Poker Glossary

The following is a glossary of poker terms used in poker games. In addition to the terms listed below, there are thousands of common and uncommon poker slang terms.

Air: A card with no value.

Aggressive action: A playing style that prefers betting and raising rather than calling and checking.

Alternate: If the number of players wanting to participate in a live tournament exceeds the number of seats, players can register as alternates and take the seats of other players when they are eliminated.

Ante: The bet that all players must place before the flop.

Bad beat: Losing a hand despite having a very high win probability and placing chips, because an opponent formed a very unlikely stronger hand.

Bankroll: The funds a player can use to play poker. Click to learn more about "bankroll management".

Big blind: The mandatory bet that must be placed by the position to the left of the button's left in community card games such as Texas Hold'em.

Big hand: A hole card of A-K.

Brick: A disconnected card that cannot complete any hand or improve an existing hand.

Bubble: In poker tournaments, the finishing position just below the money positions.

Bullets: Slang for a pair of A hole cards. "Bullets" may also refer to participating in a rebuy tournament.

Button: The symbol indicating the dealer position on the poker table.

Buy-in: The fee for participating in a tournament, or the number of chips needed to participate in a cash game.

Call: To continue playing the current hand, you need to place an amount equal to the current highest bet (or go all-in).

Case card: The last card of any rank that hasn't appeared yet.

Check: If there hasn't been a bet in a round of play, you can choose not to bet and pass the decision to the next player.

Chop: Splitting the pot or prize money.

Cooler: When one player has a strong hand but another player has an even stronger hand, making it almost impossible to avoid a showdown (also called "bad luck hand").

Collusion: Two or more players conspiring in a poker game.

Community cards: In games like Texas Hold'em and Omaha, the five face-up cards (also called "board cards") that all players can use. Combine these cards with your "hole cards" to try to form the best 5-card poker hand.

Bad luck hand: See "Cooler".

Devaluation: When a hand's win probability decreases when a new community card is placed on the table, it's called devaluation.

Cracking: Improving an existing hand to beat a strong hand.

Crippled: You've lost most of your chips in one hand or several consecutive hands.

Cutoff (CO): The position to the right of the button on the poker table.

Dark (also called "blind"): A player hasn't looked at their hole cards, or makes decisions without looking at their cards (blind) before the community cards are dealt.

Dead money: Chips placed in the pot by players outside of the "active" (still in the game) players. Sometimes also refers to inexperienced players who are considered unlikely to win.

Dealer: The player who shuffles and deals cards, determined by the dealer button position in online games.

Dirty chips: In live games, if players carelessly mix chips of different denominations, making it difficult to calculate chip value, these players are said to have dirty chips.

Dominated: A dominated hand has three or fewer cards that can improve the hand, so statistically, the win probability is extremely low.

Donkey bet: A player in a later position who called a bet/raise in a previous betting round makes an early bet in this betting round.

Donkey: Poker slang for a player with poor poker skills.

Double belly buster: An inside straight draw with two ranks of community cards that can complete a straight (inside straight is "Belly Buster").

Double board: A form of community card game where the flop, turn, and river are dealt twice, and the pot is split between the winners of the two sets of community cards.

Drawing dead: Despite more community cards to come, there are no outs left to win a hand.

Dry side pot: When a player goes all-in and more than one player calls (with remaining usable chips), a side pot called a dry side pot is created.

Early bird: Incentives for players to start the game very early (or appear at the start of a live tournament).

EV (Expected Value): The long-term total value of all possible outcomes in a situation/hand.

Fantasy land: In Open-Face Chinese Poker, when the top hand receives (usually) QQ+ without fouling, the player immediately receives the entire hand (usually 14 cards). This is called fantasy land.

Felt: The material covering the poker table. Therefore, when felt is used as a verb, it refers to eliminating players in a tournament or winning all of their chips.

Field: All participants in a tournament.

Fill Up: Completing a full house draw.

Fish: A derogatory term for new players or players who are too good technically.

Fixed limit: In fixed limit games, players can only bet and raise according to the amounts specified at the table.

Float: Calling in later betting rounds without any hand to win the pot (for whatever reason).

Flop: In games like Texas Hold'em, the first three community cards dealt to the table after the first betting round.Flush: Five cards of the same suit but not in sequence.

Fold: Giving up your hand and no longer participating in a specific pot game.

