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Poker Glossary

  • Action- Opportunity to act by making a check, call, bet, raise or fold. It is also indicative of a very active game (i.e. lots of bets and raises)
  • Active player - Any player still remaining in a particular hand
  • Ante - Required money invested in the pot before any cards are dealt. The ante is not to be considered part of the bet
  • All-in - When a player bets all his/her remaining chips on a single hand
  • American Airlines - Pocket aces
  • B&M - Shortened term for a brick and mortar cardroom as opposed to an online cardroom
  • Backdoor - Catching two cards in a row, on the turn and the river, to complete a hand
  • Bad Beat - An unlucky turn of events that causes a player to lose a usually strong hand
  • Bet - To place money/chips into the pot
  • Bet Blind - To place a bet without looking at one's cards
  • Big Slick - Hole cards comprised of an Ace and a King
  • Blind - A required bet made before any cards are dealt. There are two types of blinds - a big blind and a small blind with the small blind typically being half the size of the big blind
  • Bluff - To bet or raise so to make other players believe that one has a better hand than he/she holds in order to win the pot
  • Boat - Poker hand that contains a full house. Also referred to as a full boat
  • Broadway - Poker hand that contains an ace high straight
  • Bubble - The last non-paying spot in a poker tournament
  • Burn - To discard the top card from the deck, face down. This is done between betting rounds before the next community card
  • Button - A white disk also known as the dealer button serves to recognize which player sitting at the table is the dealer for that particular hand. After each hand has completed, as with standard poker rules, the button moves clockwise to the next active player. This is done, because there is an advantage to having to act last and so each player gets his fair share of early, late and middle positions
  • Buy-in - The amount of money it costs to enter a poker tournament
  • Call - To place money/chips equal to another player's bet amount
  • Calling Station - A player who usually calls other player's bets instead of betting or raising
  • Canine - Hole cards comprised of a King and a Nine
  • Check - When a player's action is not to bet when there have been no other bets made in a particular round
  • Check-Raise - When a player initially checks and then raises in the same betting round
  • Community Card - A face up card that may be used by all players at a table
  • Connector - A starting poker hand in which your two hole cards are only one rank apart
  • Cowboys - A pair of kings
  • Crabs - A pair of threes
  • Dead Man's Hand - Poker hand that contains two pair; Black Aces and Black Eights. This was the winning hand that Wild Bill Hickok was shot with
  • Deal - To give players and the board cards throughout a poker game
  • Dealer - The nominal player, who distributes the cards during a hand of poker. Each player takes a turn dealing and is designated as such by a dealer button. Also called a button
  • Donkey - A disparaging insult that poker players use against other players. This is not allowed in the chat area
  • Double Up - To increase your chip stack by 100%
  • Down Cards - A player's cards that are dealt face down which only he can see. Also called Hole cards
  • Draw - A situation in which a player needs one card to complete a poker hand
  • Drawing Dead  - A situation in which a player cannot statistically beat another player's cards regardless of what cards come up
  • Ducks - A pair of deuces
  • Early Position  - One of the three positions to the immediate left of the big blind
  • Even Money Pot - A situation in which a player's chances of winning a pot are about 50%
  • Family Pot - A hand in which all the players call prior to the flop
  • Fifth Street - The fifth face up card dealt. Also known as the river
  • Flop - The first three community cards dealt face up
  • Flush - Poker hand that contains five cards of the same suit
  • Fold - Concede the pot by not calling a previous bet. A player who folds is no longer active
  • Forced Bet - A mandatory bet that starts the action on the first round of a poker hand
  • Four-of-a-Kind - Poker hand that contains four cards of equal rank
  • Fourth Street - The fourth face up card dealt. Also known as the turn
  • Free Roll -A tournament that requires no entry fee
  • Gut-shot Straight - Poker hand in which you need one card to complete a straight draw. Also called Inside straight
  • Hand - A player's best five cards
  • Heads-up - A situation in which poker is played one on one
  • Hi-Lo - A poker game in which the pot is awarded to both the highest and lowest hand
  • Hole Cards - A player's cards that are dealt face down which only he can see. Also called Down cards
  • Implied Odds - The odds that a player factors into his calculation of pot odds to account for being called if you complete your hand
  • Inside Straight - Poker hand in which you need one card to complete a straight draw. Also called a gutshot straight
  • Kicker - The highest unpaired card in a player's hand
  • King Crab - Poker hand containing a king and a three
  • Ladies - A pair of queens
  • Lay Down - To fold a hand
  • Limp In - To only call the big blind before the flop
