Poker has a language somewhat
to itself. Here is a glossary to familiarize yourself with poker terminology.
Many of the words in this glossary are linked to one another. If you
click a link within a definition, click your browser's "back" button
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Seven-card stud high-low with an 8 or better qualifier is sometimes referred to as 78. Old record albums are also sometimes referred to 78's, because that's how many revolutions per minute you have to play them at in order for them to sound right.
8 or better
A common qualifier for low hands in high-low split games is that they must be unpaired with no card higher than an 8. Note that "8 or better" implies high-low split.
Ace to five
In a game played for low, ace to five means straights and flushes don't count and the ace can be used as a low card. The best possible hand in an ace to five game is therefore A2345 (often called a wheel). See also deuce to seven and lowball.
Act
To do something when it's your turn, one of: check, call, fold, open bet, and raise. See also action.
Action
The placing of money into the pot. A table with a lot of action is one at which there are a lot of bets, raises, and re-raises - in other words, betting action. In most cardrooms, verbal comments like "I raise" are binding, and are therefore said to constitute action.
To give action is to put money into the pot when someone else should be expected to win the hand. To receive action is to have someone else put money into the pot when you expect to win the hand. It's better to receive than to give.
Action is also used to mean someone's turn to act.
This table is too tight, let's go someplace where there's some action.
Sure, I'll give you some action.
Your action, sir.
Add-on
Some tournaments allow players the opportunity at a certain point to buy additional chips, called an add-on. This is different from a re-buy, because usually anyone still in the tournament can add on, and the opportunity to add-on usually marks the end of the re-buy period.
I was in such bad chip position, I decided it wasn't worth paying for the add-on.
Advertise
Advertising usually means showing down a mediocre hand, to give the impression that you play overly loose or that you play a generally weak game. The idea is that other players will then give you more action when you make a legitimate hand. Since people are bad at revising first impressions, this potentially beneficial effect can be long-lasting.
Typical advertising plays in hold'em might be to show down top pair with a weak kicker (e.g., K2), middle pair, or a gutshot draw that missed. These hands have marginal intrinsic value, but playing them early in a session might pay off later. Of course, it's best to advertise if you actually want to be called down more often, e.g., at an especially tight table. At a table full of calling stations, it might be unnecessary or even harmful.
More generally, advertising can mean anything you do at the poker table to manipulate how other players assess you.
Aggressive
A style of play characterized by frequent raising and re-raising. This is not the same thing as loose play. Many good players are selective about the cards they will play, but aggressive once they get involved in a hand. An aggressive table is one dominated by aggressive players.
All-In
When a player puts the last of their chips into a pot, that player is said to be all-in. When playing table stakes (as in most places), an all-in player is not eligible to win any money bet above their final bet (the side pot). However, the all-in player will be eligible for the main pot, and therefore cannot be forced from the hand.
It's a shame you had to go all-in with your straight flush, because you could've gotten two or three more bets out of those guys.
After he raised my small opening bet, I put him all-in.
Angle
An angle is any technically legal but ethically dubious way to increase your expectation at a game. Depending on who you ask, a particular weapon in your arsenal may be a sleazy underhanded trick (a typical angle) or a vital strategic tool that no player should be without. An example might be pretending to be about to fold (or even folding out of turn and then retrieving your cards, if the rules allow it), in order to encourage a call (when you are about to raise). A player who regularly takes advantage of angles is said to be an angle shooter.
Ante
A small forced bet that everyone at the table is required to pay before each hand. In games with an ante, these bets constitute the initial pot. When used as a verb, it means to post this bet.
No, that's my ante right there.
Back Door
A hand made back door is one made using both of the last two cards, as in seven card stud or Texas hold'em. For example, if in hold'em you hold AhTh and the flop comes Ad4c9h, you have top pair and a backdoor flush draw. The back door draw isn't anything to get excited about, but it can tip the scales occasionally. While you're busy playing your made hand, you might accidentally make a flush in the back door.
Back Into
When you make a hand other than the one you were originally drawing to, you are said to have backed into it. For example, if your first four cards in a seven card stud hand are AA44, and you end up making a flush, you backed into the flush.
Bad Beat
Different people seem to feel differently about what counts as a bad beat. One thing is certain: you have to lose the hand. What makes the beat bad? Maybe one or all of the following: you lose in a situation where you're a very big favorite; you lose with a hand you couldn't possibly have been expected to fold; you lose so improbably you feel compelled to tell the story multiple times; you lose to a player who couldn't have beat you without misplaying the hand (but who was astoundingly lucky); you lose in a way that seemed inconceivable until you saw it happen; or more than two experienced players at your table say, "ouch."
Here's an example. Say you're playing hold'em, you hold AA, the flop comes A55, and someone holding 98, suited with one of the fives, catches two perfect cards for a straight flush, you have suffered a very painful bad beat. The guy holding 55 is in a similar position, only more so.
The phrase "bad beat" is heard often in the phrase "bad beat stories," because many poker players, especially (but not exclusively) occasional or inexperienced players, love to tell stories about how rotten their luck was. Some people don't mind listening, or even enjoy these stories. Other people (especially jaded poker veterans who are pretty sure they've heard and seen it all) would sooner sit through eight hours of root canal surgery than listen to one bad beat story. Don't take it personally.
Another phrase you'll hear is "bad beat jackpot." Some games have jackpots for particular types of bad beats.
Bankroll
The total amount of money one is willing (and able) to put at risk. Many players keep poker bankrolls separate from their other finances. An adequate playing bankroll for a particular game (assuming positive expectation) is an amount large enough to survive the expected swings due to variance. For a negative expectation game, an adequate bankroll is one which doesn't run out before you die.
Some players also limit their risk on a per-session basis, in effect playing with a session bankroll. Whether a bankroll is for poker in general, for poker this week, or for poker today, depends on how you manage your money.
To bankroll someone is to provide some or all of the money they use to gamble. In effect, you assume part of the risk in return for part of the profit.
Behind
Before the last cards have been dealt, you either have the best hand or you don't. If you don't, you're said to be behind. See also chase.
Even though I was probably behind, I decided to raise because I had a lot of outs.
Belly Buster
Another name for an inside straight draw. See also double belly buster.
Bet
To bet is to put money into the pot, usually by opening as later action in a round is a raise or a re-raise. As a noun, a bet can be the money added to the pot by a player on one turn, or the amount required in order to call. It can also be used to mean "turn to act," and lastly, especially when used in the plural, it can be used to mean the number of bets and raises.
