A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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A
Ace High - When the highest hand you can make is an Ace with no pair.

Ace Rag - Ace with a weak kicker.

Aces Up - Two-pair where one of the pairs is aces.

Act - To check, call, fold, open bet, or raise when it is your turn.

Action - Betting, raising, and calling. A game with a lot of action is a game in which a lot of money is changing hands. These are good games to seek, because the more money moves, the more opportunity you have to win money.

Active Player - A player who is competing for a pot.

Advertise - To show a winning hand that a player would not typically play in order to get players to call future bets when holding strong cards. Example: He is normally is not a loose player, he is just advertising by showing down those bad hands.

All Blue or All Red - A flush, all blue is a club or spade flush while all red is a flush in diamonds or hearts.

All in – When a player chooses to bet all of his remaining chips (he can never win more then he risks from the remaining players)

Ante - Money placed in the pot before the hand is dealt.

Auto Blind - When playing online a button that will automatically post the small or big blinds.

B
Back Door - A hand made by using the last two cards dealt in Seven-Card Stud, Texas Hold'em, or Omaha.

Bad Beat - When a hand is lost with a hand that was heavily favored to win.

Bankroll - The money a player uses to finance his poker game, as opposed to the money he uses to live.

Bet - To put chips into the pot. Other players must either Call your bet, Raise you, or Fold.

Bet Into - To bet before another player has acted on the betting round is called "betting into" that player.

Bet the Pot - To bet an amount equal to the pot.

Big Bet - The larger bet in a fixed-limit game. For example, in a $10-$20 game, the $10 bet is the small bet and the $20 bet is the big bet.

Big Blind - In flop games, two bets are usually posted before any cards are dealt. The "small blind" by the player seated to the immediate left of the dealer and the "big blind" (usually double the small blind) by the player seated to the immediate left of the small blind.

Big Slick - A hand with an ace and a king in the hole (AK).

Blank - A card that means nothing to anyone's hand. For example, in a Hold'em game if the board is: As Ks Jd 8h, if a 3c came on the river, the 3c is considered a blank considered a blank.

Blind - An opening bet before any cards are dealt.

Bluff - A bet with a weak hand hoping that players with better hands will fold.

Board - The cards used by all the players.

Boat - or Full Boat, A Full House

Bottom Pair - A Pair consisting of the lowest card on the Flop and one of your hole cards.

Boxed Card - A card facing the opposite or wrong way in the deck.

Bring In - To "bring it in" is to make the first bet on the first round of a hand. In Seven-Card Stud, the "bring-in" is a mandatory bet made by the player with the lowest up-card in the first round of betting.

Broadway - A straight from ten to ace. This is the best possible straight.

Brush - An employee in a cardroom is sometimes referred to as the "brush".

Bump - To raise.

Burn a Card - To discard the top card from the deck, face-down. This is done between each betting round, before putting out the next community card(s). It provides security against any player recognizing or glimpsing the next card to be used on the board.

Button - At most casinos, the players themselves do not deal the cards. Therefore, a button is used to indicate who is in the dealer's seat. Except in the preflop round, the player who is on the button acts last in a round of betting.

Buy in - (1) The stack of chips that a player buys at the start of a game. (2) The cost of entering a tournament.

C
Call - To place an amount of chips in the pot equal to the previous bet. It is necessary to at least call a bet to stay in the game; the other options are to raise or fold.

Calling Station - A player who always seems to call and rarely folds.

Cap - The number of times a raise can be re-raised.

Case Card - The case (x) refers to the last card available of that rank in the deck.

Cards Speak - This is the rule that the value of your hand is determined solely by your cards. You do not have to declare your hand properly in order to claim the part of the pot you deserve.

Catch - When a draw makes a hand.

Catching Cards - Getting favorable cards.

Change Gears - To adjust play from loose to tight, or vice versa.

Chase - To stay in against a better hand, trying to draw out.

Check - Not betting on one's turn to bet.

Check-Blind (Check in the Dark) - To check without looking at one's own cards.

Check Raise - To check with the intention of raising your opponent's bet. This is a technique used to get more money into the pot (two bets instead of one), and is more effective at Limit Poker than at No Limit.

Chop - A chop essentially means to split the pot. It can be used in two situations:

1. If everyone folds to the blinds, the blinds may elect to have the blind money returned to them and proceed to the next hand.

