Poker Terminology - Common Phrases & Meanings

Ever wonder about the meaning of that poker term that keeps cropping up? Wonder no more thanks to 888poker’s comprehensive poker glossary! Here we break down all of the important poker terms in depth. We’ve also gone the extra mile to include expert strategy advice along with many of the poker terms. 
 

This page shows the overview of the entire poker glossary. Feel free to use this page as a base for identifying and navigating to the most important poker terms. Alternatively, the related topics at the bottom of each page can be used to jump directly between glossary entries. 

 A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M 

N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  

A

Ace High – A made hand without at least a pair where the high card is an Ace.

Action – Can refer to any of the available options such as bet, raise, call, check, fold etc. See this glossary entry for a breakdown. 

Aces Up - Two pair, one of which is Aces.

Add-On – An amount that can be added to our stack of tournament chips for a set fee during a designated break.

A-Game – Refers to playing poker with an optimal mindset or mental state. Also referred to as playing poker “in the zone”.

Aggression Factor - A ratio that compares how many aggressive actions (betting and raising) are taken for each passive action (calling).

Alias – Refers to a player’s online screenname. Players who predominantly play online are often known by their alias/screename.

All-in – Refers to the act of putting all of one’s chips in the middle. See the glossary entry for a description of when this would be a correct option.

Angle – “Angle shooting” refers to manipulation of the rules to gain an unfair advantage.  See the glossary entry for examples of common angles.

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

Any Two - Expression in Hold’em used to indicate an action that can be taken regardless of the hole cards - “I would 3bet any two cards in that spot”.

Any Two Cards - An expression used to convey that the 2 hole cards don’t matter in a certain Hold’em situation.

B

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

Backing - Lending money to a poker player and receiving a percentage of their poker profits in return.

Backraise – Refers to a re-raise made after just calling earlier on the same street.

Bad Beat – Refers to losing a hand of poker after getting unlucky. Often the money goes in as a favourite and our opponent “sucks out”.

Bad Beat Jackpot - A large prize awarded to a player who loses a hand despite having an exceptionally strong holding.

Bankroll – Refers to the total amount of funds a player has at his disposal for the purpose of playing poker. Consult this entry for advice on how to manage a bankroll profitably.

Barrel – Refers to making a bet after already being the last aggressor on the previous street.

bb – The lower case ‘bb’ refers to ‘big blinds’ in poker. It’s used as a measurement of stack sizes and bet sizes in poker games.

Belly Buster – A colloquial term for a gutshot. Otherwise known as “inside straight draw”.

Bet – To “bet” means to make the first wager on the current betting round. The full list of legal actions can be found in the glossary entry under “Action”.

Big Bet – Refers to the larger of the two designated bet-sizings in fixed limit games. The big bet sizing is usually employed on the later rounds of betting once the pot is typically larger.

Big Blind – The position at the table to the direct left of the small blind. This position pays the mandatory big blind payment preflop. 

Blank – A card which does not influence the action in any meaningful way. (Usually a low card where no draws complete).

Blind – To perform an action blind means to do it without looking at our cards. In this glossary entry, find out why this is a huge disadvantage.

Blocker – A “blocker” is a card that has a card removal effect on villain’s range. For example, if we hold a King in our hand, it’s less likely that villain has a King in his hand. Check this glossary entry for examples of how blocker effects might be utilized.

Blocker Bet – A small bet made in the hopes of preventing our opponent making an even larger bet if checked to. Learn whether block betting is a good idea in this glossary entry.

Blue Chips – Blue chips are usually worth $10, but it can vary. They are the highest value chip in a classic three-colour poker chipset.

Bluff – A bet made with a weak hand in the hopes of getting our opponent to fold a better hand. Learn some important aspects of bluffing theory in this glossary entry.

Bluffcatch – To call with a hand that can only win if our opponent is bluffing. Discover the associated maths in this glossary entry.

Board – Refers either to community cards in variants such as Hold’em and Omaha, or “upcards” in Stud variants of poker.

Boat – Colloquial term for a full house in poker. See the glossary entry under “Hand Rankings” for the full list.

Bomb Pot - Where all players agree to place an additional ante into the pot at the beginning of the hand before cards are dealt.

Bot – A non-human player at the tables. While illegal on most sites they still find a way of making it to the tables.

Bottom Pair - Refers to a pair made with the lowest ranked card on the board when playing community card games such as Hold'em. 

Bounty – A prize that can be collected after knocking a specific player out of a tournament. A bounty is often put on the head of professional players, especially those that are sponsored pros at the site in question.

Bring-in – A forced payment made by the player with the worst upcard on the third street in tud. Said player can either pay the bring-in or “complete” to the small bet amount if he likes his cards.

Brick – A term for a card that doesn’t complete any possible draws. Especially a low offsuit card.

Brick and Mortar - Refers to a company (casino in this case) that has a physical presence (i.e. a building) from where it runs operations. 

Broadway – Any card out of Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace can be referred to as a “broadway”. The Ace-high straight is also referred to as “broadway”.

BRM – Any acronym standing for “bankroll management” – the strategies which govern when to move up and down in limits.

Bubble – The stage of a tournament directly before any player has made the prizepool. Check out this glossary entry for tips on how to play the bubble.