Who bet? (meaning who opened)
That's his bet. (meaning that there is the money he wagered)
What's the bet? (meaning how much to call)
Your bet. (meaning your turn)
Let's make it two bets. (meaning I raise)
Bicycle Wheel
A bicycle wheel (also called a wheel or a bicycle) is just the following hand: A2345. Normally this is a straight to the five. In games played for low, this is sometimes the best possible low hand (see ace to five). It's also a great hand in some high-low games where it's the nut low and counts as a straight for the high pot. Note that in Kansas City Lowball, a wheel is 23457, or the nut low.
Big Bet
In limit games in which the size of the maximum bet increases in later rounds, a big bet is the largest bet size. A small bet is the smallest bet size. So in a 5-10 hold'em game, small bets are $5 and big bets are $10. See structure and limit.
Big Bet Poker
Pot-limit and no-limit poker are sometimes referred to as big bet poker (as contrasted with limit games of any size). The "big" in a sense refers to the size of bets relative to the pot, irrespective of the amount of money involved.
Big Blind
See blind bet.
Big Slick
An ace and a king as your hole cards in hold'em.
I had big slick eight times last night, and didn't win one pot with it.
Black
Black is the most common color for $100 chips. If someone tells you they saw someone betting black at a blackjack table, it means they were betting at least $100 a hand. See also white, red, and and green.
Blank
Any card that doesn't look like it's going to help anyone.
I was pretty sure she was on some sort of draw, so I didn't mind betting into her when the river was a blank.
Blind Bet (or Blind)
A blind bet, or blind, is a forced bet that must be posted before you see any cards. Blinds are an alternative to antes for getting money in the pot initially. Blinds are more often used in flop games like hold'em and omaha than in stud and draw games. Typically in hold'em the two players to the left of the dealer button are forced to place blind bets. In limit play, the small blind (to the dealer's left) is typically half the size of a small bet, and the big blind (to the small blind's left) is a full small bet. Betting then starts with the player to the left of the big blind (who is considered under the gun), who must at least call the big blind to stay in. When you sit down at a new table, it's good to wait until it's your turn to blind before playing a hand. See also live blind, structure, and straddle.
"Big blind" and "small blind" are also used to refer to the players who posted these bets.
Bluff
bet with a weak hand (typically a busted hand), usually intended to get other players to fold. A bluffing player usually has little or no chance of winning a showdown, but may suspect that other players will fold if they have not made strong hands either. In limit play, bluffing is more often a good idea against weak, tight players, who may fold even if they think they have a chance of winning. Bluffing is a bad idea against players who call too often, because it's unlikely to scare them out of the pot. Bluffing is also a much more significant factor in pot-limit and no-limit play, where the bluffer can make calling an expensive proposition. See also semi-bluff, represent, speeding, table cop, and advertising.
Board
The community cards in a flop game (like hold'em) or the up cards in a stud game (like seven card stud). Someone who "plays the board" isn't using any of their hole cards.
Boat
Another name for a full house.
Bottom Pair
If there are three cards of different ranks on the flop in hold'em (or any flop game), and you pair the lowest one, you have bottom pair.
Bounty
Some tournaments offer small amounts of cash - bounties - to anyone who knocks out another player in the tournament. This is typically in low buy-in tournaments, and the size of the bounty is usually fairly small (since as many bounties as the number of entrants might be awarded).
Brick
A blank, or (especially in low or high-low games) a card that counterfeits one's hand. "Brick" is more often heard in seven card stud, while "blank" is more appropriate to hold'em, probably because a brick is a personal thing, while a blank is a community thing.
Bring In
To bring in the betting is to make the first bet on the first round of a hand (not including blind bets and antes). A player who does this is said to "bring it in." In seven card stud, often the lowest card on the board is forced to bring it in. The bet so placed is called the bring-in.
Broadway
An ace high straight.
Brush
A cardroom employee responsible for managing the seating list is sometimes called the brush.
Bug
A joker, usually in five card draw or draw lowball. In high games, a bug can usually only be used as an ace or to complete a straight or flush.
Bullets
A pair of aces in the hole.
Bump
To raise.
Buried
A buried pair is a pair in the hole in seven card stud - a pair in the first two down cards. Buried kings are kings in the hole, buried aces are aces in the hole, etc.
Burn
In order to reduce the chances of players getting advance information about cards to come, in many games the top card on the deck is discarded at certain pre-determined points in the dealing process (e.g., in hold'em, before the flop, turn, and river). These cards are the burn cards. In general, any time a card is discarded from the top of the deck it's called a burn card.
Burn Card
See burn.
Bust
To run out of money, especially in a tournament.
Busted Hand
A hand in poker without so much as a pair (i.e., any hand that will lose to a pair of 2's). A busted hand that missed a draw to a straight or a flush is a busted straight or a busted flush.
Button
A button is a marker, usually a plastic disc, used to mark a particular position at the table. Usually "the button" refers specifically to the dealer button, used to mark the dealer position, or the player playing in that position. In games with a professional house-supplied dealer (who is not playing), this marks the player who acts in the dealer's position (who is dealt the last card and who is last to act in games where the order is fixed). This player is said to be "on the button." Other buttons include the ever-popular big blind button, used to indicate a player who was absent when it would have been their turn to post a blind bet (and who will be forced to post before they can return to the game).
Buy
To buy a pot is to make a bet large enough that other players would be extremely unlikely to call.
To buy the button in flop games is to raise before the flop in order to induce the players with better position than yourself to fold. If everyone closer to the button folds, you've bought the button. Obviously this works better the closer to the button you start out.
Buy-In
The amount of money with which you enter a game is your buy-in. In a ring game, this is (hopefully) the amount you get in chips. Most ring games have a minimum buy-in that's typically less than you'll realistically need. In a tournament, your buy-in is the amount it costs you to get your initial bunch of tourney chips. As a verb, to buy in is to make your initial purchase of chips.
Call
To call is to match the current bet. If there has been a bet of $10 and a raise of $10 then it costs $20 to call. Calling is the cheapest (and the most passive) way to remain in a hand. See also cold call, flat call, and it.
Calling Station
A player who calls much too often is called a calling station. Such a player will pay you off when you make hands, and will often fail to press their advantage when they have relatively strong hands (see passive). On the other hand, calling stations will hit more backdoor and other unlikely draws than other players, making it occasionally frustrating to play against them, especially in large numbers.
Cap
In limit games, the cap is the limit on the number of raises in a round of betting. In many places it's 3, for 4 bets total, but you can get into very irritating arguments about the maximum number of raises that's appropriate. A cap on the betting makes it more difficult for players to collude. Some dealers have cutesy expressions they like to use when a pot is capped (e.g., "capuccino"). To make the final allowed raise is to cap the betting, or to "cap it."
Cardroom
Cardrooms are the rooms in which poker is played, or the organizations that run those rooms. Most casinos that offer poker have a separate room, or at least a roped-off area, designated as the cardroom. In some places where poker is legal, you will also find separate cardrooms (not part of a larger casino) dedicated mostly to poker. Key things to look for in a cardroom include tables, floorpeople, the brush, chips, etc.
