| Act |
To do something when it's your turn, one of: check, call, fold, open bet, and raise. |
| Action |
Opportunity to act. If a player appears not to realize it's his turn, the dealer will say "Your action, sir." Also bets and raises. |
| Add-on |
Some tournaments allow players the opportunity at a certain point to buy additional chips, called an add-on.
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| Aggressive |
A style of play characterised by frequent raising and re-raising. This is not the same thing as loose play. An aggressive table is one dominated by aggressive players. |
| Ante |
A small portion of a bet contributed by each player to seed the pot at the beginning of a poker 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. |
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| Backdoor |
Catching both the turn and river card to make a drawing hand. |
| Bad Beat |
To have a hand when a poor hand beats a heavily favored hand. It is generally used to imply that the winner of the pot had no business being in the pot at all. |
| Bankroll |
The total amount of money one is willing to put at risk |
| Blank |
A board card that doesn't seem to affect the standings in the hand. |
| Blind |
A forced bet put in by one or more players before any cards are dealt. Blinds are put in by players immediately to the left of the button mostly in holdem games.. |
| Bluff |
A bet with a weak hand intended to get other players to fold. |
| Board |
All the community cards in a holdem game - the flop, turn, and river cards together. |
| Boat |
Another name for a full house. |
| Broadway |
An Ace high straight. |
| 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. It is security against any player recognizing the next card on the board. |
| Bullets |
A pair of aces |
| Bump |
To raise |
| Bust |
To run out of money |
| Button |
A white acrylic disk to indicate who is the dealer. Also used to refer to the player on the button |
| Buy The Button |
To bet or raise, hoping to make players between you and the button fold, thus allowing you to act last on subsequent betting rounds. |
| Buy The Pot |
To bluff, hoping to "buy" the pot without being called. |
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| Call |
To call is to match the current bet. |
| Calling Station |
A weak-passive player who calls a lot, but doesn't raise or fold much. |
| Cap |
To put in the last raise permitted on a betting round. This is typically the third or fourth raise |
| Catch |
When the cards are treating you well, you are said to be catching cards |
| Check |
To not bet, with the option to call or raise later in the betting round. |
| Check Raise |
To check and then raise when a player behind you bets. |
| Coffeehouse: |
To talk about a hand one is involved in, usually with the intent of misleading or manipulating other players, is coffeehousing. |
| Cold Call |
To call more than one bet in a single action. An example is when the first player to act after the big blind raises. Now any player acting after him must call two bets 'cold' |
| Complete Hand |
A hand that is defined by all five cards - a straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush or royal flush. |
| Connector |
A holdem starting hand in which the two cards are one apart in rank. For example 3-4-7-8 |
| Cut |
After the cards are shuffled but before they are dealt, usually the deck is split in the middle and the halves are reversed. |
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| Deuce |
Two's are sometimes called Deuce's |
| Dog |
Another term for 'Underdog'. |
| Dominated Hand |
A hand that will almost always lose to a better hand that people usually play. For instance, A-2 is "dominated" by A-Q. |
| Door card |
The first card dealt face up to each player in seven card stud is the door card. |
| 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' |
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| Equity |
Your "rightful" share of a pot. For instance if the pot is $100 and you have a %50 chance of winning it you are said to have an equity of $50. |
| Expectation |
Can be used to have the same meaning as equity also it is the rate of profit (or loss) you would expect to make on average over a very large number of hands. A positive expectation poker player is one who, due to an advantage in poker skill over his opponent, will earn money in the long run. A negative expectation poker player is someone who will lose money. |
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| Family Pot |
When everyone on the table decides to enter the pot is called a family pot. |
| Fast |
As in to play fast. To play a hand aggressively, betting and raising as much as possible. |
| Fishhooks |
A common name for jacks |
| Flop |
The first three community cards, put out face up, all together in holdem games. |
| Fold |
To abandon your hand, usually because someone else has made a larger bet than you are willing to call. |
| 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. |
| Four Flush |
A hand with four cards of the same suit. |
| Full House |
A hand consisting of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank. |
| Free Card |
Whenever you get to see an additional card without having to call a bet, it's a free card (usually this means it's been checked around). |
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| Gutshot |
Is an inside straight draw. |
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| Hand |
A hand is also everything that happens between shuffles. A hand also refers to the cards you hold. Lastly, sometimes the phrase "a hand" means specifically a good hand or a playable hand. It all depends upon the context in which it is said |
| Heads Up |
A pot that is being contested by only two players. |
| High |
The high hand is simply the best hand. |
| Hit |
As in "the flop hit me." It means the flop contained cards that help your hand. The opposite of which is a miss. |
| House |
The establishment running the game |
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| 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 |
| Inside Straight |
An inside straight draw is a draw to a straight that's missing one of the cards in the middle. 4578 is an inside straight, 4567 is an outside straight. Also called a one-gapper or a gutshot. |
| It |
Refers to the largest amount anyone has yet played in a round. |
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| Jackpot |
A special bonus paid to the loser of a hand if he gets a very good hand beaten. In holdem, the "loser" must typically get aces full or better beaten of course, the jackpot is funded with money removed from the game as part of the rake. |
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| Kansas City: |
Kansas City lowball is a low game played for a deuce to seven low. |
| Kicker |
An unpaired card used to determine the better of two near-equivalent hands.Kickers can be vitally important in holdem. For example, if you hold A8 and someone else holds A7, and the flop is AK642, you have your opponent out-kicked. Your hand is AAK86 while theirs is AAK76 |
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| Limit |