Bum Hunter - A poker player who only plays against weak opposition (usually heads up poker) and sometimes actively stalks weak opponents.

Burn – In live poker games it is common for the dealer to “burn” cards to help minimize the possibility of cheating. Rather than deal from the top of the deck, the top card is discarded (or “burned”) and the second card is dealt.

Busted – The term “busted” refers to a draw (such as a straight-draw or flush-draw) that missed its card and did not complete.

Button – The button is the most profitable seat at the poker table. It's to the right of the small blind (SB) and to the left of the cutoff (CO).

Buy-in – The amount required to join a game of poker. In cash games this can vary (within specified limits) while the buy-in amount is fixed for tournaments.

C

Call – To “call” means to match the existing wager on the current betting round. For a full list of the legal actions in poker see the glossary entry under “Action”.

Calling Station – Refers to a bad poker player who calls far too frequently.

Calling Your Bluff – "Calling your bluff" means that your opponent suspects you are bluffing and correctly makes the call.

Cap – A cap game is one where there is a limit placed on the maximum amount of chips that can be wagered postflop.

Card Dead - A poker term that means we are on a run where we are only being dealt bad hands and spend most of our time folding.

Card Removal - The effect that our holding has on the possible combinations of hands that villain can hold. Also known as “blocker effect”.

Case – Refers to the last card of a certain rank in the deck. For example, if there are already three Aces in play, the final Ace in the deck is referred to as “the case Ace” if it is dealt.

Case Card – The term 'case card' refers to the last card in the deck of a certain rank - e.g 'the case ace' means the last ace in the deck.

Cash Games - A format where chips directly represent cash amounts. Players can leave or join the table at any time.  

C-Game – Refers to playing poker with a poor mental state. For advice on improving mental game, see the glossary entry under “Mental Game”.

Chance - The 'odds' or 'probability' that something will occur in poker. Often expressed as a percentage.

Chase - Following after something. In a poker context this is usually either chasing after a draw or chasing lossess after a losing session. 

Check – To “check” means to make no wager. The action instead passes to the player on our left. Note that checking is only a valid option if no wager has been made on the current betting round. See the glossary entry under “Action” for a full description of all legal actions.

Check in the Dark - To check on the current betting round without waiting to see which community cards are dealt.

Check-Raise – To make a raise where our previous action on the current street was to check. See the glossary entry under “Action” for a full description of all legal actions. 

Chinese Poker – A variant of poker where cards are arranged into 3 rows and compared against our opponent’s rows to see who wins points. Check out this glossary entry for a brief summary of the rules of Chinese poker along with the different types of variants that are played.

Chip and a Chair - Refers to the idea that a player can still go on win an entire poker tournament even if they are down to their last chip.

Chip Dumping – The act of using online poker as a means to facilitate illegal money transfers. Check this glossary entry for clues on how to spot chip dumping.

Coinflip – The act of getting the chips in with roughly 50% pot equity. This is a rather loose term as explained in the glossary entry.

Cold-Call – A call made on the first betting round where said call is the player’s first action on that betting round.

Cold Deck - An expression used to indicate that we are getting a bad run of cards.

Collusion – The term “collusion” refers to a type of cheating where 2 or more players secretly work together to win chips off other unsuspecting players.

Colour Up - To trade chips with a low value for a smaller number of higher denomination chips to make the chip stack easier to handle.

Combination – Refers to a specific combination of cards. Check out this glossary entry and learn how to count card combinations in the popular poker variant Hold’em.

Combo Draw – Refers to a drawing hand with multiple draw components. Most often this will be a straight draw which is also a flush draw.

Community Cards – Community cards are placed in the center of the table; all players may use them in constructing their 5-card hand. Not all poker variants use community cards. The most common community card variants are Omaha and Hold’em.

Complete – Can refer to calling in the small blind when facing an open limp in Omaha or Hold’em. It can also refer to raising to the small bet sizing when playing the bring-in in Stud games.

Connector – Refers to a hand that contains cards of consecutive rank.

Continuation Bet – Refers to betting on the current street after being the last aggressor on the previous street.

Cooler – A “cooler” is a situation where our hand is clearly too strong to fold but ends up being beaten by an even stronger hand.

Counterfeit – A situation where a previously strong hand loses a huge chunk of its value after further cards are dealt. See this glossary entry for specific examples of counterfeiting.

Cowboys – A nickname given to pocket Kings, the second best starting hand in Hold’em.

Crack – Carries the connotation of outdrawing a strong hand. “My pocket Aces got cracked!”

Cripple – To make such a strong hand that there is no way our opponent can ever outdraw us. “We flopped big and crippled the deck”.

Crossbook - A bet between two players in the same event. The player who busts out first owes his opponent a percentage of the winnings difference.

Cutoff(CO) – The position at the poker table to the direct right of the button. Provides a good opportunity for stealing the blinds.

D

Dark Bet – A bet made without waiting to see which additional cards are dealt on the current street.

Dealer – The person who deals the cards; it might be a player or a casino employee. The term “dealer” can also be used to describe the player who occupies the button position at the table during the current hand.

Dealer's Choice - A poker game where the dealer of the hand is allowed to select which poker variant will be played for that orbit/hand.