Cards speak
Cards speak is simply the rule that the value of your hand is determined solely by your cards. You don't have to declare your hand properly in order to claim the part of the pot you deserve. The alternative to this is mainly declare games, usually played in home games for low stakes.
Case
The fourth card of a particular rank.
Catch
When the cards are treating you well, you are said to be catching cards. The word often carries a mild connotation of improbable luck. Someone who says "nice catch" may mean anything from "okay, take the pot, you clueless moron," to "guess you outdrew me, no problem."
Chase
When you're behind, you can either choose not to contend the pot (i.e., check and fold as appropriate), try to steal it, or stick around, hoping you'll improve enough to win. To stay in a pot, with the sole hope of making a particular hand (e.g., chasing a flush). Usually chasing implies poor pot odds.
Check
If there has been no betting before you in a betting round, you may check, which is like calling a bet of $0, or passing your turn. If all the players at a table check in turn in the same round, it is said to be checked around, resulting in a free card.
Poker chips are also sometimes called checks. This is mostly European (esp. British) usage.
Check-Raise
A check-raise is just what it sounds like - a raise after you have already checked within a betting round. Check-raises can be used to trap a player who (for example) would have folded to a single bet, but who will open if it is checked to them.
While check-raising is legal virtually everywhere serious poker is played, there are apparently a few public cardrooms which prohibit it at the lowest limits. Home poker games, which may be more or less serious, vary more widely.
Chip
Poker chips are small round discs used instead of money at the poker table. The ones used at casinos are typically made of clay, while home poker games often substitute cheaper plastic chips. Using chips instead of cash has a number of advantages, mostly just that they're easier to count and manipulate. Color designations for chips are arbitrary, but many casinos use white for $1 chips, red for $5 chips, green for $25 chips, and black for $100 chips. If someone asks for a rack of white, they'd like $100 in $1 chips.
Chip Race
In tournaments, as the limits go up, lower demonination chips are taken out of circulation (see color up). Often, odd chips, rather than simply being rounded up or down for each player, are randomly given to one player at each table. Typically, each player is dealt a card for each odd chip, and the player with the highest card dealt is given all the odd chips (which are then colored up).
Chop
To return the blinds to the players who posted them and move on to the next hand. This may happen in hold'em when nobody calls the blind. By agreeing to chop rather than play the hand, the two blinds sometimes avoid paying the rake, since many cardrooms only collect on those hands when there is a flop. At a table which ordinarily sees more action, players will often agree to chop so as to get on to a "real" hand more quickly.
Coffeehouse
To talk about a hand one is involved in, usually with the intent of misleading or manipulating other players, is coffeehousing. It's usually considered just barely on one side of ethical. Which side that is depends on who you ask. See also table talk.
Cold Call
Cold calling is calling more than one bet at once. If one player bets, another player raises, and a third player calls the two bets, this is a cold call. This is contrasted with the situation in which a player calls one bet before the raise, and then calls the raise.
Color Up
To exchange one's chips for ones of higher value, usually in order to reduce the number of chips one has on the table. In tournaments, players are forced to color up periodically as the tourney money becomes divided among fewer and fewer players and the sizes of the forced bets go up (it makes no sense to play with $25 chips when the blinds are $10000). See also chip race.
Come Hand
A hand which must improve in order to have a realistic shot is a come hand. See also draw and drawing hand.
Community (Cards)
Face-up cards that are shared by all the players in a hand. Flop games have five community cards.
Connector
Cards of consecutive ranks, especially pocket cards, are connectors. If they're also of the same suit, they're suited connectors.
Counterfeit
In flop games, when your great hand is subsequently made less powerful because of board cards that duplicate the strength of your hand, your hand is said to be counterfeited. For example, if you hold J9 and the flop is T87, you hold the nuts. If the turn is a 9, suddenly anyone with a J has a straight, and QJ has a better straight. If the river is a J, you're counterfeited even further - you're playing the board and anyone with a Q beats you. Counterfeiting is especially common in high-low split omaha. If you hold A2JQ and the flop is 678, you have the nut low. However, if the turn card is an A or a 2, your nut low has been counterfeited. It's no longer the nut low, and is probably not even a winner.
Cowboy
A nickname for Kings, more often heard in the plural.
Crack
When a powerful hand (especially powerful pocket cards) is beat, it's said to be cracked.
Crying Call
A call by someone who is virtually certain they will not win the pot, and probably knows it.
Cut
After the cards are shuffled but before they are dealt, usually the deck is split in the middle and the halves reversed. This is known as cutting the cards. In cardroom games with house dealers, this is done by the dealer. In home games, it's usually done by the player next to the dealer.
Dead
A dead card is a card that is no longer available to help you. In seven card stud, for example, a pair of kings in the hole is less strong if the two remaining kings are two other players' door cards, and therefore dead.
A dead hand is a hand that is no longer eligible to win the pot (i.e., one that has been mucked or otherwise invalidated).
Dead money is money that was put in a pot by a player who has since folded.
Deal
To deal is to give out the cards during a hand. The person who does this is called the dealer. At most public cardrooms, a dealer is hired for this purpose (and for generally running the game). At most private games, players take turns dealing.
To be dealt in is to be given cards during a hand. To be dealt out or dealt around is not to be given cards.
Dealer Button
See button.
Dealer's Choice
A format in which the dealer is allowed to select the particular poker game that will be dealt. Sometimes this means before each hand, although a more sensible system (since in many games the dealer has a positional advantage) is one in which players take turns choosing the game for an entire round.
Declare
Declare games are games in which you must declare the value of your hand in order to claim the pot. A typical example is a high-low split game in which you must declare before showdown whether you are claiming the high, low, or both pots (typically if you declare both you must win both in order to claim either). Declare games are played almost exclusively in home games. In most if not all cardrooms, cards speak.
Deuce
Twos are sometimes called deuces. So 22277 can be called deuces full of sevens.
Deuce to Seven
In a game played for low, deuce to seven usually means that the best low hand is simply the worst poker hand. If you haven't figured it out already, that hand is 75432, with no flush. Deuce to seven lowball is also called Kansas City, or Kansas City lowball. See also ace to five.
Dog
See underdog.
Dominate
A starting hand that will almost always beat another starting hand is said to dominate that hand. For example, in hold'em, AK dominates K2. Most of the time K2 makes a playable hand, AK will make a better hand. However, a 2 might still spoil the party.
Door Card
The first card dealt face up to each player in seven card stud is the door card.
Double Belly Buster
A double belly buster is a hand with two inside straight draws. For example, 79TJK can become a straight with an 8 or a Q. It's roughly equivalent to an open-ended straight draw, except that the double belly-buster is more deceptive, and people often fail to notice that they have one (especially in cases such as when the 7 in the above example shows up on a later street, and the player is focused on the gutshot they already had).
