|
A |
| Action |
- |
(1) Opportunity
to act. If a player appears not to realize it's his turn, the dealer will
say "Your action, sir." (2) Bets and raises. "If a third heart hits the
board and there's a lot of action, you have to assume that somebody has
made the flush." |
| Add-on |
- |
In tournaments that
are not of the freezout type, an add-on is often offered at the end of the
re-buy period. If a player chooses to purchase an add-on, he or she may
do so regardless of the current number of chips in possession and receives
a number of additional chips, usually the amount that all players started
the tournament with. |
| Aggressive action |
- |
A wager that could
enable a player to win a pot without a showdown; a bet or raise. |
| All-In |
- |
To run out of chips
while betting or calling. In table stakes games, a player may not go into
his pocket for more money during a hand. If he runs out, a side pot is created
in which he has no interest. However, he can still win the pot for which
he had the chips. Example: "Poor Bob - he made quads against the big full
house, but he was all-in on the second bet." All-in is a much more important
tactical instrument in pot- and no limit poker than it is in fixed limit.
This is because you can decide to move all in on early rounds to be able
to count all remaining cards into your draws -- some hands that are not
worth calling with for one card are profitable if two cards can be taken
at once. Moving all in also eliminates all implied odds from your opponents
and a good example of this is with AA: if you go all-in before the flop
with AA you know you will always lead. If you take a flop, flopped stronger
hands might have good implied odds. Also, in tournaments, threatening other
players to be all-in is powerful because this puts them to a decision to
either win the present pot or be eliminated from the tournament (unless
re-buys are available). |
| Ante |
- |
A small portion
of a bet contributed by each player to seed the pot at the beginning of
a Pokerhand. Most Hold'em games do not have an ante; they use "blinds" to
get initial money into the pot. |
|
B |
| Backdoor |
- |
Catching both the
turn and river card to make a drawing hand. For instance, suppose you have
As- 7s. The flop comes Ad-6c-4s. You bet and are called. The turn is the
Ts, which everybody checks, and then the river is the Js. You've made a
"backdoor" nut flush. |
| Bad beat |
- |
To have a hand that
is a large underdog beat a heavily favored hand. It is generally used to
imply that the winner of the pot had no business being in the pot at all,
and it was the wildest of luck that he managed to catch the one card in
the deck that would win the pot. We won't give any examples, you will hear
plenty of them during your Pokercareer. The word also turns up in with slightly
different in 'bad beat jackpots'. A bad beat jackpot usually is paid out
when a hand ranked better than some threshold, usually 4-of-a-kind, is beat
-- regardless of whether the person who beat it made a correct or incorrect
play. Generally, both hole cards must be used to make the hands in question
for the bad beat to be valid. The bad beat jackpot is usually distributed
with 50% of the pool to the person getting beat, 25% to the person who beat
the hand and the last 25% distributed evenly over the other players around
the table. |
| Bet |
- |
The act of placing
a wager in turn into the pot on any betting round, or the chips put into
the pot. |
| Big blind |
- |
In a game with multiple
blind bets, the largest blind. |
| Blank |
- |
A board card that
doesn't seem to affect the standings in the hand. If the flop is As-Jd-Ts,
then a turn card of 2h would be considered a blank. On the other hand, the
2s would not be. |
| Blind |
- |
A forced bet (or
partial bet) put in by one or more players before any cards are dealt. Typically,
blinds are put in by players immediately to the left of the button. See
also "Live blind." |
| Blind game |
- |
A game which utilizes
a blind. |
| Bluff |
- |
To bet without expecting
to have the best hand with the hope that all opponents will fold. A different
form of bluffing is semi-bluffing. |
| Board |
- |
All the community
cards in a hold'em game - the flop, turn, and river cards together. Example:
"There wasn't a single heart on the board." Also, the board where the waiting
list for the tables are kept. |
| Boardcard |
- |
A community card
in the center of the table, as in hold’em or Omaha. |
| Boat |
- |
Other word for "full
house" |
| Bottom pair |
- |
A pair with the
lowest card on the flop. If you have As-6s, and the flop comes Kd-Th-6c,
you have flopped bottom pair. |
| Bounty |
- |
A cash prize for
knocking players out of a tournament. Bounty tournament are not common on
the Internet. |
| Boxed card |
- |
A card that appears
faceup in the deck where all other cards are facedown. |
| Broken game |
- |
A game no longer
in action. |
| Burn |
- |
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 is security against any player
recognizing or glimpsing the next card to be used on the board. |
| Button |
- |
A white acrylic
disk to indicate who is the (nominal) dealer. Also used to refer to the
player on the button. Example: "Oh, the button raised." |
| Buy |
- |
(1) As in "buy the
pot." To bluff, hoping to "buy" the pot without being called. (2) As in
"buy the button." To bet or raise, hoping to make players between you and
the button fold, thus allowing you to act last on subsequent betting rounds.
