Poker Glossary

This is a web based electronic poker dictionary containing some of the words used in playing poker.

Words beginning with A - B - C

Dead
Deal
Declare
Deuce
Dog
Dominate
Draw
Drop
Equity
EV
Expectation
Fast
Favorite
Felt
Fish
Fishhook
Floor
Flop
Flush
Fold
Fourflush
Freeroll
Freezeout
Go
Gutshot
Green
Hand
Heads-Up
Help
High
Hit
Hole
Horsing

House The cardroom (management, owners, etc.) is the house. The house rakes money from the pot, has house rules.

Insurance In big bet poker, it is possible to reach a situation in which you are uncomfortable with the amount of money you have invested in a pot. To reduce variance, players will sometimes take insurance against an unfortunate outcome, essentially selling the actual outcome of the hand for its mathematical equity (at a slight discount). For example, if you hold a flush against a player who has three of a kind, your equity in the pot is a percentage of the pot equal to the probability that the other player will not fill up. If the pot is large, and you don't want to risk coming away with nothing, you might take insurance from somebody who has more money and would be glad to have the overlay.

Isolate To raise with the intention of thinning the field to yourself and a single other player is to isolate that player. I raised to isolate him, but ended up getting three callers.

It Yes, "it" is poker terminology. "It" usually refers to the largest amount anyone has yet bet in a round. If someone opens for $5, and the next player raises $10, they're "making it $15." With the exception of all-in players, if a player wants to see the next round, eventually they have to match whatever "it" is. "It" can also mean the amount required to call. So if someone bets $5 and two other players each raise $5 in the same betting round, they may ask "what's it to me?" The correct answer is, "Pay attention."

Jackpot When is a bad beat not so bad? When you're playing jackpot poker, of course. A number of cardrooms offer sizeable jackpots for particularly bad beats. The rules vary somewhat, but typically you must have aces full or better beat (sometimes by quads or better). If the game is hold'em, often both players must use both of their pocket cards. Other rules and technicalities make it worthwhile finding out just what could invalidate a jackpot before you play your first hand. Typically the "loser" gets the lion's share (e.g., 50%), the winner of the hand the next largest share (e.g., 25%), and often the remainder of the table splits the rest of the jackpot. The jackpot itself is usually built by a jackpot drop from every hand, sometimes the entire small blind. Jackpots for low-limit games are often in the tens of thousands of dollars, and can get very big if no one wins for a while. Feelings about jackpot poker are divided. Some players get upset about all the bad beats they take at the hands of wild players chasing every remote chance at the jackpot, and resent the extra money taken out of every pot. On the other hand, jackpot poker is certainly popular, and it's hard to argue with anything that fills seats. Poker jackpots are occasionally outlawed or reinstated in various locations. Check your local listings. Yay, I hit the jackpot.

Jam To bet or raise the maximum, especially in no-limit, is to jam.

Joker A joker is an additional card in the deck that is used in some games. The jokers isn't often used in serious poker, but when it is it's usually considered a wild card. See also bug.

Kicker The highest unpaired card in your hand that doesn't participate in a straight or flush - i.e., the card that does not contribute to the strength of your hand except by itself. For example, if you hold AA743, you have a pair of aces with a 7 kicker. Five card hands - straights, flushes, and full houses, - don't have kickers per se. In games with community cards, kickers are especially important, because it's easy for two players to make similar hands. For example, if you hold A8 and someone else holds A7, and the flop is AK642, you have your opponent out-kicked. Your hand is AAK86 while theirs is AAK76. And you both lose to the guy playing 53 off suit under the gun.

Kill A "kill" game is one in which a player may place an extra bet, causing the betting limits to go up for just that hand. The player posting the bet is the "killer," and the hand is considered a "kill pot." The player is said to have "killed the pot" for the amount of the kill. The exact details depend on the local rules and on the game. As examples, here are the rules for three kill games I've played in (all in San Diego). In the kill hold'em game, any player who wins two pots in a row is required to kill by posting a blind small bet on the subsequent hand, with the limits doubled for that hand. In a kill high-low split game, any player who scooped a pot larger than a certain size was required to kill the subsequent pot. And in a draw game, any player could kill any pot for an arbitrary amount after looking at their first two cards. These are just examples, the details vary from cardroom to cardroom.

Leak Winning poker players often lose back part or all of their winnings through other gambling habits, either at the casino or elsewhere (e.g., sports betting, craps, or golf). These are often referred to as leaks.