Draw
The word draw has slightly different meanings in different contexts, although generally it has something to do with receiving more cards, with the hope of improving your hand.
Draw games are games where at some point during the hand you are allowed to discard some or all of your cards, to be replaced from the deck. Drawing two is thus exchanging two of your cards. "The draw" is the point during the game at which players may do this. By default, when someone asks you if you want to play some draw, they usually mean five card draw.
In other poker games, drawing simply means staying in the game with the hope of improving your hand when more cards come (as opposed to with the intention of seeing if your hand is best). A draw means a way to improve. For example, if you have four suited cards, you have a flush draw. When you stay in a hand with the hope of improving, you are said to be "on a draw." You are also said to be "drawing to" the hand you hope to make. For example, in lowball, if you hold K7642 and draw one, you are drawing to a (ragged) 7 (i.e., a 7 low).
See also open-ended straight draw, inside straight draw, draw out, draw dead, and drawing hand.
Draw Dead
To draw when it turns out you would lose even if you hit your draw. Most trivially on the turn in hold'em, if you have a fourflush with KQs but someone else holds A5s and has already made a pair of aces, you're drawing dead. Whenever you make your flush, they make a better flush.
Draw Out (on)
To draw out on someone is to outdraw them.
Drawing Hand
A hand with which you expect to be on a draw is a drawing hand. Suited connectors in hold'em (e.g., QhJh) are drawing hands, since while they make strong hands (straights and flushes) relatively often, they will rarely make them on the flop.
Drop
To fold is to drop. To drop is to fold.
To lose a particular amount of money. At poker, that is, you don't have to literally drop it on the carpet.
The drop is also what the house takes from a hand (see also rake).
Equity
Your mathematical share of a pot, based on the amount in the pot and your chances of winning it. If the pot is $100, and your chances of winning are N%, then your equity in that pot is $N. If the pot is $200, your equity is $2N.
EV
See expectation.
Expectation
Expectation is the rate of profit (or loss) you would expect to make if there were no variance, or on average over a very large number of trials. A positive expectation poker player is one who, due to an advantage in poker skill over his/her opposition, will earn money in the long run. A negative expectation poker player is someone you want at your table.
Just about anything with a numerical outcome has an associated expectation. A positive expectation situation is one in which you will, in the long run, expect to make money. A positive expectation bet is a bet that would, if you made it a sufficient number of times in nearly identical circumstances (from your perspective), earn you a profit. Such a bet is said to have positive expectation.
Note that a player's overall expectation is not a rigid constant. You may be a positive expectation player overall, but perhaps not at certain tables, or when you're in a particular emotional or other state.
Expectation is closely linked (essentially identical) to "expected value," or EV, a mathematical concept best illustrated by the following example. If you have a 50% chance of winning (and a 50% chance of losing) a $100 pot, your expectation is $50, even though you will definitely not win exactly $50. This example also illustrates variance.
Positive expectation is sometimes abbreviated as +EV, and negative expecation as -EV.
Family Pot
When everyone at the table decides to enter a pot (e.g., see the flop in hold'em), it's said to be a family pot.
Fast
To play fast is to play aggressively. The opposite of playing slow. See also speeding.
Favorite
The hand that is expected to win most often in a particular situation. In hold'em, AA is always a pre-flop favorite. If the flop is 775, the player with 75 is now a pretty big favorite.
Felt
The surface of most poker tables is made of some sort of felt, or is in any case referred to as such. A player who is running out of chips rapidly can be referred to as "down to the felt."
Fifth Street
Another name for the river card (the last community card)
Fill Up
To draw to and make a full house either from trips or two pair.
Fish
A bad player. A terrible player. A player who will tend to give away lots of money. Fish-ness can also be relative. Common poker wisdom holds that if you can't find the fish at your table, you're it. See also provider.
Fishhook
A nickname for a jack, more often heard in the plural.
Five Card Draw
Probably the most well known poker game, although it's not widely played in public cardrooms anymore. Each player receives five cards. There is a round of betting, after which each player may draw a certain number of cards (house rules often stipulate how many may be drawn and under what circumstances). Then there is a second round of betting, and (if necessary) a showdown.
Flat Call
Flat call is a way of saying call that emphasizes the fact that the player didn't raise. See also smooth call.
Floor
See floorperson.
Floorman
A gender-specific form of floorperson.
Floorperson
In a cardroom floorpeople are responsible for the moment to moment management of the cardroom - seating players, starting new tables, settling disputes, generally making sure the cardroom runs smoothly. You'll probably hear the "floorman" or "floor" more often
Flop
A number of games, such as hold'em and omaha, are played with five community cards. The first three of these cards are dealt all at once, and are called the flop. Games with a flop can be called flop games.
To flop a hand is to make that hand on the flop. To "see" the flop is to still be in the hand when the flop comes.
Flush
A hand in which all five cards share the same suit. When comparing two flushes, the hand with the highest card not in common is better. So AK873 of hearts is a better flush than AK872 of diamonds. Not much better.
Fold
To abandon your hand, usually because someone else has made a larger bet than you are willing to call. Usually, one folds by mucking one's cards.
Forced Bet
Just what it sounds like - a bet that one is forced to place, typically a blind bet or a bring-in.
Four of a Kind
Four cards of the same rank. Also called quads. For example, if you hold 88882, you have quad 8's
Fourflush
A hand with four cards of the same suit. If there are no cards remaining to come (or to draw), a fourflush is not very useful.
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). Generally speaking, you'd like to get free cards when you need to improve, and you'd like to avoid giving free cards when you're ahead.
Freeroll
Whenever you have at least part of the pot locked up and you still have a chance to outdraw your opponents, you're said to be freerolling on them. In hold'em, this happens when you and another player have the same hand at the moment, but you also have a draw to a better hand. At worst you'll tie, but you have a chance to win the whole pot while the other player doesn't. For example, if you hold AhKh and the flop is As6h4h, you have a freeroll on a player holding AdKd. While you both have the same hand at the moment, you might still make a flush, while they can't outdraw you.
Freeroll tournaments are tournaments with no apparent entry fee or initial buy-in. Such tournaments are typically promotional events cardrooms host in order to attract players. Sometimes players must clock a certain number of hours in the cardroom in order to qualify, or meet some other requirement.
Freezeout
Any tournament format in which you cannot re-buy. A freezeout is a good format for heads-up pot-limit or no-limit play, since the amount at stake can be fixed in advance, and the competitors can use arbitrarily valued chips as in tournaments.
Full House
A hand consisting of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank. AAA33 is aces full of threes, often abbreviated to "aces full." To fill up is to draw to and make a full house. Also called a boat.
