Poker Glossary
Have you ever visited a poker table only to hear a bunch of jargon you didn't understand?
Don't let it intimidate you, though! Once you learn the most common poker terms, you'll be able to throw them around effortlessly and understand the game much better. Whenever you have some free time, you should familiarise yourself with the following common poker terms:
Action: Sometimes when a player is not paying attention, and it's his turn, the dealer will say, “Your action, sir.” It means that it's the player's turn to play.
All-in: A move when a player bets all of the chips he has on a hand.
Ante: A forced bet taken from all the players at the table before each hand begins. This is mostly common in the later stages of a big tournament. It's usually a small per cent of the big blind.
Bad Beat: A point in the game when a player bets with a lousy hand but ends up winning. This term is used to imply that the player shouldn't have bet in the first place, but he got lucky and won anyway.
Big Blind: A forced bet the player two seats to the right of the dealer has to make before each hand begins. It's to help seed the pot at the beginning of a poker hand.
Bluff: An attempt to deceive other players into thinking that you have a great hand when you really have nothing. This is usually done by putting down a big bet in an attempt to scare other players into folding their cards.
Board: The area of the table where the dealer deals the community cards. The board consists of the flop, the turn, and the river cards.
Bottom Pair: The lowest pair on the flop. If you have a four, and if a Q, A, and four come up on the flop, then you have flopped a bottom pair.
Burn: The dealer has to discard a card before dealing the next community card(s). The process is as follows: burn the top card from the deck, deal the three flop cards, gather bets from the players, burn the top card from the deck, deal the turn card, gather bets from the players, burn the top card from the deck, deal the river card, and gather bets from the player.
Buy The Pot: A strategy where a player bluffs in order to “buy” the pot. To do this, the player bluffs, hoping that the other players will fold their cards. If it works, the player automatically wins the pot.
Call: A move when one player places a bet, and another player subsequently places a bet of the same amount.
Check: If a player is still in the game but wants to bet nothing, he checks. This is usually conveyed by tapping the table with your hand.
Chip Leader: The player with the most chips at the table.
Community Card: A face-up card dealt by the dealer on the board. A community card is always a flop, turn, or river card.
Draw: A hand that could become a winning hand if the right cards come up. For example, if you have a nine and jack, and there's a seven and eight on the board, you have a straight draw. You only need a 10 to win.
Flop: The first three face-up community cards dealt by the dealer.
Heads Up: A point in the game when two players play against each other.
High Card: If none of the players at the table have a winning hand on the river, then the winner is determined by the high card. It's when the player with the highest card in the pocket wins. For example, if you have a queen and a four, and your opponent has a 10 and a nine, then you win because you have the high card: a queen.
Kicker: A card that doesn't take part in ranking a hand, but it helps break ties between hands of the same rank. For example, if you have an ace and a queen, and your opponent has an ace and a jack, and if an ace comes up in the flop, you both have a pair of aces. However, you have a queen kicker if all of the other cards on the board are lower than a queen, and you win the pot.
Muck: The pile of folded and burned cards on the board. If a player accidentally throws his card into the muck (an action that's known as “mucking one's hand”), he can't get it back.
Open-Ended Straight Draw: When a player has a hand with four subsequent cards, and he needs one more on either end to get a straight. For example, if you have a nine and jack, and a 10 and queen come up on the board, you have an open-ended straight draw. You need either an eight or a king to get a straight.
Overpair: A pocket pair that's higher than any card on the flop. For example, if you have pocket queens, and a seven, 3, and jack come up on the flop, you have an overpair.
Pocket Pair: You have a pocket pair when you're dealt a pair as your starting hand. Pocket aces is the best pocket pair you could get.
Pot: The sum of all the money bet by all the players during a single hand. The winner takes the pot.
Raise: An act in which a player raises the amount of the previous bet.
River: The final face-up card dealt by the dealer. Also known as “fifth street”.
Short Stack: A low amount of chips compared to those of other players at the table.
Side Pot: If a player runs out of chips during a hand because he has all of his chips in the pot, and if other players continue playing with their own chips, then a side pot is created for the remaining players in case the first player wins and takes the original main pot.
Small Blind: A forced bet the player one seat to the right of the dealer has to make before the deal begins. It's usually half of the big blind. It's to help seed the pot at the beginning of a poker hand.
Tell: Almost every player has a tell. It's a clue that the player subconsciously lets out about the strength of his hand. The player doesn't realise that he's doing it, but other players notice it. Some examples include blushing, rubbing the nose, staring intensely at the board, or blinking excessively.
Turn: The fourth card dealt by the dealer. Also known as “fourth street”.
