# Is there such a phrase as "run the inside straight"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 9, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142 "2016-11-09T06:21:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/1 "2016-11-09T06:21:59Z")
I thought I heard the phrase while discussing Trump’s winning streak in the electoral votes (despite mainstream pollsters predicting a clinton victory) that he “ran the inside straight”. What does that mean? I look forward to your feedback. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@The\_Universe\_Lashes\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Universe_Lashes_Out)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/2 "2016-11-09T06:42:56Z")
In poker, you can draw to an inside straight. This means you have, say, a 4-5-7-8 in your hand, and you need a six to win. If you get that six, you’ll be in great position to win a lot of money, but if you don’t you have nothing. As opposed to drawing to an outside straight, where you have, say, a 4-5-6-7, and can get either a 3 or 8 to have a great hand. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/3 "2016-11-09T06:44:16Z")
A straight is a poker hand, where the 5 card ranks are all in a row - A to 5, 2 to 6, 3 to 7, 8 to Q, 9 to K, 10 to A, and so on. An inside straight is a straight that is missing one of the middle cards - meaning that only four cards could be drawn to make the straight, meaning it’s a lot harder to make than an outside straight, which is missing the card from one of the ends, and therefor could be finished with 8. (A, 2, 3, 4 or J, Q, K, A are both considered inside straights as well, even though the missing card is from the end, since there’s nothing below the A in the first case or above it in the latter.) Playing an inside straight is usually a bad plan, and it’s generally considered impressive when it pays off. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/4 "2016-11-09T07:59:14Z")
As above. The trueism is “never draw to an inside straight”. The risk reward is too far slanted against you. One in 12 chance, whilst an outside straight has a 1:6 chance. So the expression that something is like drawing to an inside straight is basically saying that it is too risky to try. However - I suspect the expression isn’t from poker. In horse racing starting from the inside straight is usually a disadvantage. Horses there get pinned to the fence and can’t get past. If a horse draws the inside start its odds lengthen. So running the inside straight can mean winning from a disadvantaged position. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/5 "2016-11-09T09:24:53Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > As above. The trueism is “never draw to an inside straight”. The risk reward is too far slanted against you. One in 12 chance, whilst an outside straight has a 1:6 chance. > > So the expression that something is like drawing to an inside straight is basically saying that it is too risky to try. > > However - I suspect the expression isn’t from poker. > In horse racing starting from the inside straight is usually a disadvantage. Horses there get pinned to the fence and can’t get past. If a horse draws the inside start its odds lengthen. So running the inside straight can mean winning from a disadvantaged position. Thanks Francis Vaughan. Thank you all. Very helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Ken001](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/43a26b/32.png) [@Ken001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ken001)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/6 "2016-11-09T13:22:13Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > However - I suspect the expression isn’t from poker. > > In horse racing starting from the inside straight is usually a disadvantage. Horses there get pinned to the fence and can’t get past. If a horse draws the inside start its odds lengthen. So running the inside straight can mean winning from a disadvantaged position. My thought too. I’ve only ever heard this term made in regard to horse racing. What happens is that a canny jockey rides patiently on the inside rail and appears to be blocked in. However other horses around him want to surge forward and there is a lot of jostling for position in a race. Spaces open when a strong horse breaks away and the canny jockey will try to be right in behind. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/7 "2016-11-09T13:27:44Z")
The poker sense of “inside straight” has been explained - but I’ve never heard the word “run” used with this. I Googled the phrase and got just 2 results - one of which is this SDMB thread. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/8 "2016-11-09T13:59:12Z")
I’ve never heard “inside straight” used in horse racing (at least, in the US). An inside post position is neither good nor bad – it depends on the horse, the track, the distance, and the number of horses in the race. You want your horse to run on the rail as much as possible – it’s a shorter route – so a number 1 post position is desirable if you horse can get out in front fast, especially on a short race. Second, I’ve never heard the term “straight” used in any context in horse racing. “Straightaway” is used to indicate the part of the track without a curve, but a horse in the number one post position is simply called “inside.” The word “straight” has no noun form related to horse racing, either. It does have a poker definition. Finally, a look at the Google nGram viewer never shows the term connected to horse racing. All the examples involve poker. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/9 "2016-11-09T14:04:30Z")