Go
See to go.
Green
Green is the most common color for $25 chips. If someone bets a stack of green, it means they're betting a bunch of $25 chips, probably 20 of them. See also white, red, and black.
Gut shot
An inside straight draw.
Hand
A hand is also everything that happens between shuffles - cards are dealt, betting is done, a winner is declared, and the pot is pushed. To "play a hand" sometimes means to be dealt in, and sometimes means to at least call the initial bet. Use context to figure out which.
A hand also refers to the cards you hold - in games where you have more than five cards (e.g., seven card stud or Texas hold'em), it's your best five cards.
For your enjoyment, here are the different types of hands you can make in poker, in increasing order of strength: no pair; pair; two pair, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush.
Lastly, sometimes the phrase "a hand" means specifically a good hand or a playable hand.
Heads-Up
Play between only two players.
Help
Someone who says they need help means they need their hand to improve in order to have a chance at the pot. Or that they've just pawned their pacemaker to fund a few more hours of poker. Use context to figure out which.
High
The high hand is simply the best hand. When playing a high-low split game, one is said to "win the high" when one has the best hand, while another player wins the low. In seven card stud, the player with the strongest up cards is said to be high, and is usually first to act on fourth and subsequent streets.
High-Low Split
In high-low split games, half the pot goes to the best hand (the high), half to the worst (the low). The criteria for deciding the low vary - see low. Split games are also often played with a qualifier that the low hand must be "8 or better." This means that the low hand must have five unpaired cards 8 or lower. Omaha and Seven Card Stud are the most popular high-low split games.
Note that if there is a sole winner of one pot and a tie for the other, the sole winner wins half the pot while the other half is split evenly among the tied hands.
Hit
To hit (or miss) the flop means to match (or not to match) the flop in some way, usually to pair one of the flopped cards. You can also hit or miss on a draw, depending on whether or not the cards you were drawing for showed up. Players whose bluffs are called when they miss their draws on the river often mutter "I missed," as if to point out that they weren't betting completely insanely.
Hit and Run
A player who leaves the table shortly after scooping a big pot is sometimes described as playing hit and run poker, especially if they'd only been at the table a short time. It's loosely implied that they would not have left if they hadn't won the pot.
Hold'em
See Texas Hold'em.
Hole
Your first two down cards in seven card stud. If they're both jacks, you have a pair of jacks "in the hole." See also pocket.
Horsing
Another word for scooting - the practice of passing a small amount of money to another player after winning a pot.
House
The cardroom (management, owners, etc.) is the house. The house rakes money from the pot, has house rules, and when someone walks in, you might say they're "in the house." If you're so inclined. See also full house.
Implied Odds
Implied odds are similar to pot odds, except that the money in the pot is not actually there yet. In an extreme case, if you're first to call a bet, and you know for a certainty that the eight players to act after you will all call (and not raise), you have great implied odds. Similarly if you know that several players in the hand will pay you off when you make your flush - you can act as though the pot were larger. In general, implied odds is just a way of referring to odds that require some estimation.
In the Air
Traditionally, a poker tournament starts when the tournament director (or whoever's running things) instructs the dealers to get the cards "in the air." This just means to start dealing.
Inside Straight (Draw)
An inside straight draw is a draw to a straight that's missing one of the cards in the middle (as opposed to on the end). 4578 is an inside straight, 4567 is an outside straight. Also called a one-gapper or a gutshot.
Insurance
In big bet poker, it is possible to reach a situation in which you are uncomfortable with the amount of money you have invested in a pot. To reduce variance, players will sometimes take insurance against an unfortunate outcome, essentially selling the actual outcome of the hand for its mathematical equity (at a slight discount). For example, if you hold a flush against a player who has three of a kind, your equity in the pot is a percentage of the pot equal to the probability that the other player will not fill up. If the pot is large, and you don't want to risk coming away with nothing, you might take insurance from somebody who has more money and would be glad to have the overlay.
Isolate
To raise with the intention of thinning the field to yourself and a single other player is to isolate that player.
It
"It" usually refers to the largest amount anyone has yet bet in a round. If someone opens for $5, and the next player raises $10, they're "making it $15." With the exception of all-in players, if a player wants to see the next round, eventually they have to match whatever "it" is. "It" can also mean the amount required to call. So if someone bets $5 and two other players each raise $5 in the same betting round, they may ask "what's it to me?" The correct answer is, "Pay attention."
Jackpot
When is a bad beat not so bad? When you're playing jackpot poker, of course. A number of cardrooms offer sizeable jackpots for particularly bad beats. The rules vary somewhat, but typically you must have aces full or better beat (sometimes by quads or better). If the game is hold'em, often both players must use both of their pocket cards. Other rules and technicalities make it worthwhile finding out just what could invalidate a jackpot before you play your first hand. Typically the "loser" gets the lion's share (e.g., 50%), the winner of the hand the next largest share (e.g., 25%), and often the remainder of the table splits the rest of the jackpot. The jackpot itself is usually built by a jackpot drop from every hand, sometimes the entire small blind. Jackpots for low-limit games are often in the tens of thousands of dollars, and can get very big if no one wins for a while.
Feelings about jackpot poker are divided. Some players get upset about all the bad beats they take at the hands of wild players chasing every remote chance at the jackpot, and resent the extra money taken out of every pot. On the other hand, jackpot poker is certainly popular, and it's hard to argue with anything that fills seats.
Poker jackpots are occasionally outlawed or reinstated in various locations. Check your local listings.
Jam
To bet or raise the maximum, especially in no-limit, is to jam.
Joker
A joker is an additional card in the deck that is used in some games. The jokers isn't often used in serious poker, but when it is it's usually considered a wild card. See also bug.
Kansas City
Kansas City, or Kansas City lowball, is a low only game played for a deuce to seven low.
Kicker
The highest unpaired card in your hand that doesn't participate in a straight or flush - i.e., the card that does not contribute to the strength of your hand except by itself. For example, if you hold AA743, you have a pair of aces with a 7 kicker. Five card hands - straights, flushes, and full houses, - don't have kickers per se. In games with community cards, kickers are especially important, because it's easy for two players to make similar hands. 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. And you both lose to the guy playing 53 off suit under the gun.
Kill
A "kill" game is one in which a player may place an extra bet, causing the betting limits to go up for just that hand. The player posting the bet is the "killer," and the hand is considered a "kill pot." The player is said to have "killed the pot" for the amount of the kill. The exact details depend on the local rules and on the game.
As examples, here are the rules for three kill games I've played in (all in San Diego). In the kill hold'em game, any player who wins two pots in a row is required to kill by posting a blind small bet on the subsequent hand, with the limits doubled for that hand. In a kill high-low split game, any player who scooped a pot larger than a certain size was required to kill the subsequent pot. And in a draw game, any player could kill any pot for an arbitrary amount after looking at their first two cards. These are just examples, the details vary from cardroom to cardroom.
