The game of poker has its own slang or “poker talk.” If you are new to poker, learning the poker slang will greatly improve your knowledge of the game.
Poker Terminology & Meanings. The game of poker has its own slang or “poker talk.” If you are new to poker, learning the poker slang will greatly improve your knowledge of the game. From the small blind to the straight flush, here is a poker glossary of the important poker terms to know. Act: check, bet, raise, or fold. Poker is a popular game that’s easy to learn but difficult to master. Although it’s a card game, poker is also a game of strategy, and you'll need to constantly read the other players to decide when to fold, when to bluff, and when to call someone else’s bluff. There are many variations of poker, but Texas Hold’em is the most popular. Just like a house needs a strong foundation to last a long time, one would need sila as the foundation upon which the entire Path is built: 'Thus in this way, Ananda, skillful virtues have freedom from remorse as their purpose, freedom from remorse as their reward. Freedom from remorse has joy as its purpose, joy as its reward.
From the small blind to the straight flush, here is a poker glossary of the important poker terms to know.
Act: check, bet, raise, or fold
Action: whose turn it is, as in “Action is on you.” Also, slang for gambling, as in “He loves action.” Or a lot of betting, like “The 2/4 game at Pala has a lot of action.”
Active Player:player still in competition for a pot
Add-on: additional chips that may be purchased to “add on” to your chip stack, usually at the end of the Re-buy period, though some tourneys allow add-ons earlier and some tourneys even allow for multiple add-ons (and/or Re-buys)
All-in: a player bets all of his or her remaining chips
Bad Beat: when a player has the best of it and the odds are heavily with him or her, but gets beaten in the hand by a long-shot draw
Bankroll:the money a player has set aside to gamble with
Behind: a player who acts after another player in a betting round
Benjamin: a hundred-dollar bill (Benjamin Franklin’s portrait appears on a U.S. $100 bill)
Best of It: the player who has the odds on his or her side
Bet:money initially wagered and put into the pot (during a given betting round, subsequent betting action beyond an initial bet is termed a “raise”)
Big Blind: the larger of two forced “blind hands” in community card games like Hold’em and Omaha; the big blind is generally located two to the left of the “dealer button”
Big Hand: a really good hand
Big Slick: Ace-King hole cards (see Hole Cards)
Blank: community board card that looks like it is harmless or couldn’t really help anybody
Bluff: a bet or raise that appears to represent a good hand, when in fact the bettor has a mediocre or at best a drawing hand
Board:(see also, Community Cards) the playing surface and the community cards on the “board” that are shared by all players in games such as Hold’em and Omaha. Players use the community cards to complete their hands.
Boat:full house (aka “full boat”). three of one card, two of another. ex. JJJ99
Brick and Mortar: a casino with a physical world spatial existence (as opposed to merely online or cyberspace); some casinos, like Pala, have both a brick and mortar and an online existence.
Broadway: ace-high straight
Bubble: in a tournament, one place away from making it to the money
Busted: broke. Lost all chips and out of the tournament.
Button:(aka Dealer Button), disc that denotes which player is the “dealer” for that hand. Button position is dealt the last card and is last to act in each betting round
Buy-In:the amount of chips a player must buy in order to enter a card game. For tourneys, the buy-in is a set amount of money for a set amount of starting chips. For cashgames, buy-ins are generally expressed as minimums, but can have an optional limited or unlimited range beyond the minimum as well.
Buying the Pot: to win a pot with a bluff or semi-bluff that forces other players out
Call:to put in the amount that another player bet: “I call”
Calling Station: you bet and bet and he calls and calls; generally a weak player who calls too much but doesn’t usually bet or raise.
Case Card: last card of a given rank left in the deck… the other three are already out
Chasing: hoping an upcoming community card will “hit” to complete a so-far unmade hand
Check: to not bet when it is your turn. can say “I check” or tap on the table in a live game
Check and Raise: to check initially, but then make a raise if another player bets after your initial check
Chop:in tournament play, the last remaining players decide to split up the prizepool rather than play to the end; or, in a hand, where the end result is a tie and the pot is split up and distributed evenly to the tied players.