2. A chop can refer to just splitting the pot between the players. Either the players hands are tied or the players agree to simply split the pot in half instead of seeing whose hand wins (this occurs rarely and only if the pot is very large and the players hands are of almost equivalent value).

Cold Call - Calling a bet and raise at the same time after first checking, or betting for the first time.

Collusion - Two or more players who are working together to cheat other players.

Color Up - In order to reduce the number of chips one has on the table, a player will exchange his chips for those of a greater value.

Community Cards - Also known as: Board Cards

Connected - When your hole cards are consecutive, (89, 45, etc. When someone is suited and connected they are holding consecutive cards of the same suit, (QsJs, 2d3d)

Counterfeit - Sometimes a card will come on the board that will hurt your hand because it makes previously valuable cards in your hand communal property. For example, suppose you hold A9 in a game of Texas Hold'em. The board is 5678. You hold a straight to the 9! However, if the final card on the river comes a 9, your hand is counterfeited. Now, everyone has a straight to the nine. Being counterfeited occurs a lot in Omaha Hi-Lo. Many times people's lows are counterfeited by the board. Suppose you hold AAK2. The board is 367Q. You hold the nut low (A2367). However, if the river comes a 2, you no longer hold the nut low. Your low is A2367 still. However, someone with A4 in their hand will have you beat with a low of A2346.

Cracked - To beat with a hand, typically a big hand. You will most often hear this in referral to pocket aces. For example, "this is the fourth time tonight that I've had pocket aces cracked."

Crying Call - A call made by someone who is certain they will not win the pot.

Cutoff - The seat in front of the button, i.e., the last player to act before the button does.

D
Dead Money - An inexperienced player who has virtually no shot at winning a tournament. Their chips are said to be "dead money."

Dominated - In Hold'em, a hand that is similar to another hand but has a lower kicker. For example, AQ dominates A8 because even if an ace come, AQ still has a better hand. To win, the person with A8 would need to hit an 8 without the other player hitting a queen or would need to hit a weird straight or flush. Someone whose hand is dominated has few outs and thus little chance to win.

Door Card - This is a player's first exposed 'up' card in seven card stud.

Double Up - To double the size of your chip stack on a single hand.

Double Belly Buster - A hand with two inside straight draws is a double belly buster.

Draw - Drawing means hoping to improve your hand with the cards that will come on the board. You are on a draw when you want other cards to come out on the board to complete your hand. If you have 10 9 and the flop is QJ2, you are trying to draw an eight or a king on the turn or river.

Drawing Dead – Drawing to a hand that will lose even if you hit your draw. For example, if you have a flush draw but your opponent already has a full house, you are drawing dead.

Draw Out - When someone hits a draw against you to win the hand.

E
Early Position - These are the seat in the small blind, big blind, and under the gun positions. These players have to act earlier during betting rounds after the flop.

Expectation - (1) A term referring to the amount that you hope to gain, on average, if you make a certain play. (2) The amount you expect to make at the poker table in a specific time period.

Expected Value - This is a mathematical term that is highly relevant to poker. It is how much you expect to win on a hand in the long run. For example, suppose you have a 50% chance of winning a $12 pot. Sometimes you will win $12 and sometimes you will win $0. However, your expected value is $6. The way you calculate expected value is (percentage chance of winning * pot size) Expected value is central to the concept of pot equity.

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F
Face Card - A jack, queen, or king. These are also called count cards, court cards, paint cards, and picture cards.

Family Pot - Where everyone at the table is still involved in the pot.

Feeler Bet - A small or nominal bet made in an effort to seek out the strength and/or raising tendencies of one's opponents.

Fish - A poor poker player or at least the weakest player in a given game.

Fishing - A player who stays in a game for longer than is advisable is generally "fishing" for the card(s) that will make their hand a winner.

Fixed Limit - Bets that can only be made in specified increments.

Flash - (1) To expose concealed cards. (2) To turn up a common card for everyone's use when insufficient cards are available to complete a Stud game. (3) Five cards, one of each suit plus the joker.

Flop - The first three community cards dealt at once in a game.

Flush - A hand where all five cards share the same suit.

Fold - To abandon your hand, usually because another player has made a larger bet than you are willing to call. You are unable to win the pot but at least you do not lose more money.