Dead Man’s Hand - Two pair, Aces and Eights (at least according to most sources). Check the glossary entry for the legend behind the hand name. 

Dead Money - Unclaimed or extra chips in the pot that could potentially be won by the first player willing to take an aggressive action. 

Deuce – Common nickname for a card with a rank value of two. Find more about the origins of this term in the glossary entry.

Depolarised - A type of range construction involving the top x% of holdings and zero bluffs.

Dirty Stack -  A chip stack that has not been correctly organized (considered bad etiquette or even cheating in some cases). Denominations of chips should be grouped together in piles with the larger denominations at the front of the chip stack. 

Dog – Short for “underdog”. The term implies that a certain hand/player is statistically less likely to win.

Domination – Domination is where a weak draw or made hand is likely to be running against an even bigger draw/hand when there is a lot of action. Check out this glossary entry for examples.

Donk – To “donk bet” means to make a bet out of position on the current street after closing the action by calling on the previous street. The term can also be used to describe an exceptionally weak player at the table. (Note that the term can be considered derogatory in this context).

Door Card – A door card in Stud is the first upcard dealt to a player. Although it belongs exclusively to the player, it is visible to the entire table.

Double Up – To double the size of our chip stack after winning an all in.

Downcard – “Downcard” in Stud refers to any cards that are dealt face down to the player. They belong exclusively to the player and are not visible to the rest of the table.

Downswing – Refers to a prolonged period of losses. Check out the glossary entry under “Variance” for more information on downswings.

Draw – Refers to a situation where are waiting on cards to complete our hand. For example, if we have four diamonds (and are waiting on that fifth diamond to make the flush) we have a “flush draw”. The term Draw also refers to a selection of poker variants where competitors replace cards in their hand with cards from the deck on each betting round.

Drawing Dead – A situation where none of our outs will give us the best hand. I.e. we have no shot to win.

Dry – Refers to a board texture where there are very few (if any) possible draws.

Ducks - A common nickname for pocket Twos in the Hold’em variant of poker. Check this glossary entry for more information. 

E

Early Position - Refers to the first two or three seats on a full ring poker table. It refers exclusively to the lojack on a 6-handed table.

Effective Stacks – Refers to the smaller of two stacks in play. The larger stack can’t wager more chips than the shorter stack has in play. The size of the shorter stack is hence referred to as the “effective stack”. See the glossary entry for examples.

Equity – Describes the likelihood of a certain hand winning at showdown assuming it doesn’t fold. See the glossary entry for a more detailed breakdown of this concept.

Equity Calculator – A tool used to calculate the equity of hands/ranges against other hands/ranges. Equity calculators often also have additional features which are outlined in this glossary entry.

Expectation – Interchangeable with the term “expected value”. See the glossary entry under “Expected Value” for a full explanation of the term.

Expected Value – The “expected value” of a certain play indicates how profitable we expect a certain play to be in the long run. This can be calculated using expected value calculations which are explained in this glossary entry.

F

Face Card – Any Jack, Queen, or King: the artwork often contains a picture of a face on these cards of the deck.

Family Pot – Refers to a pot where most of the players do not fold on the initial betting round. For example, in a 6-handed Hold’em lineup, perhaps 5 or 6 players see a flop.

Fastplay – To come out betting and raising when holding a strong made hand.

Favourite – Indicates that a certain hand or player is statistically likely to win.

Fifth Street - A stud game term used to describe the third betting round (the street on which every remaining player is dealt a fifth card). 

Fish – A common term used to describe a weak player at the table. Sometimes considered derogatory so discretion is advised.

Fish Hooks – A nickname given to pocket Jacks, a strong starting hand in Hold’em.

Five-Bet – The fifth bet in a betting sequence. Check out this glossary entry for an example.

Flat – A term used interchangeably with “call” in poker. See the entry for usage examples.

Float – A call made with a speculative holding, having the intention of bluffing on a later street. In modern times this term has been re-appropriated to describe a “bet vs missed c-bet while in position”.

Flop – The second betting round in community cards such as Omaha and Hold’em. The term “flop” also refers to three community cards that are dealt face up on the table during said betting round.

Flush – A hand made with five cards of the same suit. See the glossary entry under “Hand Rankings” for a breakdown of all the different hand types.

Fold – To “fold” means to discard our holding in a scenario where we don’t wish to match the wager made on the current street. See the glossary entry under “Action” for a full breakdown of all the legal options.

Four-Bet – The fourth bet in a betting sequence. See this glossary entry for an example.

Fourth Street - The second betting round in Stud. It's called 'fourth' because players have been dealt four cards at this stage.

Free Card – A card seen without having to invest additional chips. Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on the scenario as explained in this glossary entry.

Freeroll – A tournament with no buy-in required. Also refers to a situation where a hand can either chop or win but can rarely (or never) lose. The freeroll concept will be more easily understood after seeing the examples provided in this glossary entry.

Full Boat- Poker nickname for a full house - a hand consisting of three cards of one rank and two of another.

Full House – A five card hand made with a combination of three of a kind and one pair. See the glossary entry under “Hand Rankings” for a breakdown of all the different hand types.

