what's it mean to play guts in poker?

Question

not gutshot straights, something else i think

Answer 1

There's a card game I know of called "Guts". Its a game where you can have multiple players and everyone antes for a specified amount. Everyone is dealt two cards, and the hand rankings are a little different than normal. "69" is the best hand, followed by pocket pairs, "AA" being the second best hand, then high cards such as AK beating AQ. When everyone gets their hand, everyone holds their hand face down. Then someone counts to three, and for players who want to stay in to win the pot they hold on, for those who don't want to fold they drop their hand. The losers of the pot have to match the amount that was in the pot. So if there are 10 players w/ a $1 ante and 4 players stay in, the winner takes the $10 and the losers put in $10 making the next pot $30.
Its a crazy game that can build some huge pots up quickly, and you need alot of "Guts" to stay in to win sometimes.

Answer 2

MARTIN B hit it on the head. The proper term is "Gut-shot Straight Draw" where, as he said, a single card in the middle of the available cards will complete a Straight.

Just for informational purposes, other terms:

Open-Ended Straight Draw - let's say you have, in Texas Holdem, a KJ and the table pops up with a 10, Q, 2 on the flop. You have an open-ended Straight draw because either of two cards will complete your Straight: an Ace or a 9.

Connector: Used mostly in reference to a Straight option, even preflop, it means you have two cards whose value is one apart (78, 34, 10J, KA). If you complete a Straight with the connector in this fashion, you most likely have the best hand as far as Straights go and can gamble a bit as long as flushes and other threats do not exist. There are exceptions: if you have 7-8 and the board shows 9-10-J, another player could have 8-Q or Q-K. As long as your connector is between the cards that form the ends of the Straight, you have a powerful hand.

This is more than you asked for, but hope this miscellaneous info comes in handy. =)

Answer 3

The two references I know of are :

A gut straight draw, where you only have one card that will make the straight, like 4,6,7,8 (only a 5 makes it)

and to have guts usually means to be brave enougth to bet your hand with large amounts of cash or brave enougth to make a big bluff to win the pot.

Answer 4

if you mean Nuts, it's the best possible hand. other than that, I'm not sure what you're talking about.

Nuts came from the olden days when people rode horse driven wagons and they'd bet "the nuts" of the carriage or whatever as a bet. So I suppose, if you're betting the nuts, you're betting the best possible hand.