- Ace High: A hand in which the highest ranking card is an Ace is called Ace High. Let’s say you have A-7, and the board has 4-5-Q-8-2. This situation will be called you have an Ace high.
- Action: Any bet that moves the game forward. In a poker game, ‘Action’ refers to a player's decisions that move the game forward. It includes checking, betting, raising, etc.
- Aces Up: A hand with two pairs; one pair is Aces.
- Add On: Buying more chips once the rebuy period ends in a tournament.
- A-Game: A-Game is playing poker to the best of your ability and at your highest level.
- Aggression Factor: A ratio of player’s aggression actions to their calls.
- Alias: Alise is merging your multiple poker site player names into one name.
- All In: If a poker player puts all his chips into the pot, he is said to be all in. In this case, the player does not participate in other bets above his all-in amount. For other players to play poker, a side pot is created. The main pot can be played only by the all-in player.
- Angle: An angle is a controversial move that technically seems legal but is considered unethical.
- Ante: Small bet or contribution to the pot (by each player) before the deal. A forced bet of a certain amount is predetermined and is collected from all the poker players at the table before the beginning of each round.
- Any Two: Any two means you are willing to play with any two-hole cards, regardless of their strength.
- Any Two Cards: Similar to Any Two, implying that specific hole cards don’t matter. Here’s a situation where it can be used: ‘He can shove with any two cards here" means that a player can go all-in no matter what they have.’
- Anti Banking: When a player leaves a table with some stack, he cannot join it back for the next 10 minutes with a stack less than he had when he sat on the table. For example, if a player joins with 300 on a table of 5/10 and is blind with min. Buy-in 200 and leave the table after winning 1200 chips; he cannot rejoin the table for the next 10 minutes with less than 1500 chips.
- Backdoor: It means you require two or more consecutive cards to complete your hand.
- Backing: A poker deal where a player gives their bankroll to another player in exchange for a profit share.
- Backraise: When a re-raise comes from the player, originally called the bet, it is called backraise.
- Bad Beat: When you statistically have the best hand but still lose the game.
- Bad Beat Jackpot: A secondary jackpot awarded to a player with a bad beat.
- Bankroll: The sum of a poker player’s money he has set aside for playing poker only.
- Barrel: Betting on multiple streets, such as the flop, turn, and rive,r is called a Barrel.
- Belly Buster: When you just need one card to complete your straight, it is called Belly Buster.
- Bet: To wager your chips or put money in the pot.
- Bet the Pot: To bet equal to the size of the pot.
- Big Bet: Big bets are double the wager of the initial bet.
- Big Blind (BB): The second blind bet of Texas Hold'em Poker. It is put in by the second player to the dealer's left.
- Big Slick: Nickname for Ace and King as your Hole cards.
- Blank: A community card that is of no use to any player’s hand.
- Blind: A compulsory bet for the first two players to the dealer's left before the cards are dealt.
- Blocker: When you hold only one card, your opponent must complete their hand.
- Blocker bet: A small bet made by an ‘out of position’ player to block a potential larger bet.
- Blue Chips: Blue chips are the chips with the highest value.
- Bluff: To act like you have a better hand than it is.
- Bluffcatch: A hand that you can only win if your opponent bluffs.
- Board: The five community cards.
- Boat: Nickname for a full house.
- Bomb Pot: A special hand where players agree to put pre-determined money into the pot before the flop is dealt.
- Bot: A computer program designed to play the game.
- Bottom Pair: To bet equal to the size of the pot.
- Bounty: A mandatory prize awarded to the player who eliminated another player.
- Bring-in: The forced bet made on the first round of betting by the player who is dealt the lowest card showing in Seven Card Stud.
- Brick: Any card that does not improve your hand.
- Brick and Mortar: A poker room in a casino.
- Bet: A pair that uses the smallest board card and a hole card.
- Broadway: Ace high straight.
- Bubble: If only one or more players are required to bust a tournament before the other remaining players make it into the money, then the tournament is called a Bubble. The poker player who successfully busts on the bubble is described as having “bubbled” the tourney.
- Bum Hunter: Actively seeking and playing against weaker competition.
- Burn: A card the dealer discards from the top of the deck before the community cards are dealt.
- Busted: Losing all your chips.