Limit (Limit Poker) Limit poker is any game in which there is a fixed limit on how much you can bet or raise in any round. Limit games usually offer either fixed-sized bets for different betting rounds or spread limits, in which there is a minimum and maximum bet for each round. For example, a 5-10 hold'em game usually requires $5 bets and raises on the first two rounds and $10 bets and raises on the last two. Games are often referred to as low-limit, medium-limit, and high-limit. Typical low-limit games are 2-4, 3-6, and 5-10. Medium limits are 10-20, 20-40, and 30-60. High-limits are 50-100 on up. More generally, the word limit is used to refer to the maximum bet at a given point, whether it's pot-limit, spread limit, or whatever. See also structure. I didn't want to give him a chance to draw out on me, so I bet the limit.

Limp To flat call an opening forced bet is to limp into a hand. Three players limped in ahead of me, so I decided just to call.

Live A live player, or "live one," is someone who is expected to lose their money at a pretty good rate. Players reminding floorpeople to fill a vacant seat often request a live one. For other uses of the word "live" see live blind, live card, and live hand.

Lock A lock is a hand guaranteed to win at least part of the pot. In a high-low split game, for example, the lock low is the best possible low hand. See also nuts.

Loose Playing loose simply means playing more hands and holding on to them longer. In essence, loose with your cash. A loose table is a table dominated (so to speak) by loose players. Loose isn't always bad - excessively tight play can be equally costly, especially at high levels of play. Looseness should not be confused with aggressiveness. A loose call is a borderline inadvisable or even incorrect call. He was playing so loose, it seemed like he was in every pot.

Low In most poker games, the best hand wins. Most but not all. In a number of games, the worst hand wins all or some of the pot. Draw lowball and razz are just two examples of games played for low. Omaha and seven card stud have popular high-low split variants, in which the low hand gets half the pot. There are two common ways to evaluate low hands. In deuce to seven games, the best low hand is just the worst high hand. The best possible low is 75432, provided there is no flush. In ace to five games, straights and flushes don't count, and aces are lower than 2's. So the best possible low is A2345, a wheel.

Lowball (or Draw Lowball) Five card draw played for low only (i.e., where the low hand wins the entire pot).

Make To (non-specifically) make a hand means to get a decent hand that has a shot at winning the pot. I didn't make a hand for two hours, but then I went on a major rush.

Maniac A maniac is a player who plays extremely loose and aggressive, often raising with just about anything. Maniacs at the table tend to increase the variance considerably. With all the maniacs at the table, I decided to just wait for the nuts and let the money come to me.

Miss See hit.

Monster An extremely strong hand, one that is almost certain to win the pot. It's often a bad idea to slowplay unless you make a monster.

Muck The pile of discarded cards in front of the dealer, or the act of putting cards in this pile (and therefore taking them out of play).

The house rule is that as soon as the cards touch the muck, they are ineligible to win the pot.

After I mucked my hand, I realized that I should have called the bet.

No-Limit As you might guess, any game in which there is no limit on the sizes of bets and raises. Note that in table stakes games, players are still limited to the amount of money they have in front of them.

Nuts (or Nut -) The nuts is the best possible hand. This makes most sense in flop games like hold'em, where the community cards make the nuts pretty much the same for everyone. An exception is when your hole cards make a better hand impossible. If the board is AAK52, the nuts would be AA to an observer, but a player with AK would effectively hold the nuts (assuming the 2 and 5 didn't share a suit with one of the A's). In hold'em, the nuts is never less than trips. "Nut xxx" is used to refer to the best hand of a particular type, especially a straight or flush. If the table described above had the AK2 of spades, the nut flush would be the queen and any other spade.

Odds A ratio of two probabilities, usually the probability of making a hand to the probability of not making the hand. Thus if you have a 25% chance of making a hand, the odds are 3 to 1 against your making it. In poker, this is especially important in considering pot odds.

Off-suit Not of the same suit, especially in reference to hole cards. Sometimes abbreviated to just "off." I'll play KT off suit occasionally, but never in early position.

Omaha Omaha is a flop game similar to hold'em, but with two key differences. First, each player is dealt four cards instead of just two. Second, a hand must be made using exactly two pocket cards (out of those four) and three from the table. That is, if four suited cards hit the table, you still need two more to make a flush. And if you start with four aces, then you have a pair of aces, with little chance to improve. The high-low variant of omaha, with an 8 or better qualifier for low, is especially popular.

Omaha8 The term "Omaha8" is simply shorthand for omaha high-low split, with an 8 or better qualifier for low, is especially popular.

One-Gap See inside straight.

Open To open, or open betting, is simply to make the first bet in a round. When everyone checked to me, I figured it was okay to open with middle pair.

Open-Ender See open-ended straight draw (right down there).

Open Pair An open pair in seven card stud is an exposed pair - a pair among your up cards.

Option When a player posts a live blind, that player is given the option to raise when their turn comes around, even if no one else has raised. The dealer will typically say something like "your option," to remind them. See also straddle.

Out An out is a card that will improve your hand, usually one that you think will make it a winner. In hold'em, an open-ended straight draw has eight outs (the four cards of each rank that will complete the straight). But it may be only six outs if there are two suited cards on the table and someone else is drawing for the flush.

