Poker Terms

A Game - ​A player’s best possible performance.

Act -​ Check, bet, raise, or fold.

Ace High - ​A hand with no pair where the high card is an Ace.

Action -​ As in getting action from a player who wants to play you, or the action is on you as in
it’s your turn.

Active Player -​ A player still in the pot

Add-on - ​Additional chips that may be bought to “add on” to your chip stack in a rebuy
tournament.

Alias - ​A player’s online screen name.

All-in -​ A player bets all of their remaining chips

Angle Shoot - ​Refers to a shady move to gain an unfair advantage while not breaking the rules.

Ante -​ A forced mandatory payment made by all players at the table before any cards are dealt.
Tournaments often make use of antes in the later stages.

Backdoor – ​Refers to a draw that needs to catch two consecutive cards in order to complete.
See the glossary entry for examples on how backdoor equity works.

Back Raise – ​A reraise made after only calling earlier on the same street.

Bad Beat -​ When a player has the best of it and loses to a long shot.

Bankroll -​ Money a player has set aside to gamble with that is separate from money for living
expenses.

Barrel – ​A bet on the next street after making the last bet/raise on the previous street.

Behind -​ A player still to act after another player in a betting round

Belly Buster - ​A gutshot straight draw - AKA an inside straight draw.

Benjamin -​ A $100 bill (Benjamin Franklin’s image appears on a U.S. $100 bill)

Best of It - ​The player who currently has the odds on their side
Bet -​ The first chips to go into the pot on one street.

Big Bet - ​The larger of the two designated bet sizes in fixed limit games employed on the later
rounds of betting.

Big Blind -​ The bigger forced bet pre flop in community card games like Hold’em and Omaha.

Big Hand -​ A very strong hand.

Big Slick -​ Ace-King

Blank -​ A card that comes on the turn or river that doesn’t look likely to change the situation.

Blind - ​To perform an action without checking your holecards.

Blocker - ​A card that has a card removal effect on your opponent’s range range.

Blocker Bet - ​A small bet made when you don’t want to face a bet of a larger size from your
opponent.

Bluff -​ A bet or raise that represents a good hand when the player’s hand is much weaker.

Bluffcatch -​To call with a hand that can only beat a bluff.

Board -​ The community cards that sit in the middle of the table.

Boat -​ A full house

Bot - ​A computer program that plays unattended online.

Bounty - ​A prize that can be collected after knocking a player out of a tournament. Sometimes a
specific player such as a top professional in a small event can have a bounty.

Brick -​ A card that doesn’t complete any possible draws. Another name for a blank.

Brick and Mortar -​ A real life casino.

Bring-in - ​A forced bet made by the player with the worst upcard on the third street in stud
games.

Broadway -​ An ace-high straight.

Bubble -​ One place away from making it to the money in a tournament.

Burn Busted -​ Flat broke or out of the tournament.

Buy-In -​ the amount of chips a player must buy in order to enter a card game whether a cash
game or tournament.

Buying the Pot -​ A big bet as a bluff to scare players into folding.

C-Game - ​A player’s worst possible performance.

Call -​ To match the size of the current bet to stay in the hand.

Calling Station -​ A player who rarely folds.

Cap - ​A game with a limit placed on the maximum amount of chips that can be wagered or the
most money that you can buy into a cash game with.

Case Card -​ The last card of a given rank left in the deck

Cash Game - ​Poker where the chips are cash and there is no prize pool.

Chasing -​ Drawing to a certain card(s)

Check - ​Choosing not to bet when there has not yet been a bet on that betting round.

Check Raise -​ To check and then raise when another player bets.

Chip Dumping -​ Deliberately losing chips to another player.

Chop -​ A pot that is shared equally at showdown when no player has the best hand.

Coinflip - ​When all the chips go in and the players have roughly equal chances to win.

Cold-Call - ​A call of a bet when it is that player's first action on a betting round.

Combo Draw - ​A draw with multiple components, such as a flush and straight draw.

Community Cards -​ The board

Complete - ​When the small blind only calls pre flop with no raise from any player.

Connectors -​ Two or more cards in sequence, such as 54 or 98

Continuation Bet - ​A bet on the current street after being the last aggressor on the previous
street.
Cooler - ​A situation where our hand is expected to win almost every time but ends up being
beaten by an even stronger hand.

Counterfeit -​ In Omaha Eight or Better, when the board pairs one of your low cards

Cracked - ​When you lose a hand you were favored to win, as in “My pocket aces got cracked!”

Cripple - ​When your hand hits the board so hard your opponent is unlikely to have any kind of a
strong hand.

Crying Call -​ A call you make expecting to lose but the pot odds might justify it.

Cutoff -​ A position at the table to the right of the button.

