| Aces Up - Two pair with a pair of Aces and any other pair |
| Action - Any action in the game, including a fold, check, call, bet, or raise |
| Active Player - A player still involved in a hand |
| All-In - To run out of chips while betting or calling. In table stakes games, a player may not go into his pocket for more money during a hand. If he runs out, a side pot is created in which he has no interest. However, he can still win the pot for which he had the chips. |
| Ante - A small portion of a bet contributed by each player to seed the pot at the beginning of a poker hand. Most hold'em games do not have an ante; they use "blinds" to get initial money into the pot |
| Back Door - Making a hand that the player wasn't drawing at |
| Back Raise - To re-raise another players raise |
| Bad Beat - A hand being beat by another hand that had a very low percentage of becoming a winning hand |
| Big Bet - In a fixed limit game where the limit is higher in later betting rounds than in early betting rounds, the higher amount is called a "big bet". For example in a $1/$2 Limit holdem game, the big bet would be $2 dollars |
| Big Blind - The largest regular blind in a game |
| Blank - A card that has little value to the hand |
| Blind - A required bet, dictated by the game, that is made before any cards are dealt |
| Bluff - A bet or raise with a hand that is unlikely to beat the other players |
| Board - The cards that are placed face-up on the table and common to each player |
| Boardcard - A community card in the center of the table, as in Texas Holdem or Omaha |
| Bottom Pair - Pairing the lowest card on the board |
| Boxed Card - A card that appears faceup in the deck where all other cards are facedown |
| Broken Game - A game no longer in action |
| Burn - To discard the top card from the deck, face down. This is done between each betting round before putting out the next community card(s). It is security against any player recognizing or glimpsing the next card to be used on the board |
| Button - A player who is in the designated dealer position |
| Buy - Has two meanings, the first refers to "buy the pot," meaning to bluff, hoping to "buy" the pot without being called. Also means to bet or raise, hoping to make players between you and the “dealer” button fold, thus allowing you to act last on subsequent betting rounds |
| Buy-In - The minimum amount of money required to enter any game |
| Calling Station - A weak-passive player who calls a lot, but doesn't raise or fold much. This is the kind of player you like to have in your game |
| Capped - When the maximum number of raises on the betting round have been reached |
| Cards Speak - The face value of a hand in a showdown is the true value of the hand, regardless of a verbal announcement |
| Cardsharp - A professional card player who makes a living by cheating at card games |
| Center Pot - The first pot created during a poker hand. This is as opposed to one or more "side" pots that are created if one or more players goes all-in. Also "main pot" |
| Chase - To play a hand that is most likely worse than at least one other player |
| Check - A bet of zero |
| Check - To waive the right to initiate the betting in a round, but to retain the right to act if another player initiates the betting |
| Check-Raise - To check and then raise when a player behind you bets |
| Cold Call - To call a bet or multiple bets for the first time in a round |
| Color Change - A request to change the chips from one denomination to another |
| Come Hand - A drawing hand |
| Community Cards - The cards dealt faceup in the center of the table that can be used by all players to form their best hand in the games of holdem and Omaha |
| Complete Hand - A hand that is defined by all five cards - a straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, or straight flush |
| Connector - A hold'em starting hand in which the two cards are one apart in rank. Examples: KQs, 76 |
| Counterfeit - To make your hand less valuable because of board cards that duplicate it. Example: you have 87 and the flop comes 9-T-J, so you have a straight. Now an 8 comes on the turn. This has counterfeited your hand and made it almost worthless |
| Crack - To beat a hand - typically a big hand |
| Cripple - As in to cripple the deck. Meaning that you have most or all of the cards that somebody would want to have with the current board. If you have pocket kings, and the other two kings flop, you have crippled the deck |
| Dead Card - A card that is not legally playable |
| Dead Hand - A hand that is not legally playable. It has been technicall mucked |
| Dead Money - Chips that are taken into the center of the pot because they are not considered part of a particular player’s bet |
