The phrase may also refer to a hand in progress with cards yet to be dealt, as the player can be said to have the nuts at that time.
Similarly, one can sometimes hear the term "nut-nut", which refers to a hand that makes both the best possible high and low.
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.
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".
[2] 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".