Poker Glossary
- ACTION
- A fold, check, call, bet, or raise. For
certain situations, doing something formally connected with the game
that conveys information about your hand may also be considered as
having taken action. Examples would be showing your cards at the end
of the hand, or indicating the number of cards you are taking at draw.
- AGGRESSIVE ACTION
- A wager that could enable a player to win
a pot without a showdown; a bet or raise.
- ALL-IN
- When you have put all of your playable
money and chips into the pot during the course of a hand, you are said
to be all-in.
- ANTE
- A prescribed amount posted before the
start of a hand by all players.
- 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
- The largest regular blind in a game.
- BLIND
- A required bet made before any cards are
dealt.
- BLIND GAME
- A game which utilizes a blind.
- BOARD
- (1) The board on which a waiting list is
kept for players wanting seats in specific games.
(2) Cards faceup on the table common to each of the hands.
- BOARDCARD
- A community card in the center of the
table, as in hold’em or Omaha.
- BOXED CARD
- A card that appears faceup in the deck
where all other cards are facedown.
- BROKEN GAME
- A game no longer in action.
- BURNCARD
- After the initial round of cards is
dealt, the first card off the deck in each round that is placed under
a chip in the pot, for security purposes. To do so is to burn the
card; the card itself is called the burncard.
- BUTTON
- A player who is in the designated dealer
position. See dealer button.
- BUTTON GAMES
- Games in which a dealer button is used.
- BUY-IN
- The minimum amount of money required to
enter any game.
- CALIFORNIA LOWBALL
- Ace-to-five lowball with a joker.
- CARDS SPEAK
- The face value of a hand in a showdown is
the true value of the hand, regardless of a verbal announcement.
- CAPPED
- Describes the situation in limit poker in
which the maximum number of raises on the betting round have been
reached.
- CHECK
- To waive the right to initiate the
betting in a round, but to retain the right to act if another player
initiates the betting.
- CHECK-RAISE
- To waive the right to bet until a bet has
been made by an opponent, and then to increase the bet by at least an
equal amount when it is your turn to act.
- COLLECTION
- The fee charged in a game (taken either
out of the pot or from each player).
- COLLECTION DROP
- A fee charged for each hand dealt.
- COLOR CHANGE
- A request to change the chips from one
denomination to another.
- COMMON CARD
- A card dealt faceup to be used by all
players at the showdown in the games of stud poker whenever there are
insufficient cards left in the deck to deal each player a card
individually.
- COMMUNITY CARDS
- The cards dealt faceup in the center of
the table that can be used by all players to form their best hand in
the games of hold’em and Omaha.
- COMPLETE THE BET
- To increase an all-in bet or forced bet
to a full bet in limit poker.
- CUT
- To divide the deck into two sections in
such a manner as to change the order of the cards.
- CUT-CARD
- Another term for the card used to shield
the bottom of the deck.
- DEAD CARD
- A card that is not legally playable.
- DEAD COLLECTION BLIND
- A fee posted by the player having the
dealer button, used in some games as an alternative method of seat
rental.
- DEAD HAND
- A hand that is not legally playable.
- DEAD MONEY
- Chips that are taken into the center of
the pot because they are not considered part of a particular player’s
bet.
- DEAL
- To give each player cards, or put cards
on the board. As used in these rules, each deal refers to the entire
process from the shuffling and dealing of cards until the pot is
awarded to the winner.
- DEALER BUTTON
- A flat disk that indicates the player who
would be in the dealing position for that hand (if there were not a
house dealer). Normally just called "the button."
- DEAL OFF
- To take all the blinds and the button
before changing seats or leaving the table. That is, participate
through all the blind positions and the dealer position.
- DEAL TWICE
- When there is no more betting, agreeing
to have the rest of the cards to come determine only half the pot,
removing those cards, and dealing again for the other half of the pot.
- DECK
- A set of playing-cards. In these games,
the deck consists of either:
(1) 52 cards in seven-card stud, hold’em, and Omaha.
(2) 53 cards (including the joker), often used in ace-to-five lowball
and draw high.
- DISCARD(S)
- In a draw game, to throw cards out of
your hand to make room for replacements, or the card(s) thrown away;
the muck.