| Deal Off - To take all the blinds and the button before changing seats or leaving the table. That is, participate through all the blind positions and the dealer position |
| Deal Seconds - Perform a cheating maneuver in which a card manipulator deals cards not from the top of the deck, but from directly beneath the top card |
| Deal Twice - When there is no more betting, agreeing to have the rest of the cards to come determine only half the pot, removing those cards, and dealing again for the other half of the pot |
| Dealer Button - A flat disk that indicates the player who would be in the dealing position for that hand (if there were not a house dealer). Normally just called “the button” |
| Dog - Shortened form of "Underdog" |
| Dominated Hand - A hand that will almost always lose to a better hand that people usually play. For instance, K3 is "dominated" by KQ. With the exception of strange flops (e.g. 3-3-x, K-3-x), it will always lose to KQ |
| Downcards - Cards that are dealt facedown in a stud game |
| Draw - When players are given the opportunity to replace cards in their hands |
| Draw Dead - Try to make a hand that, even if made, will not win the pot. If you're drawing to make a flush, and your opponent already has a full house, you are "drawing dead" |
| Early Position - A position in which you must act before most of the players during a round |
| Equity - Your "rightful" share of a pot. If the pot contains $80, and you have a 50% chance of winning it, you have $40 equity in the pot |
| Family Pot - A pot in which all (or almost all) of the players call before the flop |
| Fast - As in "play fast." To play a hand aggressively, betting and raising as much as possible. Example: "When you flop a set but there's a flush draw possible, you have to play it fast" |
| Fixed Limit - In limit poker, any betting structure in which the amount of the bet on each particular round is pre-set |
| Flashed Card - A card that is partially exposed |
| Floorperson - A casino employee who seats players and makes decisions |
| Flop - The first three community cards dealt in hold'em |
| Flop - The first three community cards dealt up at one time at a poker table |
| Flop - In hold’em or Omaha, the three community cards that are turned simultaneously after the first round of betting is complete |
| Flush - A poker hand consisting of five cards of the same suit. FOLD: To throw a hand away and relinquish all interest in a pot |
| Forced Bet - A required wager to start the action on the first betting round |
| Foul - A hand which may not be played for one reason or another. A player with a foul hand may not make any claim on any portion of the pot. Example: "He ended up with three cards after the flop, so the dealer declared his hand foul" |
| Fourth Street - The second upcard in seven-card stud or the first boardcard after the flop in hold’em (also called the turn card) |
| Free Card -
- A turn or river card on which you don't have to call a bet because of play earlier in the hand (or a reputation which you have with your opponents). For instance, if you are on the button and raise when you flop a flush draw, your opponents may check to you on the turn. If you make your flush on the turn, you can bet. However, if you don't get it on the turn, you can check as well - seeing the river card for "free"
|
| Freeroll - A chance to win something at no risk or cost |
| Full Buy - A buy-in of at least the minimum requirement of chips needed for a particular game |
| Full House - A hand consisting of three of a kind and a pair |
| Gutshot Straight - A straight filled "inside". If you have 9s-8s, the flop comes 7c-5h-2d, and the turn is the 6c, you've made your gutshot straight |
| Heads-Up Play - Only two players involved in play |
| Hit - As in "the flop hit me." It means the flop contained cards that help your hand. If you have AK, and the flop comes K-7-2, it hit you |
| House - The establishment running the game. Example: "The $2 you put on the button goes to the house" |
| Implied Odds - Pot odds that do not exist at the moment, but may be included in your calculations because of bets you expect to win if you hit your hand. For instance, you might call with a flush draw on the turn even though the pot isn't offering you quite 4:1 odds (your chance of making the flush) because you're sure you can win a bet from your opponent on the river if you make your flush |
| Insurance - A side agreement when someone is all-in for a player in a pot to put up money that guarantees a payoff of a set amount in case the opponent wins the pot |
| Jackpot - A special bonus paid to the loser of a hand if he gets a very good hand beaten. In hold'em, the "loser" must typically get aces full or better beaten. In some of the large southern California card clubs, the jackpots have gotten over $50,000. The jackpot is funded with money removed from the game as part of the rake |