Large Bet
See big bet.
Leak
Winning poker players often lose back part or all of their winnings through other gambling habits, either at the casino or elsewhere (e.g., sports betting, craps, or golf). These are often referred to as leaks.
Limit (Limit Poker)
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. For example, a 5-10 hold'em game usually requires $5 bets and raises on the first two rounds and $10 bets and raises on the last two.
Games are often referred to as low-limit, medium-limit, and high-limit. Typical low-limit games are 2-4, 3-6, and 5-10. Medium limits are 10-20, 20-40, and 30-60. High-limits are 50-100 on up.
More generally, the word limit is used to refer to the maximum bet at a given point, whether it's pot-limit, spread limit, or whatever. See also structure.
Limp
To flat call an opening forced bet is to limp into a hand.
Live
A live player, or "live one," is someone who is expected to lose their money at a pretty good rate. Players reminding floorpeople to fill a vacant seat often request a live one.
For other uses of the word "live" see live blind, live card, and live hand.
Live Blind
A blind bet is considered a live blind if the player is allowed to raise even if no one else raises first. See also straddle.
Live Card
A live card is a card that has not been seen. In seven card stud, for example, a player with a draw to a flush, is concerned with how many of the remaining suited cards are live (i.e., have not been seen in other players' hands). A live hand is a hand for which many of the outs are still live.
Live Hand
A live hand is a hand that is still eligible to win the pot (i.e., one that has not been mucked or otherwise invalidated). In seven card stud, a hand is also called live if many of the cards which would improve it are still unaccounted for (see live card).
Lock
A lock is a hand guaranteed to win at least part of the pot. In a high-low split game, for example, the lock low is the best possible low hand. See also nuts.
Loose
Playing loose simply means playing more hands and holding on to them longer. In essence, loose with your cash. A loose table is a table dominated (so to speak) by loose players. Loose isn't always bad - excessively tight play can be equally costly, especially at high levels of play. Looseness should not be confused with aggressiveness.
A loose call is a borderline inadvisable or even incorrect call.
Low
In most poker games, the best hand wins. Most but not all. In a number of games, the worst hand wins all or some of the pot. Draw lowball and razz are just two examples of games played for low. Omaha and seven card stud have popular high-low split variants, in which the low hand gets half the pot. There are two common ways to evaluate low hands. In deuce to seven games, the best low hand is just the worst high hand. The best possible low is 75432, provided there is no flush. In ace to five games, straights and flushes don't count, and aces are lower than 2's. So the best possible low is A2345, a wheel.
Lowball (or Draw Lowball)
Five card draw played for low only (i.e., where the low hand wins the entire pot).
Main pot
When a player goes all-in in a table stakes game, that player is only eligible to win the main pot - the pot consisting of those bets they were able to match. Additional bets, placed in a side pot, are contested among the remaining players.
Make
To (non-specifically) make a hand means to get a decent hand that has a shot at winning the pot.
Maniac
A maniac is a player who plays extremely loose and aggressive, often raising with just about anything. Maniacs at the table tend to increase the variance considerably.
Middle Pair
If there are three cards of different ranks on the flop in hold'em, and you pair the middle one, you have middle pair.
Miss
See hit.
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 (and therefore taking them out of play).
No-Limit
As you might guess, any game in which there is no limit on the sizes of bets and raises. Note that in table stakes games, players are still limited to the amount of money they have in front of them.
Nuts (or Nut -)
The nuts is the best possible hand. This makes most sense in flop games like hold'em, where the community cards make the nuts pretty much the same for everyone. An exception is when your hole cards make a better hand impossible. If the board is AAK52, the nuts would be AA to an observer, but a player with AK would effectively hold the nuts (assuming the 2 and 5 didn't share a suit with one of the A's). In hold'em, the nuts is never less than trips. "Nut xxx" is used to refer to the best hand of a particular type, especially a straight or flush. If the table described above had the AK2 of spades, the nut flush would be the queen and any other spade.
Odds
A ratio of two probabilities, usually the probability of making a hand to the probability of not making the hand. Thus if you have a 25% chance of making a hand, the odds are 3 to 1 against your making it. In poker, this is especially important in considering pot odds.
Off-suit
Not of the same suit, especially in reference to hole cards. Sometimes abbreviated to just "off."
Omaha
Omaha is a flop game similar to hold'em, but with two key differences. First, each player is dealt four cards instead of just two. Second, a hand must be made using exactly two pocket cards (out of those four) and three from the table. That is, if four suited cards hit the table, you still need two more to make a flush. And if you start with four aces, then you have a pair of aces, with little chance to improve. The high-low variant of omaha, with an 8 or better qualifier for low, is especially popular.
Omaha8
The term "Omaha8" is simply shorthand for omaha high-low split, with an 8 or better qualifier for low, is especially popular.
One-Gap
See inside straight.
Open
To open, or open betting, is simply to make the first bet in a round.
Open Pair
An open pair in seven card stud is an exposed pair - a pair among your up cards.
Open-Ended Straight (Draw)
An straight draw is open-ended if it consists of four consecutive cards (none of them an ace). The straight can be completed at either end. See also double belly buster and inside straight.
Open-Ender
See open-ended straight draw (right down there).
Option
When a player posts a live blind, that player is given the option to raise when their turn comes around, even if no one else has raised. The dealer will typically say something like "your option," to remind them. See also straddle.
Out
An out is a card that will improve your hand, usually one that you think will make it a winner. In hold'em, an open-ended straight draw has eight outs (the four cards of each rank that will complete the straight). But it may be only six outs if there are two suited cards on the table and someone else is drawing for the flush.
Out Button
The button that is positioned in front of a player that sits out, but hasn't left the table.
Outdraw
To make a better hand than an opponent by merit of the cards you draw.
Outrun
See outdraw.
Over Button
In some games, players can take "over" buttons that mean they're willing to play at higher limits. Any time everyone left in the hand has an over button, the limits go up.
Overcall
Any additional call after a bet is first called. Player A bets, player B calls, player C overcalls.
Overcard
In flop games, a card higher than the highest card on the board. If you hold AJ and the flop is J92, you have top pair with an overcard. If the flop is T92, you just have two overcards.
Overpair
In flop games, a pocket pair higher than the highest card on the board. If you hold AA and the flop is K62, you have a nice overpair.
Paint
A jack, king, or queen (i.e., a card with a picture on it).
Pair
Two cards of the same rank. If you hold AAKJ3, you have a pair. See also top pair, middle pair, bottom pair, and two pair.
Pass
To pass is to fold.