- DOWNCARDS
- Cards that are dealt facedown in a stud
game.
- DRAW:
- (1) The poker form where players are
given the opportunity to replace cards in the hand. In some places
like California, the word "draw" is used referring to draw high, and
draw low is called "lowball."
(2) The act of replacing cards in the hand.
(3) The point in the deal where replacing is done is called "the
draw."
- FACECARD
- A king, queen, or jack.
- FIXED LIMIT
- In limit poker, any betting structure in
which the amount of the bet on each particular round is pre-set.
- FLASHED CARD
- A card that is partially exposed.
- FLOORPERSON
- A casino employee who seats players and
makes decisions.
- FLOP
- In hold’em or Omaha, the three community
cards that are turned simultaneously after the first round of betting
is complete.
- FLUSH
- A poker hand consisting of five cards of
the same suit.
- FOLD
- To throw a hand away and relinquish all
interest in a pot.
- FOURTH STREET
- The second upcard in seven-card stud or
the first boardcard after the flop in hold’em (also called the turn
card).
- FOULED HAND
- A dead hand.
- FORCED BET
- A required wager to start the action on
the first betting round (the normal way action begins in a stud game).
- FREEROLL
- A chance to win something at no risk or
cost.
- FULL BUY
- A buy-in of at least the minimum
requirement of chips needed for a particular game.
- FULL HOUSE
- A hand consisting of three of a kind and
a pair.
- HAND
- (1) All a player’s personal cards.
(2) The five cards determining the poker ranking. (3) A single poker
deal.
- HEADS-UP PLAY
- Only two players involved in play.
- HOLECARDS
- The cards dealt facedown to a player.
- 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.
- JOKER
- The joker is a "partly wild card" in high
draw poker and ace-to-five lowball. In high, it is used for aces,
straights, and flushes. In lowball, it is the lowest unmatched rank in
a hand.
- KANSAS CITY LOWBALL
- A form of draw poker low also known as
deuce-to-seven, in which the best hand is 7-5-4-3-2 and straights and
flushes count against you.
- KICKER
- The highest unpaired card that helps
determine the value of a five-card poker hand.
- KILL (OR KILL BLIND)
- An oversize blind, usually twice the size
of the big blind and doubling the limit. Sometimes a "half-kill"
increasing the blind and limits by fifty percent is used. A kill can
be either voluntary or mandatory. The most common requirements of a
mandatory kill are for winning two pots in a row, or for scooping a
pot in high-low split.
- KILL BUTTON
- A button used in a lowball game to
indicate a player who has won two pots in a row and is required to
kill the pot.
- KILL POT
- A pot with a forced kill by the winner of
the two previous pots, or the winner of an entire pot of sufficient
size in a high-low split game. (Some pots can be voluntarily killed.)
- LEG UP
- Being in a situation equivalent to having
won the previous pot, and thus liable to have to kill the following
pot if you win the current pot.
- LIVE BLIND
- A blind bet giving a player the option of
raising if no one else has raised.
- LIST
- The ordered roster of players waiting for
a game.
- LOCK-UP
- A chip marker that holds a seat for a
player.
- LOWBALL
- A draw game where the lowest hand wins.
- LOWCARD
- At seven-card stud, the lowest upcard,
which is required to bet.
- 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.
- MUCK
- (1) The pile of discards gathered
facedown in the center of the table by the dealer. (2) To discard a
hand.
- 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.
- NO-LIMIT
- A betting structure allowing players to
wager any or all of their chips in one bet.
- OPENER
- The player who made the first voluntary
bet.
- OPENER BUTTON
- A button used to indicate who opened a
particular pot in a draw game.
- OPENERS
- In jacks-or-better draw, the cards held
by the player who opens the pot that show the hand qualifies to be
opened. Example: You are first to bet and have a pair of kings; the
kings are called your openers.
- OPTION
- The choice to raise a bet given to a
player with a blind.
- OVERBLIND
- Also called oversize blind. A blind used
in some pots that is bigger than the regular big blind, and usually
increases the stakes proportionally.
- PASS
- (1) Decline to bet. In a pass-and-out
game, this differs from a check, because a player who passes must
fold. (2) Decline to call a wager, at which point you must discard
your hand and have no further interest in the pot.