| Kicker - The highest unpaired card that helps determine the value of a five-card poker hand |
| Kill Button - A button used in a lowball game to indicate a player who has won two pots in a row and is required to kill the pot |
| Kill Pot - A pot with a forced kill by the winner of the two previous pots, or the winner of an entire pot of sufficient size in a high-low split game |
| Late Position - A position in which you act after most of the other players during a round |
| Leg Up - Being in a situation equivalent to having won the previous pot, and thus liable to have to kill the following pot if you win the current pot |
| Live Blind - A blind bet giving a player the option of raising if no one else has raised |
| Lock-Up - A chip marker that holds a seat for a player |
| Loose - Playing more hands than normal |
| Loose Game - A game with a lot of players in most hands |
| Lowball - A draw game where the lowest hand wins |
| Maniac - A player who does a lot of hyper-aggressive raising, betting, and bluffing. A true maniac is not a good player, but is simply doing a lot of gambling. However, a player who occasionally acts like a maniac and confuses his opponents is quite dangerous |
| Middle Position - A position in which you act somewhere between most of the other players during a round |
| Miscall - An incorrect verbal declaration of the ranking of a hand |
| Misdeal - A mistake on the dealing of a hand which causes the cards to be reshuffled and a new hand to be dealt |
| Missed Blind - A required bet that is not posted when it is a player’s turn to do so |
| Muck - The pile of discards gathered facedown in the center of the table by the dealer |
| Must-Move - In order to protect the main game, a situation where the players of a second game must move into the first game as openings occur |
| No-Limit - A betting structure where players are allowed to wager any or all of their chips in one bet |
| Nuts - The best possible hand |
| Offsuit - A hold'em starting hand in which the two cards are of different suits |
| One-Gap - A hold'em starting hand in which the two cards are two apart in rank. Examples: J9s, 64 |
| Opener - The player who made the first voluntary bet |
| Opener Button - A button used to indicate who opened a particular pot in a draw game |
| Openers - In jacks-or-better draw, the cards held by the player who opens the pot that show the hand qualifies to be opened. Example: You are first to bet and have a pair of kings; the kings are called your openers |
| Outrun - To beat. Example: "Susie outran my set when her flush card hit on the river" |
| Outs - The cards that will improve a hand to win |
| Overblind - Also called oversize blind. A blind used in some pots that is bigger than the regular big blind, and usually increases the stakes proportionally |
| Overcall - To call a bet after one or more others players have already called |
| Overcard - A hole card that is higher than any other card on the board |
| Overpair - Two hole cards paired and higher than any card on the board |
| Palm Stock - Two or more cards, arranged in a specific order, held out by a thief for later introduction into the game |
| Palmed Card - A card that was removed from the table, or introduced into the game later, by a thief, by the expedient of covering and concealing it with his hand |
| Pass - Decline to bet or call a wager. In a pass-and-out game, this differs from a check, because a player who passes must fold |
| Passive - Checking and calling hands rather betting and raising hands |
| Pay Off - To call a bet where the bettor is representing a hand that you can't beat, but the pot is sufficiently large to justify a call anyway. Example: "He played it exactly like he made the flush, but I had top set so I paid him off" |
| Play Behind - Have chips in play that are not in front of you |
| Play Over - To play in a seat when the occupant is absent |
| Play The Board - Using all five community cards for your hand in hold’em |
| Playover Box - A clear plastic box used to cover and protect the chips of an absent player when someone plays over that seat |
| Pocket - Your unique cards that only you can see. For instance, "He had pocket sixes" (a pair of sixes), or "I had ace-king in the pocket" |
| Position - The relation of a player’s seat to the blinds or the button, or the order of acting on a betting round or deal |
| Post - To put in a blind bet, generally required when you first sit down in a card room game. You may also be required to post a blind if you change seats at the table in a way that moves you away from the blinds |
