Poker talk is dense. A single hand can be described in a sentence that sounds like code to anyone outside the game, and most beginners pick the words up the slow way, by guessing. This glossary shortcuts that. Each entry is one or two lines, written for someone who knows how a hand is dealt but not yet what the regulars are saying about it.
Where a word opens a bigger idea - equity, position, pot odds - the entry points to the full guide or to a free game where you can see it happen. Jump to a letter below, or search the page with your browser.
A
- Action
- Any bet, raise or call - or simply your turn to act. "The action is on you" means everyone is waiting for your decision.
- All-in
- Putting every chip you have in front of you into the pot. You cannot be forced out of a hand you are all-in on; extra betting goes into a side pot. All-in or Fold game
- Ante
- A small forced bet from every player before the deal, common in tournaments from the middle levels onwards and in Stud. In Three Card Poker it is the opening wager against the dealer.
B
- Backdoor
- A draw that needs both the turn and the river, such as three hearts on the flop that need two more. Worth roughly 4% for a flush.
- Bad beat
- Losing a hand you were a big favourite to win when the money went in. Part of the game; the long run pays for them.
- Bankroll
- The money set aside only for poker, sized so a normal losing run cannot end your game. bankroll guide
- Big blind
- The larger of the two forced bets, posted two seats left of the button. Stack sizes are usually measured in big blinds (bb).
- Blinds
- The two forced bets that start the pot in Hold'em and Omaha, so every hand has something to play for.
- Bluff
- A bet or raise with a hand that expects to lose at showdown, made to win the pot by getting better hands to fold.
- Board
- The community cards in the middle of the table, shared by every player in the hand.
- Broadway
- The ace-high straight, A-K-Q-J-10. "Broadway cards" are the tens through aces.
- Bubble
- The last place in a tournament that pays nothing. Play tightens sharply as the bubble nears.
- Button
- The dealer position, marked by a disc. The button acts last on every street after the flop, which makes it the best seat. position guide
- Buy-in
- The price of a tournament seat, or the chips you take to a cash table.
C
- Call
- Matching the current bet to stay in the hand.
- Calling station
- A player who calls far too often and rarely raises or folds. Value-bet them; do not bluff them.
- Cash game
- A game where chips equal money, blinds never rise and you can leave at any time. The opposite of a tournament.
- Check
- Passing the action without betting, allowed only when nobody has bet on the current street.
- Check-raise
- Checking, then raising after an opponent bets. A strong move that punishes automatic bets.
- Chop
- Splitting a pot, either because hands tie or because players agree to share it.
- Coin flip
- An all-in that is close to 50/50, classically a pair against two higher cards, such as 88 against A-K.
- Combo
- One specific way to hold a starting hand. A pocket pair has 6 combos, a suited hand 4, an offsuit hand 12. starting hands chart
- Continuation bet
- A bet on the flop by the player who raised before the flop, continuing the story of a strong hand. Often shortened to c-bet.
- Cooler
- A hand where both players hold something strong and the loser could not reasonably get away, such as kings against aces.
- Cutoff
- The seat directly to the right of the button, the second-best position at the table.
D
- Dead money
- Chips in the pot from players who have folded, or a player in a tournament with little chance of winning.
- Donk bet
- Leading into the pre-flop raiser from out of position. Once a mark of a weak player, now a deliberate tool in some spots.
- Draw
- A hand that needs more cards to become strong, such as four to a flush. outs and equity
- Drawing dead
- Needing cards that cannot win, because even your best outcome still loses.
E
- Equity
- Your share of the pot if the hand were played out many times from this point: a 40% chance to win means 40% equity. odds calculator
- Expected value (EV)
- The average result of a decision over many repetitions. A +EV play earns money in the long run even when it loses today. implied odds and EV
F
- Fast-fold
- A cash format that moves you to a new table and a new hand the moment you fold.
- Fish
- Table slang for a weak player. Not a word to use out loud at the table.
- Flop
- The first three community cards, dealt face up after the first betting round.
- Flush
- Five cards of one suit. Beats a straight, loses to a full house. hand rankings
- Fold
- Giving up the hand and any chips already in the pot.
- Fold equity
- The extra value a bet gains from the chance that your opponent folds.
- Freeroll
- A tournament with no entry fee, or a hand where you cannot lose but might win more.
- Full ring
- A table of nine or ten players. Ranges are tighter than at six-handed tables.
G
- Gutshot
- An inside straight draw, needing one card in the middle, such as 9-8-6-5 needing a seven. Four outs.
H
- Heads-up
- Two players in a hand, or a match between only two players.
- Hero call
- A call with a weak hand made because you believe your opponent is bluffing.
- Hole cards
- Your private cards, dealt face down. Two in Hold'em, four in Omaha.