With all that money in the pot and fifteen outs, it seemed like a good idea to call the raise. Except that I was drawing dead on both the flush and the straight.

Outdraw To make a better hand than an opponent by merit of the cards you draw.

Outrun See outdraw.

Overcall Any additional call after a bet is first called. Player A bets, player B calls, player C overcalls.

Overcard In flop games, a card higher than the highest card on the board. If you hold AJ and the flop is J92, you have top pair with an overcard. If the flop is T92, you just have two overcards.

Overpair In flop games, a pocket pair higher than the highest card on the board. If you hold AA and the flop is K62, you have a nice overpair.

Paint A jack, king, or queen (i.e., a card with a picture on it). Let's see some paint.

Pair Two cards of the same rank. If you hold AAKJ3, you have a pair. See also top pair, middle pair, bottom pair, and two pair.

Pass To pass is to fold.

Passive Passive is a style of play that is characterized by reluctance to bet and raise. This does not always mean tight. A typical loose-passive player will call with almost anything, but raise only with very powerful hands (see calling station). A passive table is one with many passive players, so that, for example, few hands are raised pre-flop.

Pat In draw games, a pat hand is one to which you draw no cards. In lowball, J7542 is a pat jack, but also offers a draw to a 7. The other day I made pat straights twice in a row.

Perfect When you only have one way to make a hand, you need perfect cards. Usually this means two cards. If you hold 8JQ, you need two perfect cards for a straight. To catch perfect is to hit a perfect card.

Pineapple Any of a number of variants of hold'em in which each player gets three cards and must discard one at some point (usually before or after pre-flop betting, after the flop, or after the second round of betting).

Play To play a hand in poker means to make it past the initial round of betting. In seven card stud, this usually means calling the bring-in, while in hold'em, this means calling the big blind. If someone says they haven't played a hand in hours, they're not usually telling you that they've been walking, they're whining that they haven't had cards good enough to play. Don't encourage them.

To make a play, or put a play on (someone), means to present a pattern of behavior inconsistent with your cards, that will mislead your opponent and cause them to make a mistake. Often this means bluffing them out of a pot, but it can also mean getting them to call when you have a strong hand, or more generally anything calculated to guide their behavior.

Pocket The two cards dealt to you face down in hold'em, or the first two face down in seven card stud are your pocket cards, or hole cards. Hold'em players tend to call them pocket cards, stud players tend to call them hole cards. See also pocket pair. pocket cards of the same rank.

Poker Poker isn't just a card game - it's many card games. While no definition is going to satisfy everyone, the majority of poker games do share some common features, especially betting in rounds and the ranking of hands. Poker is commonly played in cardrooms (often within casinos) and in private home games (illegally in many states). The games played in cardrooms seem to divide into stud games, draw games, and flop games. In home games, however, anything goes, including games that seem to have no reason to be called poker. The varieties played in home games probably number in the hundreds, or even the thousands. Some common cardroom games include Texas Hold'em, Seven Card Stud, Omaha, Razz, Lowball, Pineapple, and Anaconda. (Okay, just kidding about the anaconda.)

Position Position refers to your place at the table, especially with respect to the order of betting within a particular betting round. The first few players to act are said to be in early position, the next few in middle position, and the last few in late position. Late position is almost always best, since you have the advantage of knowing what your opponents have done. For this reason, many players are more liberal about the hands they will play from later positions. In some games (most flop and draw games), position is fixed from one round of betting to the next, and the dealer (or the player on the button) is always in last position. More generally, to have position on someone is to be in a position to bet after them, either during a particular hand or in general. You have position on anyone sitting immediately to your right, since you will far more often than not be able to act after them.

I didn't think he could've made the straight because he would've had to be playing 65 in early position. Shows what I know.

Post To post a bet is to place your chips in the pot (or, commonly, out in front of you, so that your bet can be counted). In poker, posting usually means a forced bet, such as a blind.

Pot All the money in the middle of the poker table that goes to the winner of the hand is the pot. Any player who has not yet folded is said to be "in the pot." A player who has called an initial bet is said to have entered the pot.

Pot-Limit Any game in which the maximum bet or raise is the size of the pot. For raises, the size of the pot includes the call, so if the pot is $100 and player A bets $100, player B can throw $400 out for a maximum raise (calling the $100 and then raising the size of the $300 pot).

Presto A nickname for pocket 5's, usually in hold'em. This nickname comes from the internet newsgroup rec.gambling (now rec.gambling.poker), and is sometimes used among the readership of that newsgroup to identify other members.

Prop Short for proposition player.

Proposition Player A proposition player, or "prop," is a player who is paid by a cardroom to play poker, usually in order to keep games going when they get shorthanded, or to get games started. Props are paid a salary, but they gamble with their own money. Props either learn how to play pretty solid poker or they run out of money. See also shill.