Community Cards:(see also, Board) the community cards on the “board” that are shared by all players in games such as Hold’em and Omaha. Players use the community cards to complete their hands.
Connectors:(see also, Suited Connectors) two or more cards in sequence; for example: 89 or 10J
Counterfeit:In Omaha Eight or Better, when the board pairs one of your low cards
Cracked: to lose a hand you were initially favored to win, as in “My Aces got cracked!”
Crying Call: a very reluctant call
Dealer:player or staff member who deals the cards out to players; however, see also, Button
Dead Man Hand: A famous hand that consists of the black eights and the black aces
Deep Stack:a tournament in which players begin with an amount of chips that is relatively high in relation to the blind or ante.
Dog:underdog. Not favored to win.
Dominated: a hand that is beaten due to shared cards. for example, A-8 is “dominated” by A-K
Draw: hand that needs additional cards to become a winning hand
Drawing Dead: when there are no cards left in the deck that will make a draw hand into a winner
Draw Poker: each player gets a set amount of cards and then can replace some of his or her cards with others dealt out from the remainder of the deck
Duck: a deuce, a 2
Early Position: approx. first third of players to act in a hand
Face Down: cards, like the hole cards, that are unexposed to other players
Face Up: exposed card that everybody can see
Fast Play: aggressive style emphasizing a lot of betting and raising
Favorite: based on odds alone, most likely hand to win
Fish: a novice or poorly-skilled player, expected to lose money
Flop: first three community cards dealt face up on the board
Flush: hand containing five cards of the same suit
Fold:to get rid of one’s cards, and in doing so forfeiting the right to any part of the pot.
Four-Flush: having four of the five cards needed for a flush… and hoping for the fifth
Free Card: a betting round where all players have checked, thus allowing the next community card to fall without anybody putting any money in the pot
Freeroll: a poker tournament in which certain qualifying players get in for free. “Freerolling” also is an expression sometimes used to describe somebody who has won a lot of chips already and is “rolling” through the game with other people’s money.
Four-of-a-Kind: Hand containing four cards of the same rank, like J J J J.
Full House: hand with two of one rank and three of another, like 9 9 J J J
Hand: the cards a poker player holds, combined with any community cards, to make the best five card combination
Head-to Head: aka “Heads Up”
Hi/Lo: type of poker where the highest hand and the lowest hand each take half the pot
Hole Cards: cards held by a player, unseen by other players
Implied Odds:what a player thinks his actual payoff will be if he hits his hand, relative to how much it will cost to play
In Front Of: a player who acts before another player
Inside Straight Draw: a draw where only one card will complete the straight, for example a hand like 6-7- – 9-10… needs an 8 to complete
Isolate: to bet and raise so as to get heads-up against a weaker hand or weaker player
Joker: a wild card, or slang for a really lucky card that came to complete a hand against odds
Kicker:unmatched card in a player’s hand that is not used except to break ties. Example, two pair 5-5 and 8-8 with A kicker beats two pair 5-5 and 8-8 with Q kicker.
Late Position: aprox. the final third of players to act in a hand
Laydown:to fold
Limit:the most that can be bet or raised at any one time (see also, Limit Poker)
Limit Poker:poker games where limits exist for betting or raising, as opposed to no-limit poker
Limp: to just call, rather than bet or raise
Live Card:a card whose rank has not yet appeared on the board (nor presumably in another hand)
Live One: a player likely to bet wildly and probably lose like a fish (see Fish)
Lock: a hand that cannot be beaten
Lock Up My Seat: a commitment to take a seat that is waiting for you
Longshot: a drawing hand that has the odds heavily against it and probably won’t be made
Look Up: to call somebody, as in “I’m gonna look you up.”
Loose: playing style that plays a lot of hands and often goes for longshots (see Longshot)
Made Hand: already solid. Don’t need to hit a draw to have a good winning hand.
