Poker Terms Glossary

• All-In: When a player pushes all of their chips into the pot.
• Ante: Also known as Sweetening the Pot, where chips are put into the pot before the deal.
• Bad Beat: When you have the best hand, but your opponent hits an Out on the river to win.
• Bet: The first wager in a single round of betting is the Bet. All other equal wagers are “Calls”, higher bets are “Raises”.
• Betting the Pot: To place a wager equal to the current pot size.
• Big Blind: The larger forced bet in Hold'em poker games. This bet is placed by the player left of the small blind. The Big Blind is equal to the low-end stakes, or the high-end stakes, depending on the limit structure.
• Blind Bet: A forced wager in Hold'em games before any cards are dealt. There are two blind bets, the Small Blind and the Big Blind. Blind bets sweeten the pot, encouraging players not to fold.
• Bluff: When a player has a weak hand, but places a confident wager in an attempt to scare others away from the pot.
• Bust: A hand that has no chance of winning the pot.
• Button: A small white button labeled “Dealer”, that is about the size of a poker chip. Since poker rooms do not allow the player's to deal the cards, the button denotes who is sitting in the dealer position. This player is labeled “On the Button”.
• Buy-In: the amount a poker room charges to enter a poker tournament. All player buy-ins combined make up the overall prize pool.
• Call: To place a bet equal to the previous bet in the same betting round.
• Calling Station: A player who calls almost every hand just to see the flop.
• Chase: When a player knows his opponent has the better but, but he plays it anyway hoping to catch an Out.
• Check: If no player has bet in the current round, a player can Check, choosing not to bet, but staying active in the hand.
• Check-Raise: When you have a great hand, but choose to Check, encouraging other players to Raise in hopes of you folding. Hen the other player raises, you raise back.
• Community Cards: In Hold'em games, these are the cards dealt face up for all players to combine with their own hole cards to develop the best hand. Community cards consist of the Flop, Turn and River.
• Draw Hand: A hand that needs more cards to be completed. A Flush Draw would need one more same-suit card; a Straight raw would need one more connected card.
• Double Up: To win an all-in bet against one opponent, doubling your original chip stack size.
• Family Pot: A hand in which most, or all players, have stayed active in the hand (no one folds).
• Favorite: The player with the best odds of winning, according to all player's hands and outs.
• Five of a Kind: Any poker hand consisting of 5 same-value cards. Note that this is only possible when there is a joker or wild card in the deck. (Note: Most poker game rules only accept a wild card in Aces, Straights and Flushes, therefore 5-5-5-5-W may not be considered a 5 of a Kind.) Ex:A-A-A-A-W
• Flop: In Hold'em poker games, this is the first 3 community cards dealt.
• Flush: Any hand consisting of 5 same-suit cards. Ex: 3h-5h-9h-Jh-Qh
• Fold: To give up, throw in your cards, or “Drop” the hand. When a player Folds, he places no more wagers into the pot, discontinues play of his hand, and cannot win (or redeem) any chips from the current hand's pot.
• Four of a Kind: Any poker hand consisting of 4 same-value cards.
• Full House: Any hand consisting of one Pair, and one Three of a Kind.
• Hand: The cards a player is holding makes up their hand. In Hold'em games, where there are community cards, the players cards and community cards combine to make up a hand.
• Hole Cards: A player's hidden cards.
• Limp-In: When a player calls the big blind.
• No Pair: Any poker hand that has no pairs, straights, flushes or otherwise ranked poker hand. The hand is then ranked by it's highest card. Ex: A-J-10-5-3 (Ace High)
• Nuts: the best possible hand a player can have, according to the community cards on the board. Ex: If 3h-4s-5d are on the board, the Nuts is a 7-High Straight (player needs 6-7 in the hole).
• One Pair: Any poker hand consisting of one pair of same-value cards. Ex: 9-9
• Out: any card that will improve a player's hand. Ex: A player has 4 hearts. All other hearts become Outs.
• Showdown: When all betting rounds are complete, all active players reveal their cards to determine the winner.
• Raise: To place a wager that is higher than the previous wager in the same betting round.
• River: The fifth community card dealt in a Hold'em poker game.
• Royal Flush: The absolute best poker hand one can receive, this hand must contain an Ace-High Straight, with all cards of the same suit. Ex: 10s-Js-Qs-Ks-As
• Small Blind: The smallest forced bet in Hold'em poker games. This bet is placed by the player left of the dealer button. The Small Blind is equal to the low-end stakes, or half of the low-end stakes, depending on the limit structure.
• Stakes: The stakes of the game determine the small and big blind bets. Ex: $1/$2 stakes
• Straight: Any poker hand consisting of 5 sequenced/connected cards, but not the same suits. Ex: 5-6-7-8-9
• Straight Flush: Any poker hand consisting of 5 sequenced/connected cards, all of the same suit. Ex: 5h-6h-7h-8h-9h
• Street: In Stud games, each time a player receives cards, it is called a Street. 7 Card Stud gives the player 3 Cards to start, called 3rd Street. The next card is 4th Street, all the way up to 7th Street.
• Three of a Kind: Any poker hand consisting of 3 same-value cards. Ex: 8-8-8
• Turn: The 4th community card dealt in a Hold'em poker game.
• Two Pairs: Any poker hand consisting of a pair, plus another pair of a different value. Ex: 10-10-5-5
• Under The Gun: The first player to act, left of the Big Blind.

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