- Button: A marker defines the dealer’s position at the table.
- Bully: If a poker player is very aggressive, i.e., pushing around other players across the table while making bets, then he is said to be a bully.
- Bullets: Two aces.
- Burn Card: Discard the topmost card from the deck before the flop, turn, and river to avoid cheating.
- Buy the Pot: Make a bet that causes the other players to fold without showing your cards.
- Buy In: The minimum amount of cash you pay to enter a game.
- Call: Putting in money to equal the bet/raise before you.
- Calling Station: A player who frequently calls, then raises or folds.
- Calling Your Bluff: When you suspect you are bluffing and they correctly catch you, it is called calling your bluff.
- Cap: Regarding bets, a cap is the maximum amount or bets allowed in a round.
- Card Dead: When you are dealt bad cards, and you keep folding.
- Card Removal: The effect your card has based on your opponent's hand.
- Case: A case is a briefcase with chips and cards.
- Case Card: The last card of a certain rank left in the deck.
- Cash Game: The game involving cash or poker chips exchanged for money.
- C-Game: Strategic errors made during a session.
- Chance: A chance is the probability of each card.
- Chase: If a poker player desperately tries to complete a draw, it is described as ‘Chasing’.
- Check: The move where one does not bet. It could also be considered as a pass.
- Check in the Dark:
- Check Raise: First check, then raise after the betting returns to you (when a player raises).
- Chinese Poker: A card game based on the poker hand rankings.
- Chip: A token used in Poker games denotes real or tournament money.
- Chip and a Chair: You can win a poker tournament with only one chip.
- Chip Dumping: When a player intentionally loses all their chips to transfer funds to that player’s account.
- Chip Up: This involves either increasing the amount of money you have put in the stake or exchanging chips of low denominations with those of larger denominations having higher values
- Chop: When the players are still in the game, they decide to split up the pot between themselves before the game ends
- Coinflip: Two players with different types of hands have a nearly equal chance of winning.
- Cold Call: If a player who has not put any money on a stake while playing poker calls after a bet and a raise, then his action is known as Cold Calling.
- Cold Deck: A period of the game where you get a bad sequence of cards for an extended period.
- Collusion: It is an act of cheating in a poker game in which two players work together at the poker table to achieve a common goal.
- Colour Up: Exchanging lower denomination chips with a larger one.
- Combination: Different ways of making a poker hand.
- Combo Draw: A combo draw occurs simultaneously with straight and flush draws.
- Community Cards: The board cards or the five cards dealt face up and used by the players to form hands.
- Complete: Increasing the minimum bet to a full-size bet.
- Connector: The two hole cards in sequence. For example, 7 and 8.
- Continuation Bet: A bet made after being raised in the previous round.
- Cooler: When you have a strong hand but lose to a stronger one.
- Counterfeit: When board cards nullify your hand because the board has the highest version of the same hand.
- Cowboys: A slang for pair of Kings.
- Crack: To beat a stronger hand.
- Cripple: If a player is left with not enough chips while playing poker and is perceived as not to last longer at the poker table, then he is known as being ‘Crippled’.
- Crossbook: It is a bet between players in which, if you lose, you will pay the owner a percentage of your net winnings.
- Cut: The shuffling of cards in which the bottom half of the deck is moved from the bottom to the top half is known as ‘Cutting the deck’.
- Cutoff (CO): The position is directly to the dealer's right.
- Dark Bet: To announce the bet on the next betting round before the cards are dealt.
- Dealer: A person who shuffles the deck and distributes the cards.
- Dealer Button: A pointer indicating the current dealer.
- Dealer’s Choice: The dealer decides which variant will be played in the current round.
- Dead Man’s Hand: Two pairs of black aces and black eights are called a dead man’s hand.
- Dead Money: Money in the pot contributed by the folded players.
- Deuce: Card with the rank two.
- Depolarised: A medium range of hands.
- Dirty Stack: A live poker stack that has chips with wrong denominations.
- Dog: An underdog, a player who is least likely to win.
- Domination: A hand or range weaker than another hand or range is called domination.
- Donk: When an out-of-position player bets aggressively.
- Door Card: The first visible card in the flop in the community card game.
- Double Up: A player doubles their chip stack in a single hand.
- Downcard: Hole cards.