Maniac:wild, loose player who bets it up with mediocre hands just to build the pot
Middle Position: aprox. the middle third of players to act in a hand
Monster: an excellent hand that is either a lock (see Lock) or at least probably won’t be beat
Muck: fold. To throw a hand away and toss it into the Muckpile. (see Muckpile) & (see Fold)
No-Limit: a player may bet any amount of chips up to and including everything he has in front of him or her
One Pair: hand containing two cards of the same rank, like Q Q
Overcard: a higher card. So a K is an “overcard” to a Q, and a Q is over a 9
Pocket Cards: see also- Hole Cards
Position: players relative position to the player who acts last; in flop games like Hold’em and Omaha, position is usually considered relative to the button
Pot:sum total of all antes, blinds, and bets put into the center of the table during a given poker hand. It is the pot for which players are competing to win.
Preflop:before the flop
Premium Starting Hands:holding among the best starting hole cards; for example, in Hold’em premium starting hands include A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and A-K, and possibly A-Q and J-J as well. Hi/Lo games also have low premium starting hands of their own, for example holding perhaps A-2-3-5 as a starting hand in Omaha Hi/Lo
Raise:adding more chips to another player’s original bet to make it more expensive for other players to continue to play for the pot
Rake:the amount of money taken out of a pot by the house (the dealer is the house’s representative in this process) as its fee for running the game; the rake is used to pay overhead, including equipment, facilities, utilities, and staff salaries
Reraise: raising another player’s raise
Ring Game: a cash game with a full table of players, usually seven or more for Stud and nine or more for Omaha or Hold’em
River: the fifth (last) community card on board
Royal Flush: an A-K-Q-J-10 of the same suit. The highest ranking hand in poker.
Satellite Tournament: a smaller stakes tourney in which the prizes are one or more entries into a more expensive major event
Set: three of a kind, consisting of a pocket pair plus a matching community card
Shorthanded: a poker game with five players or less, perhaps six or less
Showdown: final act of a poker hand
Slowplay: playing a powerful hand in a weak manner to disguise its strength and lure, or “trap,” other players into the action
Small Blind: located just to the left of the button, it is the smaller of the two forced blind bets preflop
Standard Raise: typically, three times the big blind
Steal the Blinds: bluffing to make the blinds fold
Straight: a sequence of five consecutive cards, like 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10
Straight Flush: a sequence of five consecutive cards that are all also the same suit
Suck-out:to hit a longshot draw, typically on the river
Suited Connectors: (see also, Connectors) two or more cards in sequence and of the same suit; for example: 8-9 or 10-J of Hearts
Swing:fluctuation of a player’s chip count or even overall bankroll
Table Stakes: a player can only play with the money/chips he or she has on the table in front of him or her; the player’s bet, call, or raise is limited to the number of chips he or she currently has, and the player cannot buy, borrow, or produce more chips in the middle of a hand.
Three-of-a-Kind: three cards of the same rank held in a given hand, ex.: QQQ. see also, Trips
Tournament: a competition in which all players start with the same amount of chips and play continues until one player holds all the chips
Trap: to underplay or slowplay powerful hand so as to lure other players into betting
Trips: three of a kind
Turn: the fourth community card on board, following the flop
Two Pair: a hand that contains two different pairs, like QQ and KK in the same hand
Under the Gun: the first player to act in a round of poker; preflop, under the gun is to the immediate left of the button
Value Bet: betting a hand that is perhaps not a sure thing but that over time will win more than it loses
Wheel: (aka “Bicycle”) a five-high straight: A – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5
Wired: to have a pair in the hole from the start
Now that you are familiar with all of the poker terms you can start playing poker online! Sign up today for a poker tournament to win real money!
The card game of poker has many variations, most of which were created in the United States in the mid-1900s. The standard order of play applies to most of these games, but to fully specify a poker game requires details about which hand values are used, the number of betting rounds, and exactly what cards are dealt and what other actions are taken between rounds.
Popular poker variants[edit]
The three most popular poker variants are spread in casinos and poker rooms worldwide and can be divided into the following groups:
- Draw poker: Games in which players are dealt a complete hand, hidden, and then improve it by replacing cards. The most common of these is five-card draw.
- Stud poker: Games in which each player receives a combination of face-up cards and face-down cards in multiple betting rounds. The most common of these are five-card stud and seven-card stud. These two variants are further played in other different formats.
