Prepare yourself to win. Visualize your success at the table. This
means more than just winning because sometimes the cards wont
co-operate. Thats not important though because you are seeing
the big picture. Youre improving everyday. Your game is getting
better by the hour and you are winning more often. You are
definitely feeling more confident at the table as well.
And you thought playing online Texas Holdem poker was fun
before? To quote Al Jolsen - You aint seen nothin yet.
Best of luck at the virtual poker tables.
Theo Cage is a writer and entrepreneur who lives in Canada with
his wife and two daughters.
Poker Dictionary
3-Bet - The first re-
Raise (putting 3 bets in).
Absolute Nuts - The best possible hand, based on the board cards.
Sometimes simply called the nuts.
Action - the amount of money wagered by a player during a playing
Session. In poker, the placing of money into the pot.
Active - one who is still in the pot.
All Blue (or
All Pink) - A flush.
All-In - To push all of your remaining chips into the pot.
Anchor - the player sitting in the last position at a poker table before the
Dealer. This is the person who makes the final decision, thereby anchoring
the game.
Ante - a term usually used in poker to refer to the first money wagered on
a hand, or the minimum amount that each player is required to put into
the pot before a new hand can begin.
American Airlines - A pair of Aces.
Angling - Taking action or talking when it is not your turn in order to
mislead your opponent. Some consider this to be cheating, others consider
these tactics to be a part of the game.
Animal - Nickname for a player that is loose-aggressive. Animals are
involved in too many hands and will almost always bet and
Raise when
given the opportunity, often with garbage hands. Also known as a
maniac.
Baby - A low-
Ranked card (usually 2 through 5).
Back Into - To make a hand that is different than the hand you were
originally trying for.
Backdoor An unfinished hand that requires help from both the turn and
river in order to win. Also known as a
Runner-Runner hand.
Backdoor Flushes: Even worse then the gutshot is the backdoor flush.
This is when you need two perfect cards of the same suit to complete
your hand.
Bad Beat - To have a hand that is the clear mathematical favourite lose to
a heavy
Underdog (especially if that hand should not have been involved
in the pot).
Bankroll - the total amount of money a player has for a gaming
Session.
BB - An abbreviation for
Big Blind.
Belly Buster - A draw to fill an
Inside Straight, aka a "gutshot".
Bet a wager or gamble
Betting Limits- the minimum and maximum that can be wagered on one
bet.
Big Blind - The position two to the left of the button, who is forced to pay
a full
Small Bet prior to the hole cards being dealt in Hold'em.
Big Chick - In Texas Holdem, an Ace and a Queen (suited or unsuited) as
your hole cards.
Big Slick">Big Slick - An opener of A-K suited
Blind Bet - a bet that certain poker players are required to make as a result
of their betting position.
Bluff - in poker, players
Bluff when raising a weak hand in the hope of
driving out players with a stronger hand.
Bump - to
Raise
Burn Card - any card placed in the discard rack without being entered
into play. After the deck is shuffled and cut, one card is burned.
B&M - Brick and Mortar; a real-life casino (as opposed to an online
casino).
Big Slick">Big Slick - In Texas Holdem, an Ace and a King (suited or unsuited) as
your hole cards.
Blank - A card that appears useless. Also known as a rag.
Board - The community cards.
Boat -
Full House.
Bonus Whoring - Belonging to several online poker sites and always
taking advantage of each deposit bonus offered. See
www.BonusWhores.com for updated info.
Bounty - A reward given in a tournament to someone who meets certain
criteria. Some examples of these criteria from Zoo tournaments are:
knocking a certain person out of the tournament, winning with a certain
hand, and finishing the tournament is a certain position.
BR - An abbreviation for
Bankroll.
Broadway - An ace-high straight.
Bubble - Finishing a tournament in the spot nearest the money. Example:
In a 60-person tournament, if the top 8 spots pay, finishing 9th would be
finishing on the "bubble".
Bullets - A pair of Aces.
Bump It - To
Raise.
Bust Out - To lose your
Buy In.
Button - The disk that represents the
Dealer in a given hand.
Buy In - The amount of money that is necessary to play a particular game,
or the amount of money that you to play a game.
Buy the Button - Betting or raising in order to make any players between
you and the button fold. If successful, you are now last to act on any
subsequent rounds of betting.
Buy the Pot - To
Bluff bet or
Raise in order to win the pot.
Chips - tokens used at gaming tables in lieu of cash.
Chop - To return the blinds to the players who posted them and move on
to the next hand if nobody calls the blind.
Chopping the Blinds - When 2 players agree to take back their
Blind Bets
if there is no action ahead of them. Note that once you agree to chop the
blinds with your neighbour, you are expected to always chop the blinds
with them.