| Pot Odds - The amount of money in the pot compared to the amount you must put in the pot to continue playing. For example, suppose there is $60 in the pot. Somebody bets $6, so the pot now contains $66. It costs you $6 to call, so your pot odds are 11:1. If your chance of having the best hand is at least one out of twelve, you should call. Pot odds also apply to draws. For instance, suppose you have a draw to the nut flush with one card left to come. In this case, you are about a 4:1 underdog to make your flush. If it costs you $8 to call the bet, then there must be about $32 in the pot (including the most recent bet) to make your call correct |
| Pot-Limit - The betting structure of a game in which you are allowed to bet up to the amount of the pot |
| Potting Out - Agreeing with another player to take money out of a pot, often to buy food, cigarettes, or drinks, or to make side bets |
| Price - The pot odds you are getting for a draw or call. Example: "The pot was laying me a high enough price, so I stayed in with my gutshot straight draw" |
| Proposition Bets - Side bets between players that are not related to the outcome of the hand |
| Protected Hand - A hand of cards that the player is physically holding, or has topped with a chip or some other object to prevent a fouled hand |
| Push - When a new dealer replaces an existing dealer at a particular table |
| Pushing Bets - The situation in which two or more players make an agreement to return bets to each other when one of them wins a pot in which the other or others play. Also called saving bets |
| Quads - Four of a kind |
| Rack - A container in which chips are stored while being transported, or the tray in front of the dealer, used to hold chips and cards |
| Ragged - A flop (or board) that doesn't appear to help anybody very much. A flop that came down Jd-6h-2c would look ragged |
| Rags - Cards generally not worth playing. RAISE: To increase the amount of a previous wager. This increase must meet certain specifications, depending on the game, to reopen the betting and count toward a limit on the number of raises allowed |
| Rainbow - A flop that contains three different suits, thus no flush can be made on the turn. Can also mean a complete five card board that has no more than two of any suit, thus no flush is possible |
| Ring Game - A regular poker game as opposed to a tournament. Also referred to as a "live" game since actual money is in play instead of tournament chips |
| River - The final card dealt |
| Rock - A player who plays very tight, not very creatively. He raises only with the best hands. A real rock is fairly predictable - if he raises you on the end, you can throw away just about anything but the nuts |
| Runner - Typically said "runner-runner" to describe a hand which was made only by catching the correct cards on both the turn and the river - "He made a runner-runner flush to beat my trips." Also called Backdoor |
| Satellite - A tournament where the prizes are buy-ins to a larger tournament. |
| Saving Bets - Same as pushing bets |
| Scare Card - A card which may well turn the best hand into trash. If you have Tc-8c and the flop comes Qd- Jd-9s, you almost assuredly have the best hand. However, a turn card of Td would be very scary because it would almost guarantee that you are now beaten |
| Scoop - To win both the high and the low portions of a pot in a split-pot game |
| Scramble - A facedown mixing of the cards |
| Second Pair - A pair with the second highest card on the flop. If you have As-Ts, and the flop comes Kd-Th-6c, you have flopped second pair |
| Sell - As in "sell a hand". In a spread limit game; this means to bet less than the maximum when you have a very strong hand, hoping players will call whereas they would not have called a maximum bet |
| Semi-bluff - A powerful concept first discussed by David Sklansky. It is a bet or raise that you hope will not be called, but you have some outs if it is. A semi-bluff may be correct when betting for value is not correct, a pure bluff is not correct, but the combination of the two may be a positive expectation play |
| Set - Three of a kind when you have two of the rank in your hand, and there is one on the board |
| Setup - Two suited decks, each with different colored backs, to replace the current decks in a game |
| Short Buy - A buy-in that is less than the required minimum buy-in |
| Short Stack - A number of chips that is not very many compared to the other players at the table. If you have $10 in front of you, and everybody else at the table has over $100, you are playing on a short stack |
| Showdown - The final act of determining the winner of the pot after all betting has been completed |
| Shuffle - The act of mixing the cards before a hand |
| Side Pot - A separate pot formed when one or more players are all in |
| Slow Play - To play a strong hand weakly so more players will stay in the pot |