Protect To protect a hand is to bet so as to reduce the chances of anyone outdrawing you (by getting them to fold). A hand that needs protection is one that is almost certainly best, but that is vulnerable to being outdrawn. Large pots make it difficult to protect hands, since players will be willing to chase more long shots. The structure of a game has a large impact on how easy it is to protect a hand, as do the personalities of the players at the table. It's easiest to protect a hand in no-limit play, where you can potentially make it as expensive as you like for someone to draw. To protect your cards is to place a chip or some other small object (players often have particular artifacts they like to use) on top of them so that they don't accidentally get mucked by the dealer, mixed with another player's discards, or otherwise become dead when you'd like to play them.

Provider A provider is a poker player who makes the game profitable for the other players at the table. Similar in meaning to fish, although provider has a somehow less negative connotation. A provider might be a decent player who just happens to be playing out of his/her league. A fish is usually someone who's probably out of any league.

Push What the dealer does with the pot when he or she figures out who the winner is. Because of the nature of poker tables, the dealer can almost always orient him- or herself so as to be facing the winner of the pot. From this position, pushing the pot (literally, the chips in the pot) will result in the movement of the pot towards the winner of the hand, so that the player can add the chips to his or her stacks. Aren't you glad you asked?

Pushka A pushka is an arrangement between two or more players to share part of the pots they win, or more precisely, the container into which the shared chips are placed. Typically pushka partners will place as much as $10 from each pot won into a container, and split the container's contents later. I've only heard this term in Maryland, although apparently it's due to the Polish word for box, via Yiddish. Of course removing chips from the table is illegal in table stakes games. See also scoot.

Quads Four of a kind.

Qualifier In high-low split games, the qualifier is a requirement that a hand must meet in order to be eligible for part of the pot, generally the low part. See 8 or better.

Quarter To win one fourth of the pot is to be quartered. This is usually the result of splitting half the pot in a high-low split game.

Rack Poker chips can get a bit unwieldy in large quantities, so cardrooms usually supply plastic racks that hold 100 chips in 5 stacks of 20. A rack of red means a rack of red chips, typically worth $500. If someone asks for a rack, it usually means they're about to leave the table. If someone asks to buy a rack of red, it means they'd like to buy $500 in chips. Someone is said to be "racking up" a game if they're winning a lot of money at the table.

Rag A card, usually a low card, that, when it appears, has no apparent impact on the hand. A flop of 7 4 2 is a rag flop - few playable hands match the flop well. If the table shows QJT9, all of spades, a 2h on the river is a rag. I didn't think anyone could've hit the flop when it came all rags.

Rail The rail is the sideline at a poker table - the (often imaginary) rail separating spectators from the field of play. Watching from the rail means watching a poker game as a spectator. People on the rail are sometimes called railbirds.

Railbird Someone watching a game from the rail.

Ragged See rough.

Rainbow Three or four cards of different suits, for example on a flop. (Two cards of different suits are unsuited and five is impossible.) I figured my rockets were going to win when the flop came queen seven two, rainbow.

Raise After someone has opened betting in a round, to increase the amount of the bet is to raise. For example, if the betting limit is $5 and player A bets $5, player B can fold, call the $5, or raise it to $10. Knowledgeable poker players sometimes get irritated when someone says raise to indicate an opening bet. But they usually know what you mean.

Rake The money removed from each pot by the house. Medium and high-limit games typically have a time charge rather than a rake. A typical Atlantic City low-limit rake is 10% of the pot up to a $4 maximum. The same table in California may rake just the big blind, with the small blind going towards a jackpot. Despite all the bad players, the high rake made it hard to turn a profit at the game.

Rank Each card has a suit and a rank. The eight of diamonds and the eight of hearts have the same rank. A pair is two cards of the same rank. Come on, you know this.

Razz Seven card stud played for low (ace to five) only.

Read To read someone is to have a good idea from their play (or through tells) what their cards might be. To have a read on someone is to have a good understanding of how they play. Reading players is an important skill in poker, because... well, if you can't figure out why, it's going to be hard to explain here.

Re-buy When you first sit down at a game, you buy in with a certain amount of money. Re-buying is what you do when you buy more chips before you leave. Re-buys are also allowed in some tournaments to players who fall below a certain point - usually only up until a certain point and often limited to a fixed number of re-buys. The time during which one may re-buy, usually lasting from the start through the early stages of the tournament, is called the re-buy period. Tournaments with re-buys are called, generically, re-buy tournaments. See also add-on. I had to re-buy after the second hand when I had quads shot down.

Red Red is the most common color for $5 chips. If someone bets a stack of red, it means they're betting a bunch of $5 chips, probably 20 of them. See also white, black, and green.

