Poker Glossary

Poker, like so many other pastimes and professions, has developed its own terminology. This guide includes not just common poker terms, but also those specifically related to online Poker.

• Ace-high: A hand where the highest card is an ace.
  
  
• Aces Full: A hand with 3 aces and a pair of any other value.
  
  
• Aces Up: A hand containing two pairs: a pair of aces and another pair of any other value.
  
  
• Action: A check, bet, call, fold or raise.
  
  
• Active Player: A player with chips in the pot.
  
  
• Advance Action:  To help keep the pace of the games moving nicely, we have provided advance action capabilities.  When you know what you will do next, you can use these to indicate your next action prior to the bet reaching you.  These advance action options will always present the correct options for the context of the play.  Using Advance Action buttons will help keep the pace of the game exciting.
  
  
• All-in:  When you run out of chips during a hand, but don't wish to fold, you are all-in.  This means you have the potential to win a share of the pot up to and including your last contribution to that pot.  You cannot share in any bets added beyond that point.  These bets form a side-pot.  The all-in is also used for situations where a player in a hand loses connection to the server.
  
  
• All-in Over the Top: Raising with all of your chips after an opponent's bet.
  
  
• Ante:  The small stake required from each player to participate before a hand is dealt.  The ante is used in 7 Card Stud and 7 Card Stud High/Low on our site.  In Hold'em and Omaha, a blind is used as opposed to an ante.  The ante is not part of a player's bet whereas a blind is.
  
  
• Avatar:  A term from computer gaming for an image or figure used to represent a person.
  
  
• Away-from-table:  In tournaments, you may not "sit out". Rather, you may be "away-from-table" which means your are dealt into every hand, posting blinds when your turn, and then folded when there is a raise before the flop, or a bet after the flop. When you are in a tournament and need to leave, time-out, or lose your connection, you are automatically marked as "away-from-table".
  
  
• Back Into a Hand: A situation wherein the cards you draw creates a different hand from the hand you were originally intending to make.
  
  
• Back-door Flush: A hand consisting of three cards that could formulate a flush, but the turn and river cards are still required to complete the flush.
  
  
• Back-door Straight: A hand consisting of three cards that could formulate a straight, but the turn and river cards are still required to complete the straight.
  
  
• Bad Beat:  to be a heavy favorite in a hand and lose to an opponent who was a severe underdog statistically speaking.
  
  
• Bankroll: The amount of money that a player has to wager.
  
  
• Battle of the Blinds: When everyone folds their cards in deference to the players with forced bets (i.e blinds).
  
  
• Behind: When you judge your hand to be a poor one (according to the hand rankings) before all the cards have been dealt.
  
  
• Bet for Value: A bet to increase the pot size, not to make your opponent(s) fold.
  
  
• Bet the Pot:  This term is used in pot limit games.  It means your bet matches the current amount in the pot.  If, when your turn to bet, the pot was at $217, and you bet the pot, your bet is $217.
  
  
• Big Blind:  In games using a blind to put money in play, the big blind is generally equal to the lower amount of the stakes for that game. In a $5/$10 game, the big blind is $5. The big blind follows the small blind, which is put up by the first player to the left of the dealer.
  
  
• Big Dog: A person with very low odds of winning (i.e. an underdog).
  
  
• Big Slick: Poker slang for Ace, King; a very strong starting hand.
  
  
• Blank: A card yielding no value to the player's hand.
  
  
• Blind:  This term refers to the required bets, called the small blind and the big blind used to put money into play.  The blinds are mandatory bets and rotate around the table.
  
  
• Bluff: To raise or bet a weak hand in order to make your opponent think you have a strong hand.
  
  
• Board:  The community cards in Hold'em are collectively known as the board.
  
  
• Bring-in:  In ante games, the bring-in is a mandatory bet, normally half the lower stake value.  The player with the lowest face-up card must either bet the lower stake, or the bring-in to start the hand.
  
  
• Buddy List:  A feature of our poker room allowing players to identify other players, with permission, as buddies.  Buddies will be marked to reflect which table they are playing at, making it easier for you to find the people you enjoy playing poker with.
  
