Nuts

The nuts is the best five-card hand that can theoretically exist given the community cards. It is not a feeling that you are ahead: it means that after checking every legal holding, nothing beats you. The nuts changes as cards come — the best hand on the flop is not necessarily still the best on the turn or river. To identify it, first check whether the board allows a flush, a straight, a full house or quads, then confirm you actually hold the top version of it. Holding the nuts, the question is usually how to make worse hands pay the most rather than fearing a monster that cannot exist — though multiway pots and changing boards still need checking street by street.