G

Gap – Refers to a gap between cards of consecutive rank. Examples are given in this glossary entry.

Grinding – Refers to playing poker for long hours and slowly building up profit.

Gutshot – Refers to an “inside straight draw”. For example, we hold 5,6,8,9 and need to hit a 7 in order to complete our straight.

Gutshot Straight Draw – A type of straight draw where we are waiting on a card on the inside of our structure to complete the straight. Also known as ‘inside straight draw’.

H

Hanger – A term used to describe a protruding bottom card when base dealing. Check this entry for information on how to spot illegal base dealing in your own games.

Hand for Hand - A stage in poker tournaments where every table must finish their current hand before the tournament moves on to the next hand.

Hand Rankings – Check out this glossary entry for a full breakdown of the different types of hand that can be made in poker. Does a straight beat a flush? Find out here!

Heads Up – Refers to a poker hand where only two players are involved. This could refer to either the initial deal, or the later betting rounds after every other player folds.

Hero Call – A call made with a speculative hand in the hopes that our opponent is bluffing. Is hero calling ever a good idea? Find out in this glossary entry.

Hero Fold - When a poker player folds a very strong hand (which would ordinarily call) because he has a strong feeling that he is beat.

High Hand – A poker hand where we don’t hold a pair or stronger. The strength of our hand is defined by its highest card (Aces are high in most variants). For a full breakdown of all the different hand types see the glossary entry under “Hand Rankings”.

High Roller - The term ‘High Roller’ describes gamblers who participate in the highest-stakes games. It doesn’t apply exclusively to poker. Casino gamblers are often referred to as high rollers also. 

Hijack – A position at the poker table. Check the glossary entry for strategy advice. 
Last Longer – A bet made between two players in a tournament setting. The player who busts out first loses the bet.

Hit – We “hit” when a card falls that gives us a decent hand. “We held a flush draw on the turn but hit on the river”.

Hit and Run - Describes a situation where a player wins big shortly after joining a cash game then leaves immediately afterwards.

Hold’em – The most popular poker variant, sometimes referred to as the “Cadillac of Poker”. Learn the rules of this popular variant in this glossary entry.

Hole Cards – Refers to cards that are dealt face down to the player and kept secret. In Hold’em players are dealt two hole cards while in Omaha they are dealt four.

House - The establishment that runs the game itself. It could be a brick and mortar casino or an online poker room.

Hyper Turbo - A type of poker tournament (or sit and go) with an extremely fast blind structure and shallow starting stacks. 

I

ICM – Stands for “Independent Chip Modelling” and refers to a mathematical technique of assigning real monetary values to tournament chips. Learn how it works in this detailed glossary entry.

Implied Odds – A pot odds calculation factoring in the additional chips we stand to win on later streets if we make our hand. Both the glossary entry under “Pot Odds” and this glossary entry under “Implied Odds” will prove useful in understanding the theory details behind this important concept.

Inside Straight Draw – Also known as a “gutshot”. For example, we hold 5,6,8,9 and need to hit a 7 in order to complete our straight.

Insurance – A side wager made with another player at the table. If hero’s hand does not hold up, he’ll receive an insurance payout from the other player.

ITM - ITM in poker stands for 'in the money' and refers to players in line for a cash prize since they have successfully passed the bubble.  

J

Jackpot – Some casinos and poker rooms offer a “bad beat jackpot” when an extremely strong hand gets cracked. See this glossary entry for more information on how it usually works.

Jam – Colloquial term meaning to shove all-in. See the glossary entry under “All-in” for advice on when it is correct to commit all of our chips.

Joker - Extra card added to a deck of cards generally with a picture of a court jester. Jokers are sometimes used as wild cards in poker.

K

Kicker – Cards that don’t directly formulate a hand but still contribute to the overall strength of a hand since they are used as side cards. In scenarios where two players have the same hand, the best kickers will win.

L

LAG – Stands for “Loose Aggressive” and describes a player who plays many starting hands in an aggressive manner.

Last Longer - A side bet wagered between tournament participants to see who lasts longer. The last player to bust out of the tournament wins the bet. 

Laydown – To make a fold. Sometimes implies reluctance to ditch the hand. “We thought for a long time but eventually made the laydown”.

Levelling – Refers to thinking on different levels when playing a hand of poker. For a full breakdown of “levels” and “levelling” check out this glossary entry.

Leverage – Refers to chips that have an influence on correct strategy despite the fact that they are not currently in play. Check out this glossary entry for examples.

Limit – Generally used to describe a game with a fixed-limit betting structure. All bets and raises occur in fixed increments.

Limit Poker - A betting structure in poker variants where players must bet or raise in pre-decided fixed increments.

Limp – Describes the action of just calling when there is no raise before us on the first betting round. Check out this glossary entry to discover whether limping is ever correct in poker.

Lowball – Refers to a poker variant which makes use of a “low” hand ranking system. The easiest way to conceptualize this is with the phrase “worst hand wins” although it’s slightly more complex than this in reality. See the glossary entry under “Low Hand” for a description of how the different low hands work.

Low Hand – In lowball variants of poker the objective is to make the best “low hand”. Check out this glossary entry for a guide on how different low hand rankings work across several poker variants.

