COIN FLIP

What is a coin flip in poker? It comes from the old “coin flipping” game, where the coin is thrown into the air in such a way that it rotates end-over-end several times. Two opponents are choosing one of the sides of the coin, "heads" or "tails", which they hope comes face over when the coin reaches the ground. The chance to be right and become the winner is 50:50.

It’s the same with the coin flip situation in a poker game. There are two hands against each other, for example a smaller pocket pair against two over cards and the possibility to win for any of them is almost 50%.

Don’t forget, this is the only one situation before the flop! If the over cards don't make a pair on the flop and have no draws, then they are significantly behind and it can get worse if the turn is a blank.

In tournament poker, you have to think twice to call a big raise in a possible coin flip situation or you have to turn over the situation to your advantage with a substantial re-raise. Never mind, if you have the pocket or the over cards, in a coin flip situation you risk your stack and tournament.

It is also a question of yours and the opponents stack. Big stack – easy decision to call, small stack – risk of elimination after losing the coin flip!

THE NUTS

The nuts are the two hole cards that produce the strongest possible hand in a given situation. That means your hand is, after all common cards are dealt, the absolute unbeatable strongest hand at the table.

Where the name came from?*

A common and certainly apocryphal folk etymology is that the term originated from the historical poker games in the colonial west of America, where if a player bet everything he possessed, he would place the nuts of his wagon wheels on the table to ensure that, should he lose, he would be unable to flee and would have to make good on the bet. Since it would be expected that a player would only make such a bet when he had the best possible hand, the folklore says that this is how the best possible hand came to be known as the nuts. It is also rumored that these historical games were played only in the winter, and therefore, the nuts that were placed on the table were "stone cold", hence coining the term "stone-cold-nuts".

A far more likely explanation is that "the nuts" originated from the old English usage of "nuts", meaning "any source of pleasure".

Another seemingly fitting explanation is that the term was derived from the UK English slang "the dog's bollocks" or "the mutt's nuts", meaning "the absolute best". However, this phrase originated around 1949, and the term "the nuts" pre-dates it.

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* Source: Wikipedia

GUT SHOT

A gut shot is a kind of straight draw (an inside straight draw) when you are missing one of the middle cards to complete your straight. The chance to hit this one card is very small. Your outs are only at 4 and in the case there is a flush possibility using the common cards at the table your outs reduce to 3.

Most dangerous is if you flop a gut shot.  There are many players that call any kind of bet hoping to hit their card on the turn or river. This is one of the situations where you can really lose many chips.

To hope is nice but to calculate the outs and odds is in this case really recommendable. Another term and synonym to gut shot is “Belly Buster” draw.

Where is the name from?

Gut shot – comes from old western movies, when you got a shot to the gut (in the middle) and it was related with a certain death.

Belly buster – is a binder that strengthens the middle region of your body, like the middle card coming on the turn or river would strengthen your straight.

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RUNNER-RUNNER

This is a slang term used in a situation when a poker player needs two other cards to win the hand after dealing the flop. 

You can see many runner-runner winning hands especially in online poker. The truth is that online if the players are not playing with real money they don’t carry about odds and outs and call every bet you make. In this case it is common to see a runner-runner flush, straight, trips or even quads coming.

In live poker, I think, to give your opponent the possibility to hit his runner-runner is when you check the flop (if you hit for example the top pair with top kicker) or you don’t bet  enough. If the turn brings a card to his draw it is most impossible to get your opponent out of the hand with any bet.

Other case is when both players are pre flop all in. Then you can’t influence anything anymore. In this case it is pure luck to get a runner-runner. 

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