- Community card poker: Games in which each player's incomplete hidden hand is combined with shared face-up cards. The most common of these are Texas hold 'em and Omaha hold 'em.
Here are more common rule variations:
- Lowball: The lowest hand wins the pot. There are different rules about whether or not aces count as low, and the effects of straights and flushes. The most common variants are Razz and 2-7 Triple Draw
- High-low split: the highest and lowest hands split the pot. Generally there is a qualifier for the low hand. For example, the low hand must have 5 cards with ranks of 8 or less. In most high-low games the usual rank of poker hands is observed, so that an unsuited broken straight (7-5-4-3-2) wins low (see Morehead, Official Rules of Card Games). In a variant, based on Lowball, where only the low hand wins, a straight or a flush does not matter for a low hand. So the best low hand is 5-4-3-2-A, suited or not.
- Players can pass cards to each other. An example of this would be Anaconda.
- Kill game: When a fixed limit game is played and a player wins two pots in a row, the stakes are doubled. In some split-pot games, a player winning both halves of the pot may also cause a kill. In some variants of Lowball, a player may choose to kill by placing a double bet after seeing his first two cards.
- Wild cards are added. This can range from simply making deuces wild to the 7-card stud variant named baseball.
- A twist round in which players can buy another card from the deck. If a player does not like the purchased card, the player can purchase another one by adding money to the pot. This is sometimes called a 'tittle.'
- A stripped deck may be used. Poker was first played with only 20 cards. In the spirit of poker history, players will sometimes only play with a stripped deck. A popular poker game in Spain is played with cards 8-A. It is played similar to hold'em, except that one card is dealt at a time and a player must use both hole cards.
- Roll your own is played in stud games, and allows the player to determine which of his or her cards are turned up and visible to the other players. In a game like Seven-card Stud, the 'roll' action only applies to the first 3 cards, all of which are dealt face down. Each player then determines which card to expose. Play then continues as with regular Seven-card Stud. But a game like Mexican stud applies the roll option throughout the game. Two cards are dealt face down, and the players roll one card up. The game continues just as in Five-card Stud, except the cards are dealt face down, and each player then decides which of the two down cards is exposed.[1]
Mixed poker games[edit]
Poker can be played in a mixed game format, for example one half-hour of Texas hold 'em followed by one half-hour of Seven-card stud. There are many types of mixed poker games. The most notable mixed poker variation is H.O.R.S.E. poker. H.O.R.S.E. is a mix of Texas hold 'em, Omaha high-low, Razz, Seven-card stud and Seven-card stud Eight-or-better. Each game will usually be played for a fixed number of hands or time and then the players will move on to the next game.
Other mixed games include:
Poker Silang
- H.O.S.E. – same as H.O.R.S.E., except without Razz.
- H.O.E. – same as H.O.R.S.E, except no Razz or Seven-card stud.
- H.O. – Texas hold 'em and Omaha high-low
- O.E. – Omaha high-low and Seven-card Stud Eight or better.
- H.A. – Pot limit Texas hold 'em and pot limit Omaha.
- Omaha High-low Mixed – Fixed limit Omaha and pot limit Omaha high-low
- Holdem Mixed – Fixed limit and no limit Texas hold 'em.
- Eight Game Mix – Fixed limit 2-7 Triple Draw, fixed limit Texas hold 'em, fixed limit Omaha Hi-Low Eight or better, Razz, fixed limit Seven-card stud, fixed limit Seven-card stud Hi-Low eight or better, no limit Texas hold 'em and pot limit Omaha.
- Ten Game Mix (introduced at 2011 World Series of Poker) – No limit Hold'em, fixed limit Seven-card Razz, fixed limit Hold'em, fixed limit Badugi, fixed limit Seven-card Stud, no limit 2-7 Single Draw, fixed limit Omaha Hi-Low eight or better, pot limit Omaha, fixed limit 2-7 Triple Draw and fixed limit Seven-card stud Hi-Low eight or better (played with 6 players on a table).
Specific poker variant games[edit]
Some poker games don't fit neatly into the above categories, and some have features of more than one of these categories. These variants are most often played in home games, usually as part of a dealer's choice format.