  
• Burn:  In physical poker rooms, the top card of the deck is discarded prior to each round of dealing.  The intent is to minimize the risk of cheating by knowing the next card.  There is no possibility of this happening in our poker room, therefore we do not burn cards.
  
  
• Bust a Player: To eliminate a player from the game by taking all of his/her chips.
  
  
• Bust Out: When a player loses all of his/her chips and is eliminated from a tournament.
  
  
• Button:  A marker, usually disk-shaped, to indicate which player is the virtual dealer.  The button is used in games where position relative to the dealer is important.
  
  
• Buy-in:  There is a minimum chip value required to sit at any given table.  Normally the minimum is 10 times the higher stake for that game.  For some special games, that value may be higher.  The minimum value required to be seated is called the buy-in.  The amount of money you sit down in a game with.  All games have a minimum buy-in, typically 10 times the big blind.
  
  
• Call:  When a player matches the prior bet on the table, that action is termed the call.
  
  
• Cap:  The last permitted raise in a betting round is called the cap.  We allow three raises beyond the initial bet in limit games.  The third raise is the cap.
  
  
• Change Gears: When a player strategically alternates his/her play between aggressive and conservative.
  
  
• Check:  If there is no bet on the table and you do not wish to place a bet, that action is termed a check.  You may only check when there are no pending bets.
  
  
• Client:  The term for the software that you download to your computer, allowing you to interact with the poker room's servers.
  
  
• Collusion:  A form of cheating where two or more players attempt to gain an unfair advantage by sharing information.  We do not tolerate cheating.
  
  
• Come over the Top: When a player raises or re-raises another player's bet.
  
  
• Community Cards:  Face up cards on the table that are shared by all players are termed community cards.  Texas Hold'em and Omaha always have community cards.  In stud games, a community card is dealt in place of the last down card when too few cards remain in the deck for each player to receive a down card.
  
  
• Connectors: Chronologically ranked cards that can help a player form a straight.
  
  
• Dead Blind:  In a situation where you have missed your blinds and wish to re-enter the game before your turn to post the big blind.  You must post both blinds and the small blind is termed a dead blind, meaning it does not count towards calling a bet.
  
  
• Dead Hand:  A hand no longer in the game.
  
  
• Dead Man's Hand: A pair of aces and a pair of eights, thus named because Wild Bill Hickock was shot holding this very hand.
  
  
• Dead Money: Money put into the pot by a player(s) who has since folded.
  
  
• Door Card:  The first face-up card dealt with the two down cards in 7 Card Stud games.
  
  
• Double Up: A bet that results in the player ending up with twice as many chips as the amount he/she started with at the beginning of the hand.
  
  
• Down Cards:  The face-down cards dealt to a player.
  
  
• Drawing Dead:  This describes the situation when a player is trying to draw a card to complete a hand when there is already a hand that will beat it, even if made.
  
  
• Drop:  To drop your hand when you decide not to go further with your hand; to return your cards to the muck.  Same as fold.
  
  
• Early Position: A position in a round of betting that forces a player to act before the other players. This is a disadvantageous position.
  
  
• Face Down:  Dealt cards that are not visible to other players.
  
  
• Face Up:  Dealt cards that are visible to all players.
  
  
• Fifth Street:  The term for the fifth card in 7 Card Stud and the fifth board card in Hold'em.
  
  
• Fish: A poor player who tends to chase favorable outcomes that are highly unlikely.
  
  
• Flop:  In Texas Hold'em, the set of 3 face-up community cards; the first three cards on the board, all dealt at the same time.
  
  
• Flush:  Any 5 cards in one hand that are all the same suit.
  
  
• Fold:  Withdraw from further participation in the current hand.  Also see drop.
  
  
• Forced Bet:  A mandatory bet.  In certain games, a player is required to bet, having sat-in the game.  Also see bring-in.
  
  
• Four of a Kind:  A great hand ... all 4 of one rank.  For example, 4 Tens.
  
  
• Fourth Street:  The term for the fourth card in 7 Card Stud and the fourth board card in Hold'em.
  
  
• Freeroll:  This term applies to poker tournaments where the entry fee, the stakes, or both the entry fee and stakes are waived. In some non-freeroll tournaments, the house may guarantee a minimum prize pool.
  