Four of a Kind - A poker hand consisting of four cards of the same rank and one other card.

Fourth Street -The fourth card dealt in a hand of Stud poker. In Seven-Card Stud, the second round of betting is called "fourth street" because players have four cards. In Texas Hold'em poker, "fourth street" is the fourth card on board and the third round of betting.

Free Card - You get to see an additional card without having to call or bet.

Free Roll - (1) A situation in which one player has a shot at winning the entire pot when they are tied with another player, who cannot. For instance, you have Ac-Kc and your opponent has Ad-Kh. The flop is Ks-5c-Tc. You are tied with your opponent right now, but are "free rolling", because you can win the whole pot and your opponent cannot. If no club comes, you split the pot. If it comes, you win the whole pot. (2) Tournaments with no buy-in but still contain prizes of some sort, are called "freerolls". For example, a $5000 freeroll means that the poker room is putting up $5000 in prize money for a tournament, and there is no entry fee into the tournament.

Freeze out - A tournament format whereby you cannot re-buy, your buy-in is the limit of your play.

Full House - Also known as: Boat, Full Boat. A poker hand consisting of a three-of-a-kind and a pair.

G
Gap - A missing space (card) required to connect two cards. In Texas Hold'em, a 9-7 is called a one-gapper.

Grinder - Also known as: Rounder. A grinder is the same as a rounder. These tend to be semi-professional players that make most of their money playing poker, though they do not make much money. A grinder plays in a similar fashion as a rock. Often, these players can beat lower and mid-stakes games but can not beat or make much money at the higher stakes games.

Gutshot - Also known as: Belly Buster. An inside straight draw. An example of a gutshot is to have 89JQ, aiming to hit a ten.

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H
Hand - (1) Everything that occurs after the initial shuffling of the cards: the cards are dealt, the betting is completed, a winner is declared, and the pot is pushed. (2) The cards dealt to a player.

Heads Up - A pot that is being contested by only two players.

High Card - High Card means to hold a poker hand that does not contain anything special. Someone does not hold any paired cards, a straight, or a flush. Thus, their poker hand is simply referred to their highest ranking card. A person with AKJ75 would have a high card ace, while the rest of the cards are kickers.

High Hand - The best hand in any round of poker.

Heads Up - One on one play, only two players are involved.

Hold'em - Poker game where each player receives 2 pocket cards and tries to make the best hand using these 2 cards and 5 community cards dealt to the table, bets can be made after the 2 pocket cards are dealt, after the first 3 community cards are dealt and after the 4th and 5th community cards are dealt.

Hole Cards - The card or cards unseen by the other players.

I
Ignorant End - This refers to drawing to the lower end of a straight. For example, if you hold a 45 and the flop is 679, you are drawing to a very low straight. If you hit an 8, someone with even just a ten will beat you.

Implied Odds - Similar to pot odds except it takes into account making bets in the future. Thus, you may call a bet at the flop, but have implied odds of making bigger bets on later rounds if you hit your draw. So, if you have AK of diamonds and the flop comes two diamonds, your implied odds are what you have to call at the flop compared to how large the pot will be at the end of the hand.

Improve - To draw cards that improve one's hand.

Inside Straight (Draw) - An "inside straight draw" is a draw to a straight that is missing one of the cards in the middle (as opposed to on the end). A 4578 is an inside-straight. Also called a one-gapper or a gut-shot.

J
Jackpot - A special bonus paid to the loser of a hand if his very good hand was beaten. In Hold'em, the "loser" must typically get aces full or better beaten. In some of the larger southern California card clubs, the "jackpots" have reached over $50,000. It is, of course, funded with money removed from the game as part of the rake.

K
Kicker – A kicker is the highest card that is unrelated to the type of poker hand one has. For example, someone with the hand AKKQ54 has a pair of kings with an ace kicker. Kickers are used to break ties. For example, if someone else had KKJ65, that person would have a pair of kings with jack kicker. The person with a pair of kings with ace kicker would beat the person with a Jack kicker. If two people have the same type of hand with the same type of kicker, the next highest kicker is used. For example, in a match-up between AKKJ5 versus AKKJ4, the person with AKKJ5 would win. Kickers are also used to determine who wins if both players hold a flush or straight. The highest ranking card of the flush or straight is considered the kicker. For example, if I hold AKT75 of clubs and John holds K8764 of spades, I would win because my flush is to the ace and his is only to the king. Again, if two people have the same highest kicker, the next highest kicker is used until the tie is broken. If two players hold the a flush with all the same kickers, then the pot is split between the two players.

