Nutty and Non-Nutty Poker Variants

[MarkGritter]

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Maybe there should be another distinction between games in which you can have the nuts and be assured a win (hold em, omaha, stud i guess) and games in which the nuts merely means that you cant be beaten (draw).

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In flop games where some of the board cards must be used, it may be possible to freeze out an opponent; for example, if you have 9s7s, and the board is 8s6s5s4s3s. But it seems in stud, or stud hi-lo for that matter, the best you can be guaranteed is a tie.

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Yes, I consider a lock for the pot to be the nuts, even if it is possible that you are tied.

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If we eliminate straight flushes, do the high and high-low stud variants become allergic?

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I think the opposite may happen. If AAAAx becomes the best hand in stud, stud hi would go from allergic to nutty.

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Hm, I had been trying too hard with normal Stud Hi. It is not necessary to catch four cards to a straight flush, just runner-runner-runner-runner quad aces. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] In order for this to be a lock, your opponents' boards must make a straight flush impossible.

Or, to put it another way, if you start with any three cards, and make (xx)xAAA(A), you will have a lock for high as long as your opponents' boards contain no two cards to a straight flush. That makes stud hi "nutty", with or without straight flushes.

You can also make a lock with (sx)xsss(s) where sssss makes a straight flush, as long as your opponents' boards again lack any two cards to a (higher) straight flush.