In pool to “run the table” is to begin the game as the first player to shoot, then sink all the balls per the rules, winning the game without your opponent even having a chance to play. In other words, a “clean sweep” of the table. Which is pretty much what Trump did in the EC and definitely what the Rs did in the overall election. I suspect that the media’s use of “run the inside straight” is some mangled mixed metaphor of poker and horse racing as explained above, plus perhaps this sense pool-centric sense of “run”. It’s certainly not a phrase I’ve ever heard before in US or British writing or speaking. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/10 "2016-11-09T14:15:02Z")
The poker term is _drawing_ to an inside straight. ---
**Author:** ![Pixel\_Dent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bc8723/32.png) [@Pixel\_Dent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pixel_Dent)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/11 "2016-11-09T14:54:57Z")
I’m assuming it’s just a mangled version of draw to an inside straight. When you’re on live TV and the lights are on you mostly you’re just hoping to make noises that resembles human language. As long as you’re close you’re happy. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/12 "2016-11-09T14:58:53Z")
You fill an inside straight. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/13 "2016-11-09T15:28:22Z")
Are you sure you heard this correctly? [The Corpus of Web-Based Global English](http://corpus.byu.edu/glowbe/) has zero occurrences of “run the inside straight” or “run an inside straight”. [Google Ngrams](https://books.google.com/ngrams/) also has zero occurrences of either phrase. If you did really hear this, it may have been a one-time malapropism. –Mark ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/14 "2016-11-09T19:27:27Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > As above. The trueism is “never draw to an inside straight”. The risk reward is too far slanted against you. One in 12 chance, whilst an outside straight has a 1:6 chance. > > So the expression that something is like drawing to an inside straight is basically saying that it is too risky to try. > > However - I suspect the expression isn’t from poker. > In horse racing starting from the inside straight is usually a disadvantage. Horses there get pinned to the fence and can’t get past. If a horse draws the inside start its odds lengthen. So running the inside straight can mean winning from a disadvantaged position. The horse racing thing, I’ve heard called the inside “track”. Having the inside track is supposed to be a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/15 "2016-11-09T21:36:50Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > The poker sense of “inside straight” has been explained - but I’ve never heard the word “run” used with this. > > I Googled the phrase and got just 2 results - one of which is this SDMB thread. That’s the nice thing about the SDMB … it’s self-referencing !!! “Google it, you’ll see , I’m right !!!” ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/16 "2016-11-09T22:34:06Z")
There was at least one commentator late night who kept using forced poker analogies, and I could see one of his colleagues incorrectly echoing back with “run the inside straight”, which as others have noted is never said that way. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/17 "2016-11-10T00:00:52Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Are you sure you heard this correctly? [The Corpus of Web-Based Global English](http://corpus.byu.edu/glowbe/) has zero occurrences of “run the inside straight” or “run an inside straight”. [Google Ngrams](https://books.google.com/ngrams/) also has zero occurrences of either phrase. If you did really hear this, it may have been a one-time malapropism. > > –Mark Draw to an inside straight sounds very different from “run the inside straight”. Si I didn’t mishear it. That’s not to say it wasn’t a malapropism. But it was meant in the sense Francis Vaughan explained it, that Trump was running from a disadvantage against the establishment/the media favorite HC. I immediately Googled the phrase, but couldn’t find it anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Chopsticks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cab0a1/32.png) [@Chopsticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopsticks)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/18 "2016-11-10T01:55:57Z")
I think I’ve read ‘run the strait’ in sailing fiction, Hornblower maybe. Basically meaning to navigate a narrow and dangerous path - for ex a channel filled with lots of ship eating rocks, between two islands. See also ‘shoot the rapids’ and ‘sail between Scylla and Charybdis’. This does sounds more like either a wrong word or munging two sayings together. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/19 "2016-11-10T05:25:47Z")
… And an inside straight would be along an inside channel… The implication of this would be that he’d had a protected run (since the inside channel is protected), but it was chancy (since running a straight would be a bit foolhardy) Still, talking without making a fool of yoursel is a difficult skill many of us never learn… ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2016, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-a-phrase-as-run-the-inside-straight/771142/20 "2016-11-10T14:02:03Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > … And an inside straight would be along an inside channel… The implication of this would be that he’d had a protected run (since the inside channel is protected), but it was chancy (since running a straight would be a bit foolhardy) > > Still, talking without making a fool of yoursel is a difficult skill many of us never learn… Typing is hard too. Those nautical channels are straits, not straights. 🙂