Kill or Kill Pot - A game in which a player may place an extra bet, causing the betting limits to go up for just that hand. The player posting the bet is the "killer", and the hand is considered a "kill pot". The player is said to have "killed the pot" for the amount of the "kill". If one player wins two pots in a row in a Kill Texas Hold'em game, he is required to kill by posting a blind small bet on the next hand, with the limits doubled for that hand.

L
Late Position – These are players that act later in betting rounds. For example, the button and the player in the cutoff position are in late position.

Leak - When something is wrong with someone's playing technique or strategy.

Limit - The maximum size of the big bet in a structured limit game. Also the maximum size of a buy-in for a No Limit game.

Limit Poker - Poker with fixed bets. In a $2-4 limit game, all bets and raises are two dollars in the first two rounds (preflop and flop), and all bets and raises are four dollars in the last two rounds (turn and river).

Limp In - The calling the amount of the blind or an ante when no one has yet raised.

Live one - A fish who will call and raise a lot. A live one is a bad player who is either a calling station or a maniac. They play almost all of their hands and enjoy seeing showdowns.

Loose - A "loose" player plays more hands and holds on to them for longer periods of time.

M
Main Pot - The only pot an all-in player is eligible to win. The main pot consists of the all-in player's bet plus all other players' calls of that bet. Additional bets, placed in a side pot, are contested amongst the remaining players.

Maniac - Nickname for a player who is very aggressive. This type of player plays a lot of hand, raises frequently, and often bluffs. Often, maniacs lose a lot of money at poker.

Middle Pair - If you pair one of your pocket cards to the second highest card on the flop, you have "middle pair".

Middle Position - These are players that tend to act during the middle of a betting round. For example, in a field of 9 players, the players in the 4-6 position are players in middle position.

Misdeal - A faulty deal resulting in a re-deal.

Monster - An extremely strong hand, one that is almost certain to win the pot.

Muck – 1. (n.) The area on the table where all of the dead cards are placed. Any hand that was folded and all burned cards are placed in the muck.

2. (v.) To throw your hand away into the muck. This term is often used when another hand is shown at the showdown that beats your hand. It can also mean to fold one's hand.

N
No Limit – A betting structure in which there is no maximum bet. Players may bet as much as they want at any time.

Nuts – Also known as: Lock, Nut Hand. The best possible hand that is a guaranteed winner.

O
Offsuit - Also known as: Unsuited. A Hold'em starting hand with two cards of different suits. These hands are weaker than suited hands because of fewer flush possibilities. Offsuit hands are sometimes denoted by an 'o'; for example, 64o is read as "six-four offsuit" and refers to a hand with a six and a four of different suits.

Omaha – A game with four down cards and four board cards where you must use exactly 2 down cards and 3 board cards

Online Poker - Also known as: Internet Poker. This refers to playing poker over the internet. Online poker has boomed in recent years and allows players all over the world to compete against each other. Online poker games can be for real money or play money.

On the Come - To bet with a drawing hand before one has made a straight or flush.

One-Gap - A Texas Hold'em starting hand in which the two cards are one apart in rank, for example, J9s (64).

Open Ended - A 4-card straight draw that can be completed at either end (such as a 6-7-8-9). As opposed to an inside straight draw (such as 6-7-9-10).

Open Pair - An exposed pair in Stud.

Option - If no one raises the big blind, then the player in that position has the option to raise when their turn comes around. To remind them, the dealer will typically say something like "your option".

Outs - Cards that can improve your hand. If the flop is QJ2 and you have 10 9, you want a king or an eight to complete your straight. There are 4 kings and 4 eights in the deck, so you have 8 total outs.

Outdraw - To make a better hand than an opponent by drawing more cards.

Overcard - A card higher than any card on the board. For instance, if you have AQ and the flop comes J-7-3, you do not have a pair, but you have two "overcards".

Overpair - An overpair is a pocket pair that is higher than any card on the board. For example, if you hold pocket kings and the flop is Q97, you hold an overpair.