|
| Buy-in |
- |
The minimum amount
of money required to enter any game. In the context of tournaments, the
buy-in is the amount of money that it costs to enter the tournament. In
addition to the buy-in there might or might not be re-buys and add-ons. |
|
C |
| Calling station |
- |
A weak-passive player
who calls a lot, but doesn't raise or fold much. This is the kind of player
you like to have in your game. |
| Cap |
- |
To put in the last
raise permitted on a betting round. This is typically the third or fourth
raise. Dealers in California are fond of saying "Capitola" or "Cappuccino".
|
| Case |
- |
The last card of
a certain rank in the deck. Example: "The flop came J-8-3; I've got pocket
jacks, he's got pocket 8's, and then the case eight falls on the river and
he beats my full house." |
| Center pot |
- |
The first pot created
during a poker hand. This is as opposed to one or more "side" pots that
are created if one or more players goes all-in. Also "main pot." |
| Check |
- |
(1) To not bet,
with the option to call or raise later in the betting round. Equivalent
to betting zero dollars. (2) Another word for "chip", as in poker chip.
|
| Check-raise |
- |
To check and then
raise when a player behind you bets. Occasionally you will hear people say
this is not fair or ethical poker. Piffle. Almost all casinos permit check-raising,
and it is an important poker tactic. It is particularly useful in low-limit
hold'em where you need extra strength to narrow the field when you have
the best hand. |
| Cold call |
- |
To call more than
one bet in a single action. For instance, suppose the first player to act
after the big blind raises. Now any player acting after him must call two
bets "cold." This is different from calling a single bet and then calling
a subsequent raise. |
| Come hand |
- |
A drawing hand (probably
from the craps term). E.g. as in "he was betting on the come" |
| Community cards |
- |
The cards in Hold'em
poker games that are dealt face up and are shared between all players.
|
| Complete hand |
- |
A hand that is defined
by all five cards - a straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, or straight
flush. |
| Complete the bet |
- |
To increase an all-in
bet or forced bet to a full bet in limit poker. |
| Connector |
- |
A hold'em starting
hand in which the two cards are one apart in rank. Examples: KQs, 76 |
| Counterfeit |
- |
To make your hand
less valuable because of board cards that duplicate it. Example: you have
87 and the flop comes 9-T-J, so you have a straight. Now an 8 comes on the
turn. This has counterfeited your hand and made it almost worthless.
|
| Crack |
- |
To beat a hand -
typically a big hand. You hear this most often used to apply to pocket aces:
"Third time tonight I've had pocket aces cracked." |
| Crazy Pineapple |
- |
A variation of Texas
Hold'em with the difference that three hole cards are dealt. Then, on the
flop, the players must discard one of their hole cards. |
| Cripple |
- |
As in to cripple
the deck. Meaning that you have most or all of the cards that somebody would
want to have with the current board. If you have pocket kings, and the other
two kings flop, you have crippled the deck. The term "cripple" can also
be used for someone who loses most of his or her chips in a tournament:
"after having my set of queens draw out by that gut shot I was crippled"
|
| Cut |
- |
To divide the deck
into two sections in such a manner as to change the order of the cards.