M

Maniac – Refers to a player type whose style can be characterized with the words “loose and crazy”.

Mark - In a poker context refers to the weak player at the table. Strong players will increase their profits by targeting the mark.

Mechanic - Someone who has learnt sleight of hand techniques for manipulating a card deck and can potentially cheat while dealing.

Mental Game – Refers to the discipline of looking to better one’s mental outlook when playing poker at the tables. This glossary entry provides a guide for developing a stronger mental game.

Middle Position – Middle position in poker refers to the hijack, lojack and mp1 on a full ring poker table. It refers exclusively to the hijack on a 6-handed table.

Mid Stakes - Poker games with a larger buy-in than 'low stakes' but a smaller buy-in than 'high stakes'. I.e. the middle stakes.

Misclick – To accidentally perform the wrong action when playing in an online setting. Chiefly used to describe clicking in the wrong location (or accidentally clicking) with a mouse.

Monotone – Describes a board texture (or hand structure in some cases) where all cards are of the same suit. 

Monster – Colloquial term for a very strong poker hand.

Muck – To return a losing hand to the dealer at showdown without showing it to the table. Mucking is usually allowed when we are the caller on the final street, but not if we took the last aggressive action before showdown.

Must Move - An overflow game created when the main table in a casino is full. Players must move to the main table when a seat is free.

N

Nash Equilibrium - A game theory concept. A Nash equilibrium is reached when all players are perfectly balanced and cannot improve their winrate by deviating from their current strategy. 

Nit – Describes an extremely risk averse player who hardly plays any of his starting hands. A nit simply hopes to wait for premium holdings and get a big payout.

Nosebleed – A term used to designate ultra high stakes cash game action, typically 5knl and above.

No-Limit – The term “no limit” refers to a betting structure where players are allowed to bet or raise any amount at any given time.

Nut-low – The lowball version of “the nuts”. It describes the best possible low hand in a lowball (or split pot) variant of poker.

Nut Flush Draw – A draw to the Ace high flush. This will also typically be the stone cold nuts if it hits.

Nut Flush – The Ace high flush. Often the stone cold nuts in games such as PLO and NLHE.

Nuts – The best possible hand. The nuts can never lose, it can only chop.

O

Offsuit – Typically used to describe a starting hand where there is no co-ordination between the suits. Suited hands are nearly always better than offsuit hands.

Omaha – A popular poker variant utilizing community cards. Each player is dealt four hole-cards on the preflop betting round. Check out this glossary entry for a full description of the rules.

One-Gap – A term used to describe two cards which are not in direct consecutive order but instead contain a gap of one. For example, 79s in Hold’em can be described as a “one-gapper”.

Open-ended Straight Draw – A straight draw where a player is waiting for one of two cards on the outside of his structure. For example, we hold 5678 and make a straight if we pick up any 9 or 4.

Open-raise – To make the first raise on the first betting round.

OOP – An acronym standing for “out of position”. Check this glossary entry for more information on the term.

OMC - Old man coffee. It’s used to describe an older player at the poker table who exhibits certains characteristics.

Out – A card that will likely give us the best hand if it falls. Learn how to count outs in this glossary entry.

Overbet – To make a bet sizing larger than the current size of the pot. Learn when overbetting might be a good idea in this glossary entry.

Overcall – To make a call when another player has already made a call before us on the current street. I.e. to call behind.

Overcard – A card which is either higher than the board or higher than our current holding. For example, we hold a pair of Tens on the flop in Hold’em and the turn card is a King. The King is an overcard to our pair.

Overlay – Additional money injected by the poker room into a tournament prize pool. This is performed when a guarantee tournament can’t deliver the promised payout based on player buyins alone i.e. there is a shortfall.

Overlimp - An overlimp is a limp on the first betting round after another player has already limped. (A limp is where we just call when first to act on the firs betting round). An overlimp is sometimes also referred to as a ‘limp behind’. 

Overpair – A pair in the hole that is higher than the highest card on the board in community card games such as Hold’em and Omaha.
 

P

Pair – We make a pair when we hold two cards of identical rank. See the glossary entry under “Hand Rankings” for a full breakdown of all the different types of hand.

Play the Board – Can refer to a situation where we formulate our hand entirely using community cards. Can also refer to a scenario where we make plays without a legitimate hand based purely on the board texture (in community card games) or the appearance of our upcards (in Stud games).

Paint – A term used to designate any cards between (and including) Jack and Ace. Also frequently referred to as “broadways” or “face cards”.

Pocket Rockets – A nickname given to pocket Aces in Hold’em. This is the best possible starting hand.

Pocket Pair – Refers to a starting hand where we have a pair in the hole.

Position – Can refer to the specific position at the table we are occupying. It can also be used to refer to whether we are “in position” or “out of position”. This important concept is dissected in this glossary entry.

Post – The term “post” is typically used in conjunction with mandatory blind payments whether that be the small-blind, big-blind or antes. “Before each hand, every player at the table posts the antes.”

Postflop – In community card variants such as Hold’em or Omaha, the term “postflop” describes everything from the second betting round (the flop) onwards.

Pot – The place in the center of the poker table where wagered chips are placed. The winner of the hand wins all the chips in the pot.