Dealer - ​The person who deals the cards out to players; however, see also, Button

Dead Man Hand- ​ Black eights and black aces

Deep Stack -​ A stack of chips that is relatively high in relation to the blinds.

Deuce -​ Common nickname for a card with a rank value of two.

Dog -​ An underdog.

Dominated - ​ A hand that is a heavy underdog due to shared cards. For example, AQ is
“dominated” by AK.

Downswing - ​A prolonged period of losses.

Draw -​ A hand that needs additional cards to become a stronger hand

Drawing Dead -​ When there are no cards left in the deck that will make your hand into a winner.

Draw Poker -​ A game where players can draw new cards to their hand on every betting round.

Dry - ​A board texture where there are few possible draws.

Duck -​ A deuce, a 2 ranked card.

Early Position -​ The first 2-3 players to act in a hand in a full ring game, or first in a 6-max
game.

Effective Stacks - ​The smaller of two stacks in play.

Equity Calculator - ​A computer tool used to calculate the equity of hands/ranges against each
other.
Expectation - ​How much you expect to win in a particular line.

Expected Value - ​Expectation.

Face Down - ​Cards that are unexposed to other players.

Face Up -​ Cards that everybody can see.

Family Pot - ​A pot where most of the players play post flop.

Fast Play - ​An aggressive line with no slow playing.

Favorite -​ The player with the most equity.

Fish -​ A weak player with no skill.

Five-Bet - ​The fifth bet in a betting sequence.

Flat -​ Another word for call.

Float - ​A call made with no made hand post flop.

Flop - The ​first three community cards.

Flush -​ A hand containing five cards of the same suit

Fold -​ To indicate you are no longer playing in the hand.

Four-Bet - ​The fourth bet in a betting sequence.

Four-Flush - ​When four cards of the same suit are on the board.

Free Card- ​A betting round where all players check.

Freeroll - ​ A poker tournament with no entry fee.

Four-of-a-Kind -​ A hand containing four cards of the same rank.

Full House -​ A hand with two of one rank and three of another.

Gap - ​A gap between cards of consecutive rank.

Grinding - ​Playing poker for long hours thinking more about volume than profit.

Gutshot - ​An inside straight draw or a gutshot.

Head-to Head -​ Heads Up.

Hero Call - ​A crying call.

Hi/Lo -​ A type of poker where the highest hand and the lowest hand split the pot.

Hijack -​ A position at the poker table.

Last Longer -​ A bet made between two players in a tournament setting. The player who busts
out first loses the bet.

Hit - ​You hit when a card falls that gives us a better hand.

Hold’em - ​The most popular poker variant, sometimes referred to as the “Cadillac of Poker”.

Hole Cards -​ The cards held by a player, unseen by other players.

ICM - ​Independent Chip Modelling -a mathematical technique of assigning real monetary values
to tournament chips.

Implied Odds -​ Pot odds that factor in any future profit.

In Front Of -​ A player who acts before another player

Inside Straight Draw -​ A draw where only one card will complete the straight.

Isolate -​ To raise a limper pre flop with the intention of playing them heads up post flop.

Jackpot - ​A bad beat jackpot when an extremely strong hand gets beat giving the loser and
maybe some of the table a prize that builds up week after week.

Jam - ​To bet all your remaining chips.

Kicker -​ The other holecard when you have a pair. Used to break ties when other players have
the same pair.

LAG - ​Loose Aggressive - a player who plays many hands in an aggressive style.

Late Position -​ The cutoff and button.

Laydown -​ To fold
Levelling - ​Thinking on different levels when playing a hand. “He thinks that I think that he
thinks etc.”

Limit -​ The most that can be bet or raised at any time.

Limit Poker -​ Games with limits betting or raising, as opposed to no-limit.

Limp -​ To just call pre flop, matching the size of the big blind.

Live Card -​ A holecard that could turn your hand from a loser into a winner of the pot.

Live One -​ A wild player.

Lock -​ A hand that cannot be beaten whatever the run out.

Lock Up My Seat -​ A commitment to take a seat that is reserved for you.

Longshot -​ A drawing hand that is a huge underdog

Look Up -​ To call a player on the river, as in “I’m gonna look you up.”

Loose -​ A playing style that plays a lot of hands pre flop.

Made Hand -​ A pair or better.

Maniac -​ A crazy, loose player who bets too often as a bluff and with marginal value.

Mental Game - ​All about a player’s mindset and preparation for learning and performance.

Misclick -​ To accidentally click the wrong button when playing online.

Monotone - ​A board texture where all of the cards are the same suit.

Middle Position -​ The seats between early position and late position.

Monster -​ A big hand that is almost certainly the best hand and will win the pot.

Muck -​ To fold and throw your cards into the muck pile of discarded cards.

