Nuts

The best possible hand given the community cards on the board. It is defined by the board rather than by the cards themselves — what is the nuts on one flop may be a marginal hand on another.

Look at the board and identify the strongest five-card hand it allows, then work out which two hole cards would complete it. On a three-suited flop that is the ace-high flush; on a paired board it is quads or the best full house; on an unpaired rainbow board it is the highest straight that fits, or an overpair if none does.

The next-best possible hand after the nuts. It is notoriously costly, because it is strong enough to justify building a very large pot but loses to the one holding that beats it — and against a willing opponent, that is often exactly what you are up against.

In split-pot games such as Omaha hi-lo, the best possible low hand. Under ace-to-five rules that is 5-4-3-2-A. Holding it without high potential competes for only half the pot and risks being quartered by another player with the same low.