P
Paint Cards - A Jack, Queen, or King. There are also known as count cards, court cards, face cards, and picture cards.

Pair - Two cards of the same rank.

Pass - To not bet, or to fold.

Passive - Also known as: Weak. Someone who does not bet and raise a lot. Someone who is passive is either a rock or a calling station, depending on how much they call with bad hands.

Pay Off - To call a bet when the bettor is representing a hand that you cannot beat but the pot is sufficiently large to justify a call. For example, "he played it exactly like he made the flush, but I had top-set so I paid him off."

Play Back - To "play back" at someone is to raise after they have bet or raised.

Play the Board - In flop games like Texas Hold'em and Omaha, if your best five card hand uses the five community cards, you are "playing the board".

Playing the Rush - A poker term referring to a player who has just enjoyed a short-run of good luck, marked by winning a very large pot of money in one hand or winning several hands in close succession. If the player subsequently begins to play more loosely or more aggressively, they are said to be "playing the rush".

Position -The place of a player at the table in relation to the opener , early middle or late.

Position Bet - A "position bet" is a bet made more on the strength of one's position at the table than on the strength of one's hand. A player on the button in Texas Hold'em poker is in a good position to steal the pot, if no one else opens.

Post - To post a bet is to place your chips in the pot (or, more commonly, out in front of you so that your bet can be counted). In poker, "posting" usually means a forced bet, such as a blind.

Pot -The total money or chips on the table after all the betting is complete.

Pot Limit - A game where a player's maximum bet is the size of the pot

Pot Odds - A mathematical solution used to calculate whether or not a particular situation is worth a call. It is the ratio of the amount of money in the pot to the amount of money it will cost you to call a bet. The greater the "pot odds", the more likely you should call.

Preflop - The stage of a hold'em game when you have two cards in your hand and there are no cards on the board yet.

Protect - (1) To keep your hand or a chip on your cards. This prevents them from being fouled by a discarded hand, or accidentally "mucked" by the dealer. (2) To protect a hand is to bet/raise in an effort to make more people fold, thus reducing the chances of anyone outdrawing you.

Q
Quads - Four of a kind

R
Rabbit Hunt - When a player wins a pot without a showdown, some players want to know if they would have won had they stayed in the hand longer. To "rabbit hunt" means to ask the dealer to expose what cards would have come if the player decided to play his hand. Generally, these players want to see if they would have hit their straight, flush,etc. Rabbit hunting is frowned upon when playing poker.

Rag - A card, usually a low card, that has no apparent impact on the hand when it appears.

Ragged - A flop (or board) that does not appear to help any player very much. A flop that comes down 7d-5h-2c looks "ragged".

Railbird - A railbird is someone who watches poker games. They get their name because generally observers of poker games must stand behind a rail. Sometimes, railbirds are poker players who are broke and want to get back into the action.

Rainbow - This describes a board that is comprised entirely of different suits. For example, a flop of Ace of clubs, King of hearts, and 5 of diamonds could be described as AK5 rainbow.

Raise - After betting has opened, increasing the amount of the bet is a raise

Rake – This is the fee the poker rooms charge players. Most often, it is a percentage of the pot. For example, many poker rooms will take 5% of the pot up to $3 as a fee for hosting the game. Many times, brick and mortar casinos will simply charge players a set fee per half hour in replace of the rake. When considering a poker game to play, keep in mind how much the rake will cost you. Often, the rake may be so high in relation to the limit played that it is impossible to win money at the game in the long run.

Re-Buy - When you first sit down at a game, you buy in with a certain amount of money. "Re-buying" is when you buy more chips before you leave the game. Re-buys are permitted in some tournaments for players who fall below a certain point - usually, they are allowed to do this up until a specific sum of money, and they are often limited to a fixed number of re-buys. The time during which one may re-buy, usually lasting from the start through the early stages of the tournament, is called the "re-buy period". Tournaments with re-buys are called, generically, "re-buy tournaments".

Read - To read someone is to have a good idea of what their cards are, based on the way they play (or by spotting tells).

Re-Draw - This term is used to describe when a player who has a made hand is drawn out by another player. Then, on the river, the original player with the made hand draws another card to beat the person who drew out on him on the turn. Example: Joe's starting hand is Qs Qd and Bethany's starting hand is Ah 4h. The flop is Qh Jh 3s. Joe has a set of queens and Bethany has a flush draw.