Four of a kind: Four cards of the same rank. Also called "quads" in English.

Freezeout: A tournament that only allows each player to buy in once.

Full house: Three of a kind plus a pair.

GG: Abbreviation for "Good Game".

Grind: Spending a lot of time in low or medium stakes games to get regular returns or accumulate a small amount of chips for tournament participation.

Gutshot: A straight draw where only one specific rank can complete the straight

Hero fold: When a player with a very strong hand decides to fold due to their perception of the opponent or situation, this is called a hero fold.

High card: If no player has a pair or better hand at the end of a hand, the high card determines the winner (A is highest).

Hijack: The position to the right of the button's right on the poker table.

Hi-Lo: A type of poker game where the pot is split between the high hand winner and the low hand winner (if the low hand qualifies—click for more information).

Hit: Cards outside your starting hand that form a better hand. For example, A-K might hit an A on the flop, forming a pair.

Hold'em: A popular community card poker game where players use two hole cards and five community cards to form the strongest five-card poker hand.

Hole cards: A player's own cards (face down, invisible to opponents) (two in Texas Hold'em, four or more in Omaha, three in Seven-Card Stud, etc.).

ICM (Independent Chip Model): Used to calculate the equity value of chips in a tournament prize pool, typically used for making deals at final tables.

Implied odds: An extension of pot odds, including the possibility of winning more than the current pot amount if your draw completes.

Insurance: When a stronger hand goes all-in, an option to pay a fee to reduce variance and ensure against a bad beat.

Jam: Going all-in.

Joker: Jokers (usually with a joker image on the face) are two extra cards added to a deck (52 cards), sometimes used as "wild cards".

Kicker: The "extra" card that completes a five-card poker hand. If the hands are the same (e.g., the same pair in Texas Hold'em), the winner is determined by the size of the kicker.

Kill pot: In some fixed limit games, when a player wins consecutive pots or the pot amount exceeds a certain size, it triggers a kill pot in the next hand, and the next blind increases the limit for that hand.

Knockout (KO) tournament: In this type of tournament, a portion of each player's buy-in is marked as their bounty.

Loose aggressive: A player with a loose but aggressive playing style.Last longer: A side bet on who will stay longer in a tournament.

Limp (limping in): Calling the big blind before the flop (usually in NL/PL games).

M: A function calculation used to measure the number of chips versus the cost per round of play.

MTT: Multi-Table Tournament.

Nit: A term used to describe conservative players.

No-Limit: In no-limit games, the minimum bet is the amount of the big blind, and the maximum bet is the pot.

Nuts: The strongest possible hand at the moment.

Offsuit: Cards of different suits.

OFC: Open-Face Chinese Poker. A type of poker game. Players use 13 cards to form three hands—two five-card hands and one three-card hand. OFC can be played for high hands only or "pineapple".

Omaha: A community card poker game where players have four (or more) hole cards and must use exactly two of their hole cards and three community cards to form the strongest five-card poker hand.

Outs: The remaining cards in the deck that can help a (potential) winner improve their hand.

Overpair: A pair in the hole cards that is higher than the highest card on the board. For example, if the highest card on the flop is a 10, then a pair of Qs is an overpair.

Passive: A "passive" player who prefers checking and calling rather than betting and raising.

Peeking: Staying in the game to see the next card (usually hoping to form a certain hand, or to bluff on later community cards).

Polarized: If a player's decision on a specific community card represents that they either have a very strong hand or are bluffing, they are said to be "polarized".

Pot committed: A player has placed too many chips in the pot and should not fold under any circumstances. At this point, the player is "pot committed".

Pot-Limit: In pot-limit games, the minimum bet is the amount of the big blind, and the maximum raise is the "pot" amount (the total chips already in the pot plus the call amount).

Progressive Knockout (PKO): See Knockout (KO) tournament

Quads: Four of a kind.

Run it twice: After a hand ends, checking what the next one or more cards would have been.

Rag: Low-rank or low-value cards. In Texas Hold'em, 2-6 are "rags," as are any disconnected, low-rank, offsuit hands.

Rail: In live poker games, the area beside the poker table where spectators are allowed to watch. After being eliminated from a game, you are "sent to the rail".

Rainbow: When each card is a different suit (three or four suits). For example, if the flop has three different suits, it's a rainbow, and four-card Omaha hands where all cards are different suits are also called rainbows.