|
| Cut-card |
- |
Another term for
the card used to shield the bottom of the deck. |
|
D |
| Dead card |
- |
A card that is not
legally playable. |
| Dead hand |
- |
A hand that is not
legally playable. |
| Dead money |
- |
Chips that are taken
into the center of the pot because they are not considered part of a particular
player’s bet. Sometimes also used for referring to the buy-ins of very poor
players in tournaments. |
| Dog |
- |
Shortened form of
"Underdog". |
| Dominated hand |
- |
A hand that will
almost always lose to a better hand that people usually play. For instance,
K3 is "dominated" by KQ. With the exception of strange flops (e.g. 3-3-x,
K-3-x), it will always lose to KQ. |
| Downcards |
- |
Cards that are dealt
facedown in a stud game. |
| Draw |
- |
(1) The poker form
where players are given the opportunity to replace cards in the hand. In
some places like California, the word "draw" is used referring to draw high,
and draw low is called "lowball." (2) The act of replacing cards in the
hand. (3) The point in the deal where replacing is done is called "the draw."
|
| Draw dead |
- |
Try to make a hand
that, even if made, will not win the pot. If you're drawing to make a flush,
and your opponent already has a full house, you are "drawing dead". Of course,
this is a bad condition to be in. |
|
F |
| Facecard |
- |
A king, queen, or
jack. |
| Family Pot |
- |
A pot in which all
(or almost all) of the players call before the flop. |
| Fast |
- |
As in "play fast."
To play a hand aggressively, betting and raising as much as possible. Example:
"When you flop a set but there's a flush draw possible, you have to play
it fast." |
| Fish |
- |
A player with poor
poker skills that makes a lot of obvious mistakes. |
| Five Card Draw |
- |
The original poker
that has dwindled in popularity with the introduction of more sophisticated
forms of poker. It does however still have its dedicated followers and it
is often described as a much more physchologic game than stud and hold'em
because you have no shared information about the cards that are out.
|
| Five Card Stud |
- |
Similar to seven
card stud but with only five cards. First, one card face down and one face
up is dealt. Then, three more cards face up are dealt before showdown. A
very fast game where high cards (no pair) often win a showdown. |
| Fixed Limit |
- |
In limit poker,
any betting structure in which the amount of the bet on each particular
round is pre-set. |
| Flashed card |
- |
A card that is partially
exposed. |
| Floorperson |
- |
A casino employee
who seats players and makes decisions. In Internet poker, this is a person
that electronically oversees the games and may interact with players over
the chat. |
| Flop |
- |
The first three
community cards, put out face up, all together. |
| Flush |
- |
A poker hand consisting
of five cards of the same suit. |
| Fold |
- |
To throw a hand
away and relinquish all interest in a pot. |
| Forced bet |
- |
A required wager
to start the action on the first betting round (the normal way action begins
in a stud game). |
| Foul |
- |
A hand which may
not be played for one reason or another. A player with a foul hand may not
make any claim on any portion of the pot. Example: "He ended up with three
cards after the flop, so the dealer declared his hand foul." |
| Four of a kind |
- |
A poker hand containing
four cards of the same rank, e.g. four kings. |
| Free |
- |
A turn or river
card on which you don't have to call a bet because of play earlier in the
hand (or a reputation which you have with your opponents). For instance,
if you are on the button and raise when you flop a flush draw, your opponents
may check to you on the turn. If you make your flush on the turn, you can
bet. However, if you don't get it on the turn, you can check as well - seeing
the river card for "free." |
| Free roll |
- |
For one player to
have a shot at winning an entire pot when he is currently tied with another
player. For instance, suppose you have Ac-Qc and your opponent has Ad-Qh.