  • Limit Poker - Variation of poker in which the bet amounts are preset
  • Main Pot - The initial pot where betting started prior to a player(s) going all-in
  • Maniac - A loose, aggressive player who likes to raise a lot of pots
  • Marginal play hand - A hand that is statistically weak and probably should not be played according to the odds
  • Missed Blind - A mandatory bet that is not posted
  • Muck - To discard or throw away your cards
  • No Limit Poker - Variation of poker in which there are no preset betting amounts
  • Nuts - The best possible poker hand given the face up cards
  • Off Suit - A term used to describe a hand with cards that are of different suits
  • Open-ended Straight  - Poker hand in which two different cards can be used to complete a straight draw. The two cards being on either end of the four connected cards
  • Open Seat - A seat at a game that is currently available for any player to sit in
  • Out(s) - A number of cards that are needed to complete a winning hand
  • Overcard  - A card that is higher than any card on the board
  • Overpair - A pair of pocket cards which are higher than any community cards on the board
  • Pocket Pair - A pair of pocket cards
  • Post - To place money/chips in the pot
  • Pot - The money/chips where all bets go for players to win
  • Pot Limit Poker  - Variation of poker in which the maximum bat that a player can make is the amount of the pot at the time of the bet
  • Pot Odds - A calculation that is used to decide if it is worth calling a bet to remain in a hand. Pot odds are calculated by dividing the size of the pot by the amount of money it costs to call a bet.
  • Qualify Low - Make a hand that is eligible to win half the pot in a high-low split game
  • Quads - Poker hand that contains four cards of equal rank
  • Rabbit Hunting - Looking for the cards that would have come up after all players have folded their hands. This is considered bad etiquette.
  • Raise - To increase the previous bet
  • Rake - Money/chips taken from the pot to compensate the site for hosting the game
  • Rathole - When a player is up in a particular poker session and then takes money/chips from the table and returns to play with a smaller bankroll
  • Railbird - Someone who looks on or watches a poker game after he has busted out or can't afford the stakes. It is bad etiquette to use the chat function in a game if you are a railbird
  • Read - To make your best guess at what your opponent's hand is
  • Represent - To pretend and play as if you have a strong hand when certain cards are shown on the board
  • Reraise - To raise against an existing raise
  • Ring Game - A real money game of poker at a regular table as opposed to a tournament game that is player with a preset number of chips
  • River - The fifth face up card dealt. Also known as fifth street
  • Runner - A poker hand that is made only by hitting the correct cards on the turn and the river
  • Satellites - Ten handed qualifying mini tournaments in which players put up a much smaller amount than the buy-in to a regular tournament in hopes of winning a seat to the much larger tournament
  • Seat position - The position of a player in relation to the dealer's button
  • Set - Poker hand that contains three cards of equal rank. Also call trips
  • Show - To expose one's cards
  • Shuffle - Mixing cards prior to the deal
  • Short Stack - A relatively small amount of chips compared with the other players at the table
  • Showdown - The point in a particular hand when all players remaining in the hand turn their cards over to determine the best five card hand
  • Slowplay - Intentionally underbetting a strong hand in order to lure other players into calling
  • Side Pot - The pot(s) from all side bets. Any player(s) All-in can not win any side pots that they did not invest in.
  • Sitting Out - A player leaving the table or being timed out is "Sitting Out". In a live game, if a player sits out, there is a time limit for a player to remain out at which time he will be removed from the game
  • Smooth-Calling - Intentionally calling other players bets with a strong hand in order to lure other players into the pot
  • Snowmen - A pair of eights
  • Split Pot - A pot which is shared and won by two or more players
  • Suck Out - A winning hand that is made by a player who catches a lucky card on the river
  • Suited Connectors - A starting poker hand in which your two hole cards are only one rank apart and are of the same suit
  • Tell - A hint or giveaway that a player unknowingly gives as to the strength of his hand
  • Tilt - Term for a player that is playing wildly and recklessly by playing far too many hands because they have become emotionally unbalanced
  • Top Pair - Poker hand in which you combine one of your hole cards with the highest exposed card on the flop
  • Under the Gun - The position to the immediate left of the big blind
  • Value Bet - A bet that you would like an opponent to call instead of fold because you believe the chances are better that you will win rather than lose the hand
  • Variance - The positive or negative swings in ones bankroll. This is not necessarily a measure of a player's skill level but it is a good indicator of a player's style
  • Village People - Poker hand containing four queens

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