Nit - ​An extremely tight player who waits for premium hands pre flop and only commits chips
with a strong hand.

Nosebleed Stakes -​ Ultra high stakes poker.

No-Limit - ​A betting structure where the players are allowed to bet or raise any amount.
Nut-low - ​The lowball version of “the nuts”. It describes the best possible low hand in a lowball
or split pot variant of poker.

Nut Flush Draw - ​ A draw to the highest possible flush.

Nut Flush -​ An ace high flush.

Nuts - ​The best possible hand, although this can change on later streets in many cases.

Offsuit - ​A starting hand where the holecards are of different suits.

Omaha - ​A poker variant structured similar to NL holdem but each player is dealt four cards and
must use exactly two of them to make a five card hand.

One-Gap - ​A starting hand where the hole cards have a gap of a numerical value of one.

Open-ended Straight Draw - ​An eight out straight draw where a player is drawing to four cards
at the higher end and four cards at the lower end.

Open-raise - ​To make the first raise pre flop.

OOP -​ An acronym standing for “out of position”.

Out - ​A community card that will improve your hand on the turn or river.

Overbet - ​A bet larger than the current size of the pot.

Overcall – ​To make a call when another player has already made a call before you on the
current street.

Overlay - ​When enough players enter a poker tournament that the prize pool is larger than the
guarantee.

Overlimp -​ Limping after another player has already limped in pre flop.

Overpair -​ When a player is dealt a pair that is higher than any card on the board.

One Pair -​ A hand that contains two cards of the same rank. Either both holecards or one in the
hole and one on the board.

Overcard -​ A holecard that is higher than any on the current board.

Play the Board - ​When the five community cards give you a better hand than what you can
make using your holecards.

Paint -​ The cards between jack and ace.

Pocket Pair - ​When you have a pair in the hole.

Position -​ A player's position relative to another.

Post - ​To post your blind before a hand.

Post Flop - ​The betting rounds when the flop, turn, and river community cards come down.

Pot -​ All the chips in the middle that have already been bet.

Pot odds -​ The ratio between the size of the pot and the size of the bet.

Pot Limit - ​ A betting structure where the maximum allowed bet or raise is a pot sized bet.

Preflop -​ The first betting round before any community cards are placed in the middle.

Premium Starting Hands -​ The best holecards possible, such as pocket aces and ace-king in
NL hold’em.

Probe - ​A bet by the out of position when the pre-flop raiser does not continuation bet.

Price -​ Another name for pot odds.

Protection -​ A small bet with a weak hand to avoid giving your opponent a free card.

Quads -​ Four of a kind

Qualify - ​In split pot games, a low hand must “qualify” before it is counted as a legitimate low
hand. This means the hand must be low enough such as no cards above an eight.

Rabbit Hunt - ​To check what community cards would have come after the hand is finished.

Ragged - ​A dry, non-coordinated board texture.

Rap -​ To tap the table indicating you check.

Rainbow - ​A board texture where every card is of a different suit.

Raise -​ When a player calls a bet and puts even more chips into the middle, reopening the
action back to everyone else still in the hand.

Rake - ​A small percentage taken from each pot each hand as payment for running the poker
game by the house or website.
Range - ​All of the hand combinations that you think a player likely holds.

Range Advantage - ​When one hand range is favoured on a specific board over another.

Rank - ​The value of a single card.

Ratholing - ​Buying in for a small amount in a game and then leaving when the stack becomes
big.

Razz - ​The lowball version of seven card stud.

Read - ​A read is information you have picked up on a player.

Rebuy - ​To buy back into a tournament you have busted out of, or to replenish your chip stack
in a cash game.

Redraw - ​A draw you pick up on the turn when the board texture changes.

Reraise -​ To raise another player’s raise.

Represent - ​When bluffing you are trying to represent a stronger hand than what you hold. Also
when an opponent bets he represents a certain range.

Reverse Implied Odds - ​Implied odds where you will lose money over the long run if you hit
your draw.

Ring Game -​ A cash game.

River -​ The final (and fifth) community card on the board.

River Rat -​ A player sucks out on the river after making bad calls earlier in the hand.

Rock - ​Another name for nit.

Royal Flush -​ An A-K-Q-J-10 all of the same suit. This is the best hand in poker.

Run -​ To run good or run bad describing your flow of luck.

Rundown - ​Connected starting hands in pot limit omaha. A starting of hand JT98 is called a
“jack-high rundown”.

Run it Twice - ​In all-in situations the players can sometimes choose to run the remaining
community cards out twice to reduce variance.

Runner Runner - ​When you make your draw using both the turn and river card.
Sandbagging -​ To deliberately not bet or raise with a strong hand in order to deceive your
opponent.