The flop is Qs-5c-Tc. You are tied with your opponent right now, but are
free rolling on him, because you can win the whole pot and he can't. If
no club comes, you split the pot with him - if it does come, you win the
whole thing. Also used to refer to tournaments that are free of charge to
enter where the prize pool is provided by the house. |
| Freezeout |
- |
A tournament in
which re-buys and add-ons are not available. Players that run out of chips
are out of the tournament. |
| Full house |
- |
A hand consisting
of three of a kind and a pair. |
|
O |
| Offsuit |
- |
A hold'em starting
hand in which the two cards are of different suits. |
| Omaha Hold'em |
- |
The second most
popular form of Hold'em pokers after Texas Hold'em. In Omaha, the players
are dealt four hole cards and must use exactly two of these to make the
best hand. Community cards are dealt identically to Texas Hold'em: a flop
with three cards, a turn card and a river card. Omaha differs from Texas
Hold'em in many ways but some of the most important differences lie in the
fact that made hands are often underdogs to draws, expecially in pot- and
no limit Omaha if all players are all in on the flop so that the turn and
river cards come out without any further betting rounds. An example of an
Omaha hand with a large number of outs: hole cards 8h9hTsJs and the board
6s Ts Kh Qh - any 7,9,J or A makes a straight and any hearts or spades makes
a flush. Now, some of the outs that a hand appears to have are often "dead",
meaning that they will make a hand that is not the best hand. For example,
the flush cards that pair the board will often give someone a full house
rendering the flush worthless. All in all, Omaha is a more complicated game
than Texas Hold'em because hands are much harder to evaluate properly. This
complexity is probably at the same time and for different players both the
appeal and the turn-off of this game. |
| One pair |
- |
A poker hand containing
one pair |
| One-gap (or semi-connector) |
- |
A hold'em starting
hand in which the two cards are two apart in rank. Examples: J9s, 64.
|
| Opener |
- |
The player who made
the first voluntary bet. |
| Opener button |
- |
A button used to
indicate who opened a particular pot in a draw game. |
| Openers |
- |
In jacks-or-better
draw, the cards held by the player who opens the pot that show the hand
qualifies to be opened. Example: You are first to bet and have a pair of
kings; the kings are called your openers. |
| Option |
- |
The choice to raise
a bet given to a player with a blind. |
| Out |
- |
A card that will
make your hand win. Normally heard in the plural. Example: "Any spade will
make my flush, so I have nine outs." |
| Outrun |
- |
To beat. Example:
"Susie outran my set when her flush card hit on the river." |
| Over card |
- |
A card higher than
any card on the board. For instance, if you have AQ and the flop comes J-7-3,
you don't have a pair, but you have two overcards. |
| Overcall |
- |
To call a bet after
one or more others players have already called. |
|
P |
| Pair |
- |
Two cards of the
same rank, e.g. two kings. |
| Pat |
- |
Not drawing any
cards in a draw game. |
| Pay off |
- |
To call a bet where
the bettor is representing a hand that you can't beat, but the pot is sufficiently
large to justify a call anyway. Example: "He played it exactly like he made
the flush, but I had top set so I paid him off." |
| Play the board |
- |
To show down a hand
in hold'em when your cards don't make a hand any better than is shown on
the board. For instance, if you have 22, and the board is 4-4-9-9-A (no
flush possible), then you must "play the board" - the best possible hand
you can make doesn't use any of your cards. Note that if you play the board,
the best you can do is to split the pot with all remaining players. Beward
also in Omaha: you never play the boards in Omaha, you have to use exactly
two cards |
| Pocket |
- |
Your unique cards
that only you can see. For instance, "He had pocket sixes" (a pair of sixes),
or "I had ace-king in the pocket." |
| Position |
- |
(1) The relation
of a player’s seat to the blinds or the button. (2) The order of acting
on a betting round or deal. If someone "has position" on someone he or she
is acting behind the player in question. |
| Post |
- |
To put in a blind
bet, generally required when you first sit down in a cardroom game. You
may also be required to post a blind if you change seats at the table in
a way that moves you away from the blinds. |
| Pot limit |
- |
The betting structure
in which a player may bet up to the amount of money in the pot whenever
it is his turn to act. Note that the pot is considered to include the call
that a raiser must make to match the previous bettor. For example, if the
pot is $100 and the bet is $50, then a raiser can raise $200. Like no-limit,
this is a very different game from limit poker. |
| Pot odds |
- |
The pot odds you
are getting for a draw or call. Example: "The pot was laying me a high enough
price, so I stayed in with my gutshot straight draw." |
| 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 invest more
money in a pot so blind money that you've already put in isn't "wasted."