Represent - To bet in such a way so as to indicate that you have a certain hand. Suppose the turn is a 6h. Bethany now is beating Joe with her flush. If the river comes a 3d, then Joe will hit a full house. Joe will have hit a re-draw.

Ring Game - Also known as: Cash Game. A ring game is a non-tournament poker game. This is the typical type of poker game where players buy-in and cash-out whenever they wish. The chips used at the table represent money. Thus, if a player buys in for $10 worth of chips and cashes out $50 worth of chips, he or she makes a profit of $40.

River - The last community card dealt

Rock - A player who only plays extremely good hands

Rolled-Up - In Seven-Card Stud, three of a kind on the first three cards are called rolled-up trips.

Runner - Commonly referred to as "runner-runner". It is a hand made only by catching the correct cards on both the turn and the river. For instance, "he made a runner-runner flush to beat my trips." Also see Backdoor.

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S
Scare Card - A card that, when it appears, makes a better hand more likely to probable (e.g. In Hold'em, a third suited card on the river is a scare card, because it makes a flush possible).

Second Best - The best losing hand.

Semi-Bluff - A powerful concept first discussed by David Sklansky. It is a bet or raise that you hope will not be called, but you have "outs" if it is. A "semi-bluff" may be correct when betting for value is not correct, a "pure bluff" is not correct, but the combination of the two may be a positive expectation play.

Set - Three-of-a-kind when you have two of the same rank in your hand, and there is one on the board.

Seven Card Stud - Of the games most commonly played in public cardrooms, Seven-Card Stud is probably the most well known. In this game, each player is dealt seven cards of their own: two down, four up, and a final card down. There is a round of betting after the first up-card and after each subsequent card dealt.

Short Stack - An amount of chips that numbers few in comparison to the amount other players at the table have.

Showdown - the showing of cards after the last bet has been made.

Side Money or Side Pot - The amount set aside from the main pot in table stakes, occurs when there are more than two players involved and at least one player is all-in.

Short-Handed - A game is said to be short-handed when the total amount of players falls below a certain number.

Slow Play – Also known as: Sandbagging. Slowplaying is a deceptive move. It is the opposite of bluffing. It means to check or bet weakly when one holds a strong hand. The point of the slowplay is so the competition builds a hand that will become the second best hand. Then, when the competition builds this hand, one will jam the pot with bets. For example, suppose you hold 99 and the flop comes 994. You flopped quads! However, there is little chance you would be called at this point. A good idea is to slowplay and wait for the turn or river cards to come before you start firing. Then you can bet strongly because hopefully the competition will have some sort of hand that merits them calling you down.

Small Bet - The smaller bet in a fixed-limit game. In a $10-$20 hold'em game, the $10 bet is the small bet. The small bet is used during the pre-flop and flop rounds, and the big bet is used on the turn and river betting rounds.

Small Blind - Forced half bet made before any cards are dealt

Smooth Call - To call one or more bets with a hand that is strong enough for a raise.

Snap-Off -To "snap them off" is beat someone, often a bluffer, with a hand that is not especially powerful.

Splash the Pot - To throw, rather than place, ones chips when betting. This is frowned upon because it can obscure the amount of money actually being wagered.

Split Pair - A pair in Stud, with one card in the hole and the other exposed.

Split Pot - Hands in which the pot is split between more than one player.

Spread-Limit - Betting limits in which there is a fixed minimum and maximum bet for each betting round, and any amount in between these limits may be bet.

Steal - Raising in expectation that all other players will fold

Stone Cold Nuts - The best holding possible in a hand of poker that will win the entire pot (as opposed to possibly winning only half or some fraction). Such an example would be holding a suited ace and making a flush with it on an unpaired board in Hold'Em. This is in contrast to holding an ace high straight, which even though it may not possibly be beaten, could end up in a tie with another one.

Straddle - A straddle is a blind bet made by the person under the gun. A straddle bet is equivalent to two big blinds. The person who posts the straddle gets to bet last in the preflop round. A straddle is very ill-advised in a limit game because you are unnecessarily posting a large blind bet out of position. Straddles are more common for games such as pot limit Omaha, where the straddle acts to increase the stakes of the game.

