State your best poker hand in the following Hold'em situations. Try to work out the answer for yourself before clicking on the 'Show me the answer' button:

  Hole Cards     Board Cards  
       

This time you must use the two pair Kings and Queens with your Ace to make a final hand of K-K-Q-Q-A. Although you have paired your hole card Nine with the Nine on board, this does not come into play.

  Hole Cards     Board Cards  
       

Here you also have a straight flush, and so does your opponent! Your best hand is 10-9-8-7-6. Although you have the Ace of spades, this does not come into play � you are using all five cards from the board and neither of your hole cards!

Note that your opponent could have a higher straight flush here with the J among his hole cards, or an even better one with the J together with the Q. In poker the best possible hand for a given board is commonly known as the 'nuts'. In the next section we will show you how to identify the best possible hand for each board.