Poker Jargon

Poker is full of slang expressions that players use, and it can sometimes be a little scary to admit that you don't always know what they mean.

If you are not familiar with all the poker lingo and need a place to start, here's a list of the more common poker terms you may hear next time you're on the tables.

ACES UP: Two pair, a pair of Aces and any other pair.

ACTION: A fold, check, call, bet, or raise. For certain situations, doing something formally connected with the game that conveys information about your hand may also be considered as having taken action. Examples would be showing your cards at the end of the hand, or indicating the number of cards you are taking at draw.

ACTIVE PLAYER: A player still involved in a hand.

AGGRESSIVE PLAY: In order to make other players to be jittery and apprehensive, an "aggressive" player bets early and high as well. 

AGGRESSIVE ACTION: A wager that could enable a player to win a pot without a showdown; a bet or raise.

ALL-IN: When you have put all of your playable money and chips into the pot during the course of a hand, you are said to be all-in.

ANTE: A prescribed amount posted before the start of a hand by all players.

BACK RAISE: To reraise another players raise.

BAD BEAT: A hand being beat by another hand that had a very low percentage of becoming a winning hand.

BET: The act of placing a wager in turn into the pot on any betting round, or the chips put into the pot.

BIG BLIND: The largest regular blind in a game.

BLIND: A Blind hand means that the player does not look at his dealt hand initially (such as Night Baseball or Night Chaos).

BLUFF: You have a hand, which is not all that good. In order to make other players think that you really have good cards, you 'bluff' by betting high, even though you know your cards do not entail such high bidding. 

BOARD: (a) The board on which a waiting list is kept for players wanting seats in specific games or (b) Cards face-up on the table common to each of the hands.

BOARDCARD: A community card in the center of the table, as in hold'em or Omaha.

BOTTOM PAIR: Pairing the lowest card on the board.

BOXED CARD: A card that appears face-up in the deck where all other cards are facedown.

BUTTON: A player who is in the designated dealer position. See dealer button.

BUY-IN: The minimum amount of money required to enter any game.

CALL: To match a bet. 

CAPPED: Occurs in limit poker in which the maximum number of raises on the betting round have been reached.

CHECK: To waive the right to initiate the betting in a round, but to retain the right to act if another player initiates the betting. To pass without betting.

CHECK-RAISE: To waive the right to bet until a bet has been made by an opponent, and then to increase thebet by at least an equal amount when it is your turn to act.

COMMON CARD: A card dealt face-up to be used by all players at the showdown in the games of stud poker whenever there are insufficient cards left in the deck to deal each player a card individually.

COMMUNITY CARDS: cards on the table that all players are allowed to use in their hand. The cards dealt face-up in the center of the table that can be used by all players to form their best hand in the games of hold'em and Omaha.

COMPLETE THE BET: To increase an all-in bet or forced bet to a full bet in limit poker.

CONSERVATIVE PLAY: If you always choose to bet the minimum and are prone to 'fold' i.e., abandon ship early, you are branded as a conservative player. The disadvantage here is that when a branded conservative player bids high, other players who know you to be a conservative player, will fold, leaving very little stakes at the pot. On the other side of the ledger, a conservative player loses very little. 

DEAL: To give each player cards, or put cards on the board. As used in these rules, each deal refers to the entire process from the shuffling and dealing of cards until the pot is awarded to the winner.

DEALER BUTTON: A flat disk that indicates the player who would be in the dealing position for that hand (if there is not a house dealer). This is simply called "the button."

DEATH CARD:  any card which forces the player with that card to lose the hand, UNLESS they can bluff out all other players who do not have a Death card.

DECK: A set of playing-cards. In these games, the deck consists of either:
(1) 52 cards in seven-card stud, hold'em, and Omaha.
(2) 53 cards (including the joker), often used in ace-to-five lowball and draw high.

DISCARD(S): In a draw game, to throw cards out of your hand in order to make room for replacements.

DOWNCARDS: Cards that are dealt facedown in a stud game.

DRAW:
(1) The poker form where players are given the opportunity to replace cards in the hand. In some instances, the word "draw" is used referring to draw high, and draw low is called "lowball."

(2) The act of replacing cards in the hand.

(3) The point in the deal where replacing is done is called "the draw."

DRAW POKER:  refers to a poker game in which players may trade cards in to the dealer for new ones.

DRAWING: The dealer always fixes how many cards players will be permitted to draw from the remainder of the pack placed in the middle of the table. If the dealer says "one of two, one of one" means that every participant will be permitted in the first draw two cards and one in the second draw. 

FACE CARD: A Jack, Queen or King.

FLOP: In hold'em or Omaha, the three community cards that are turned simultaneously after the first round of betting is complete.

FIXED LIMIT: In limit poker, any betting structure in which the amount of the bet on each particular round is pre-set.

FLASHED CARD: A card that is partially exposed.

FOLD: To fold a hand is to quit a game.

FLUSH: A poker hand consisting of five cards of the same suit. FOLD: To throw a hand away and relinquish all interest in a pot.

FOURTH STREET: The second upcard in seven-card stud or the first boardcard after the flop in hold'em (also called the turn card).