  
• Freeze-out:  A game in which players start with a specified amount and then can buy no further chips, with the game continuing until one player has all the chips. This is a common tournament structure. Also written freezeout.
  
  
• Full House:  A hand in which you have a combination of 3 of a kind, and a pair.
  
  
• Get Full Value: To raise, bet or re-raise with the intention of achieving the maximum pot odds if you win the hand.
  
  
• Graphics:  The term for the artwork used to present you with the images of a poker room, including the table, chairs, avatars, cards, and chips.
  
  
• Gut Shot Straight Draw: A straight with the middle of the five cards missing.
  
  
• Hand:  A set of cards used by a player during a single round.  Another word for a single round of shuffling, dealing, and betting.
  
  
• Heads Up:  A game where only two players remain in contention for the pot.
  
  
• Head to Head:  A game where only two players may participate.
  
  
• High Card:  The card with the highest rank.
  
  
• High/Low:  A variation of a game where the pot is split between the best hand and the worst hand.  The worst hand is comprised of the 5 lowest cards.  Most poker rooms, including this one, consider 5, 4, 3, 2, A (the wheel) as the lowest possible hand, despite it also being a straight.
  
  
• Hold'em:  Also called Texas Hold'em.  One of the most popular poker games.  Each player gets 2 down cards and can use 3, 4 or 5 of the community cards.
  
  
• Hole Cards:  The down cards in a player's hand.
  
  
• In:  A term for being an active player; one who has not folded.
  
  
• Inside Straight:  The term applied when a player has 4 of 5 cards needed for a straight with the missing card being inside the sequence rather than at either end, and gets the missing card.  For example, a player holding 3, 4, 5, 7 needs a 6 to complete the straight.  Getting that 6 is termed "making the inside straight."
  
  
• Jackpot:  A bonus opportunity to win under specific circumstances set by the poker room.
  
  
• Jammed Pot: A pot that has been raised the maximum number of times.
  
  
• Key Hand: A hand that proves to be a turning point - for better or for worse.
  
  
• Kicker:  The term for the card used to break ties between two of a kind or between Two Pair.
  
  
• Late Position: A position in a round of betting where a player can act after most or all of the other players have acted. This is an advantageous position.
  
  
• Lay Down: Folding a strong hand in a critical situation.
  
  
• Legitimate Hand: A strong hand or hand that is not a bluff.
  
  
• Limp In: When a player enters the round by calling rather than raising a bet.
  
  
• Live Blind:  A blind that counts towards any bet you call or raise.
  
  
• Live Hand: A hand with the potential to win the pot.
  
  
• Long Odds: When a very low probability exists that something positive can result for the player based on the cards currently held.
  
  
• Loose Play: When a player continually bets with weak hands.
  
  
• Main Pot:  The initial pot of money.  When one or more players go all-in, a side pot is created for each all-in player.
  
  
• Monster: A hand with a high probability of winning.
  
  
• Muck:  As a noun, this refers to the pile of folded cards and discarded cards.  As a verb, at showdown time, the act of returning a losing hand to the dealer face-down.
  
  
• Multi-Table Tournament:  A tournament where players at more than one table compete, starting with equal numbers of chips, until one player has won all the chips. Prize payouts are a function of the number of entrants, and are posted on the tournaments page. Multi-table tournaments have a posted start time, and require registration in advance.
  
  
• No Limit:  A variation of the betting rules in which each bet is unlimited up to the number of chips a player has on the table (NL).
  
  
• Nut Flush: The best flush available within each hand
  
  
• Nuts: A hand that cannot be beaten no matter what follows.
  
  
• Odds: The probability of achieving or/not achieving a desired hand.
  
  
• Omaha:  A game in which each player receives 4 face-down cards and shares 5 community cards.  The winning hand must use exactly 2 down cards and 3 community cards.  This game also has a High/Low variant.
  
  
• Omaha High/Low:  This game allows players to compete for a pot split between the highest and the lowest hands using 2 down cards and 3 community cards.  A player may use different sets of cards to make up the best high and the best low hands.
  
  
• On a Short Stack: When a player has very few chips with which to bet.
  
  
• On the button:  This term means you are in the dealer position in Texas Hold'em and Omaha games. The dealer position is marked by a "button" with a "D" in the center.
  