Passive
Passive is a style of play that is characterized by reluctance to bet and raise. This does not always mean tight. A typical loose-passive player will call with almost anything, but raise only with very powerful hands (see calling station). A passive table is one with many passive players, so that, for example, few hands are raised pre-flop.
Pat
In draw games, a pat hand is one to which you draw no cards. In lowball, J7542 is a pat jack, but also offers a draw to a 7.
Pay Off
To call a bet by a player you're reasonably sure has you beat. Usually you ought to have some sort of reason to do this, other than just generosity. Weak players pay you off more often than other players.
Perfect
When you only have one way to make a hand, you need perfect cards. Usually this means two cards. If you hold 8JQ, you need two perfect cards for a straight. To catch perfect is to hit a perfect card.
Pineapple
Any of a number of variants of hold'em in which each player gets three cards and must discard one at some point (usually before or after pre-flop betting, after the flop, or after the second round of betting).
Play
To play a hand in poker means to make it past the initial round of betting. In seven card stud, this usually means calling the bring-in, while in hold'em, this means calling the big blind. If someone says they haven't played a hand in hours, they're not usually telling you that they've been walking, they're whining that they haven't had cards good enough to play. Don't encourage them.
To make a play, or put a play on (someone), means to present a pattern of behavior inconsistent with your cards, that will mislead your opponent and cause them to make a mistake. Often this means bluffing them out of a pot, but it can also mean getting them to call when you have a strong hand, or more generally anything calculated to guide their behavior.
Play Back (at)
To play back at someone is to raise their opening bet.
Play the Board
In flop games like hold'em, if your best five card hand uses the five community cards, you're playing the board. The best you can do in this situation is split the pot with anyone who calls. Nevertheless, betting can be a good idea if you don't think anyone else can improve on the board either. For example, if the board is ThJhQdKdAd, someone would have to have two diamonds not to be playing the board.
Pocket
The two cards dealt to you face down in hold'em, or the first two face down in seven card stud are your pocket cards, or hole cards. Hold'em players tend to call them pocket cards, stud players tend to call them hole cards. See also pocket pair.
Pocket Pair
Two pocket cards of the same rank.
Poker
Poker isn't just a card game - it's many card games. While no definition is going to satisfy everyone, the majority of poker games do share some common features, especially betting in rounds and the ranking of hands. Poker is commonly played in cardrooms (often within casinos) and in private home games (illegally in many states). The games played in cardrooms seem to divide into stud games, draw games, and flop games. In home games, however, anything goes, including games that seem to have no reason to be called poker. The varieties played in home games probably number in the hundreds, or even the thousands. Some common cardroom games include Texas Hold'em, Seven Card Stud, Omaha, Razz, Lowball, Pineapple, and Anaconda. (Okay, just kidding about the anaconda.)
Position
Position refers to your place at the table, especially with respect to the order of betting within a particular betting round. The first few players to act are said to be in early position, the next few in middle position, and the last few in late position. Late position is almost always best, since you have the advantage of knowing what your opponents have done. For this reason, many players are more liberal about the hands they will play from later positions. In some games (most flop and draw games), position is fixed from one round of betting to the next, and the dealer (or the player on the button) is always in last position.
More generally, to have position on someone is to be in a position to bet after them, either during a particular hand or in general. You have position on anyone sitting immediately to your right, since you will far more often than not be able to act after them.
Position Bet
A position bet is a bet made more on the strength of one's position than on the strength of one's hand. A player on the button in hold'em is in good position to steal the pot if no one else opens.
Post
To post a bet is to place your chips in the pot (or, commonly, out in front of you, so that your bet can be counted). In poker, posting usually means a forced bet, such as a blind.
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.
Pot Odds
The ratio of the amount of money in the pot to the amount of money it will cost you to call a bet. The greater the pot odds, the more likely you should be to call (all else being equal), because you will have to win fewer times (in the long run) to make the bet positive expectation.
Pot-Limit
Any game in which the maximum bet or raise is the size of the pot. For raises, the size of the pot includes the call, so if the pot is $100 and player A bets $100, player B can throw $400 out for a maximum raise (calling the $100 and then raising the size of the $300 pot).
Presto
A nickname for pocket 5's, usually in hold'em. This nickname comes from the internet newsgroup rec.gambling (now rec.gambling.poker), and is sometimes used among the readership of that newsgroup to identify other members.
Prop
Short for proposition player.
Proposition Player
A proposition player, or "prop," is a player who is paid by a cardroom to play poker, usually in order to keep games going when they get shorthanded, or to get games started. Props are paid a salary, but they gamble with their own money. Props either learn how to play pretty solid poker or they run out of money. See also shill.
Protect
To protect a hand is to bet so as to reduce the chances of anyone outdrawing you (by getting them to fold). A hand that needs protection is one that is almost certainly best, but that is vulnerable to being outdrawn. Large pots make it difficult to protect hands, since players will be willing to chase more long shots. The structure of a game has a large impact on how easy it is to protect a hand, as do the personalities of the players at the table. It's easiest to protect a hand in no-limit play, where you can potentially make it as expensive as you like for someone to draw.
To protect your cards is to place a chip or some other small object (players often have particular artifacts they like to use) on top of them so that they don't accidentally get mucked by the dealer, mixed with another player's discards, or otherwise become dead when you'd like to play them.
Provider
A provider is a poker player who makes the game profitable for the other players at the table. Similar in meaning to fish, although provider has a somehow less negative connotation. A provider might be a decent player who just happens to be playing out of his/her league. A fish is usually someone who's probably out of any league.
Push
What the dealer does with the pot when he or she figures out who the winner is. Because of the nature of poker tables, the dealer can almost always orient him- or herself so as to be facing the winner of the pot. From this position, pushing the pot (literally, the chips in the pot) will result in the movement of the pot towards the winner of the hand, so that the player can add the chips to his or her stacks. Aren't you glad you asked?
Pushka
A pushka is an arrangement between two or more players to share part of the pots they win, or more precisely, the container into which the shared chips are placed. Typically pushka partners will place as much as $10 from each pot won into a container, and split the container's contents later. I've only heard this term in Maryland, although apparently it's due to the Polish word for box, via Yiddish. Of course removing chips from the table is illegal in table stakes games. See also scoot.
Put On
To put someone on a hand (or on a draw) is to guess that that is what they are holding.
Quads
Four of a kind.
Qualifier
In high-low split games, the qualifier is a requirement that a hand must meet in order to be eligible for part of the pot, generally the low part. See 8 or better.
Quarter
To win one fourth of the pot is to be quartered. This is usually the result of splitting half the pot in a high-low split game.
Rabbit Hunting
Rabbit hunting is the act of asking to see what cards would have come up if a hand had continued. For example, if a hold'em player folds a flush draw, but would like to know if the flush would have come in, he or she might ask the dealer to deal out the next few cards. Some cardrooms prohibit it.
