There are a lot of words in Poker, and sometimes it's almost impossible to understand what poker players talking about if you don't have a poker glossary. I'll try to keep the glossary up to date. If you miss something here, LMK and I shall add it to the list!
Jump to letter:
A
Action
A players turn to act
A game with lot of aggressive play is called an action game.
Ante
A forced bet all players have to post prior to the hand
All-In
A player who pushes in all of his chips by calling, betting or raising.
B
Bad beat
An unfortunate loss when the odds were strongly in your favor.
Big blind
The large forced bet mostly used in community-card games like Hold’em and Omaha.
Big slick
Nickname for the Hold’em starting hand Ace-King.
Blank
A community card that most likely didn’t help any player.
Blind
A forced bet, usually posted by the two players after the button. Mostly used in community-card games
Boat
Full house. The hand that will beat your nut flush when you get all-in on the turn and the board pairs on the river.
Broadway
A straight from ten to ace.
Bubble
The places in a tournament just below the “money”. If 20 players get a piece of the prize pool, and you finish 21th, you ended up “in the bubble”.
Button
The disc that indicates which player is the dealer.
Buy-in
A tournament-entry fee
Bring money to a cash-game, or add an already existing stack.
C
Call
Put in money equal to the latest bet or raise.
Calling station
A loose and passive player type that calls a lot but rarely bets and raises.
Cap
The last permitted bet often used in fixed-limit games.
Case
When someone has only one out, that card is called the case jack, deuce, seven etc. Common when a set is up against another set in hold’em.
Check
When you’re in a hand, and no one has made a bet yet, you can check. You don’t wager anything but are still in the hand and the action gets back to you if someone else makes a bet.
Cold call
To call more than a single bet.
Connector
A hold’em starting hand where the cards are consecutive in rank. Example: JT
Crying Call
A call made by someone who thinks he holds an inferior hand.
Cut off
The position to right of the button.
D
Draw
A hand that needs one or more specific cards on the board. Example: you hold QJ and the flop is KT4. You have a straight dra and either 9 or A gives you the nuts.
F
Family pot
A pot where all, or close to all, players at the table participate in.
Fast play
Same as aggressive play – lots of bets and raises.
Fish
A poor poker player.
Flop
The first three community cards in Hold’em and Omaha etc.
Freeroll
A tournament with no buy in.
G
Gutshot straight
A straight draw that needs a card of a specific rank to fill up.
H
Heads-up
A game or a pot with only two players.
K
Kicker
An unpaired card in a poker hand. Say that one player has AAQQ5, and another player has AAQQ6, the second player wins due to a higher kicker (6).
L
Limp
To call pre flop.
Live
A card that gives you a winning hand if it pairs.
M
Maniac
A crazy player who plays over-aggressively with big bets and bluffs.
Muck
The pile of discarded cards in the middle of the table or the act of folding.
Monster
A super-strong hand
N
No-Limit
A betting structure in which players can bet and raise any amount at any moment (bets must be bigger than the big blind or prior action).
Nuts
The best possible hand.
O
Off suit
A starting hand with two cards of different suit
Out
A card that gives you the winning hand. Example if you have a nut-flush draw on the turn, you have 9 outs to make the nuts.
Over pair
A pockt pair of higher rank than the highest community card.
P
Play the board
When players only play the community cards in Hold’em.
Pot Committed
When the pot is so large that you have to go to the river, although you might not have the best hand at the moment.
Pot limit
A betting structure in which you can bet as much as the current pot. When you raise a bet, you can raise the total amount of the prior bet plus the pot size after that.
Pot-odds
The amount of the money in the pot compared what you have to pay to continue with the hand. Say that the pot is $10 and someone bets $10, you have to call $10 in a pot of $20. The pot-odds are therefore 1:2.
Q
Quads
Four of a kind
R
Rainbow
A flop where all three cards are of different suit.
Rake
The cut that the casino deducts from the pots. In online games, the rake is usually up to 5% of the pot up to $3-$5.
Rebuy
When you lose all chips and buy new ones. In rebuy tournaments, the number of times you’re allowed to do this might be restricted.
Ring Game
Cash game
River
The fifth and last community card in Hold’em and Omaha etc.
Ruck
A tight and solid player.
Runner-runner
When you hit a backdoor draw (see backdoor)
S
Satellite
A tournament without cash prizes, instead the winners are awarded seats in bigger tournaments.
Second pair
When the you have paired the second highest card on the board.
Set
Three of a kind using a pocket pair and a pair on the board.
Showdown
When the hand is over and players expose their hole cards.
Side pot
When three or more players with different amount of chips go all in, there will be one more side pots created.
Slow play
Play a monster hand timidly to lure in opponents.
Small blind
The smaller of the two forced bets in hold’em, posted by the player to the left of the dealer.
Split pot
A pot divided by two players who hold identical hands.
Suited
A Hold’em starting hand where the cards are of the same suit
T
Tilt
An emotional state where a player has lost control of his game.
Top pair
When you have paired the highest card on the board.
Trips
Three of a kind with a pair on the board and a card of the same rank in the hole.
Turn
The fourth community card in Holdem and Omaha etc.
W
Wheel
Straight from ace to five