Example: "He'll always protect his blinds, no matter how bad his cards are."
|
| Protection |
- |
To chase out possible
additional callers by raising or re-raising. You will sometimes hear someone
who is all in saying "thanks for the protection" when a later player raises
or re-raises his bet. |
|
R |
| Ragged |
- |
A flop (or board)
that doesn't appear to help anybody very much. A flop that came down Jd-6h-2c
would look ragged. |
| Rainbow |
- |
A flop that contains
three different suits, thus no flush can be made on the turn. Can also mean
a complete five card board that has no more than two of any suit, thus no
flush is possible. |
| Raise |
- |
To increase the
amount of a previous wager. This increase must meet certain specifications,
depending on the game, to reopen the betting and count toward a limit on
the number of raises allowed. |
| Rake |
- |
An amount of money
taken out of every pot by the dealer - this is the cardroom's income. The
fact that the card room makes money in this way, rather than acting as a
bank, is the reason why it is possible to consistently win at poker (in
contrast with e.g. Caribbean Stud or roulette). To win you must first "beat
the rake". The expected value that you have beyond the rake is your rate
of winning. |
| Rank |
- |
The numerical value
of a card (as opposed to its suit). Example: "jack," "seven." Can also be
used in the context of listings of comparative hand strengths which is sometimes
called a "hand ranking." |
| Re-buy |
- |
If a tournament
is not of the freezeout type, players who run out of chips or fall below
a threshold amount (usually the amount you got when you entered) may buy
additional chips and stay in the tournament. Re-buys are usually allowed
only during the first hour or so of a tournament. |
| Represent |
- |
To play as if you
hold a certain hand. For instance, if you raised before the flop, and then
raised again when the flop came ace high, you would be representing at least
an ace with a good kicker. |
| Reraise |
- |
To raise someone’s
raise. |
| Ring game |
- |
A regular poker
game as opposed to a tournament. Also referred to as a "live" game since
actual money is in play instead of tournament chips. |
| River |
- |
The fifth and final
community card, put out face up, by itself. Also known as "fifth street".
Metaphors involving the river are some of poker's most treasured cliches
- e.g. "He drowned in the river." It appears as if the river card is the
card that makes and breaks the most hands and this is also true simply because
it is the card that "interacts" with the highest number of previous card
(since it is the last one). |
| Rock |
- |
A player who plays
very tight, not very creatively. He raises only with the best hands. A real
rock is fairly predictable - if he raises you on the end, you can throw
away just about anything but the nuts. A game filled with rocks is sometimes
referred to as a "rock garden." |
| Royal flush |
- |
Straigh flush to
the ace. The best possible hand in poker. |
| Runner |
- |
Typically said "runner-runner"
to describe a hand which was made only by catching the correct cards on
both the turn and the river - "He made a runner-runner flush to beat my
trips." See also "Backdoor." |
|
S |
| Sandbag |
- |
See check-raise |
| Scandinavian Stud
(Sökö) |
- |
Very similar to
five card stud with the difference that 4-card flushes and 4-card straights
count. 4-flush beats 4-straight and both beat one pair. |
| Scare card |
- |
A card which may
well turn the best hand into trash. If you have Tc-8c and the flop comes
Qd- Jd-9s, you almost assuredly have the best hand. However, a turn card
of Td would be very scary because it would almost guarantee that you are
now beaten. |
| Scoop |
- |
To win both the
high and the low portions of a pot in a split-pot game. |
| Second pair |
- |
A pair with the
second highest card on the flop. If you have As-Ts, and the flop comes Kd-Th-6c,
you have flopped second pair. |
| Sell |
- |
To give away your
hand by exhibiting a suspicious betting pattern. |
| 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 some 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 rank in your hand, and there is one on the board.