Redraw A way to further improve your hand after hitting a draw is a redraw. For example, if you hold 9s2s (on the big blind of course) and the flop comes JsTs3c, you have a flush draw. If the turn is the 8s, you have made your flush and picked up a straight flush redraw.

Represent To bet in such a way as to indicate that you have a certain hand. For instance, when you check-raise after the third suited card hits the board in hold'em, you are representing a flush, even if you don't actually have one.

Re-raise Any raise after the first raise in a round. Player A bets, player B raises, player C (or A) re-raises. See also cap and check-raise.

River The last of five community cards in flop games (e.g. hold'em and omaha). Sometimes called fifth street. Sometimes "river" is used to refer to the last card in non-flop games, such as seven card stud.

Rock A player who plays an extremely tight, patient game is a rock. Rocks don't create a lot of action, and when they enter a pot, more often than not they're in as a favorite. This is a decent strategy at some tables (especially at a table full of maniacs). But good players with more varied strategies will eventually get the best of a real rock.

Rockets Or "pocket rockets" - a pair of aces in the hole.

Roll Short for bankroll.

Rough A hand of a particular type that will not beat many other hands of that type. Often used in low games to indicate non-nut low hands with a particular high card. A rough 8 in ace to five lowball could be any eight high hand other than 8432A, although 8532A isn't too rough. Rough is the opposite of smooth.

Round A round can refer either to a round of betting or a round of hands. A betting round usually begins after a card or several cards are dealt. Each player is given a chance to act, and the round ends when everyone has either folded to or called the last bet or raise. (See it.) Each round of betting is followed either by further dealing or by a showdown.

A round of hands consists of one hand dealt by each player at the table (or, when there's a house dealer, one hand with the dealer button at each position). In a round of hold'em you're in each position once, and you expect on average to hold the best hand once (although you will fold it pre-flop and kick yourself for the rest of the evening).

One more round and I'm outta here. (round of hands)

After I missed the check-raise I made sure to open the next round. (round of betting)

Runner-runner A hand made on the last two cards. A player holding 55, with a board of AA455, in that order, makes runner-runner quads. See also backdoor.

Running Two needed cards that come as the last two cards dealt are said to be running. I had nothing when I called his re-raise, but I caught running 7's to lay that bad beat on him.

Rush A player who wins a large number of pots in a short period of time is said to be on a rush. Some players feel superstitiously that a rush is an independent entity, and will "play their rush" or "bet their rush" after winning a few pots - play looser and more aggressively, or just be certain to play out each hand until the rush ends. Sometimes this isn't such a bad idea if the other players at the table are superstitious as well and will fold. I was down about $500 after two hours of bad beats, but then I went on a monster rush and made it all back in three hands.

Sandbag Sandbagging means concealing your strength for the purpose of increasing your profit. In poker, this usually means slowplaying in the early betting rounds in order to extract more profit on the later rounds. Especially when called "sandbagging," this practice sometimes has the negative connotation -- usually among occasional or less serious players -- of being a hostile or marginally unethical way to play. Experienced players regard it as just another part of the game, a vital strategic tool. The same is true for check-raising, which bears some resemblance to slowplaying.

Scoop To win an entire pot, especially in high-low split games. When he failed to make his low, I scooped.

Scoot Scooting is the practice of passing chips to another player after winning a pot. Typically, scooting partners will agree to "scoot" each other a predetermined number of chips after winning each pot. This is at least technically illegal at most table stakes games, but single chips can often be scooted anyway.

See To call a bet is sometimes referred to as seeing it. This usage comes up often in the context of string bets, when players more familiar with home poker say things like, "I'll see your fifty and raise you a hundred."

Semi-bluff A semi-bluff is similar to a bluff, except that the semi-bluffer has some chance of making a winning hand. The idea behind a semi-bluff is that while neither the bluff nor the draw might be positive expectation, in combination they could be. Betting a weak draw is often only correct as a semi-bluff.

Set Three of a kind with two in the hole. If I don't flop a set with 22, I almost always fold immediately.

Shill A shill is similar to a proposition player, except a shill gambles with the cardroom's money instead of his/her own.

Shootout A tournament format in which a single player ends up with the entire prize money, or in which play continues at each table until only one player remains.

Shorthanded A game is said to be shorthanded when it falls below a certain number of players. Most poker tables accomodate nine or ten players. Five players is clearly shorthanded, nine players is clearly not. Since many people are uncomfortable playing shorthanded, some cardrooms make special provisions for shorthanded tables - reducing the blinds or the rake, or providing shills or props. Since the number of players at a table has a significant impact on strategy, learning to play well shorthanded is an important skill. This is especially true in tournaments, where shorthanded play is much more common (if you last long enough).