Chum bait that is used to attract hungry sharks and send them into a
feeding frenzy. Dont be
Chum.
Cold - a player on a losing streak.
Cold Call - To call more than one bet at a time. Note that this is not the
same as calling a bet, then calling a subsequent
Raise since you are calling
2 single bets.
Complete Hand - a poker hand that is defined by all five cards. That is a
straight, flush,
Straight Flush, or a
Full House.
Cut - the
Dealer divides the deck of cards into two parts and then inverts
them after they have been shuffled.
Color Down - Exchanging chips for those of a lower denomination.
Color Up - Exchanging chips for those of a higher denomination.
Come Hand - A drawing hand. Example: An open-ended straight is a
Come Hand.
Complete the Bet - When the
Small Blind chooses to call by putting in the
chips necessary
Connectors - Consecutive suited or unsuited cards that assist in making a
straight. .
Counterfeit - When your hand loses value because a board card
duplicates it or a board card gives others a similar hand. Example: You
hold A-4 and the board is A-7-4. You have 2-pair, which is now ahead of
A-K. The turn is a 7. Your hand has just been
Counterfeited, since your 2-
pair is no longer as valuable as it was prior to the turn.
Cowboys - A pair of Kings.
Cripple (an opponent - To win a critical hand in a tournament, leaving
your opponent very short-
Stacked.
195
Cripple the Deck - Your hand contains most or all of the beneficial cards
that could be used in conjunction with the board.
Crying Call - To call with no cards to come, while expecting to lose.
Cutoff - The person to the right of the button.
Dark - Taking action, such as checking or betting, without seeing your
hole cards. This is also used when the person who is first to act takes
action prior to the next board card being revealed.
Dead Money - Money that has been put in the pot by people who are no
longer in contention to win the pot.
Dealer - a casino employee who deals the various games.
Drop Box - on a gaming table, the box that serves as a repository for cash,
markers, and chips.
Dominated Hand - A hand that contains 3 or fewer outs against another
hand. Example: AK dominates AQ, since AQ needs one of the remaining 3
Queens in the deck in order to beat AK. I believe this term is credited to
Abdul Jalib.
Double Up - In no-limit, winning a heads-up pot when you have gone all
in (thus, doubling your chip total).
Ducks - A pair of Twos.
Dump - To fold a hand.
Edge - the casino's advantage over the player in any game. Also known as
house edge.
EMP - An abbreviation for Early Middle Position.
EP - An abbreviation for Early Position.
EP cold - Called UTG's
Raise.
Face Cards - the king, queen or jack of each suite.
Family Pot - A pot in which many players are involved in the hand.
Fast - Used to describe playing a hand aggressively
Fish - A poor poker player, relative to their competition.
Flash - To show one or more of your cards, usually when it is not
required.
Flat Call - To call one or more bets without raising, when you are quite
sure that you have the best hand. See also
Smooth Call.
Floor - Shortened form of Floor Person; a casino employee who helps to
seat players and makes rules decisions when a dispute arises.
Flush - a hand consisting of five cards of one suit.
Fold - when a player declines a bet and drops out of the hand.
Four Of A Kind - four cards of the same
Rank. Also known as quads.
Full House - a hand consisting of a
Three Of A Kind and a pair
Forced Bet - A mandatory bet.
FPS - Fancy Play Syndrome. Playing tricky when you probably should
have played straight-forward. [personal note: I think this should also
stand for F#cking Poor Strategy]
Free Card Play - Betting or raising in late position on the flop in the hopes
that the other players will check to you on the turn, give you the option of
seeing the river card for free.
Free Ride - A round in which no one bets.
Free Roll - Having a lock on half the pot, but also having a chance to win
the whole pot. Example: Player X holds Ks-Qc, and player Y holds Kd-Qd
and the flop comes Kc-7d-4d. Both players are tied for the high hand, but
Player Y is
Free Rolling because he could win the entire pot if a diamond
comes.
Freeze Out - tournament that only ends when one person has won all of
the tournament chips.
GrannyMae - nickname for having Qs5s as your hole cards. This is
credited to long-time 2+2 forum
Poster GrannyMae.
Gutshots: A gutshot is a straight draw where only one card makes your
hand.
Gutshot Straight A straight that requires an inside card to complete.
Also known as a
Belly Buster.
Hand History - Records of games played at online sites that show all of
Hit - When the flop cards are helpful to your hand.
HL - An abbreviation for High-limit.
Hold Up - When a hand that is leading manages to win the pot at
showdown.
Hole - Your unique cards that are hidden from everyone else. Also known
as pocket.
Hooks - A pair of Jacks.
Image - The perception that other people have of your playing style.