|
| Setup |
- |
Two new decks, each
with different colored backs, to replace the current decks. |
| Seven Card Stud |
- |
The most popular
of the stud poker variations. Players are first dealt two cards facing down
and one card facing up. Then, three more face-up cards are dealt with betting
rounds between and finally a face down card makes the seventh and last card
to be dealt. The winner in a showdown is the player that can make the best
five-card combination from his or her seven cards. The game differs from
Hold'em in many ways and maybe the most important difference is that a lot
more information is available in stud about which cards that remain in the
deck, e.g. a draw will not always have the same number of outs. |
| Ship it |
- |
Gloating exclamation
sometimes made when a player is dead sure that his hand is the winner even
if it is not the nuts. |
| Short buy |
- |
A buy-in that is
less than the required minimum buy-in. |
| Short stack |
- |
A number of chips
that is not very many compared to the other players at the table. If you
have $10 in front of you, and everybody else at the table has over $100,
you are playing on a short stack. |
| Showdown |
- |
The point at which
all players remaining in the hand turn their cards over and determine who
has the best hand - i.e. after the fourth round of betting is completed.
Of course, if a final bet or raise is not called, there is no showdown.
|
| Shuffle |
- |
The act of mixing
the cards before a hand. |
| Side pot |
- |
A pot created in
which a player has no interest because he has run out of chips. Example:
Al bets $6, Beth calls the $6, and Carl calls, but he has only $2 left.
An $8 side pot is created that either Al or Beth can win, but not Carl.
Furthermore, any more bets that Al and Beth make go into that side pot.
Carl, however, can still win all the money in the original or "center" pot.
|
| Sit'n Go |
- |
Refers to small
Internet tournaments that do not start at some specific time but instead
when some number of players have registered. The most common form of sit'n
go tournaments are the single-table tournaments found in most Internet poker
rooms. Multi table sit'n go's also exist, for example on PokerStars and
PartyPoker. |
| Slow play |
- |
To play a strong
hand weakly so more players will stay in the pot. |
| Slow roll |
- |
To delay before
showing the winning hand at river with the intent of making the opponent
think he or she won the pot. Slow rolling is generally seen as very rude
behavior. (Author's note: acceptable only if your opponent has exclaimed
"ship it") |
| Small blind |
- |
In a game with multiple
blind bets, the smallest blind. |
| Split pot |
- |
A pot which is shared
by two or more players because they have equivalent hands. |
| Split two pair |
- |
A two pair hand
in which one of each of your cards' ranks appears on the board as well.
Example: you have T9, the flop is T-9-5, you have a split two pair. This
is in comparison to two pair where there is a pair on the board. Example:
you have T9, the flop is 9-5-5. |
| Spread limit |
- |
A betting structure
in which a player may bet any amount in a range on every betting round.