Straight - A poker hand consisting of 5 cards whose ranks form a sequence. The highest possible straight is AKQJT (Broadway) and the lowest straight is 54321 (the wheel).

Straight Flush - A poker hand consisting of 5 cards of the same suit whose ranks form a sequence. Thus, a straight flush is both a Straight and a Flush. The highest possible straight flush is AKQJT of the same suit (also called the Royal Flush). The lowest possible straight flush is 5432A of the same suit.

String Bet - In a live game, someone does a string bet if they act like they are going to call but then make a raise. For example, it is standard etiquette that putting the requisite chips for a call into the pot just means a call. If one wants to raise, he or she needs to announce raise before placing chips into the pot. They cannot say 'I call your bet...and raise you 'x.' They must say "I raise." String bets confuse players as to whether the player is calling or raising, so they are not allowed.

Structure - The format of a particular game regarding betting, including antes, blinds, and the amount that may be bet on any round. In card rooms, games are typically posted along with shorthand for the limits.

Stuck - When a player is losing, that player is said to be "stuck".

Stud - Games in which there are no community cards, the player plays only the cards in his/her hand.

Suit - Spades, hearts, diamonds, or clubs. Suit is important for determining a flush, but has no other meaning in most poker games. The suits are sometimes abbreviated as follows:
s - spades
h - hearts
d - diamonds
c - clubs
Therefore, AKh would mean Ace and King of hearts. However, sometimes the s only means suited. This usually is made clear by context.

Suited - Referring to a Hold'em starting hand with two cards of the same suit. Suited hands are better than unsuited hands because of flush possibilities. A suited hand is sometimes denoted by an 's'; for example, 98s is pronounced "Nine-eight suited" and refers to a 9 and an 8 of the same suit.

Suited Connectors - Two hole cards of the same suit that are consecutive in rank. e.g. 9 and 8 of club.

T
Table Stakes - All poker games are played table stakes. This means one can only bet what one has in front of him on the table on any given hand. Players cannot reach into their pockets and add to their bets. If a player runs out of chips in front of him in the middle of a hand, he or she is considered all-in.

Tells - Gestures or words by a player that give away the value of his/her hand

Three Bet - To "three bet" means to make the third bet in limit hold'em. For example, If person A bets, Person B raises, Person C re-raises, Person C would have three bet. It does not matter who makes the third bet. If this hand was Person A bets, Person B raises, Person A re-raises, then Person A would have three bet.

Three of a Kind - Also known as: Trips. A poker hand consisting of three cards of the same rank, and two unpaired cards.

Texas Hold'em - see Hold'em

Tight - A tight player is a player who never bets unless they hold a good hand

Tilt - A player goes on tilt when his or her emotions take over. A player on tilt no longer plays rationally and instead plays like a maniac. Often, the player just suffered a bad beat and is very upset. A player on tilt often loses a lot of money, so going on tilt needs to be avoided. However, even the best players can go on tilt at times.

Top-Pair - A pair with the highest card on the flop. If you have As-Qs, and the flop comes Qd-Th-6c, you have flopped top-pair.

Turn - Fourth Street in a 7 card poker game

U
Under the Gun - The position to the left of the big blind which acts first before board cards are dealt.

Up Card - A card that is dealt to the player face up, so that all players may see it. Upcards are used in Stud games.

V
Value Bet - Making a bet when you believe that you will win more money than you will lose by making the same type of bet in the long run.

W
Wait for the Blind - Instead of joining in the middle of a rotation, some clubs do not let a new player be dealt-in until it is their turn to put in the blind. This prevents getting "free" hands. However, some clubs allow the player to join the hand if he immediately puts up the blind.

Wheel - Also known as: Bicycle. A wheel is the poker hand A2345, the lowest possible straight.

Wired - A Pair in your starting hand.

World Poker Tour - A popular TV-show that has helped generate a great interest in poker. Every episode is one hour long and consists of the final six players remaining in the tournament. A camera is used so that the viewer can see the players' cards. It is often referred to as the WPT.

World Series of Poker - A series of poker tournaments culminating with a $10,000 buy-in, held every year in Las Vegas. It is most often referred to as WSOP.

Is there a poker term that you don't understand but is not listed here? Send an email to glossary@PotWatch.com and we will add it to our glossary.

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