Phrase "Nice Hand"?

[moosepaw]

Why do people go with this phrase in poker?

I would think people would compliment the way you played a hand, as a hand is your best combination of cards. So I would expect nice play, but nice hand to me seems like complimenting someone on the date they were born.

 

[19aleks57]

I think that a good hand - a hand that wins the pot.

 

[Joe]

Similarly to the expression "****", 'nice hand' can be used in many ways and mean many things..

It doesn't exclusively mean 'nice-five-card-hand-created-using-the-best-five-card-combination-of-your-two-hole-cards-and-the-five-community-cards'.

It can also mean simply 'well played' or 'Seriously?! You called with that?! Well I guess you caught your three outer on the river so...' and also quite a few things in-between.

People say 'nh' for a whole variety of reasons, a lot of the fun is working out which one, haha.

That being said, don't look too deeply into it & just focus on the next hand instead... :icon_thum

 

[zhilipp]

I had some people complementing each other for nice hands all the time and they really meant only the hand because their play was poor and they only won when they had monsters or pots without any value

 

[marcelo benavidez]

its a good gesture to a good play. its better that the annoying people that insult on tables.

 

[BriceNice]

I personally hate the phrase, I thought I was the only one

 

[Colbefc]

If someone gets quads or a royal flush then saying nice hand is just something I do. If you do not like doing it don't but don't criticise someone just because they do say it.

 

[rj_montana]

The phrase is mostly used passive aggressively ... the exception is when someone has a truly extraordinary hard (four of a kind plus)

 

[Misofer]

I believe most of the people that play poker use it to say something between the lines such as f you haha.

 

[BrazilBrazil]

it would be like wanting to see you well but not better than me ...

 

[TheDude6622]

Just a phrase of congratulating the player on winning the hand/pot.

 

[77ecos]

wow read that many see it differently, for me it has always been a congratulation a courtesy and nothing more:elefant::elefant::elefant::elefant::icon_stud:icon_stud:icon_stud:icon_stud

 

[terryk]

Nice post.

 

[MattRyder]

Some people use "np", which I understand to mean "nicely played". To me that's a lot more meaningful than simply commenting on a couple of Aces that held up. I generally use "nh" to mean "np", but obviously "nh" is by far mostly used simply as a kind of polite courtesy.

 

[Akinled]

Pretty nice hand in a way yesterday in sng HU phase. Limped with KsTh 13bb deep, BB check.
Flop comes 4d6d8c, goes checked. Turn is Ac, villain pot and I call. River was Js, villain bets like 80% pot and decided to hero. He had Q7o. Feels nice when these go well .
Thinking process was he won't have much if any Ax, likely won't value bet 8x like that and there was bunch of draws I don't block.
Suits might not have been exactly like that but anyway.

 

[roger perkins]

I 100% agree. I would rather you acknowledge that I played the hand well with NP or WP well played than to tell me NH. I have nothing to do with the hand I was dealt but everything to do with how I played it.

 

[Zvezda kz]

This phrase does not cause me any resistance.
It just means that you have a good hand to play and whether you win or not depends on you and your luck.

 

[ekgbeat]

Sounds like mixed options about the term, but I have mainly heard it used in a sarcastic way. Undermining the player for playing "that hand".

 

[Amanda A]

Great post! I've often wondered about this. It's nothing to do with the skill of the player so it's not really a compliment, but maybe that's part of the point. It allows players to say something nice, while thinking " I'm a much better player, they're just lucky, I'll get them next time".

 

[JRTHEKING]

Heh...saw a player at the table a few days ago with a username NHmeansFU. Made me chuckle. I suppose it probably does sometimes but other times it's probably just a friendly gesture during play. The times it's kind of aggravating is when a player not in the hand says it to the winner of the hand in play. That seems like kind of dis to the player on the losing end even if not intentional.

 

[wildwildwes]

I think it respect to the other players, especially when you think you have won then they play over you push then show you they had the hole time,

 

[diego farfan]

This term is mostly used when you use a hand well and get the maximum value possible using cunning

 

[MishkaZL]

If people use the phrase "good evening", it does not mean that the evening will be "good" absolutely for everyone. "nice hand" is a commonly used phrase traditionally used by players.

 

[MrPokerVerse]

Both nice hand or nice play are synonymous with an acknowledgement of winning or what ever other positive connotation you want to associate it with. Nice post!

 

[jordanbillie]

It's just turned into a cliche, so it's what everybody says. It's similar to cliche small talk greetings like, "How you doing?" or "Good Morning, How are you?" People are saying these things because they feel like they are necessary, when in fact they are cliche and repetitive (and also meaningless).