A Glossary of Poker Terms
The following glossary is taken from the book Winning Low Limit Hold''em by Lee
Jones, soon to be published by ConJelCo. The entire contents of this glossary
are copyright (c) 1994 by Lee Jones and used by permission. Please send any
comments or corrections to ConJelCo.
Action
(1) Opportunity to act. If a player appears not to realize it''s his turn,
the dealer will say "Your action, sir."
(2) Bets and raises. "If a third heart hits the board and there''s a lot of
action, you have to assume that somebody has made the flush."
Ante
A small portion of a bet contributed by each player to seed the pot at the
beginning of a poker hand. Most hold''em games do not have an ante; they use
"blinds" to get initial money into the pot.
All-In
To run out of chips while betting or calling. In table stakes games, a
player may not go into his pocket for more money during a hand. If he runs
out, a side pot is created in which he has no interest. However, he can
still win the pot for which he had the chips. Example: "Poor Bob - he made
quads against the big full house, but he was all-in on the second bet."
Backdoor
Catching both the turn and river card to make a drawing hand. For instance,
suppose you have As- 7s. The flop comes Ad-6c-4s. You bet and are called.
The turn is the Ts, which everybody checks, and then the river is the Js.
You''ve made a "backdoor" nut flush. See also "runner."
Bad Beat
To have a hand that is a large underdog beat a heavily favored hand. It is
generally used to imply that the winner of the pot had no business being in
the pot at all, and it was the wildest of luck that he managed to catch the
one card in the deck that would win the pot. We won''t give any examples, you
will hear plenty of them during your poker career.
Blank
A board card that doesn''t seem to affect the standings in the hand. If the
flop is As-Jd-Ts, then a turn card of 2h would be considered a blank. On the
other hand, the 2s would not be.
Blind
A forced bet (or partial bet) put in by one or more players before any cards
are dealt. Typically, blinds are put in by players immediately to the left
of the button. See also "Live blind."
Board
All the community cards in a hold''em game - the flop, turn, and river cards
together. Example: "There wasn''t a single heart on the board."
Bottom Pair
A pair with the lowest card on the flop. If you have As-6s, and the flop
comes Kd-Th-6c, you have flopped bottom pair.
Burn
To discard the top card from the deck, face down. This is done between each
betting round before putting out the next community card(s). It is security
against any player recognizing or glimpsing the next card to be used on the
board.
Button
A white acrylic disk to indicate who is the (nominal) dealer. Also used to
refer to the player on the button. Example: "Oh, the button raised."
Buy
(1) As in "buy the pot." To bluff, hoping to "buy" the pot without being
called.
(2) As in "buy the button." To bet or raise, hoping to make players between
you and the button fold, thus allowing you to act last on subsequent betting
rounds.
Calling Station
A weak-passive player who calls a lot, but doesn''t raise or fold much. This
is the kind of player you like to have in your game.
Cap
To put in the last raise permitted on a betting round. This is typically the
third or fourth raise. Dealers in California are fond of saying "Capitola"
or "Cappuccino".
Case
The last card of a certain rank in the deck. Example: "The flop came J-8-3;
I''ve got pocket jacks, he''s got pocket 8''s, and then the case eight falls on
the river and he beats my full house."
Center Pot
The first pot created during a poker hand. This is as opposed to one or more
"side" pots that are created if one or more players goes all-in. Also "main
pot."
Check
(1) To not bet, with the option to call or raise later in the betting round.
Equivalent to betting zero dollars.
(2) Another word for "chip", as in poker chip.
Check Raise
To check and then raise when a player behind you bets. Occasionally you will
hear people say this is not fair or ethical poker. Piffle. Almost all
casinos permit check-raising, and it is an important poker tactic. It is
particularly useful in low-limit hold''em where you need extra strength to
narrow the field when you have the best hand.
Cold Call
To call more than one bet in a single action. For instance, suppose the
first player to act after the big blind raises. Now any player acting after
him must call two bets "cold." This is different from calling a single bet
and then calling a subsequent raise.
Come Hand
A drawing hand (probably from the craps term).
Complete Hand
A hand that is defined by all five cards - a straight, flush, full house,
four of a kind, or straight flush.
Connector
A hold''em starting hand in which the two cards are one apart in rank.
Examples: KQs, 76.
Counterfeit
To make your hand less valuable because of board cards that duplicate it.
Example: you have 87 and the flop comes 9-T-J, so you have a straight. Now
an 8 comes on the turn. This has counterfeited your hand and made it almost
worthless.
Crack
To beat a hand - typically a big hand. You hear this most often used to
apply to pocket aces: "Third time tonight I''ve had pocket aces cracked."
Cripple
As in to cripple the deck. Meaning that you have most or all of the cards
that somebody would want to have with the current board. If you have pocket
kings, and the other two kings flop, you have crippled the deck.
Dog
Shortened form of "Underdog".
Dominated Hand
A hand that will almost always lose to a better hand that people usually
play. For instance, K3 is "dominated" by KQ. With the exception of strange
flops (e.g. 3-3-x, K-3-x), it will always lose to KQ.
Draw Dead
Try to make a hand that, even if made, will not win the pot. If you''re
drawing to make a flush, and your opponent already has a full house, you are
"drawing dead". Of course, this is a bad condition to be in.
Equity
Your "rightful" share of a pot. If the pot contains $80, and you have a 50%
chance of winning it, you have $40 equity in the pot. This term is somewhat
fanciful since you will either win $80 or $0, but it gives you an idea of
how much you can "expect" to win.
Expectation
(1) A term referring to the amount of you expect to gain on average if you
make a certain play. For instance, suppose you put $10 into a $50 pot to
draw at a hand that you will make 25% of the time, and it will win every
time you make it. Three out of four times, you do not make your draw, and
lose $10 each time for a total of $30. The fourth time, you will make your
draw, winning $50. Your total gain over those four average hands is $50-$30
= $20, an average of $5 per hand. Thus calling the $10 has a positive
expectation of $5.
(2) The amount you expect to make at the poker table in a specific time
period. Perhaps in 100 hours play, you have won $527. Then your expectation
is $5.27/hr. Of course, you won''t make that exact amount each hour (and some
hours you will lose), but it''s one measure of your anticipated earnings.
Family Pot
A pot in which all (or almost all) of the players call before the flop.
Fast
As in "play fast." To play a hand aggressively, betting and raising as much
as possible. Example: "When you flop a set but there''s a flush draw
possible, you have to play it fast."
Flop
The first three community cards, put out face up, all together.
Foul
A hand which may not be played for one reason or another. A player with a
foul hand may not make any claim on any portion of the pot. Example: "He
ended up with three cards after the flop, so the dealer declared his hand
foul."
Free Card
A turn or river card on which you don''t have to call a bet because of play
earlier in the hand (or a reputation which you have ...
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