- Downswing: A series of results totalling an overall loss.
- Draw: An incomplete hand.
- Drawing Dead: Drawing to hand that cannot win even if made.
- Drawing Hand: An incomplete hand that has the potential to improve and become a winning hand. It needs one or more cards to turn into a complete hand.
- Dry Board: A set of community cards that do not coordinate with each other.
- Ducks: A pair of twos are called ducks.
- Early Position: The first player to move in a betting round.
- Effective Stacks: An equal amount of chips played with unequal stacks.
- Equity: A mathematical formula to calculate your share of the pot.
- Equity Calculator: A tool used to calculate equity.
- Expectation: The average amount you expect to gain if you make a certain play.
- Expected Value: A statistical method to determine the average amount a certain play will win or lose.
- Face Card: The King, Queen, and Jack are called the face card.
- Family Pot: A pot in which all or almost all players call before the flop.
- Fastplay: When players bet with strong hands rather than playing slowly.
- Favourite: A hand with the best statistical advantage over an opponent to win.
- Fifth Street: The fifth community card or the River.
- Fish: An inexperienced or beginner poker player who loses money.
- Fish Hook: A term that refers to a pair of jacks.
- Five Bets: The re-raise in a betting round.
- Flat: When a player calls a bet without raising.
- Float: Calling with a weak hand to improve on later streets.
- Flop: The first three community cards dealt out on the table are put face up.
- Flush: A poker hand with five cards, all of which are of the same suit.
- Flush Draw: A Poker hand where you have 4 out of 5 cards to make a Flush.
- Fifth Street: The fifth community card or the River.
- Fold: Quitting the hand.
- Four-Bet: A second re-raise in a betting round.
- Four Of a Kind: A Poker hand of four cards of the same rank. For example, 4 Queens.
- Fourth Street: The fourth community card or the Turn.
- Free Card: The turn or river card in which there was no bet in the previous round. Players only checked in the previous round.
- Freeroll: A tournament that is free to enter but offers real money in prizes.
- Full Boat: Alias for a Full House.
- Full House: A Poker hand with a three-of-a-kind and a pair.
- Gap: Gap argues that a player needs a stronger hand to call an open and to open themselves.
- Grinding: Plying with minimal risk and modest gains over a period of time.
- Gutshot: A draw type where you just need one (numeric) card as out to hit your straight.
- Gutshot Straight Draw: A straight filled inside. If you have 7s and 8s, the flop has 9s-5s-2d, and the turn gives 6s. You have a gutshot straight.
- Hanger: A dealer usually deals the card and takes one at a time from the top. Some cheat by trying to take one out from the bottom, and while doing this, the right top card gets accidentally pushed out of place a bit. This is called a hanger.
- Hand For Hand: A method used in tournaments when approaching the money bubble.
- Hand Rankings: Poker hands you need to form to win.
- Heads Up: The situation when only two players are left in the game.
- Hero Call: A situation where the player makes a call with a weaker hand.
- Hero Fold: When you fold a powerful hand, thinking it is a beat.
- High Card: A poker hand is determined by the highest card in the hand.
- High Hand: The best hand in any round.
- High Roller: When a player participates with higher stakes.
- Hijack: The player is sitting right at the cutoff.
- Hit: It means a round that helps your hand. For example, in ‘The Flop Hit Me,’ the flop helped the player with their hand.
- Hit and Run: The act of joining a game, winning quickly, and leaving the table after one winning.
- Holdem: A most popular poker variant.
- Hole Cards: The two cards dealt to each player at the beginning of every deal.
- House: A casino or cardroom that is hosting the game.
- Hyper Turbo: A tournament with a fast blind structure and shallow starting stacks.
- ICM: The Independent Chip Model converts the chips into the monetary value of the player’s equity.
- Implied Odds: Potential future bets you can win in relation to the amount you need to bet or call at the time.
- Inside Straight Draw: A specific card you need to complete your straight.
- Insurance: When one player pays another player with a guarantee of winning a certain amount of money, irrespective of the outcome.
- ITM: A point in poker tournaments where players earn payouts.
- In position: Playing in position means acting after every other opponent in a hand.
- Jackpot: A special prize declares by the casino.
- Jam: A pot where several players are raising.