Raise: Increasing a bet after another player's initial bet.

River: The last card dealt before the final betting round (the fifth community card in games like Texas Hold'em, or the seventh card dealt to each player in Seven-Card Stud).

Rock: An extremely conservative player who only makes decisions when they have very good hands.

ROI: Return on Investment.

Royal flush: A flush of 10-J-Q-K-A—the highest possible hand in poker.Rundown: In Omaha games, starting hands where all cards are connected.

Run it twice: In cash games, if an all-in occurs, players who agree to "run it twice" will receive two sets of cards, and the pot is split between the winners of the two sets of community cards (which could be the same person).

Satellite: Single or multi-table tournaments where the prize is a ticket to a larger tournament (target tournament or the next stage of a satellite).

Set: In community card games, three of a kind formed using two hole cards and one community card.

Shark: A player with superior skills.

Ship: The English term for winning a tournament or prize pool is "ship it". It's also slang for "all-in".

Shove: Going all-in.

Showdown: At the end of a hand, all remaining players reveal their hole cards, and the winner takes the pot.

Side pot: When a player in a multi-player pot goes all-in, the pot that matches all bets is counted as the main pot, and any bets placed afterward count as a side pot.

Slow play: Pretending to be weak/refusing to bet when holding a strong hand.

Slow roll: Deliberately delaying revealing a hand that is likely to win (generally considered impolite behavior).

Small blind: The first bet that must be placed to the left of the dealer position.

SNG (Sit and Go): A tournament (single or multi-table) that starts when a specific number of registered players is reached, without a scheduled start time.

Soft play: When you could (and should) win more chips from a player but deliberately play softly. At best it's impolite, at worst it's a form of collusion.

Split pot: A pot split between two or more winners. Pots in games that only play for high hands are split in case of a tie; games like Hi-Lo or double board are designed to split the pot.

Squeeze play: After a raise and a call, a squeeze refers to placing another (large) raise, putting pressure on the initial bettor and the caller.

Stack: Chips that a player can use, whether cash chips or tournament chips. When stack is used as a verb, it refers to winning all of a player's chips.

Station (calling station): A derogatory term for players who like to call on many bets rather than raise or fold (typically playing very passively).

Steam: See tilt.

Straddle: An additional third blind (usually twice the big blind) placed on the table before the flop.

Straight: Five consecutive cards of any suit. A-2-3-4-5 is the lowest, 10-J-Q-K-A is the highest.Straight flush: Five consecutive cards of the same suit.

Street: A card that is dealt or a betting round.

Suck out: Winning with a worse hand by hitting good cards.

Tight aggressive: A player with a tight but aggressive playing style.

Tell: The unique aspects of a player's behavior or decision-making that reveal their actual hand strength. Also called a "giveaway".

Third bet: In a betting round, the second raise is the third bet. For example, before the flop starting from the big blind, the initial raise is a "raise," and the next raise is the "third bet" (followed by the "fourth bet," and so on).

Three of a kind: Three cards of the same rank.

Tight: Players who play fewer hands than average (because they have fewer and stronger hands they'll continue with) are described as having a "tight" playing style.

Tilt: Emotional instability due to something that happened in poker (usually a bad beat), affecting your decision-making ability.

Time bank: The decision-making time allocated to players (online) or additional time used by players facing particularly difficult decisions (typically online, but increasingly common in live games as well).

Triple Crown: A player who has won a WSOP bracelet, a WPT Main Event, and an EPT Main Event in their career is a Triple Crown winner.

Trips: Three of a kind.

Turn: The fourth community card dealt after the second betting round.

Two pair: Two pairs each formed by two cards of the same rank. The largest pair is compared first. If the two pairs are the same size, the hand with the largest fifth kicker card is stronger.

UTG (Under the Gun): The player to the left of the big blind—the first to make a decision before the flop.

VPIP: A statistic showing how frequently a player voluntarily (puts money) into the pot beyond the blinds they must post. The higher the VPIP, the more active the player, and usually the more aggressive they are.

Villain: Slang for referring to an opponent.

Whale: A high-stakes gambler with substantial funds.

Wheel: The smallest straight, from A to 5.

Wrap straight draw: In Omaha, a straight draw where three or more ranks of cards can complete a straight (click here to see examples).

Poker Terminology, Poker Basics, Poker Glossary

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