Learn applicable poker vocabulary and you will gain valuable information together with great financial prizes.

Use this smart poker vocabulary guide to enlarge your winning chances at online poker.

A

Action: a fold, check, call, bet, or raise.
Active Player: a player still involved in a hand.
All-In: to run out of chips while betting or calling.
All Pink: a flush containing either diamonds or hearts.
Ante: a prescribed amount posted before the start of a hand by all players.

B

Back Door:to make a hand that the player was not drawing at.
Bad Beat:a hand being beat by another hand that had a very low percentage of becoming a winning hand.
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: a full first round bet.
Blank:a card that has little value to the hand.
Bluff: a bet or raise with a hand that is unlikely to beat the other players.
Board: all the community cards face up on the table common to each of the hands.
Bottom Pair: a pair with the lowest card on the board.
Burn: to discard the top card from the deck, face down.
Button: a white acrylic disk that indicates the dealer, also used to refer to the player on the button.
Buy-In: the minimum amount of money required to enter any game.

C

Call: to put into the pot an amount of money equal to the most recent bet or raise.
Cap: to put in the last raise permitted on a betting round.
Check: to not bet, with the option to call or raise later in the betting round or another word for chip.
Check-Raise: to check and then raise when a player behind you bets.
Clean Out: a card that would almost certainly make your hand best.
Cold Call: to call a bet or multiple bets for the first time in a round.
Counterfeit: to make your hand less valuable because of board cards that duplicate it.
Crack: to beat a typically big hand.
Cut: to divide the deck into two sections in such a manner as to change the order of the cards.

D

Dead Card: illegal card.
Dead Money: a player in a tournament who has no realistic chances of winning.
Deck: a set of playing cards, 52 or 53 depends on the game.
Draw: to play a hand that is not yet good, but could become so if the right cards come.
Drawing Dead: to make a hand that, even if made, will not win the pot.
Dominated Hand: a hand that will almost always lose to a better hand.

E

Early Position: a position in which you must act before most of the players do.
Equity: your "rightful" share of a pot.
Expectation: the amount you expect to gain on average if you make a certain play.

F

Family Pot: a pot in which all of the players call before the flop.
Fast Play: an aggressive betting or raising as much as possible.
Fish: a poor player who gives his money away.
Flop: the first three community cards, put out face up, all together.
Fold Equity: extra value you get from a hand when you force an opponent to fold.
Foul: a hand that may not be played for one reason or another.
Freeroll: a chance to win something at no risk or cost.

G

Gallery: nonplaying spectators.
Gap Hand: a starting hand with cards more than one rank apart.
Grinding: playing in a style with minimal risk and modest gains over a long period of time.
Gut Shot: to draw to and/or hit an inside straight.

H

Heads-Up Play: only two players involved in play.
Hit: the flop containing cards that help your hand.
House: the establishment running the game.

I

Implied Odds: pot odds that do not exist at the moment, but may be included in your calculations.
Insurance: a side agreement when someone is all-in for a player in a pot to put up money that guarantees a payoff of a set amount in case the opponent wins the pot.

J

Jackpot: a prize fund awarded to a player who meets a set of predetermined requirements.
Jam: a pot where several players are raising.
Joker: the joker is a partially wild card in high draw poker and ace-to-five lowball. In high, it is used for aces, straights, and flushes. In lowball, the joker is the lowest unmatched rank in a hand.

K

Key Hand: in a session or tournament, the one hand that ends up being a turning point for the player, either for better or worse.
Kicker: an unpaired card used to determine the better of two near-equivalent hands.
Kojak: a hand that contains a K-J.
Komodo Dragoned: when a players hand is defeated because of an opponent completing a straight or flush on the river.

L

Leak: a weakness in your game that causes you to win less money than you would otherwise.
Limp: to enter the pot by calling rather than raising.
Live Blind: a forced bet put in by one or more players before any cards are dealt.
Lock-Up: a chip marker that holds a seat for a player.
Loose: playing more hands than normal.
Loose Game: a game with a lot of players in most hands.
Lowball: a game where the lowest hand wins.
Lowcard: the lowest upcard at seven-card stud, which is required to bet.

M

Maniac: an aggressive player who raises and bets a lot.
Made Hand: a good hand.
Micro-Limit: small games, which exist only at online poker sites.
Muck: the pile of folded and burned cards in front of the dealer.
Middle Pair: pairing the second highest card on the board.
Middle Position: a position in which you act somewhere between most of the other players during a round.
Miscall: an incorrect verbal declaration of the ranking of a hand.
Misdeal: a mistake on the dealing of a hand which causes the cards to be reshuffled and a new hand to be dealt.
Missed Blind: a required bet that is not posted when it is your turn to do so.
Must-Move: in order to protect the main game, a situation where the players of a second game must move into the first game as openings occur.

N

New York Stud: five-card stud in which a four flush beats a pair.
Nickel: five dollars, usually represented by a red casino check.
No-Limit: a betting structure where players may bet any or all of their chips in one bet.
Nuts: the best possible hand.

O

Offsuit: cards of a different suit.
One-Gap: a hold'em starting hand with two cards two apart in rank, examples: J9s, 64.
Option: the choice to raise a bet given to a player with a blind.
Opener: the player who made the first voluntary bet.
Out: a card that will make your hand win.
Outrun: to beat.
Overcall: to call a bet after one or more others players have already called.
Overcard: a hole card that is higher than any other card on the board.
Overpair: a pocket pair higher than any of the cards on the board.