- Joker: A joker card that acts as a wild card in several variations.
- Kicker : The unpaired cards in a hand often used to settle ties. For example, if both players have a pair of 8s, the player with the highest unpaired card (or kicker) wins.
- LAG: Loose aggressive is a style where you play a wide range of hands more aggressively.
- Last Longer: A side bet players make where the player who lasts longer wins.
- Laydown: Folding.
- Levelling: Before making a decision, you try to think on your opponent’s level.
- Leverage: The risk of future betting.
- Limit Poker: A version of Texas Hold'em in which a player must bet/raise by the predetermined betting amounts.
- Limp: When you only call the big blind instead of raising.
- Live Hand: An unfolded or active hand.
- Low Ball: A poker variant where the lowest hand wins.
- Low Hand: Making a low hand means playing a game with a low-hand ranking system.
- Low Limit Game: A game with small stakes.
- Maniac: An aggressive player who often bets and raises.
- Mark: A player who attracts more attention due to their poor play.
- Mechanic: A cheat who manipulates the deck.
- Middle Position: The player who has their turn between early and late positions
- Mid Stakes: A game played with stakes above the lower stakes.
- Misclick: When you accidentally perform an action you were not meant to.
- Monotone: A board where all the community cards follow the same suit.
- Monster: The strong and best hand at the table.
- Muck: Folding the hand.
- Must Move: An additional or overflow table when the main table is full.
- Nash Equilibrium: A situation where all the players make the best choices.
- Nit: A very conservative payer who plays the tight hands.
- No Limit Game: A version of poker in which no betting limit is defined. A player can bet up to his or her chips last.
- Nut: The best possible arrangement of cards (hand) in a given situation.
- Nosebleed: The highest of states across live card rooms and online sites.
- Offsuit: Hole cards of different suits.
- Omaha: It is a poker variant, where you get four hole cards and can use two community cards to make a had.
- One Gap: A Holdem starting hand, where two cards have a gap of one rank. E.g. J9.
- Open-ended Straight Draw: When you have four consecutive cards, you need one card on either end to form a straight.
- Open-raise: When the hand begin with a raise in the first betting round.
- Out of Position: Playing out of position means the player needs to act before all his opponents in hand.
- OMC: Old Man Coffee. The slang refers to a player who has spent several years playing ultra-tight profitably.
- Outs: The cards that will allow you to win the hand.
- Overbet: A bet larger than the current pot size.
- Overcall: To call a bet after another player has done the same.
- Over Card: A hole card higher in rank than any community card.
- Overlay: The gap between the tournament’s guaranteed and actual prize pools.
- Overlimp: Liming in preflop when other players have already limped.
- Over Pair: A hole card pair higher than any community card.
- Outs: The cards that will allow you to win the hand.
- Pair: Two cards of the same rank. For example, two 7s.
- Play The Board: When you make the best five-card with the community cards.
- Paint: Face cards.
- Pocket Cards: Hole Cards
- Pocket Pair: Having the two hole cards of the same rank
- Pocket Rockets: Slang refers to when you are dealt two aces as your starting hands.
- Position: Position of the player at the table concerning the dealer.
- Post Flop: Actions on the table after the "flop" round.
- Pot: The amount of money and sum of bets in the current hand being played for.
- Post: Putting a chip in the pot.
- Pot Limit: A limit in which a player may bet an amount equal to the pot.
- Pot Committed: When you have invested so much in the pot, you are committed to continue the hand.
- Pot Odds: The amount of pot compared to the money the player has to put in to stay in the game.
- Preflop: The betting round before the flop.
- PRF: Pre-flop raiser, the first player to raise in the pre-flop.
- Price: The current value you need to call to continue the hand.
- Probe Bet: A bet made by a player after the position player has shown weakness on the previous street.
- Prop Player: A cardroom employee paid to play in shorthanded games.
- Protection: Placing a bet to reduce the number of opponents.
- Polarised: A situation when your range is split into strong hands and bluffs.
- Quad : The poker hand in which user get all the suits of same card e.g Ad Ac As Ah. This is the 3rd most strongest hand according to poker hand ranking
- Qualify: The minimum hand needed to win the pot.
- Rabbit Hunt: Looking through the undealt deck.
- Ragged: A Flop that does not help anybody much.