I
- ICM
- The Independent Chip Model, a way to convert tournament chips into prize money. It explains why survival matters more near the money. push/fold chart
- Implied odds
- The money you expect to win on later streets if your draw hits, added to the current pot when pricing a call. implied odds and EV
K
- Kicker
- The highest unpaired card that breaks ties between equal hands. A-K beats A-Q on an ace-high board because of the kicker. hand rankings
L
- Limp
- Calling the big blind before the flop instead of raising. Usually a weak habit.
- Limit
- A betting structure with fixed bet and raise sizes on every street, as opposed to no-limit or pot-limit.
M
- Muck
- The pile of discarded cards, or the act of folding your hand without showing it.
N
- Nit
- A very tight, cautious player who only continues with strong hands.
- No-limit
- A structure where you may bet any amount up to your whole stack at any time. The standard Hold'em format. Hold'em rules
- Nuts
- The best possible hand given the board. "The second nuts" is the next best.
O
- Offsuit
- Two hole cards of different suits, written with an "o": AKo.
- Open-ended
- A straight draw that can complete at either end, such as 9-8-7-6. Eight outs.
- Outs
- The cards left in the deck that improve your hand to a likely winner. outs and equity
- Overpair
- A pocket pair higher than every card on the board, such as QQ on 9-6-2.
P
- Position
- Where you sit relative to the button, which decides the order you act in. Acting last is an advantage on every street. position guide
- Pot odds
- The ratio between the pot and the price of a call. They tell you the equity you need to call profitably. pot odds guide
- Pot-limit
- A structure where the largest bet allowed is the size of the pot. The standard for Omaha. Omaha rules
R
- Rake
- The fee a card room takes from each pot or tournament entry.
- Range
- Every hand a player could hold in a given spot. Good players think in ranges, not single hands.
- Re-raise
- A raise on top of an earlier raise. Before the flop, the first re-raise is called a 3-bet.
- River
- The fifth and final community card, followed by the last betting round.
- Rule of 2 and 4
- A shortcut for equity: outs times four on the flop (two cards to come), outs times two on the turn. outs and equity
S
- Semi-bluff
- A bet with a draw: it can win now if they fold, or later if the draw hits.
- Set
- Three of a kind made with a pocket pair plus one matching board card. "Trips" is the same hand made with one hole card and a pair on the board.
- Short stack
- A stack with few big blinds, usually under 20. Short stacks play push-or-fold. push/fold chart
- Showdown
- The moment after the last bet when remaining hands are revealed and the best one wins. showdown trainer
- Side pot
- A separate pot for extra bets once a player is all-in. The all-in player can only win the main pot.
- Slow play
- Checking or calling with a very strong hand to hide its strength and build the pot later.
- Small blind
- The smaller forced bet, posted directly left of the button. It acts first after the flop, the worst seat at the table.
- Split pot
- A pot shared between two or more players with equal hands, or between the high and low hands in Hi-Lo games.
- Straddle
- An optional blind bet, usually twice the big blind, posted before the deal to buy the last action before the flop.
- Street
- One betting round: pre-flop, flop, turn and river are the four streets of Hold'em.
- Suited
- Two hole cards of the same suit, written with an "s": AKs. Suitedness adds only a few percent of equity. starting hands chart
T
- Tell
- A habit that gives away information about a hand - a timing pattern online, a physical change live. bluffing and tells
- Tilt
- Playing worse because of frustration, usually after a bad beat. The costliest leak in poker. bankroll guide
- Turn
- The fourth community card, also called fourth street.
U
- Under the gun (UTG)
- The first seat to act before the flop, directly left of the big blind. It needs the tightest range. position guide
V
- Value bet
- A bet made to be called by worse hands. The main way winning players make money.
- Variance
- The natural swing of results around a player's true win rate. Large even for strong players.
W
- Wheel
- The lowest straight, 5-4-3-2-A. hand rankings
Three words worth learning first
If you only take three terms to your next session, make them position, pot odds and range. Position decides how much information you have when you act, and a hand that is a fold under the gun can be an easy raise on the button. Pot odds turn every call into a price you can compare with your chance of winning, which ends most of the guesswork on draws. Range is the habit of picturing everything an opponent could hold instead of fixing on one hand, and it is the single biggest difference between how beginners and regulars think.
The fastest way to make any of these stick is to use them. Sit at the free Hold'em table and name the street, your position and the price of each call as you play; within an evening the vocabulary stops being vocabulary. For the rules behind the words, the Texas Hold'em rules walk through a full hand, and the hand rankings chart settles every showdown question.
One caution on slang. Words like fish, donk and nit are fine in a forum and rude at a live table. The game has its own manners, and the players who last tend to keep the nicknames in their heads.