Poker Terms

Online Poker has its own language. Understanding these poker terms will aid you immensely especially if you are not so familiar with them. Understanding these online poker terms should be a great help especially when you are playing poker online.

Action - A lot of betting which takes place during the course of a hand.
Active Player - Still alive in the hand being played.
Aggressive - Player who continually raises.
All-in - Betting all of your chips in a hand.
Avatar - An image used to depict a player.
Away-from-table - In online poker you can maintain your seat at the table but don’t have to play.
Bad Beat - Losing a hand due to something unlikely occurring.
Bankroll - The amount of chips you have.
Big Blind - This is the player who sits two to the left of the dealer and has to bet whatever the Player two to the left of the dealer who is automatically required to bet the ante that round.
Big Slick – The Ace and King together.
Blank - A card which serves you no good whatsoever.
Blind - The minimum mandatory amount necessary to take part in a hand.
Bluff - Doing something which sends the other players false information about your hand.
Board - The cards which are placed on the table in Texas Hold'em and Omaha.
Boat - Another word for a Full house.
Bottom Pair - Forming a pair with the lowest of the three cards that came on the flop.
Button - The dealers’ button which signifies who the dealer is and moves to the left after every hand.
Buy-In - The amount needed to enter the tournament or sit down at the table.
Call - Matching someone else’s bet.
Calling Station - A person who constantly raises and seldom folds.
Check - Not betting but not folding. Just passing. If someone bets it will return to you whereby you have to decide whether to call, raise or fold.
Check-Raise - Checking and when someone after you bets, you raise.
Collusion - Two or more players bandy together to cheat.
Community Cards - The five cards in Omaha and Texas Hold’em which are placed face up in the middle of the table.
Down Cards - Another word for pocket of hold cards.
Drawing - Using the turn or river to try to improve your hand.
Drawing Dead - You have already lost the hand regardless of what other cards appear.
Drawing Hand - A hand which will improve with drawing such as trying to complete a flush or straight.
Early Position - One of the first players in the hand to act.
Fish - A derogatory connotation for a player of limited ability.
Flop - The first three community cards placed face up on the middle of the table in Texas Hold’em and Omaha.
Flush - Five cards of the same suit.
Fold - Ceasing to have any further part in the hand.
Free Card - A round of betting passes with no one betting so everyone gets the next card for free.
Freeroll - A poker tournaments where the entry fee is free.
Full House - A five card hand consisting of a pair and three of a kind.
Hand - The term for what a player has. Also means a round of action.
Heads Up - Playing poker when there are only two players in the hand.
High/Low - A version of Omaha and Seven Card Stud which allows for two winners to split the pot.
Hole Cards - Two cards dealt face down to everyone. Also known as pocket or down cards.
Hold’em - A poker game where each player gets 2 down cards and can use any 3,4, or 5 of the community cards.
In - Are still involved with the hand.
Inside Straight Draw - Needing one card to complete the straight such as having 8-10-J-K and needing a Queen to make it.
Kicker - Used as a tiebreakers when players have the same hand.
Late Position - Being one of the last to act in a hand.
Limit Poker - Poker where the amount you can bet is limited as it the number of times you can raise.
Limp In - Simply calling.
Longhand- A hand involving seven or more players.
Loose - A player who seldom folds and plays in a lot of hands.
Middle Pair - Making a pair in Omaha or Texas Hold’em with the middle of the three flop cards.
Muck - Conceding a hand.
Multi-Table Tournament - A poker tournament where there are lots of tables taking place at once. As people are eliminated the tables consolidate until you are left with one final table.
No Limit - Poker where you can bet as much as you want.
Nuts - Having the unbeatable hand given the cards on the table.
Odds - The chances of making your hand.
Omaha - A poker game where you try to make the best five card hand available using two of your four cards and three of the community cards.
Omaha High/Low - A version of Omaha which allows there to be a low winner as well.
On the Button – Being the last to act.
Open Ended Straight - Having two chances to make a straight such as 3-4-5-6 where a 2 or 7 will complete it.
Outs - The chances you have to complete your hand.
Overpair - Your have a pocket pair which is higher than any pair possible using the community cards.
Playing the Board - Your best available hand are the five community cards.
Pocket Cards - Your two face down cards n Texas Hold’Em. Also known as down cards or hole cards.
Position - Where your sit at the table in relation to the dealer.
Pot - The number of chips that the winner of the hand receives.
Pot Limit - A type of poker where your maximum bet is determined by the size of the pot.
Preflop - In Omaha and Texas Hold’em the time between being dealt your pocket cards and seeing the flop.
Quads - Four of a kind.
Rags - Another word for blanks.
Raise - Making a bigger bet which others have to match to stay in the hand.
Rake - The portion of each pot the house takes.
Re-buy - The ability in a tournament to get more chips during the midst of it.
Re-raise - raising another player’s raise.
Ring Game - A poker game which just goes round and round depending on a players ability to have enough chips to keep going.
River - Final community card dealt in both Omaha and Texas Hold’Em.
Round – What poker consists of.
Runner-Runner - In Omaha and/or Texas Hold’em getting cards on both the turn and river which assist you.
Satellite - A mini tournament where doing well sees you advance to another one.
Semi-Bluff - A bet which is part bluff but part genuine.
Seventh Street - The seventh and final card dealt to each player in 7 Card Stud.
Set - Pocket pairs which form three of a kind when they find another one on the board.
Shorthand- Six players or less in a poker game.
Short Stack - Having very few chips left.
Showdown -Comparing hands to see who won.
Side Pot - What happens when a person has no more chips left. A side pot is created because betting continues but the all-in player has no part in it.
Single Table Tournament - A poker tournament of just one table where the last person left wins.
Slow Playing - Trying to make your opponents think your hand isn’t as good as it is.
Small Blind - What the player to the left of the dealer must automatically do in Hold'em and Omaha.
Stealing - Winning a hand courtesy of a bluff.
Straight - 5 consecutive cards.
Straight Flush - 5 cards of the same suit, in sequence, for example: 6-7-8-9-10 all of hearts.
Tell - A clue from your opponents as to what they are holding.
Texas Hold’em - A poker game where each player must make the best five card hand from his two face down cards and five face-up community cards.
Tight - Player who always folds.
Tilt - Player who has lost control and plays accordingly.
Top Pair - Making the top pair with the highest community card.
Trips - Three of a kind.
Turn - In Omaha and/or Texas Hold’em another word for the fourth community card.
Underpair - A pocket pair lower than any of the community cards.
Under the Gun - The first player to act in a hand.

Pauline Davis - Poker Expert