A typical spread limit structure is $2-$6, where a player may bet as little
as $2 or as much as $6 on every betting round. |
| Stack |
- |
Chips in front of
a player. |
| Straddle |
- |
An optional extra
blind bet, typically made by the player one to the left of the big blind,
equal to twice the big blind. This is effectively a raise, and forces any
player who wants to play to pay two bets. Furthermore, the straddler acts
last before the flop, and may "re-raise." |
| Straight |
- |
Five cards in consecutive
rank. |
| Straight flush |
- |
Five cards in consecutive
rank of the same suit. |
| Street |
- |
Cards dealt on a
particular round. For instance, in stud games, the fourth card in a player’s
hand is often known as fourth street, the sixth card as sixth street, and
so on. In hold'em games, the turn card is sometimes called "fourth street"
and the river card is called "fifth street". |
| String bet |
- |
A bet (more typically
a raise) in which a player doesn't get all the chips required for the raise
into the pot in one motion. Unless he verbally declared the raise, he can
be forced to withdraw it and just call. This prevents the unethical play
of putting out enough chips to call, seeing what effect that had, and then
possibly raising. |
| Structured |
- |
Used to apply to
a certain betting structure in "flop" games such as hold'em. The typical
definition of a structured game is a fixed amount for bets and raises before
the flop and on the flop, and then twice that amount on the turn and river.
Example: a $2-$4 structured hold'em game - bets and raises of $2 before
the flop and on the flop; $4 bets and raises on the turn and river. |
| Stub |
- |
The portion of the
deck which has not been dealt. |
| Stud |
- |
Stud games are poker
games where no community cards are used. Some cards are visible to all players
and others are not. |
| Suited |
- |
A hold'em starting
hand in which the two cards are the same suit. Example: "I had to play J-3
- it was suited." |
| Supervisor |
- |
A cardroom employee
qualified to make rulings, such as a floorperson, shift supervisor, or the
cardroom manager. |
|
T |
| Table Stakes |
- |
A rule in a Poker
game meaning that a player may not go into his pocket for money during a
hand. He may only invest the amount of money in front of him into the current
pot. If he runs out of chips during the hand, a side pot is created in which
he has no interest. All casino Pokeris played table stakes. The definition
sometimes also includes the rule that a player may not remove chips from
the table during a game. While this rule might not be referred to as "table
stakes", it is enforced almost universally in public Pokergames. |
| Tell |
- |
A clue or hint that
a player unknowingly gives about the strength of his hand, his next action,
etc. May originally be from "telegraph" or the obvious use that he "tells"
you what he's going to do before he does it. |
| Texas Hold'em |
- |
The by far most
widely play poker variation in the world. Players are dealt two hole cards
and they may use none, one or both of this to make a hand. Community cards
are dealt as follows: first the flop containing three cards, then the river
card and last the river card. The popularity of the game reflects its elegant
properties which is nicely summed up in the cliché that has it that it "takes
a minute to learn and a life time to master". |
| Three of a kind |
- |
Three cards of the
same rank, e.g. three kings. |
| Tilt |
- |
To play wildly or
recklessly. A player is said to be "on tilt" if he is not playing his best,
playing too many hands, trying wild bluffs, raising with bad hands, etc.
|
| Time |
- |
(1) A request by
a player to suspend play while he decides what he's going to do. Simply,
"Time please!" If a player doesn't request time and there is a substantial
amount of action behind him, the dealer may rule that the player has folded.
(2) An amount of money collected either on the button or every half hour
by the cardroom. This is another way for the house to make its money (see
"rake"). |
| Toke |
- |
A small amount of
money (typically $.50 or $1.00) given to the dealer by the winner of a pot.
Quite often, tokes represent the great majority of a dealer's income.
|
| 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. |
| Trips |
- |
Three of a kind.
|
| Turn |
- |
The fourth community
card. Put out face up, by itself. Also known as "fourth street." |
| Two pairs |
- |
A poker hand containing
two pairs. |
Discussing poker with experienced players or taking part in chat on poker tables on the Internet can be confusing before you know the lingo. A wealth of terms exists and while they make information exchange between players concise they can also make conversations virtually impossible to understand for novices. In the articles published here and in the forum you are likely to encounter a lot of these terms.