Inside Straight - A straight that requires an inside card to complete, as
opposed to an open-ended straight. Also known as a
Belly Buster or
gutshot.
Jam - Lots of action, especially raising.
Kicker - A card used as a tie-breaker when 2 hand are nearly identical. For
example, if 2 hands contain a pair of Tens, the hand that has the highest
card in addition to the pair of Tens would win. This card is called the
Kicker. Thus, a pair of Tens with an Ace
Kicker beats a pair of Tens with a
Queen
Kicker.
Kill (or Kill Game) - A hand that is played for double-stakes based on the
previous hand meeting certain criteria.
Kill Button - A button that is placed in front of the player who is
responsible for a kill game.
Knuckle - To check (as in knocking on the table).
Kojak - Having a King and a Jack as your hole cards.
LAG - An abbreviation for Loose Aggressive.
Lay Down - To fold a hand.
Limp In - To enter the round by calling a bet, rather than raising.
Long Odds - A low probability of a certain thing happening.
Maverick - starting hand of Q-J.
Maniac - Nickname for a player that is loose-aggressive. Maniacs are
involved in too many hands and will almost always bet and
Raise when
given the opportunity, often with garbage hands. Also known as an
animal.
Marry - To become too attached to a hand, usually seeing a showdown
when it was clear that you should have folded earlier.
ML - An abbreviation for Middle-limit.
Monster - A superior hand that is unlikely to lose.
NL - An abbreviation for No limit.
Nut - The best possible type of hand, such as nut flush or nut straight;
this is not necessarily the
Absolute Nuts.
Nuts - The best possible hand, based on the board cards. Sometimes called
the
Absolute Nuts.
Offsuit - Cards that are not of the same suit.
Raise">Open Raise - Raising as the first one in the pot preflop (rather than simply
calling the bet).
Option - The choice given to the player in the
Big Blind, allowing them to
call or
Raise.
Orbit - One complete rotation around the table.
Outkicked - To lose to another hand with a better
Kicker than yours.
Outrun - To beat a hand that you were losing to on an earlier street.
Outs - Cards remaining in the deck that will help your hand win a pot.
Overcall - Calling a bet after at least one other person has already called.
Overcard -A pocket card that is higher than the highest board card.
Overpair - A pocket pair that is higher than the highest board card.
Paint - Another term for a face card.
Pass - to not bet, to fold.
Pay Off - To call a river bet when the prior action leads you to believe that
you are beat, but the pot is big enough to make the call reasonable.
Peel One Off - Deciding to see the turn or river when the odds dont quite
justify a call.
PF - An abbreviation for pre flop.
Pocket - Your unique cards that are hidden from everyone else. Also
known as hole.
Pocket Rockets - Another term for 2 aces as your hole cards.
Pop - To bet or
Raise.
Post - To pay the blind(s) when not in the
Big Blind position, often done
when first sitting at a table or when you sat out and missed your turn to
pay the blinds.
Poster - Someone who posted during the current hand.
Pot - the amount of money that accumulates in the middle of the table as
each player antes, bets, and
Raises. The pot goes to the winner of the hand.
Presto - Holding a pair of 5s as your hole cards in Texas Holdem.
Puck - button.
Push (a hand) - To play a hand aggressively.
Put - To suspect that someone has a certain hand.
Quads -
Four Of A Kind.
Rag - A card that appears useless. Also known as a blank.
Ragged - A board containing cards that dont appear helpful.
Railbird - Game observers.
Railbirds should not comment on game play.
Rainbow - A board that contains all different suits, making it impossible
for a flush on the next card.
Raise - a player
Raises by matching the previous bet and then betting
more, to increase the stake for remaining players.
Rake - the money that the casino charges for each hand of poker. It is
usually a percentage (5-10%) or flat fee that is taken from the pot after
each round of betting.
Rainbow - Three of four cards of different suits
Rank - the worth of a set of cards.
Ring Game - A game that is played for actual stakes, as opposed to a
tournament game. Also known as a live game.
Rivered - Losing a hand on the river, while you were ahead and the clear
favorite on the turn. Can also be used to describe a hand being made
using the river card.
Rock - A tight player who is normally only involved in hands in which
he/she is the heavy favorite to win. A rock will generally only bet or
Raise
with top-notch hands.
Rock Garden - A game comprised of many rocks.
Rockets - Another term for 2 aces as your hole cards.
ROI - An abbreviation for "Return on Investment".
Rounder - A professional poker player.
Rounders - A movie released in 1998 that portrays Matt Damon and
Edward Norton as poker players.
Royal Flush - an ace-high
Straight Flush; the best possible hand.
Runner-Runner - A
Come Hand that requires help from both the turn and
river in order to win. Also known as a backdoor hand.
Running Bad - Losing for a period of time.