Rack
Poker chips can get a bit unwieldy in large quantities, so cardrooms usually supply plastic racks that hold 100 chips in 5 stacks of 20. A rack of red means a rack of red chips, typically worth $500. If someone asks for a rack, it usually means they're about to leave the table. If someone asks to buy a rack of red, it means they'd like to buy $500 in chips.
Someone is said to be "racking up" a game if they're winning a lot of money at the table.
Rag
A card, usually a low card, that, when it appears, has no apparent impact on the hand. A flop of 7 4 2 is a rag flop - few playable hands match the flop well. If the table shows QJT9, all of spades, a 2h on the river is a rag.
Rail
The rail is the sideline at a poker table - the (often imaginary) rail separating spectators from the field of play. Watching from the rail means watching a poker game as a spectator. People on the rail are sometimes called railbirds.
Railbird
Someone watching a game from the rail.
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 is to raise. For example, if the betting limit is $5 and player A bets $5, player B can fold, call the $5, or raise it to $10. Knowledgeable poker players sometimes get irritated when someone says raise to indicate an opening bet. But they usually know what you mean.
Rake
The money removed from each pot by the house. Medium and high-limit games typically have a time charge rather than a rake. A typical Atlantic City low-limit rake is 10% of the pot up to a $4 maximum. The same table in California may rake just the big blind, with the small blind going towards a jackpot.
Rank
Each card has a suit and a rank. The eight of diamonds and the eight of hearts have the same rank. A pair is two cards of the same rank. Come on, you know this.
Rap
When the player hits the table indicating he checks.
Razz
Seven card stud played for low (ace to five) only.
Read
To read someone is to have a good idea from their play (or through tells) what their cards might be. To have a read on someone is to have a good understanding of how they play. Reading players is an important skill in poker, because... well, if you can't figure out why, it's going to be hard to explain here.
Re-buy
When you first sit down at a game, you buy in with a certain amount of money. Re-buying is what you do when you buy more chips before you leave.
Re-buys are also allowed in some tournaments to players who fall below a certain point - usually only up until a certain point and often limited to a fixed number of re-buys. The time during which one may re-buy, usually lasting from the start through the early stages of the tournament, is called the re-buy period. Tournaments with re-buys are called, generically, re-buy tournaments. See also add-on.
Red
Red is the most common color for $5 chips. If someone bets a stack of red, it means they're betting a bunch of $5 chips, probably 20 of them. See also white, black, and green.
Redraw
A way to further improve your hand after hitting a draw is a redraw. For example, if you hold 9s2s (on the big blind of course) and the flop comes JsTs3c, you have a flush draw. If the turn is the 8s, you have made your flush and picked up a straight flush redraw.
Represent
To bet in such a way as to indicate that you have a certain hand. For instance, when you check-raise after the third suited card hits the board in hold'em, you are representing a flush, even if you don't actually have one.
Re-raise
Any raise after the first raise in a round. Player A bets, player B raises, player C (or A) re-raises. See also cap and check-raise.
Ring Game
A bunch of people playing poker for money at a table in a cardroom. The term ring game is used to differentiate such games from tournaments.
River
The last of five community cards in flop games (e.g. hold'em and omaha). Sometimes called fifth street. Sometimes "river" is used to refer to the last card in non-flop games, such as seven card stud.
Rock
A player who plays an extremely tight, patient game is a rock. Rocks don't create a lot of action, and when they enter a pot, more often than not they're in as a favorite. This is a decent strategy at some tables (especially at a table full of maniacs). But good players with more varied strategies will eventually get the best of a real rock.
Rock Garden
A table populated with rocks.
Rockets
Or "pocket rockets" - a pair of aces in the hole.
Roll
Short for bankroll.
Rolled Up
In seven card stud, three of a kind on the first three cards are called rolled up X's, where X is the rank of the cards. The hand and the player can both be said to be rolled up.
Rough
A hand of a particular type that will not beat many other hands of that type. Often used in low games to indicate non-nut low hands with a particular high card. A rough 8 in ace to five lowball could be any eight high hand other than 8432A, although 8532A isn't too rough. Rough is the opposite of smooth.
Round
A round can refer either to a round of betting or a round of hands. A betting round usually begins after a card or several cards are dealt. Each player is given a chance to act, and the round ends when everyone has either folded to or called the last bet or raise. (See it.) Each round of betting is followed either by further dealing or by a showdown.
A round of hands consists of one hand dealt by each player at the table (or, when there's a house dealer, one hand with the dealer button at each position). In a round of hold'em you're in each position once, and you expect on average to hold the best hand once (although you will fold it pre-flop and kick yourself for the rest of the evening).
Rounders
As in the movie with Matt Damon. Rounders are professional poker players.
Royal Straight Flush
An ace high straight flush is a royal straight flush, or a royal flush, or just a royal. Some traditionalists dislike the phrase "royal flush" (preferring "ace high straight flush"), but no one dislikes the hand. It's the most powerful hand in casino poker.
Runner-runner
A hand made on the last two cards. A player holding 55, with a board of AA455, in that order, makes runner-runner quads. See also backdoor.
Running
Two needed cards that come as the last two cards dealt are said to be running.
Rush
A player who wins a large number of pots in a short period of time is said to be on a rush. Some players feel superstitiously that a rush is an independent entity, and will "play their rush" or "bet their rush" after winning a few pots - play looser and more aggressively, or just be certain to play out each hand until the rush ends. Sometimes this isn't such a bad idea if the other players at the table are superstitious as well and will fold.
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. Especially when called "sandbagging," this practice sometimes has the negative connotation -- usually among occasional or less serious players -- of being a hostile or marginally unethical way to play. Experienced players regard it as just another part of the game, a vital strategic tool. The same is true for check-raising, which bears some resemblance to slowplaying.
Scare Card
A card that when it appears makes a better hand more likely. In hold'em, a third suited card on the river is a scare card, because it makes a flush possible. If you're pretty sure your opponent paired a king on the flop, an ace on the turn is a scare card. Scare cards will often make it difficult for the best hand to bet, and offer an opportunity for bluffing. Obviously such cards are scarier in pot-limit or no-limit games.
Scoop
To win an entire pot, especially in high-low split games.
Scoot
Scooting is the practice of passing chips to another player after winning a pot. Typically, scooting partners will agree to "scoot" each other a predetermined number of chips after winning each pot. This is at least technically illegal at most table stakes games, but single chips can often be scooted anyway.
Seat Charge
See time charge.
Seating List
In most cardrooms, if there is no seat available for you when you arrive, you can put your name on a list to be seated when a seat opens up. Typically, games are listed across the top of a board, and names are written below each game so that players are seated for games in the order in which they arrive. See also table change.
