level 3 puts two cards in your hand and asks what the strongest hand left for anyone else is.
Nothing is bet here, and no player holds anything: each board stops at the moment you read it.
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The practice table needs JavaScript. Here is one board from it, with the answer.
Level 1 · Find the nuts
The board after the river
The board is Q♥ J♦ 10♣ 4♠ 2♥. What is the nuts: the strongest hand any two cards can make with this board?
- A flush No flush can be made here: no three cards on the board share a suit, and a flush needs five cards of one suit from the two in the hand and the cards on the board.
- Straight to the ace — A♠ K♠ and others A straight to the ace is the strongest hand any two cards can make with this board: 16 of the 1,081 two-card hands left make it.
- Three queens — Q♦ Q♠ and others Three queens can be made on this board, but three of a kind ranks below a straight.
Three cards within five ranks of each other make a straight possible. Going down the hands from the highest, the first one this board allows is a straight to the ace.
Every board in the practice run is worked out the same way: every pair of cards still unseen is put with the board, and the hands are ranked from the strongest down.
How the practice run works
Where the answers come from. Every board is worked out when the page is built: each pair of cards still unseen is put with the board, the hands are ranked from the strongest down, and the first one is the nuts. On level 3 your two cards are taken out of the deck first. The wrong answers are named mistakes — a flush on a board with no three cards of one suit, a hand from a lower kind such as a set under a straight or a full house under four of a kind, the nuts given for the next hand down, or a hand your own card already takes away.
One strip, and no rounds. Every square on the strip is one board of this lesson, and all of the squares are there from the start. Your first answer fills the square it belongs to; when the squares of one level are full, the next level begins by itself, with no button in between. Practising a board you got wrong turns its cross into “fixed in practice” and does not change the count, because only first answers count.
Your progress stays in this browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
Check yourself
Mayaformer floor supervisor · manners, money and breaks
Three quick ones. Pick an answer, then check it. No timer, no points: just whether it stuck.
Back to the question we opened with. On K♣ 10♦ 9♠ 5♥ 2♣ the strongest hand anyone could hold is a straight to the king, from a queen and a jack in the hand: 16 of the 1,081 two-card hands left make it.
Next steps and further reading
19+ (18+ in AB, MB, QC) · Play responsibly · the helplines are further up this page
Further reading
- Rules of Play for Table Games — Poker (17.0 Texas Hold’em, 33.0 No Limit and Pot Limit) · BCLCThe rules a B.C. poker room deals by: blinds, the button, the order of play, the rake, the showdown, side pots, table stakes and what makes a bet binding.
- Poker Texas Hold’em · Loto-Québec, Casino de MontréalHow a hand goes in the Montréal poker room, the hands from the royal flush down, and what decides between two equal hands.
- Poker at Casino New Brunswick — House Rules · Great Canadian EntertainmentA full set of house rules from one room, including when a ruling can still be asked for and how long you can be away from your seat.
How it’s worked out
Boards, numbers, sources and hosts
Where this happens. Every board on this page is a hold’em table in a poker room you can walk into, where the players play against each other and the room deals the cards. The game may be limit or no-limit hold’em; nothing here depends on the betting.
Numbers. Every hand on this page is found the same way: each pair of cards still unseen is put with the board, the highest five of the seven cards is taken, and the hands are ranked. The counts are exact, not samples, and on level 3 of the practice run your two cards are taken out of the deck before counting. Every figure carries a machine-readable key and is recomputed by the same engine on every build.
What rests on our words. No document we could read defines the nuts or a blocker: the definitions on this page are ours. The house rules of one room use the word “nuts” in a rule against soft play, and that use is quoted where it stands.
What is deliberately absent. There is no advice here on how much to bet or how to play a hand, and no table of hands to play. The order of the hands and how rare each is are lesson 7.1; the deal, the blinds and the betting rounds are lesson 7.2; kickers, a board that plays and split pots are lesson 7.5; how often each starting hand comes, and how far ahead it is, are lesson 7.6; outs and the chance of a card coming are lesson 7.7; pot odds are lesson 7.8; the fee the room takes out of the pots, called the rake, and how far results swing are lesson 7.10; tilt is lesson 7.13.
Sources. Every claim on this page carries a button with the sentence it rests on, the publisher who wrote that sentence and the date we read it.
Hosts. Leo and Maya are illustrated characters. Their backstories, a former dealer and a former floor supervisor, are written for the course: neither is a real person, and neither speaks for any casino. The rules and numbers on this page come from the sources it cites, not from their experience.
No promise. Poker in a room is played against the other players, and the room takes its fee out of the pots, so the table as a whole always pays the room. Reading the board tells you what the other players could hold; it does not tell you what they do hold, and nothing on this page says how a hand or an evening would end.
A hand is five cards out of seven
Each Player attempts to achieve the best five-card poker hand using the two cards dealt to them and the five common cards dealt.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 1.2 to 3.5
During the showdown, each player who is still in the game and still has his two cards forms the highest possible ranking five-card poker hand in order to win the pot.
He may use his two cards and three of the five community cards, one of his two cards and four of the five community cards, or all five community cards.
The object of this popular version of Poker is to create the best 5-card Poker high hand using any combination of the seven cards.
A hand is five cards out of seven
Each Player attempts to achieve the best five-card poker hand using the two cards dealt to them and the five common cards dealt.
Section 17.0 Texas Hold'em, 1.2 to 3.5
During the showdown, each player who is still in the game and still has his two cards forms the highest possible ranking five-card poker hand in order to win the pot.
He may use his two cards and three of the five community cards, one of his two cards and four of the five community cards, or all five community cards.
The object of this popular version of Poker is to create the best 5-card Poker high hand using any combination of the seven cards.
The nuts in a room’s house rules
Players are not allowed to check a hand down or soft play by refusing the bet the “nuts” on the river when last action.
Great Canadian Entertainment · Casino New Brunswick — Poker · read
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