Sandbag - Another term for
Slow Playing.
SB - An abbreviation for
Small Blind.
Scare Card - A board card that can easily turn a winning hand into a
losing hand. The classic
Scare Card example is when you hold KK and
board flops an Ace.
Scoop - Winning an entire pot, usually (but not necessarily) by having a
hand that is both the high and low hand in a split game.
Scooting - Giving someone a small amount of chips when you win a pot.
Also called horsing.
Sell a Hand - Playing a very strong hand weakly in order to disguise your
strength and keep other players from folding. Also known as slow
playing.
Semi-Bluff - A term coined by David Sklansky. To bet or
Raise with more
cards to come when you believe your hand is currently beaten, but has a
fair chance of improving into the best hand.
Session - A period of time spent playing in a poker game, normally
measured in hours.
Set -
Three Of A Kind when you hold a pair in your hand and a third shows
on the board.
Stack">Short Stack - A relatively small amount of chips (as compared to the other
players at the table). Also used to identify the player who
Side Pot - The extra pot that is created when someone goes all-in. The
person who went all-in is only eligible for the main pot, not the side
pot(s).
Singleton - a card that is the only one of its
Rank.
Slow Down - To stop playing a hand as aggressively as it was played on
earlier streets.
Slow Play - Playing a very strong hand weakly in order to disguise your
strength and keep other players from folding. Also known as
Sandbagging.
Small Bet - In a limit game, the smaller of the two bets in the betting
structure. Therefore, in a 10/20 game, each $10 bet is considered a small
bet.
Small Blind - The position one to the left of the button, who is forced to
pay a fraction (usually 1/2 or 2/3) of a
Small Bet prior to the hole cards
being dealt in Hold'em.
Smooth Call - To call one or more bets without raising, when you are
quite sure that you have the best hand. See also
Flat Call.
SNG - An abbreviation for a "Sit and Go" tournament, as opposed to a
scheduled tournament.
Spike - For the next board card to be a specific
Rank that you need to help
your hand.
Splash - Tossing your chips into the pot, rather than placing them on the
table in front of your cards. Splashing the pot is frowned upon.
Spread - For a casino or poker room to offer a certain poker game.
Stack - The amount of money you currently have at the table.
Steal - to win the pot by
Bluffing.
Steal the Blinds - Preflop open-betting from the cutoff or button in the
hopes that everyone following you will fold.
Steaming - Playing recklessly, usually as a result of a
Bad Beat (real or
perceived). Also known as
Tilt or
Tilting.
Straight - in poker, a hand consisting of five cards of consecutive
Ranks.
Straight Flush - a hand consisting of five cards of consecutive
Ranks of the
same suit.
Straddle - An optional
Raise by the person to the immediate left of the big
blind, declared before the cards are dealt. Also known as a live
Straddle,
because that same person then has the option to re-
Raise.
String Bet - A
Raise that is not done in one single motion (this is not
allowed in any casino, to my knowledge). The purpose of
String Betting is
to call a bet, quickly gauge your opponents reactions, then decide that
youd like to
Raise instead
Stuck - Losing, often in regards to a certain amount of chips.
Suck Out - To win a hand with a hand that was a heavy
Underdog. This
implies that the winner should not have been in the hand, and was very
lucky to win the pot.
Sweat - Observing all or part of a
Session that one player is involved in,
with their consent.
TA - An abbreviation for Tight Aggressive.
Table Coach - The table know-it-all who likes to tell everyone how he or
she should be playing their cards.
Tap Out - Losing all of your money.
Tells - A "tell" in poker is when you pick up on the behaviour of another
player that gives you a strong sense of the strength or weakness of their
hand.
Three-Bet - The first re-
Raise (putting 3 bets in).
Three Of A Kind - three cards of the same
Rank.
Thrips Three Of A Kind.
Throwing a Party - When several loose or amateur players are making
significant monetary contributions to the pot.
Tilt - Playing recklessly, usually as a result of a
Bad Beat (real or
perceived). Also known as steaming.
206
Trap - When one player is caught between 2 (or more) bettors /
Raisers,
and is unlikely to win the pot.
Two Pair - a hand consisting of two sets of pairs and a
Singleton.
Under the Gun - The first player to act in a given round of betting.
Underdog - A hand that is unlikely to win the pot.
Underpair - A pocket pair that is lower than the lowest board card.
Value Bet - A bet in which you wish for your opponent(s) to call. This
could be because you have the best or hand or because you have enough
outs in order make this bet profitable in the long run.
Walking Sticks - A pair of sevens.
Wheel - A 5-high straight, also known as a bicycle.
Wired Pair - Holding a pair in the hole.
Whale - a high roller.
WPT - An abbreviation for the World Poker Tour.