| Small Blind - In a game with multiple blind bets, the smallest blind |
| Split Pot - A pot that is divided among players, either because of a tie for the best hand or by agreement prior to the showdown |
| Split Two Pair - A two pair hand in which one of each of your cards' ranks appears on the board as well. Example: you have T9, the flop is T-9-5, and you have a split two pair. This is in comparison to two pair where there is a pair on the board. Example: you have T9, the flop is 9-5-5 |
| Splitting Blinds - When no one else has entered the pot, an agreement between the big blind and small blind to each take back their blind bets instead of playing the deal |
| Splitting Openers - In high draw jacks-or-better poker, dividing openers in hopes of making a different type of hand. Example: You open the pot with a pair of aces. One of your aces is a spade, as are the three other cards in the hand. If you throw away the non-spade ace to go for the flush, you announce to the table, “Splitting openers” |
| Spread Limit - A betting structure in which a player may bet any amount in a range on every betting round. A typical spread limit structure is $2-$6, where a player may bet as little as $2 or as much as $6 on every betting round |
| Stack - Chips in front of a player |
| Steal - To bet or raise causing an opponent to fold when you may not hold the best hand, or bluffing |
| Stock - To stack a deck or prearrange the cards for cheating purposes |
| Straddle - An additional blind bet placed after the forced blinds, usually double the big blind in size or in lowball, a multiple blind game |
| Straight - Five cards in consecutive rank |
| Straight Flush - Five cards in consecutive rank of the same suit |
| Street - Cards dealt on a particular round in stud games. For instance, the fourth card in a player’s hand is often known as fourth street, the sixth card as sixth street, and so on |
| String Raise (Bet) - A bet made in more than one motion, without the declaration of a raise (not allowed) |
| Structured - Used to apply to a certain betting structure in "flop" games such as hold'em. The typical definition of a structured game is a fixed amount for bets and raises before the flop and on the flop, and then twice that amount on the turn and river. Example: a $2-$4 structured hold'em game - bets and raises of $2 before the flop and on the flop; $4 bets and raises on the turn and river |
| Stub - The portion of the deck which has not been dealt |
| Suited - Cards are of the same suit |
| Table Stakes - The amount of money a player has on the table is the maximum amount that anyone can win in one hand. Also refers to the requirement that players can wager only the money in front of them at the start of a hand, and can only buy more chips between hands |
| Tell - A clue or hint that a player unknowingly gives about the strength of his hand, his next action, etc. May originally be from "telegraph" or the obvious use that he "tells" you what he's going to do before he does it |
| Tight - Playing fewer hands than normal. Tight game - A game with less players than normal in fewer hands |
| Tilt - To play wildly or recklessly. A player is said to be "on tilt" if he is not playing his best, playing too many hands, trying wild bluffs, raising with bad hands, etc |
| Toke - A small amount of money given to the dealer by the winner of a pot. Quite often, tokes represent the great majority of a dealer's income |
| Top Pair - A pair with the highest card on the flop. If you have As-Qs, and the flop comes Qd-Th-6c, you have flopped top pair |
| Trips - Three of a kind |
| Turn - The fourth card dealt on the board during community card games |
| Turn - The fourth street card in hold'em or Omaha |
| Under the Gun - The position of the player who acts first on a betting round. For instance, if you are one to the left of the big blind, you are under the gun before the flop |
| Underdog - A person or hand who is not mathematically favored to win a pot. For instance, if you flop four cards to your flush, you are not quite a 2:1 underdog to make your flush by the river |
| Upcards - Cards that are dealt faceup for opponents to see in stud games |
| Value - As in "bet for value." This means that you would actually like your opponents to call your bet (as opposed to a bluff). Generally it's because you have the best hand. However, it can also be a draw which, given enough callers, has a positive expectation |
| Variance - A measure of the up and down swings your bankroll goes through. Variance is not necessarily a measure of how well you play. However, the higher your variance, the wider swings you'll see in your bankroll |
| Wager - To bet or raise, or the chips used for betting or raising |
| Weak - One who folds too many hands |