- Rap: Knocking on the table to announce you have checked.
- Rainbow: The flop with cards from all the suits.
- Raise: To increase a bet.
- Rake: The amount of money charged by the enterprise.
- Rakeback: A rake percentage paid back to the players.
- Range: A set of all the hands a player could hold in a specific situation.
- Range Advantage: When a player’s range equity distribution is stronger on a given board.
- Rank: The value of each card and hand.
- Ratholing: The illegal action of taking money or chips off the table.
- Razz: A Stud poker normally played for ace-five low.
- Read: Reading and understanding opponents’s actions.
- Rebuy: An option in a tournament to buy back into the game after you are out of chips.
- Redraw: A situation where a player’s hand can improve in a later round, even though they already have a strong hand.
- Reg: Registration amount to enter the tournament.
- Regular: A regular player on the table.
- Represent: To play as if you have certain hands.
- Reraise: Raising over a raise.
- Reverse Implied Odds: This implies how much you will lose if you complete the draw.
- Ring Game: This is a non-tournament poker game where you can buy in and cash out whenever you like.
- River: The fifth and the last community card dealt on the board.
- River Rat: A player who gets lucky cards in the river wins the pot.
- Rock: A tight player.
- Rolled up: You are dealt three-of-kind in the first three cards in a seven-card stud.
- Royal Flush: The highest possible hand in Texas Holdem.
- Run: There are two definitions of the Run: 1. A straight. 2. Getting good hands back to back.
- Rundown: Cards equivalent to suited connectors.
- Run It Twice: When a player is all in before the cards are delta in the River, the remaining players can agree to ‘Run it twice’, which means dealing the same street twice.
- Runner: A situation where both cards on the turn and river make the player’s hand.
- Sandbagging: Just calling despite having good cards.
- Satellite: A satellite is a tournament where the winner gets a ticket to a larger and more expensive tournament.
- Scare Card: Scare cards can potentially change the hand’s strength.
- Semi-bluff: This occurs when a player may or may not have the best hand currently but has a good chance of improving it.
- Set: When you hit three-of-a-kind using a pocket pair.
- Set over Set: When more than one player has a set.
- Sequence: Cards of consecutive value.
- Short-Handed: A game played with six or fewer players.
- Short Stacked: They have very little money compared to other players.
- Shove: Going all-in.
- Showdown: Their hands by all the players at the end of a round.
- Show Hand: Revealing your hand.
- Sick: A slang for remarkable outcome.
- Side Pot: A new pot is formed when a player has all their money in the pot. There must be at least two players left betting more than the player who went all-in.
- Sit and Go: A poker variant played with two players.
- Sizing: The act of determining the appropriate amount to wager.
- Slowplay: A strategy where you play a strong hand in a weak way to bluff.
- Slowroll: When a player delays showing a winning hand, calls a bet or raises with a strong hand in a showdown.
- Soft Play: Deliberately playing weak strategy against a specific opponent.
- Solver: A software that solves the optimal strategies for user-inputted scenarios.
- Small Bet: The minimum bet.
- Small Blind (SB): The first and the smallest blind bet of Texas Holdem Poker. It is put in by the player to the left of the dealer.
- Snap Call: Immediately calling a bet.
- Splash the Pot: Spilling chips over the poker table rather than placing them neatly.
- Split: When two or more players have the same value hand, the pot gets split between them.
- Split Pot: A pot split by two or more players when they have hands of equal standing.
- Spread Limit: A betting structure where you can bet or raise any size within the designated range.
- Squeeze: 3-betting when there is a raiser and at least one caller.
- SRP: Single Raised Pot happens when only one player raises, and everyone else just calls.
- Stab: A move to win the pot without a strong hand. You attack the pot where your opponents are not interested.
- Stack-to-Pot Ratio: A ratio to measure how deep the stack is and how strong a hand will be required to risk that stack.
- Staking: The money you are willing to play in a given session.
- Stand Pat: Betting on the cards in your hand better than you are likely to draw.
- Steam: When a player gets frustrated and plays poorly.
- Stealing: A bluff type where the player makes a bet preflop with a weak hand to win the blinds.
- Steel Wheel: A five-high straight from the same suit.