  
• On Tilt: When a player bets recklessly due to frustration.
  
  
• One on One:  See head to head.
  
  
• Open Card: A card that is dealt face-up.
  
  
• Open End Straight Draw: Four consecutive cards, such as 9-10-J-Q. In this example, any 8 or King would form a straight.
  
  
• Open Pair: Two cards of the same value dealt face-up.
  
  
• Option:  This term refers to the option given the big blind player the option of raising before the flop.
  
  
• Out: A card still in the deck that is capable of improving a player's hand.
  
  
• Out of Position: When a player has the disadvantage of having to act before his/her opponent.
  
  
• Outdraw: When one player beats his or her opponent by drawing a better hand.
  
  
• Outs: Any card(s) that will turn the statistical underdog into a winner.
  
  
• Overcard:  In stud, if you assume your opponent has a pair of sevens, then every card above seven in your hand is considered an overcard.
  
  
• Over the Top: Making a large raise.
  
  
• Pair:  Also called two of a kind. This is a hand where the player's best hand is made up of 2 cards of the same rank.
  
  
• Pass:  Can be used in place of either pass or fold depending on the context.
  
  
• Play Chips:  The chips used for play money games.  Play chips have no monetary value.
  
  
• Play Fast: Betting aggressively on a hand.
  
  
• Playing the Board:  Using all the community cards in Hold'em as your best hand.
  
  
• Pocket Cards:  The term for the two down cards at the start of the hand.
  
  
• Position: Where a player sits in relation to the dealer, determining his/her place in the betting order.
  
  
• Pot:  The chips available to win in any given hand.
  
  
• Pot Limit:  A variation on betting where each player may bet up to the current amount in the pot (PL).
  
  
• Pot Odds: The amount of money in the pot vs. the amount of money it costs to continue playing.
  
  
• Protect a Hand: When a player bets in order to convince other players to fold, to reduce the risk of having their opponents outdraw them.
  
  
• Putting on the Heat: To pressure the other players by betting aggressively
  
  
• Quads: Four-of-a-kind.
  
  
• Ragged Flop: Flop cards that fail to help any players hand.
  
  
• Rake:  The amount of money, in chips, taken by the house as the service fee.
  
  
• Raise:  The act of increasing the amount bet by a prior bettor.
  
  
• Rank:  The value of a card.  The rank of the 2 of Spades is 2.  The rank of the Queen of Hearts is Queen.  Rank value increases from 2 through 10, followed in order by Jack, Queen, King, and Ace.  In High/Low games, the Ace may be used both for its high rank and as the lowest rank card.
  
  
• Rebuy:  To get more chips during a game but not during a hand that you are in.  This applies to real money and tournament play.
  
  
• Reducing:  The act of removing chips from a table and returning immediately with fewer chips.  Reducing is considered poor etiquette, and is not permitted in our poker room.
  
  
• Registration:  We ask you to select a screen name to serve as your poker room identity, a password, and to provide a location and email address to create an account.  This is your registration.
  
  
• Re-raise: To raise on top of a previous raise within the same hand.
  
  
• River:  The fifth and final community card.  This card is also known as fifth street.
  
  
• Rock: A conservative player.
  
  
• Roodles:  In private or home games, a hand or round in which the stakes are temporarily increased, usually after a "big" hand is shown down. For example, in a $5-limit game, if aces full or better appear in a showdown, the next hand or the entire next round might be played at $10-limit. Also, rangdoodles, wangdoodles.
  
  
• Round:  This refers to the dealing of a set of cards and associated betting.  For example, the dealing of the river and the bets that follow are a round.
  
  
• Rounder: A professional player who frequents high-stakes tournaments.
  
  
• Royal Flush:  The best possible high hand.  This is a straight flush from 10 through to Ace of the same suit.
  
  
• Running Bad: A phrase used to describe a player on a losing streak.
  
  
• Running Good: A phrase used to describe a player on a winning streak.
  
  
• Screen Name:  The identity you select by which you are known in the poker room.  We only allow one player to use a screen name so please understand if the one you have selected is already taken.
  
  
• See:  This is a synonym of call.  It is often used in conjunction with the term raise, as in "I'll see your $10 and raise you $10."
  