Pot Committed – The idea that a player has invested enough of his chip stack that folding at any point would now be a mistake.

Pot odds  – The amount we need to call when facing a bet relative to what is already in the pot. Typically expressed either as a ratio or a percentage.

Pot Limit  – A betting structure where the maximum allowed bet or raise is a pot sized bet. For example, Omaha is commonly played with a pot limit betting structure. 

Preflop – The first betting round in community cards games such as Hold’em and Omaha. 

PRF - Stands for “preflop raiser”. A statistic which indicates how frequently a player is raising preflop when given the opportunity.

Price – How much something costs, such as the amount we need to call when facing a bet. Often used interchangeably with other terms such as pot odds. 

Probe – Traditionally a small bet designed to gather information. However, the term has been re-appropriated in modern times to refer to a “bet vs missed continuation bet while out of position”. 

Prop Player - A poker player who is given an hourly wage by a casino to play poker at their tables. Prop players gamble with their own money.

Protection – A bet or raise with a made hand, primarily to fold out our opponent’s live equity rather than with the intention of getting called by worse.

Polarised - A type of range construction where hands are divided into two categories, value hands and bluffs.

Pot - The pile of chips in the middle of the table that players are competing for. Any time a player at the table makes a wager, it’s placed into the pot.

Q

Quads – A very common nickname for “four of a kind” in poker. Despite being an unofficial name, it is currently the most popular way of referencing this type of hand. 

Qualify – In split pot games, a low hand must “qualify” before it is counted as a legitimate low hand. In most variants this means holding 5 cards 8 or lower. Check out this entry for more information on qualification rules.

R

Rabbit Hunt – Seeing the remaining community cards after folding. This has no impact on the game but allows players to see if they would have hit their hand or not.

Ragged – Often used to describe a non-coordinated board texture.

Rap – A term used interchangeably with “tap”, potentially used to describe the act of tapping the table twice as the visual signal for checking in a live game.

Rainbow – Used to describe a board texture (or sometimes starting hand) where every card is of a different suit.

Raise – To “raise” means to increase the size of the wager on the current street. For a full breakdown of all the legal options check out the glossary entry under “Action”.

Rake – A small amount taken from the pot each hand as payment for running the poker game.

Rakeback – A percentage of rake paid which is given back to the players as a reward. It sometimes comes in the form of a VIP system.

Range – The term “range” is used to describe a distribution of possible holdings that a player might hold. This important concept is discussed in this glossary entry.

Range Advantage – This term is used when one player has a better range than his opponent. There are different variables that contributed to range advantage; they are discussed in this glossary entry.

Rank – The term “rank” simply refers to a card’s value/number. I.e. Jack, Four, Ace etc etc.

Ratholing – Describes the action of leaving a ring game and then rebuying in for a smaller amount of chips. In this glossary entry, learn why ratholing is considered unethical.

Razz – The lowball version of seven card Stud. Check out this glossary entry for a description of the rules.

Read – Sometimes used interchangeably with the term “tell”. It indicates that we have a good vision over the type of holdings our opponent is likely to show up with. “Normally I would have folded, but I had a read that villain likes to bluff, so I made the call”.

Rebuy – To purchase additional chips. Predominantly applies to cash games although rebuy tournaments do exist.

Redraw – A possible draw has completed on the board texture but we are drawing to an even bigger hand. This is best understood with the examples in this glossary entry.

Regular - A poker player who regularly plays in a certain game. Usual denotes an opponent of above average skill level.

Represent – When we don’t have a certain holding but we look to represent that we do through our actions. The term can also be used to analyze the meaning behind villain’s actions. Villain bet large on all three streets: he is definitely representing something big.

Reverse Implied Odds – An adjusted pot odds calculation taking into account chips we might lose on the later streets after we complete our draw. Check out the glossary entry for a full breakdown.

Re-raise – To re-raise means to raise after there has already been a raise on the current street. Check this glossary entry for the rules that govern re-raising in poker.

Ring Game – This term is used interchangeably with “Cash Game”. Since not all poker games are actually played with real money, the term “ring game” might be considered more applicable in some contexts.

River – Refers to the final betting round in Hold’em, Omaha and Stud variants.

River Rat – A player who gets lucky and sucks out on the river. Especially applies to players who are clearly calling too wide on the earlier streets.

Rock – Refers to a player type who only enters the pot with an extremely tight range. This term might be sometimes used interchangeably with the word “nit” although some assign the two words completely different meanings. 

Rolled Up - A Stud term that indicates being dealt three of a kind on third street, i.e. rolled up trips.

Royal Flush – The best possible hand in poker. We hold the Ten, Jack, Queen, King and Ace, all of the same suit.

Run – A term used to describe the fall of cards over a period of time. “Running good” and “running bad” are terms commonly used to describe a lucky and an unlucky streak respectively.

Rundown – The term “rundown” is generally used to describe connected starting hands in Omaha variants. For example, the starting hand T987 is referred to as a “Ten-high rundown”. Learn to distinguish between different types of rundown in this glossary entry.

Run it Twice – After all remaining players are all-in, the final board cards are dealt twice – half the pot being awarded to the winner of each runout. This is a useful tool for reducing variance. Check out this glossary entry for a description on whether running it twice makes sense.

