15 of 43

Reading straights: slide the window

This is the one that takes practice, so here's a mechanical method that always works. A straight is a five-rank window. Find every window that contains three board cards, and the highest one is the nut straight.

Board:   Q   J   9        (laddered - three cards inside a five-rank window)

ranks:   7   8   9  10   J   Q   K   A
                   ^        ^   ^
   window A:       9  10   J   Q   K      you hold  K-10   -> KING-high  <- THE NUTS
   window B:   8   9  10   J   Q          you hold  10-8   -> QUEEN-high
   window C:   7   8   9  10   J          impossible: needs 3 cards you don't have

   Notice: EVERY straight here needs a 10. That card is the key.
   If you hold a 10, three of the four are still out there.
   If you hold two of them, half the straights just vanished.

Two shortcuts worth memorizing. The ace plays low as well as high, so a board of 5-4-3 makes A-2 a straight (called the wheel) — beginners miss this constantly. And when a board shows five cards to a straight all by itself, like A-K-Q-J-10, everyone has it and the pot splits unless someone holds a flush.