Satellite - ​A tournament where the prize is a ticket to a higher value tournament.

Scare Card - ​A card on the turn or river that might look scary for your opponent.

Semi-Bluff - ​A bluff when you hold a strong draw.

Set - ​Three of a kind when you hold a pocket pair.

Short Handed -​ A table with six players or less.

Short Stack - ​A player with few chips left in his stack compared to the starting pot.

Shove - ​To bet all-in.

Showdown -​ After all the betting has been completed and the players check who wins the
hand.

Side Pot - ​A second pot formed when one player is already all-in but there are still players left in
the hand with additional chips to play for. Check out the glossary entry for an example on how
this works.

Sit and Go - ​A type of poker tournament which starts as soon as a designated number of
entrants is reached.

Sizing - ​The size of a bet or a raise.

Slowplay -​ To deliberately not bet or raise with a strong hand in order to deceive your
opponent.

Slowroll - ​To take a long time to call when you are the last player to act and have the effective
nuts. Also applies to being slow to turn over your cards at a showdown when you have the nuts.

Small Bet - ​In fixed limit games it denotes the smaller of the two designated bet sizes.

Small Blind - ​A seat in between the button and the big blind.

Split - ​Split pot poker is where half of the pot is awarded to the best low hand and the other half
the best high hand.

Squeeze - ​A three bet made when there is an open raise and one or more callers.

Stab -​ To make a bet when your opponent has refrained from betting on one or more streets
intending to pick up the pot most of the time.
Stack to Pot Ratio - ​The ratio between the size of the pot and the size of a stack.

Stand Pat - ​In draw poker to not draw any cards.

Steam - ​To get angry and play badly making emotional decisions.

Steal the Blinds -​ A raise, normally from late position, aiming to win the blinds without a fight.

Straddle - ​An optional blind bet made before the holecards are dealt. Most often seen in high
stakes cash games.

Straight -​ Five consecutive cards in rank order.

Straight Flush -​ Five consecutive cards in rank order all of the same suit.

String Bet - ​Announcing a call and then attempting to raise. This action is illegal and would be
declared a call.

Structure - ​The different variables that describe a game such as blinds, number of players and
in a tournament the prize pool payout.

Stud - ​A poker variant without community cards where players are dealt cards a mixture of
cards visible to other players and some face down.

Suited - ​Two holecards of the same suit.

Suck-out -​ To hit a draw that was extremely unlikely.

Suited Connectors -​ Two holecard of consecutive rank and of the same suit.

Swing -​ The natural fluctuation of a player’s chip count or bankroll

Table Stakes -​ A player can only play with the chips they have on the table. A player cannot
buy or borrow more chips during a hand.

TAG - ​Tight Aggressive. A way of describing a player’s style.

Tank - ​To go into the thinking tank when making an important decision.

Tell - ​Another way of saying a read on a player.

Texture - ​Board texture.

Three-Bet - ​To raise the first bet on a street.

Three-of-a-Kind -​ Three cards of the same rank. Trips or a set.

Tilt - ​When a player gets angry and plays badly because of poor emotional control.

Time Bank - ​Extra time available to online poker players during a hand.

Tournament - ​A poker format with a fixed entry fee. Chips cannot be added throughout the
tournament unless the rules allow for it at specific times for all players.

Tracking Software - ​A database that keeps track of all hands played in online poker. Allows for
in-depth analysis away from the table.

Trap - ​To slowplay.

Trey - ​A card of rank “Three”.

Trips - ​Three of a kind using two cards of that rank from the board.

Turn - ​The third betting round in variants such as Hold’em and Omaha.

Two Pair - ​When both of your holecards make a pair with the board, or you hold a pocket pair
and the board is paired.

Two-tone - ​A flop with a flush draw possible.

Under the Gun - ​The seat to the left of the big blind. Acts first on every post flop betting round.

Underbet - ​A bet sizing less of than 50% of the pot.

Underdog - ​The player who is statistically less likely to win.

Upcard - ​A face up card dealt to a player in stud games.

Upswing - ​A prolonged period of profitable results.

Up the Ante -​ To up the stakes.

Value Bet -​ To bet when you expect to get called often enough by a worse hand to make a long
term profit.

Variance - ​The natural ups and downs of winning and losing.

Variant -​ A specific type of game in poker, such as NL hold’em and PLO.

Vulnerable - ​A hand that is susceptible to being outdrawn.

Wet ​- ​A board texture that is coordinated with a lot of possible draws.

Whale -​ A terrible poker player.

Wired - ​A pair on third street in seven card stud where both of the cards are down cards.

Wrap - ​A large straight draw in PLO. Big straight draws in PLO can have as many as 20 outs.

WSOP - ​World Series of Poker. The most prestigious poker series in the world.