FORCED BET: A required wager to start the action on the first betting round (the normal way action begins in a stud game).

FREEROLL: A chance to win something at no risk or cost.

FULL BUY: A buy-in of at least the minimum requirement of chips needed for a particular game.

FULL HOUSE: A hand consisting of three of a kind and a pair.

HAND:
(1) All a player's personal cards. OR
(2) The five cards determining the poker ranking. OR
(3) A single poker deal

HIDDEN HAND:  means that the player does not have any cards revealed until the end of the hand (such as Draw Poker).

HOLE CARDS: are your cards that are dealt face-down, or hidden from other players.

JOKER: The joker is a "partially wild card" in high draw poker and ace-to-five lowball. In high, it is used for aces, straights, and flushes. In lowball, the joker is the lowest unmatched rank in a hand.

KICKER:: The highest unpaired card that helps determine the value of a five-card poker hand.

KILL (OR KILL BLIND): An oversize blind, usually twice the size of the big blind and doubling the limit. Sometimes a "half-kill" increasing the blind and limits by fifty percent is used. A kill can be either voluntary or mandatory. The most common requirements of a mandatory kill are for winning two pots in a row at lowball and other games, or for scooping a pot in high-low split.

LIVE BLIND: A blind bet giving a player the option of raising if no one else has raised.

LIST: The ordered roster of players waiting for a game.

LOCK-UP: A chip marker that holds a seat for a player.

MISDEAL: A mistake on the dealing of a hand which causes the cards to be reshuffled and a new hand to be dealt.

MISSED BLIND: A required bet that is not posted when it is your turn to do so.

NO-LIMIT: A betting structure where players are allowed to wager any or all of their chips in one bet.

OPENER: The player who made the first voluntary bet.

OPTION: The choice to raise a bet given to a player with a blind.

PASS:
(1) Decline to bet. In a pass-and-out game, this differs from a check, because a player who passes must fold. OR
(2) Decline to call a wager, at which point you must discard your hand and have no further interest in the pot.

PASSIVE: Checking and calling hands rather betting and raising hands.

POKER: refers to any game, regardless of the number of cards or how it is dealt, which uses the standard poker "winning hand" hierarchy - 5 of a kind beats straight flush beats 4 of a kind, etc.

POSITION:
(1) The relation of a player's seat to the blinds or the button. OR
(2) The order of acting on a betting round or deal.

RANK: the value of a card, such as 5, Queen, or Ace.

RAISE: To increase the bet. In a limit game, this increase must meet certain specifications, depending on the game, to reopen the betting and count toward a limit on the number of raises allowed. This means add a bet equal to the betting limit; in a no-limit game, this means increase by anything equal to or greater than the previous bet or raise.

RERAISE: To raise someone's raise.

RIVER: The final card dealt.

SIDE POT: A separate pot formed when one or more players are all in.

SHOWDOWN: The final act of determining the winner of the pot after all betting has been completed.

SHUFFLE: The act of mixing the cards before a hand.

SMALL BLIND: In a game with multiple blind bets, the smallest blind.

SPLIT POT: A pot that is divided among players, either because of a tie for the best hand or by agreement prior to the showdown.

STRAIGHT: Five cards in consecutive rank.

STRAIGHT FLUSH: Five cards in consecutive rank of the same suit.

STREET: Cards dealt on a particular round in stud games. For instance, the fourth card in a player's hand is often known as fourth street, the sixth card as sixth street, and so on.

STUD POKER:  refers to a poker game in which players are dealt a fixed number of cards, and generally do not have the option to change cards, although variations may allow this.

TABLE STAKES:
(1) The amount of money you have on the table. This is the maximum amount that you can lose or that anyone can win from you on any one hand.
(2) The requirement that players can wager only the money in front of them at the start of a hand, and can only buy more chips between hands.

TELL: A 'Tell' can be defined as a distinctive trait or mannerism which surfaces involuntarily making the other watchful players to guess the real strength of your cards! In poker you should be devoid of 'Tell'. Also you should be able to discern 'Tell' from other competing players. 

TOP PAIR: Pairing the highest card on the board.

TOURNAMENT: A poker competition, normally with an entry fee and prizes.

Turn: The fourth card dealt on the board during community card games.

TURNCARD: The fourth street card in hold'em or Omaha.

UPCARDS: Cards that are dealt faceup for opponents to see in stud games.

WAGER:
(1) To bet or raise OR
(2) The chips used for betting or raising.

UPCARD: In a stud game, a card dealt to a player face up, as opposed to a downcard used in stud or a hold 'em-type game, where it is an unexposed part of a player's hand.

WILD CARDS: A wild card is one, which can be used to complete a sequence or make two's into three's, or three's into two's depending upon your hand and its rank. More the wild cards merrier the game will be. If the dealer says 5&6 are wild, it means all 5's and 6's can be matched with other cards to get the logical rank your cards my fetch you.

WHEEL:  determines whether an Ace can be used as low in a Straight. If the "Wheel is Good", then Ace,2,3,4,5 is a valid Straight, albeit the lowest possible.