Showdown When all the betting's done, if more than one player is still in the pot, showdown is the process of figuring out who wins. Usually the last player to open or raise is required to show their cards first, and anyone else can try to muck their cards if they decide they've lost. However, in most cardrooms any player who reaches showdown (or calls the final bet) can be asked to show their cards. When used to describe the process, showdown is one word. When used to describe what each player does at that point, it's usually two words. Only one hand made it to showdown in the entire hour.

I was embarassed to show down such ugly cards.

Shuffle Before each hand, the dealer shuffles the cards - mixes them up in order to make their order as unpredictable as possible. Most cardrooms have fairly specific requirements for how the cards are to be shuffled.

Side Pot See main pot and all-in. If you still don't know what a side pot is, we can't help you.

Sir "Sir" is one of those confusing terms that can have a completely different meaning at the poker table than elsewhere. If someone says "nice hand, sir," after you win a big pot, what they are really saying is, "congratulations on winning money through your own stupidity, you clueless moron." The word "sir," when uttered in this context, somehow absorbs all the venomous thoughts the person is feeling, although if you listen carefully you can often hear them rattling around in there. Note that people at the poker table do sometimes use the word in its less colloquial sense, simply as a polite expression of mild respect. It's up to you to figure out who means what. To the best of my recollection, I've never heard "ma'am" used in this way, although I'm sure it can be.

Slow When you play passively, you are playing slow. See speed.

Slowplay To slowplay is to underbet a very strong hand (i.e., to play it slow, except that when used in this way it's made into one word). The purpose of slowplaying a hand is to give other players the chance to make stronger second-best hands, and also to conceal the strength of your hand. Instead of betting early and risking the loss of future action, slowplay means checking and calling. It's of course best to slowplay when you have a hand that no one is likely to actually catch (e.g., four of a kind). Slowplay is not the same thing as check-raising, but the two strategic options are similar in that both are often intended to trap more money in the pot in situations where you are fairly sure you will win. I tried to slowplay my quad nines and walked right into a straight flush.

Slowroll To reveal one's hand slowly at showdown, one card at a time, is to slowroll anyone else who thinks the pot might be theirs. This is usually only done with a winning hand, for the purpose of irritating other players (well, some people do it innocently).

Smooth The best possible low hand with a particular high card. 8432A is a smooth 8. See also rough.

Smooth Call To call one or more bets with a hand that's strong enough for a raise, with the intention of trapping more money in the pot. Smooth call is like flat call, although it more strongly connotes a powerful hand that one is trying to slowplay.

Speed Speed refers to the level of aggressiveness with which you play. Fast play is more aggressive, slow play is more passive. Good players may change speeds so that their play will not be so predictable.

Speeding Someone who is caught bluffing is sometimes said to be caught speeding. See speed and table cop for more of this metaphor.

Splash (the pot) To throw your chips into the pot, instead of placing them in front of you, is to splash the pot. Doing so can make it difficult for the dealer to determine if you've bet the correct amount, or to keep track of the action.

Spread When a cardroom starts a table for a particular game, it is said to spread that game. If you want to know what games are played in a particular place, you can ask what they spread. We don't spread high only stud.

Stack The amount of money you have in front of you on the poker table (i.e., stack of chips). Often used in the plural. See also short stack. A stack can also refer to a particular number of chips. Most chip racks take stacks of 20 chips. Many players like to keep their chips in stacks of particular numbers of chips. I favor 10-chip stacks, but most players seem to opt for 20 to 30.

I was doing well earlier, but my stacks have been dwindling.

Steal To (attempt to) steal a pot is to make a bet when it appears no one else has anything. A player who raises from the small blind when everyone else has folded (and who is therefore competing only against the big blind) is likely to be on a steal. Similarly with a player who opens from late position when it's checked around on the flop.

Steam A player who is on tilt is sometimes said to be steaming. A steam raise is a raise made more out of frustration than out of strategic concerns.

Straddle In a game played with blinds, the player under the gun may raise before looking at their cards, effectively posting an additional blind bet. This is called a straddle. House rules often make these bets live, so that the player who posts a live straddle has the option of raising when it's their turn again, even if no one has re-raised. It's hard to imagine a good reason to do this in limit poker, although some players like to do it to liven up a tight table, or for advertising value.

Straight A hand composed of five cards of consecutive ranks (aces count as high or low). A2345 is a five high straight, or a straight to the five. 789TJ is a jack high straight, or a straight to the jack. TJQKA is an exercise for the reader (but see broadway). In comparing straights, the straight to the higher card wins.

Street The cards that come out one at a time in a card game are sometimes referred to as different numbered streets. The door card in seven card stud is third street, and subsequent cards are numbered consecutively. In hold'em and other flop games, players sometimes refer to the turn and river as fourth and fifth street.