Runner Runner – Making a strong made hand after catching consecutive running cards. For example, we hold three hearts on the flop and catch running hearts on both the turn and river to make our flush.

S

Sandbagging – A term used interchangeably with “slowplaying” or “trapping”. It means to play a strong hand deceptively by using passive lines such as checking and calling.

Satellite – A tournament event that awards winners a ticket to an even bigger tournament.

Scare Card – A card that might scare our opponent and cause him to fold more frequently. In this glossary entry we learn where the concept originated and whether it is actually useful.

Semi-Bluff – A bluff made with a drawing hand. For example, we make a bluff while holding a flush draw. Even if we don’t manage to pick up the pot, there is a possibility we’ll make our flush on the next street.

Set – Three of a kind made specifically with a pocket pair in the hole.

Set over Set – Where two players both make a set at the same time (but one is higher). It is considered an unlucky 'cooler' type situation since neither player is supposed to fold in many cases.

Sequence - Refers to the ordering of the cards. For example, five cards in sequential rank order makes a straight in poker.

Short Handed – Describes a poker table with six players or less. Heads up poker is a form of short handed poker for example.

Short Stack – A player without many chips in his stack. Certainly refers to stack sizes less than 100bb, and frequently refers to stack sizes less than 50bb.

Shove – Colloquial term for betting all-in. See the glossary entry under “All-in” for advice on when it makes sense to commit all of our chips.

Showdown – Refers to revealing the strength of our hand to determine the winner. This happens after all the betting rounds are complete.

Show Hand – To expose the value of our hole cards after the hand is over.

Sick – A term used to either mean “extremely cool” or “extremely unlucky”. The exact meaning depends on the context.

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

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

Sizing – Refers simply to the size of our bet. Bet sizing is an important aspect of high level play.

Slowplay – To play a strong made hand passively and deceptively. The hope is that our opponent will either launch big bluffs or pay us off on a later street after he believes we are genuinely weak. See this glossary entry for advice on whether slowplaying is a good idea in poker.

Slowroll – To take a long time to call when we are closing the action and have the effective nuts. See the glossary entry to learn why this is considered unethical behavior.

Soft Play - To deliberately play a weak strategy against an opponent, perhaps because we are friends with them off the poker tables. 

Solver - A poker calculator that generates game theory optimal solutions to a hand given a specific game tree.

Small Bet – Used in poker games with fixed limit structure. Denotes the smaller of two designated bet sizings (the small bet and the big bet).

Small Blind (SB) – The position at the poker table to the direct right of the button. Also the name of the mandatory blind payment the player in this seat makes at the start of every hand.

Snap Call - Means to call immediately without any form of hesitation. The term can also be used for other actions e.g. snap fold, snap shove.

Splash the Pot – To put our chips into the middle of the table in a disorderly fashion. It’s considered good etiquette to keep our chips in neat piles when making big bets.

Split – A split pot variant of poker is where half of the pot is awarded to one type of hand while the other half is awarded to another type of hand. The most common example is hi/lo split variants; half the pot is awarded to a high hand, the other half is awarded to the best low hand.

Split Pot - A split pot is one that is awarded to multiple players. This could be in the eventuality that a hand ties, or when playing a split pot variant of poker.

Spread Limit - A betting structure where players may bet/raise within a range of allowable sizes. Sometimes considered the middle ground between fixed-limit and no-limit. 

Squeeze – A raise made against multiple players where there has already been a bet and a call on the current street. Especially used to describe 3betting against multiple opponents on the preflop betting round in Omaha and Hold’em. Check the glossary entry for examples.

SRP -  Stands for 'single raised pot' in poker. It refers to pots where there was only one raise on the first betting round.

Stab – To make a bet, especially in a scenario where our opponent has just shown weakness. An example of such weakness might be skipping a continuation bet opportunity.

Stack to Pot Ratio – This is a ratio that describes the relationship between what is in the pot compared to how many chips are remaining in the effective stacks. See the glossary entry for basic strategy application.

Staking - Lending money to a poker player and receiving a percentage of their poker profits in return.

Stand Pat – This is a legal option in draw games. To “stand pat” means to decline the option to draw additional cards and stay with the current hand.

Steam – To be tilted. A player can be described as “steaming” if he is extremely angry, perhaps as a result of a bad run of cards.

Stealing – Stealing refers to an attempt to win the pot outright on the first betting round, especially as the first raiser. For example, in Hold’em, any open-raise from the small blind, button or cutoff is considered a “steal attempt”.

Steel Wheel  - Refers to the Ace to Five straight flush. This is an especially strong hand in PLO8 since it can win both the high and the low pot.

Stop and Go - Refers to the line where a player bets the flop, checks the turn (stops), then fires the river (and go).

Straddle – A straddle is an optional blind bet made before any cards are dealt. See the glossary entry for a description of the different types of straddle.

Straight – A five card hand consisting of all 5 cards in consecutive rank order i.e. 5,6,7,8,9. For a full description of other hand rankings see the glossary entry under “Hand Rankings”.

Straight Flush – A five card hand consisting of all 5 cards in consecutive rank order and also of the same suit. For a description of other hand rankings see the glossary entry under “Hand Rankings”.