P

Pat: Not drawing any cards in a draw game.
Pay Off: to call on the final round of betting when you may or may not think you have the best hand.
Play the Board: using all five community cards for your hand in holdem.
Pocket: your unique cards that only you can see.
Pocket Pair: a holdem starting hand with two cards of the same rank, making a pair.
Post: to put in a blind bet, generally required when you first sit down in a cardroom game.
Pot-Committed: a state where you are essentially forced to call the rest of your stack because of the size of the pot and your remaining chips.
Pot-Limit: this is a game where the maximum bet can equal the pot.
Pot Odds: the amount of money in the pot compared to the amount you must put in the pot to continue playing.
Price: the pot odds you are getting for a draw or call.
Protect: (1) to keep your hand or a chip on your cards (2) to invest more money in a pot so blind money that you have already put in is not "wasted."
Put On: to mentally assign a hand to a player for the purposes of playing out your hand.

Q

Quads: four of a kind.
Qualifier: in High-Low games, it is a requirement the Low hand must meet to win the pot.
Quart: a four-card straight flush.
Quint: a straight flush.
Quitting Time: an agreed-upon time to end a poker game.
Quorum: the minimum number of players needed to start a poker game.

R

Ragged: cards generally not worth playing. IE: 2,7 in Texas Hold'em.
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.
Rake: chips taken from the pot by the cardroom for compensation for hosting the game.
Rank: the numerical value of each card and hand.
Rebuy: an option to buy back into a tournament after you have lost all your chips.
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.
Ring Game: a regular poker game as opposed to a tournament.
River: the final card dealt.
Rock: A player who plays very tight, not very creatively.
Runner: typically said "runner-runner" to describe a hand that was made only by catching the correct cards on both the turn and the river.

S

Satellite: it is a mini-tournament to gain an entry into a larger tournament.
Scare Card: a card that may well turn the best hand into trash.
Second Pair: a pair with the second highest card on the flop.
Sell: as in "sell a hand." In a spread-limit game, this means betting less than the maximum when you have a very strong hand, hoping players will call whereas they would not have called a maximum bet.
Semi-Bluff: betting with a mediocre or drawing hand.
Set: having a pocket pair that matches one of the cards on the board.
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.
Side Pot: a separate pot formed when one or more players are all in.
Slow Play: to play a strong hand weakly so more players will stay in the pot.
Smooth Call: making a call with a raising hand.
Soft-Play: to go easy on another player at the table.
Splash the Pot: to toss chips directly into the pot rather than put them in a stack in front of you.
Split: tie.
Split Pot: when two or more players share a pot because they have equivalent hands.
Spread-Limit: a betting structure in which a player may bet any amount in a range on every betting round.
Steal: to bet or raise causing an opponent to fold when you may not hold the best hand.
Stop-and-Go: a play where you call (rather than re-raising) a raise, but then come out betting on the next card.
Straddle: an additional blind bet placed after the forced blinds, usually double the big blind in size or in lowball, a multiple blind game.
Structure: the limits put on the blinds/ante, bets, and raises in any particular game.
Suited: cards are of the same suit.

T

Table Stakes: a rule in a poker game meaning that a player may not go into his pocket for money during a hand.
Tell: a clue that a player unknowingly gives about the strength of his hand.
Tilt: to play wildly or recklessly.
Time: (1) a request by a player to suspend play while he decides what he is going to do (2) an amount of money collected either on the button or every half hour by the cardroom.
To Go: the amount a player must call if he wishes to continue playing.
Toke: a small amount of money given to the dealer by the winner of a pot.
Top Pair: a pair with the highest card on the flop.
Trapper: a player who underbets a strong hand to create a larger pot.
Trips: three of a kind.
Turn: the fourth community card put out face up, by itself.
Two Flush: two suited cards.
Two-Way Hand: a hand having possibilities of winning both high and low halves of a split-pot game.

U

Under the Gun: the position of the player who acts first on a betting round.
Underdog: a person or hand not mathematically favored to win a pot.
Underpair: a pocket pair of lower value than the lowest card on the board.
Uphill: to chase or try to outdraw a better hand.

V

Value: as in "bet for value", you would actually like your opponents to call your bet.
Variance: a measure of the up and down swings your bankroll goes through, but it is not necessarily a measure of how well you play.
Vigorish: house take; time; rake.
Village People: four queens.

W

Walk: a pot won by the last blind when no one opens.
Wedges: certain tapered or shaved cards that can be pulled from a deck when needed by the cheater.
Wheel: a straight from ace through five.
Wooden Hand: a hand that cannot improve or that cannot possibly win.

Y

Yard: a hundred dollars bill.
Yeast: to raise the bet, "let's give it a little yeast" means "I raise."
YGHN: the expression is used in e-mail, and is also heard at the table. Usage: "You go home now".
Younger Hand: an obsolete term for any player to the left of the eldest hand, the one immediately to the left of the dealer.

Z

Zilch or Zip: a dealt hand with no cards worth holding.
Zombie: a poker player who has a poker face, shows no emotion, and otherwise exhibits no behavior to give away his holdings.