Cinch Hand
A cinch hand is the nuts: a hand that cannot be beaten.
The simple explanation
A cinch hand is the best possible hand at that moment. No other hand can beat it. If you have a cinch hand after all the cards are out, you should usually bet to get paid. In practice you rarely meet a pure cinch hand. More often you meet a hand that is the nuts at the moment and may lose to later cards.
A closer look
Holding the nuts changes how you play, since the only way to lose value is not to collect it. On the river a cinch hand cannot lose, so the only decision is how much to bet to get the most from worse hands. The term is old-fashioned, and most players now say the nuts.
A practical example
The board is A♣ K♣ Q♣ J♣ 2♦ and a player holds the ten of clubs. That is a royal flush, a cinch hand that nothing can beat.
Full explanation
A cinch hand is the nuts: a hand that cannot be beaten.
A cinch hand is a hand that cannot lose, also called the nuts. The word ‘cinch’ means a certainty.
Having one is rare, so players want to get the maximum out of it. A cinch hand is usually bet on the final round, with the aim of being called by a worse hand.
A hand is the nuts relative to the board. For example, on a board with three cards of one suit and no pair or straight possible, the ace-high flush is the nuts.
Be careful when the board changes. A cinch hand on the flop may stop being a cinch after the turn or river. Before the last card even the nuts can be outdrawn, which is why slowplaying a strong hand can be costly.
The nuts
No-limit Hold’em · Blinds 1/2 chips · No rake
The blinds are 1 and 2 chips. Heads-up, the dealer (D) also posts the small blind.
Read the example transcript
Player A has the button (BTN) and posts the 1-chip small blind (SB). Player B posts the 2-chip big blind (BB).
- Preflop · Pot: 3 chips
The blinds are 1 and 2 chips. Heads-up, the dealer (D) also posts the small blind.
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of clubs (Ac)AAce of diamonds (Ad) · Stack 199 · In this round 1
- Player B BB AAce of hearts (Ah)KKing of hearts (Kh) · Stack 198 · In this round 2
- Preflop · Pot: 8 chips
Player A raises to 6 before the flop.
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of clubs (Ac)AAce of diamonds (Ad) · Stack 194 · In this round 6
- Player B BB AAce of hearts (Ah)KKing of hearts (Kh) · Stack 198 · In this round 2
- Preflop · Pot: 12 chips
Player B calls. Each player has put in 6 chips.
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of clubs (Ac)AAce of diamonds (Ad) · Stack 194 · In this round 6
- Player B BB AAce of hearts (Ah)KKing of hearts (Kh) · Stack 194 · In this round 6
- Flop · Pot: 12 chips
Player B holds ace-king of hearts and the flop is queen, jack and ten of hearts. This is a royal flush, which nobody can beat. A hand that cannot be beaten is the nuts.
Board: QQueen of hearts (Qh)JJack of hearts (Jh)1010 of hearts (Th)
- Player A BTN / SB AAce of clubs (Ac)AAce of diamonds (Ad) · Stack 194 · In this round 0
- Player B BB AAce of hearts (Ah)KKing of hearts (Kh) · Stack 194 · In this round 0
Cards are shown for learning; totals are displayed before pot collection.