Street Poker – An unwritten agreement between players to play insupportably loose poker. Check the glossary entry for examples.

String Bet – String bet refers to splitting a wagering decision into multiple parts. For example “I call your bet…..and raise you by another 50”. In a modern casino, the player would be obligated to just call, since this was what he originally announced. See the glossary entry for more information.

Structure – The term “structure” can refer to a range of different variables pertaining to the format of a certain poker game. In this glossary entry we discuss betting structures and tournament structures.

Stud – A poker variant without community cards where players are dealt a combination of upcards (visible to the table) and downcards (secret). See the glossary entry for a full description of the rules.

Suck out – When our opponent catches an unlikely card and goes on to win the pot.

Suited – The term “suited” typically describes a starting hand where two or more of the cards share the same suit.

T

Table Stakes – An ruling which prevents players from being forced to wager more chips than they brought to the table in the first place.

TAG – Short for “Tight Aggressive”. Describes an aggressive player who enters the pot with a relatively tight and strong range of holdings.

Tank – An abbreviation of “time bank”. Refers to the act of thinking about a decision at the tables.

Tell – Often used interchangeably with “read”. A tell is an unconscious indication from our opponent that he has a certain type of holding. See the glossary entry for a list of common live tells.

Texture – Usually refers to the board texture in community card games such as Hold’em and Omaha but could ultimately be used to describe any group of cards such as boards in Stud.

Three-Bet – Refers to the third bet in a sequence of bets. See the glossary entry for an example.

Three of a Kind – We make this hand when we hold three cards of identical rank along with two kickers. For a full breakdown of all the different types of hands see the glossary entry under “Hand Rankings”.

Three Pair – A term that is used mostly in Omaha variants. Only two of the pairs count, but the third pair provides additional outs to make a boat.

Tie – When two hands are of equivalent strength and hence split/chop the pot.

Tilt – Refers to playing poker with an affected mental state – especially anger, but also fear, lack of motivation etc etc. See the glossary entry under “Mental Game” for tips on improving this aspect of our poker game.

Time Bank – The optional extra time available to online poker players during a hand.

Tournament – A poker format with a fixed buyin. Players continue playing until they run out of chips. The last man standing is typically the tournament winner. For advice on playing tournaments, see this glossary entry.

Tracking Software – Software that tracks poker results along with a range of other features. See this glossary entry to discover common features offered by tracking software.

Trap – To play a strong made hand passively in the hope that our opponent launches a big bluff.

Trey – Commonly used term to describe a card of rank “Three”.

Trips – Colloquial term for three of a kind when not made with a pocket pair in the hole.

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

Two-bet – The second bet in a betting sequence. See this glossary entry for an example.

Two Pair – A hand made by holding two sets of pairs along with one kicker. For a full description of all available hand types see the glossary entry under “Hand Rankings”.

Two-tone – Describes a board texture or group of cards consisting of two distinct suits.

U

Under the Gun – A term used to describe the play er who is first to act on the first betting round.

Underbet – A bet sizing less than 50% of the pot. See this glossary entry for advice on when a small bet sizing makes sense.

Underdog – Sometimes abbreviated to the word “dog”. Describes a hand or player which is statistically unlikely to win.

Upcard – A card dealt to the player in Stud face up, meaning it is visible to the entire table. 

Upswing – A prolonged period of winning (especially when the winrate is higher than anticipated). I.e. running good.

Up the Ante – A common expression meaning to “up the stakes”. Also can be used to described the increase antes on each blind level of a poker tournament.

V

Value Bet – A bet with a made hand hoping to get paid off by a worse holding. See this glossary entry for advice on value betting.

Variance – A term used to describe the ups and downs of a poker players career. Variance is much larger than many players realise. This glossary entry should help to put things into perspective.

Variant – A particular brand of poker: there are many. For example, Hold’em, Omaha, Stud, 5-card Draw etc etc.

Villain - A common poker term used to describe our opponent in a hand of poker.

VPIP - Stands for ‘voluntarily put in pot’. It’s a percentage which describes how often a player voluntarily invests chips into the pot preflop when given the opportunity. High VPIP means a loose player.

Vulnerable – A hand is vulnerable if it is susceptible to being outdrawn.

W

Whale – An extremely bad poker player. Especially used to describe bad poker players at higher stakes games.

Wet ­– Describes a board texture with excellent coordination, allowing for a large number of possible draws.

Wheel – The Ace to Five straight. This is an especially strong hand in PLO8 since it has a shot at winning both the high and the low pot.

Wired – Refers to a pair on third street where both of the cards are downcards. 

Wrap – Refers to a large straight draw in Omaha variants. Unlike in Hold’em, some of the big straight draws in Omaha can have as many as 20 outs.

Wrap Around Straight – A straight where the Ace falls somewhere in the middle of the five cards. Not a legal hand in the majority of poker variants.

WSOP – An acronym for perhaps the most prestigious poker event of all time The World Series of Poker. Held every year in Las Vegas.

WTSD – Went to showdown. It’s a measure of how often a player goes on to see showdown after seeing a flop.

WWSF – WWSF stands for won when saw flop and is a measure of how often a player goes on to win the entire hand after seeing a flop.

For the official poker terminology page, please click here.