  
• Self-install:  The term used to describe how the file you download from our web site is automatically installed and configured on your computer when you double-click on the file.
  
  
• Server:  The computer, or set of computers, providing a service to client computers.  In this case the service is the poker room.
  
  
• Short Odds: When a very high probability exists that something positive can result for the player based on the cards currently held.
  
  
• Short Stack: The player with the fewest chips at the table has the short stack.
  
  
• Showdown:  After the final bet, when all players show their hands or muck, is known as the showdown.
  
  
• Side Pot:  This is a pot created when a player goes all-in.  The side pot is the pot available to those players not all-in at that point.  There can, on occasion, be more than one side pot.
  
  
• Single Table Tournament:  A poker table at which you may buy-in to a seat. All buy-in money goes to the prize pool. The prize pool is returned to the top finishers per the payout table on the tournaments page. A fee is normally required to play at this table. Players are staked to equal numbers of chips and play until one player has won all the chips. Single table tournaments begin as soon as the table has filled.
  
  
• Sit Out:  We permit you to hold your seat at a table while not participating in some hands.   Under most conditions, we limit the time you may sit out to a small number of hands.  In blind games, you may be asked to post the equivalent of the blind if you return to your seat prior to the blind reaching you.  To sit out you click a check box on the table screen.  To return, you unclick the "sit out" check box.
  
  
• Slow Roll: When a player stalls before revealing their winning hand to frustrate their opponent(s).
  
  
• Small Blind:  In Hold'em and Omaha, this is the mandatory bet required of the player to the left of the dealer.
  
  
• Speed Tournament:  A fast-paced single- or multi-table tournament where the blinds levels increase every 3 minutes.
  
  
• Stakes:  See buy-in.
  
  
• Steaming: When a player is playing recklessly due to frustration.
  
  
• Straight:  A hand in which the player has five cards in rank order.  Suit does not matter.  For example, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen.
  
  
• Straight Flush:  A straight all of the same suit.
  
  
• Structure: The schedule by which the antes and blinds (forced bets) increase.
  
  
• Stud:  The generic term for poker games where players receive the first card(s) down followed by some up cards where those up cards are exclusively for the use of that player.  There may be a further down card as in 7 Card Stud.
  
  
• Suit:  One of Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, or Spades (in rank order).
  
  
• Suited Connectors: Two consecutive cards of the same suit.
  
  
• Table Stakes:  The value of the chips with which a player sits down at a table.  Also a term for no-limit poker.
  
  
• Tell: An involuntary gesture or expression indicating the strength of your hand.
  
  
• Texas Hold'em:  The poker game where each player gets two down cards followed by five community cards face-up.
  
  
• Third Street:  The nickname for the third card in any game of Stud.
  
  
• Three of a kind:  A hand consisting three cards of the same rank.
  
  
• Tight Player: A conservative player who only plays strong hands.
  
  
• Tournament Buy-In:  The cost to enter a tournament. All buy-in money is returned to the players via the prize pool.
  
  
• Tournament Entry-Fee:  A small fee the house charges to enter a tournament.
  
  
• Trips:  A nickname for three of a kind.
  
  
• Turbo Tournament:  A lightning-paced tournament. For single tables, the blinds levels increase every 1 minute; for multi-table tournaments, every 2 minutes.
  
  
• Turn:  The nickname for the fourth community card in Hold'em and Omaha.
  
  
• Two Pair:  A hand in which the player has two pairs of cards.
  
  
• Under-raise:  This occurs when a player raises a prior bet but has to go all-in to do so.  If the player under-raising … going all-in to raise … has less than ½ of the expected raise for that betting round, the betting round is locked.  The term locked here means that any player who has already acted in the round (checked, called, or raised) may no longer raise.  They may only call or fold.  However, players who have yet to act (betting has not reached them yet) may raise the expected raise for that betting round, after calling.  If the under-raise is ½ or more than the expected raise, the lock rule does not apply.
  
  
• Up Card:  A card dealt face up, so that all players may see it.
  
  
• Wheel:  A nickname for the best low hand: 5, 4, 3, 2, A.
  
  
• Wired Pair: When two hole cards form a pair.