Structure The structure of a game refers to the details about the betting, including antes, blinds, and the amount that may be bet on any round. In cardrooms, games are typically posted along with shorthand for the limits. For example, 5-10 hold'em is usually a fixed limit game, played with $5 bets and raises pre-flop and on the flop, and $10 bets and raises on the turn and the river. This usually generalizes to any game where the structure is X-2X. Games with more complicated structures sometimes spell it out like this: 5-10-10-15. Spread limit games are ones in which the betting in a given round is constrained to a particular range. So a 1-4 spread limit game would allow a bet from $1 to $4 on any round (often constrained that a bet or raise must be at least the size of the previous action). Many different structures are possible, and the sizes of antes and blinds vary from game to game. The structure of a game has a substantial impact on appropriate strategy.

In connection with tournaments, structure can also mean anything having to do with the amount of money in tournament chips players can get, the rebuy and add-on rules, and the way in which the blinds increase.

I was reluctant to dive right in because of the unfamiliar structure.

Stuck Losing money, usually enough so you'd notice. I was stuck about $200 after that hand, but I couldn't quit.

Even the best players in the world get stuck sometimes.

Stud Usually short for seven card stud. Also refers to stud games in general, including five card stud, in which each player is dealt a number of non-shared cards and must use only those cards. May be contrasted with flop games and draw games.

Suit You know, clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.

Suited Of the same suit. I almost never play 98 unless it's suited.

Sweat To sweat someone is to watch them play from the rail, in order to lend your support.

Table The word "table" can be used to refer to community cards, the poker table itself, or the players at the table as a group. When the case 9 hit the table, I checked.

The table was playing tight, so I was bluffing more than usual. This is a nice table, I especially like the cup holders.

Tell A tell is any habit or behavior that gives other players more information about your hand than they would have simply from your play. For instance, you might unconsciously play with your chips every time you bluff. Or you might notice that another player blinks a lot whenever he has a strong hand. Mike Caro's "The Body Language of Poker" describes a large number of tells that can often be seen in inexperienced (and experienced) players. I picked up reliable tells on two players at the table, so my evening was very profitable.

Tight Playing tight simply means playing fewer hands and folding them earlier. In essence, tight with your cash. A tight table is a table dominated by tight players. Tightness is frequently described as a good thing, and especially at low levels of play can be a big advantage over players who will always pay you off. Tightness should not be confused with passivity. Many good players recommend a tight aggressive strategy. He was playing so tight, when he finally played a hand we all folded pre-flop.

Tilt Good poker seems to require good discipline. However, even good players are often tempted to do things they know are bad ideas when they get frustrated, angry, or upset for any reason. They go "on tilt." Sort of like a pinball machine, except with pinball it only costs you a quarter. Typical tilt play is much too loose and often very aggressive, beacause a player on tilt wants very badly to win a pot, and isn't rational enough to wait for cards that are worth playing or situations that are worth attacking. When he started raising every hand, I thought he was on tilt, but it turned out he just had an incredible run of good cards.

Time If the house doesn't drop from the pot but instead collects money from each player periodically, this is called a time charge, or a seat charge, and you're said to be "paying time" to play. "Time" is also what you're supposed to say whenever you need more than about a second to decide what to do.

To Go An amount "to go" is the amount it takes to enter the pot. In limit flop games, this is usually the amount of the big blind, but if someone raises in a 5-10 game, they're making it ten to go. In some pot-limit and no-limit games, an initial call is more than the largest of the forced bets, so the game might have blinds of $5 and $10 and be $20 to go.

Toke A tip, usually a tip to the dealer affer winning the pot. Tips are usually between $.50 and $3, depending on the limit, the size of the pot, and the generosity of the player. I toked the dealer an extra couple bucks because it was my first straight flush in over a year.

Tournament The general idea behind poker tournaments is that a bunch of poker players sit down with the same number of chips, and eventually only one player has any chips left. In order to ensure that the event will finish in reasonable time, tournaments institute a schedule by which the blinds and/or antes increase. Tournaments are usually played with chips that have no value outside of the tournament. So a buy-in of $30 might get you $500 in tournament chips to play with, but you can't cash them out in the middle. The winner of a tournament (the last player to bust out) as well as several of the other top finishers are typically awarded prize money according to some predetermined schedule. Tournament details vary widely, but a typical arrangement might include an initial buy-in, a re-buy period during which a player who runs out of tournament chips may buy more, and an opportunity to add on to one's stack after the re-buys have ended. Other details about the structure can vary widely.

See also shootout and freezeout.

Trips Three of a kind.

Trap Money is trapped in the pot if it faces the imminent danger of becoming dead money. Typically you're trapped if after putting some money in the pot you're faced with the proposition of calling a raise in order to continue, especially an uncomfortably large raise. A player is also said to be trapped if caught calling (e.g. on a draw) between two other players who keep raising and re-raising each other.

Trey Threes are sometimes called treys. So 33377 can be called treys full of sevens.

Turn The fourth of five community cards in flop games (e.g. hold'em and omaha). Sometimes called fourth street.