High Chicago or Low Chicago[edit]
Either of these two versions can be played in any stud high game. In High Chicago, or sometimes simply called Chicago, the player with the highest spade face down (referred to as in the hole) receives half the pot. In Low Chicago, the player with the lowest spade in the hole receives half of the pot, with the A♠ being the lowest. If the player with the highest hand also has the highest/lowest spade in the hole, then that player receives the entire pot - having won both sides of the bet.
Follow the Queen[edit]
This 7-card stud game uses a wild-card designated as whichever card is immediately dealt (exposed, or face-up) after any queen previously dealt (exposed). In the event that the final card dealt (exposed) is itself a queen, then all queens are wild. If no queens are dealt (exposed), then there are no wilds for that hand. Betting is the same as in normal 7-card stud games. Follow the Queen is a typical game variant in Dealer's Choice poker games.[2][3]
Countdown[edit]
In this 5-card game, the dealer gives each player 5 cards face down. After the first round of betting, each player may choose to replace zero to three cards. A second round of betting follows and then players may opt to replace zero to two cards. Upon completing another round of betting, each player may replace one card of the cards in their hand. After a final round of betting, any remaining players show their hands, and the highest 5 card hand wins. The cost of cards doubles each round. For example, if the dealer says each replacement card costs $10 in the first round, then each card costs $20 in the second round, and $40 in the final round. When players purchase cards to replace ones in their hand, they put the cost of the cards in the pot.[4]
This game will only work with 4 players (or fewer) otherwise you will run out of cards.
Billabong and Shanghai[edit]
Just as Oxford stud is a mixed stud/community card version of Texas hold 'em, Billabong is a mixed version of Manila. Each player is dealt two down-cards and one up-card. Low up-card starts the betting with a Bring-in if you are playing with one, otherwise high card starts the betting. Next, two community cards are dealt, followed by a second betting round, beginning with the player with the best exposed partial poker hand (counting the community cards, as in Oxford stud). Then a third community card is dealt, followed by a third betting round. Finally a fourth community card is dealt, followed by a fourth betting round and showdown. Each player plays the best five-card hand he can make from the three in his hand plus the four on the board in any combination.
Shanghai is the same game with an extra hole card, but no more than two hole cards play. That is, the game begins with each player being dealt three down-cards and one up-card; each player must discard one of his hole cards at some point during the game as determined ahead of time. The most common variation is to discard immediately as in Pineapple; the second most common is to discard just before showdown as in Tahoe.
Guts[edit]
Guts is a family of games that are cousins of poker rather than poker variants. They usually involve hands of 3 or fewer cards, ranked similarly to hands in poker, and multiple successive rounds of betting each of which consist of the decision to be 'in' or 'out', and each with its own showdown. The losers of rounds of guts generally match or double the pot, which grows rapidly.
Five-O poker[edit]
Five-O Poker is a heads-up poker variant in which both players must play five hands of five cards simultaneously. Four of the five cards in each hand are face-up. Once all five hands are down, there is a single round of betting. The winner is determined by matching each hand to the corresponding hand of the opponent. The player with the stronger poker hand in three (or more) out of the five columns, wins, unless a player folds on a bet that was made. If a player beats their opponent with all five hands, this is called a “Five-O” win.
Silage89 Poker
Chinese poker[edit]
Chinese poker is a 2-4 player poker game with thirteen cards. The idea is to make three poker hands with increasing rank : two with five cards and one with three cards. If one of the hands does not adhere to increasing rank (i.e. is mis-set), the hand is declared dead and results in some sort of penalty.
Kuhn poker[edit]
Silas Poker
Kuhn poker, using a three card deck, is more of game theory problem than an actual game people play, but it can be played by two players.[5]
See also[edit]
Poker Slang Limp
References[edit]
- ^Pagat.com: Roll Your Own
- ^Pokernews.com: Fun Home Poker Game Rules - Follow the Queen
- ^Pokerrules.net: How to Play Follow the Queen
- ^Pokerrules.net: How to Play Countdown Poker
- ^'A Parameterized Family of Equilibrium Profiles for Three-Player Kuhn Poker'(PDF).