- Stop and Go: When an out-of-position player calls a raise intending to bet after the next card is dealt.
- Stack: The pile of chips a player has.
- Straddle: An optional 3rd blind bet made by the player to the left of the person making big blind. It is twice the big blind.
- Straight: A Poker hand with the five cards in sequence. The cards should have cards of at least two suits.
- Straight Flush: A Poker hand with all five cards in sequence and of the same suit.
- Street Poker: A term used for betting round during a hand of Flop of stud.
- String Bet: A bet where the player does not place all the required chips in the middle.
- Structure: The schedule of blinds levels. This includes the amount and the time frames.
- Stud: A poker variant where the player gets a mix of face-up and face-down cards.
- Suck out: When a player has little equity but gets lucky and beats a stronger hand.
- Suited: Two or more cards of the same suit.
- Street: Community card dealt in a particular betting round.
- Suited Cards: Hole Cards of the same suit.
- Suited Connector: Hole Cards of the same suit and in sequence. For example, 6 and 7 of clubs.
- Table Stakes: This rule states that a person's money is limited to the amount on the table.
- TAG: Tight-aggressive players often play a few hands but tend to bet or raise rather than call.
- Tank: When you think for a long time about a decision.
- Tell: A specific change in a player’s behaviour when they are behaving.
- Texture: The state of the dealt community cards.
- Three-Bet: Third bet in a poker round.
- Three of a Kind: A poker hand with three cards of the same rank.
- Tie: When two players have the same hand.
- Tilt: A state of confusion in which you adopt a less optimal strategy.
- Time Bank: Extra time allocated to players during an online poker game.
- Tournament: A poker competition where players compete against each other until one player gets all the chips.
- Tracking Software: The software tracks the player’s time, the number of hands they have played, and other information.
- Trap: Playing weakly with a strong hand to create a larger pot.
- Trey: A pair of threes in a player’s starting hands.
- Top Kicker: The Kicker ranks higher.
- Trips: Another name for Three of a kind.
- Turn: The fourth community card. Also known as ‘Fourth Street.’
- Two bets: The second bet or raise in a single round.
- Two Pair: A Poker hand with two pairs. For example, two 8s and two Kings.
- Two Tone: A board with exactly two different suits.
- Uncalled Bet (UB): A bet that no other player calls in a betting round. The player who makes this bet wins the pot.
- Under the Gun: The player sitting immediately left to the big blind.
- Underbet: Any bet sizing less than 50% of the pot.
- Underdog: A player who is statistically less likely to win.
- Upcard: Cards that are dealt face up.
- Upswing: A period of winning more than expected.
- Up the Ante: Ante up means placing the bet before the cards are dealt.
- Value Bet: A bet made to get paid with a worse hand.
- Variance: The statistical measure of how your results will vary from the expected outcome.
- Variant: Different types of games.
- Villain: The opposing party or the opponent.
- VPIP: Voluntarily Put In Pot, a statistical measure to show the percentage of hands in which a particular player voluntarily puts money into the pot preflop.
- Whale: A less skilled player.
- Wet Board: A board with connecting and suited cards.
- Wheel: The lowest possible straight.
- Wired: Back to back. A pair, trips or four of a kind dealt consecutively.
- WPT: World Poker Tournament.
- Wrap: Any straight draws with more than eight outs.
- Wrap Around Straight: The consecutive cards with an ace counts as high and low. Example, Q-K-A-2-3.
- WSOP: The world series of poker.
- WTSD: Went to Showdown is a percentage of the time you stay in hand through to a showdown.
- WWSF: Won When Saw Flop is a percentage of the time you stay in hand through to a Flop.
- X Marks the Spot: See Crisscross.
- Yard: A $100 either in cash or as chips.
- Yeast: Raise.
- YGHN: You Go Home Now.
- Yo: Yoleven
- Yoleven: 11.
- You Roll Two: An action of rolling dice.
- Younger Hand: The player who acts last in a betting round.
- Youngest Hand: The player who acts later in the betting round.
- Z-Game: The lowest stake game.
- Zilch or Zip: A dealt hands with no cards worth holding.
- Zip: A lowball card preceded by the highest card in the hand.
- Zombie: A player with no tells.
- Zuke: A tip.
What is Straddle Poker
What is a Turn in Poker?