Two Pair A hand consisting of two cards of one rank, and two cards of another rank (and an unpaired card). AA883 is two pair, sometimes also called aces up. Wise guys often describe their quads as two pair. "Let's see, I got a pair of tens and... another pair of tens." Bad things happen to wise guys.

Underdog When two hands face off, the underdog is the one that's less likely to win than the other. As with many of the terms in this dictionary, this isn't poker terminology, this is just English.

Up Aces up is two pair with aces as the higher pair. Kings up is two pair with kings as the higher pair. Are you getting this? In stud games, your face-up, exposed cards are also just called your up cards.

Value There are many potential reasons to bet or raise (e.g., to get people to fold, to manipulate the size of the pot, to express anger, to impress someone watching from the rail, etc.). Betting for value is one of the better ones. Value means the return you get on your investment; the expected increase in your equity in the pot (your return), as compared to the size of your bet or raise (your investment). Typically this means either that you believe you will receive action from inferior hands, or that the the chance you will win the hand makes the bet worthwhile.

Variance If you have a sufficient advantage at the game you're playing, you expect to make money over the long haul. This is true whether the game is poker, blackjack, or craps, and whether your advantage is due to skill, cheating, or psychic powers. However, over a small period of time, you may do better or worse than what your average should be. For example, you may expect to make one big bet per hour at the poker table, but in a given hour it may not be uncommon for you to win or lose twenty big bets. Variance is the statistical measure of dispersion, or just how widely your results will be distributed. When variance is high enough, a small advantage may be of no use during your lifetime. When variance is low enough, a small sample will be much more likely to reflect your real advantage (or disadvantage). In other words, variance describes just how long the long haul is. In poker terms, high variance means that a small number of hands will not be very representative of your long-term expectation. Here's a simple non-poker example. A slot machine that pays you $1 every time you put two quarters into it (or vice versa) has no variance whatsoever. Your expected win (or loss) is $.50 per spin, and you get exactly that every spin. On the other hand, a slot machine that takes the same two quarters (or $1) and usually just eats them but one time in ten thousand spits back $10,000 (or 5,000) will have identical expectation. If you play enough games, you will tend to average the same $.50 per spin profit (or loss). But because you need so many more spins to get a representative sample of the possible outcomes, your variance is very large.

Variance is such a strong contributor to poker results that it often obscures the importance of good play. The best player at the table may start with the best cards and still have far less than a 50 percent chance of winning the hand. A skilled professional can lose money over days or weeks, without necessarily doing anything wrong. And while bad play may have negative expectation, it is often rewarded in the short term - players who draw for incredible longshots do sometimes get lucky, despite their poor judgement. Variance is what makes losing players think they have a chance in the long run, and what gives them a real chance in the short run.

Situations in poker may be higher or lower in variance. For example, in a situation where you know it will cost you a few bets to draw for a real longshot, but the pot is large enough to justify the calls, your expectation may be positive while your variance will be much higher than you'd like. This sort of situation is typical of high-variance bets - high potential payoff with a small probability of winning. As well, different qualities of the other players at the table can contribute to your overall variance at a given table. If many of the players are maniacs, willing to cap the betting and see the flop with any two cards, your variance may be high at that table. On the other hand, exceptionally weak and passive players, who may fold a high proportion of the time when they are raised, will reduce your variance. Obviously the variance you experience in your play will be affected not just by the nature of the game, but also by your style of play and by the styles of those you play with.

Although in the context of poker it's often used loosely, "variance" is a statistical term with a precise definition. Given accurate estimates of your variance and expectation (along with some assumptions about the distribution of your outcomes), it is easy to calculate confidence intervals, or ranges, within which your results are most likely to fall over different periods of time. If all this is news to you, pick up a book. Learning a little about statistics wouldn't kill you, especially if you want to play poker seriously.

Walk To walk in poker is to be away from the table long enough to miss one or more hands. Such people, and/or people who do so frequently, are called walkers. Depending on local conditions, walkers may be off getting food, smoking, playing craps, or waiting for more fish to sit down. Or something else, who knows what these mysterious people do? Most cardrooms have well-defined but poorly enforced rules about walkers - i.e., that a player's chips may be picked up (by the house, that is) after they've been gone for some specific amount of time. Too many walkers at a table can cause it to break, often through an unfortunate chain reaction. Once one or two players get up from the table, it makes it more likely for others to walk, or just leave.

Weak A style of play characterized by a readiness to fold and a reluctance to raise. Weak is also used to generally describe a poor player or a table that's easy to beat.

Wheel See bicycle wheel.

White White is the most common color for $1 chips. See also red, black, and green.

Wired A pair in the hole in seven card stud is a wired pair. "Wired" can also describe someone who's had a few gallons of coffee trying to stay alert through an all-night poker game.