Limit poker is any game in which there is a fixed limit on how much you can bet or raise in any round. Limit games usually offer either fixed-sized bets for different betting rounds or spread limits, in which there is a minimum and maximum bet for each round. |
| Live Blind |
A blind bet is considered a live blind if the player is allowed to raise even if no one else raises first. |
| Live Card |
A card that has not been seen. |
| Lock |
A lock is a hand guaranteed to win at least part of the pot. |
| Loose |
Playing loose simply means playing more hands and holding on to them longer |
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| Make |
To make a hand means to get a decent hand that has a shot at winning the pot. |
| Maniac |
A player who does a lot of very loose aggressive raising, betting, and bluffing. A true maniac is not a good player, but is simply doing a lot of gambling. |
| Monster |
An extremely strong hand, one that is almost certain to win the pot. |
| Muck |
The pile of discarded cards in front of the dealer, or the act of putting cards in this pile |
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| No-limit |
Any game in which there is no limit on the sizes of bets and raises |
| Nuts |
The best possible hand given the board |
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| Offsuit |
A holdem starting hand in which the two cards are of different suits. |
| Omaha |
Omaha is a flop game similar to hold ' em. |
| Out |
An out is a card that will improve your hand, usually one that you think will make it a winner |
| Outdraw |
To make a better hand than an opponent by merit of the cards you draw. |
| Outrun |
See outdraw. |
| Overcard |
A card higher than any card on the board. For instance, if you have AQ and the flop comes J-7-3, you don't have a pair, but you have two overcards. |
| Overpair |
A pocket pair higher than any card on the flop. If you have QQ and the flop comes J-8-3, you have an overpair. |
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| Paint |
Any card with a picture on it |
| Passive |
A style of play that is characterized by reluctance to bet and raise |
| Pineapple |
Any of a number of variants of holdem in which each player gets three cards and must discard one at some point. |
| Pocket |
The two cards dealt to you face down in holdem are called pocket cards |
| Pot |
All the money in the middle of the poker table that goes to the winner of the hand is the pot. Any player who has not yet folded is said to be "in the pot." A player who has called an initial bet is said to have entered the pot. |
| Pushka |
An arrangement between two or more of the players to share part of the pots win, or more precisely, the container into which the shared chips are played |
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| Quads |
Four of a kind |
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| Rag |
A card, usually a low card, that, when it appears, has no apparent impact on the hand. |
| Rainbow |
Three or four cards of different suits, for example on a flop. |
| Raise |
After someone has opened betting in a round, to increase the amount of the bet os to raise. |
| Rake |
An amount of money taken out of every pot by the dealer. |
| Rank |
The numerical value of a card |
| Ring Game |
A bunch of people playing poker for money at a table in a cardroom as opposed to a tournament. |
| River |
The fifth and final community card, put out face up, by itself. |
| Rock |
A player who plays an extremely tight, patient game is a rock. |
| Round |
A round can refer either to a round of betting or a round of hands. |
| Rush |
A player who wins a large number of pots in a short period of time is said to be on a rush. |
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| Sandbag |
Sandbagging means concealing your strength for the purpose of increasing your profit. In poker, this usually means slowplaying in the early betting rounds in order to extract more profit on the later rounds |
| Scare Card |
A card that when it appears makes a better hand more likely. In holdem, a third suited card on the river is a scare card, because it makes a flush possible. |
| See |
To call a bet is sometimes referred to as seeing it. |
| Semi-Bluff |
A semi-bluff is similar to a bluff, except that the semi-bluffer has some chance of making a winning hand. The idea behind a semi-bluff is that while neither the bluff nor the draw might be positive expectation, in combination they could be |
| Seven Card Stud |
Of the poker games most commonly played in public cardrooms, seven card stud is probably the most well known. In seven card stud (sometimes "seven stud" or just "stud"), each player is dealt seven cards of their own: two down, then four up, and a final card down. |
| Short Stack |
A short stack is a stack that's too small to cover the likely betting in a hand. A player who has such a stack is said to be short-stacked |
| Slow Play |
To play a strong hand weakly so more players will stay in the pot. |
| Snap Off |
To beat someone, often a bluffer, and usually with a not especially powerful hand, is to snap them off. |
| Speed |
Speed refers to the level of aggressiveness with which you play. |
| Split Pot |
A pot which is shared by two or more players because they have equivalent hands |
| Straight flush |
A hand consisting of five cards of consecutive ranks of the same suit. |
| Structured |
Used to apply to a certain betting structure in "flop" games such as holdem. 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 |
| Suited |
A holdem starting hand in which the two cards are the same suit |
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| Table Stakes |
A rule in a poker game meaning that a player may not go into his pocket for money during a hand. He may only invest the amount of money in front of him into the current pot. If he runs out of chips during the hand, a side pot is created in which he has no interest. All casino poker is played table stakes. |
| Tell |
A tell is any habit or behavior that gives other players more information about your hand than they would have simply from your play. |
| Texas holdem |
Texas holdem (or just holdem) is a poker game in which each player gets two pocket cards, while five community cards are dealt face up on the table. |
| Tight |
Playing tight simply means playing fewer hands and folding them earlier. In essence, tight with your cash |
| Tilt |
Good poker seems to require good discipline. However, even good players are often tempted to do things they know are bad ideas when they get frustrated, angry, or upset for any reason. They go "on tilt." |
| 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 |
If there are three cards of different ranks on the flop in holdem and you pair the highest one, you have top pair. |
| Trips |
Three of a kind. |
| Turn |
The fourth community card. Put out face up, by itself. Also known as "fourth street." |
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| 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. |
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| 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. |
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| Weak |
A style of play characterized by a readiness to fold and a reluctance to raise |
| Wild Card |
A card that can serve as any other card in making your hand |