- PAT
- Not drawing any cards in a draw game.
- PLAY BEHIND
- Have chips in play that are not in front
of you (allowed only when waiting for chips that are already
purchased). This differs from table stakes.
- PLAY THE BOARD
- Using all five community cards for your
hand in hold’em.
- PLAY OVER
- To play in a seat when the occupant is
absent.
- PLAYOVER BOX
- A clear plastic box used to cover and
protect the chips of an absent player when someone plays over that
seat.
- POSITION
- (1) The relation of a player’s seat to
the blinds or the button. (2) The order of acting on a betting round
or deal.
- POT-LIMIT
- The betting structure of a game in which
you are allowed to bet up to the amount of the pot.
- POTTING OUT
- Agreeing with another player to take
money out of a pot, often to buy food, cigarettes, or drinks, or to
make side bets.
- PROPOSITION BET
- A side bet not related to the outcome of
the hand.
- PROTECTED HAND
- A hand of cards that the player is
physically holding, or has topped with a chip or some other object to
prevent a fouled hand.
- PUSH
- When a new dealer replaces an existing
dealer at a particular table.
- PUSHING BETS
- The situation in which two or more
players make an agreement to return bets to each other when one of
them wins a pot in which the other or others play. Also called saving
bets.
- RACK
- (1) A container in which chips are stored
while being transported. (2) A tray in front of the dealer, used to
hold chips and cards.
- RAISE
- To increase the amount of a previous
wager. This increase must meet certain specifications, depending on
the game, to reopen the betting and count toward a limit on the number
of raises allowed.
- RERAISE
- To raise someone’s raise.
- SAVING BETS
- Same as pushing bets.
- SCOOP
- To win both the high and the low portions
of a pot in a split-pot game.
- SCRAMBLE
- A facedown mixing of the cards.
- SETUP
- Two new decks, each with different
colored backs, to replace the current decks.
- SIDE POT
- A separate pot formed when one or more
players are all in.
- SHORT BUY
- A buy-in that is less than the required
minimum buy-in.
- SHOWDOWN
- The showing of cards to determine the
pot-winner after all the betting is over.
- SHUFFLE
- The act of mixing the cards before a
hand.
- SMALL BLIND
- In a game with multiple blind bets, the
smallest blind.
- SPLIT POT
- A pot that is divided among players,
either because of a tie for the best hand or by agreement prior to the
showdown.
- SPLITTING BLINDS
- When no one else has entered the pot, an
agreement between the big blind and small blind to each take back
their blind bets instead of playing the deal (chopping).
- SPLITTING OPENERS
- In high draw jacks-or-better poker,
dividing openers in hopes of making a different type of hand (such as
breaking aces to draw at a flush).
- STACK
- Chips in front of a player.
- STRADDLE
- An additional blind bet placed after the
forced blinds, usually double the big blind in size or in lowball, a
multiple blind game.
- STRAIGHT
- Five cards in consecutive rank.
- STRAIGHT FLUSH
- Five cards in consecutive rank of the
same suit.
- STREET
- Cards dealt on a particular round in stud
games. For instance, the fourth card in a player’s hand is often known
as fourth street, the sixth card as sixth street, and so on.
- STRING RAISE
- A wager made in more than one motion,
without announcing a raise before going back to your stack for more
chips (not allowed).
- STUB
- The portion of the deck which has not
been dealt.
- SUPERVISOR
- A cardroom employee qualified to make
rulings, such as a floorperson, shift supervisor, or the cardroom
manager.
- TABLE STAKES
- (1) The amount of money you have on the
table. This is the maximum amount that you can win or lose on a hand.
(2) The requirement that players can wager only the money in front of
them at the start of a hand, and can only buy more chips between
hands.
- "TIME"
- An expression used to stop the action on
a hand. Equivalent to "Hold it."
- TIME COLLECTION
- A fee for a seat rental, paid in advance.
- TURNCARD
- The fourth street card in hold'em or
Omaha.
- UPCARDS
- Cards that are dealt faceup for opponents
to see in stud games.
- WAGER
- (1) To bet or raise.
(2) The chips used for betting or raising.
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