| Poker Basics
Texas Holdem
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Poker Glossary
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A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U W
Aces
Up
Two pairs, one pair containing aces.
Action
The betting.
Add-On
The opportunity to buy additional chips in some tournaments.
All-In
A player is considered to be All-In when he/she bets
all his/her remaining chips.
Ante
A bet required to begin a hand. |
Blind
A forced bet (or partial bet) put in by one or more
players before any cards are dealt. Usually, blinds
are put in by players immediately to the left of the
disc, which marks where the dealing begins with each
hand.
Board
All the community cards in a Texas Hold' Em game - the flop, turn, and river cards together. Example: "There wasn't a single heart on the board. |
Hand
Everything that occurs after the initial shuffling of the cards - cards are dealt, betting is done, a winner is declared and the pot is pushed. A hand also has several other meanings, such as the five cards that you chose to play in games with more than five cards.
Heads-up
Poker that is played by two players in a one-on-one
poker format.
House
Everything that makes up the card room, such as dealers,
management, etc. The house rakes money from the pot
and develops and enforces house rules. |
Call
To call is to match the current bet. If there has
been a bet of $10 and a raise of $10 then it costs
$20 to call. Calling is the cheapest (and the most
passive) way to remain in a hand.
Card Room
The rooms in which poker is played, or the organizations
that runs those rooms. Most casinos that offer poker
have a separate room, or at least a roped-off area,
designated as the card room. In some places where
poker is legal, you will also find separate card rooms
(not part of a larger casino) dedicated mostly to
poker.
Check
If there has been no betting before you in a betting
round, you may check, which is like calling a bet
of $0, or passing your turn. |
Down
card
A card dealt to a player or the dealer face down. Draw To deal
or request to have dealt a new card from the deck |
Exposed
Card
A card that inadvertently turns face up when it isn't
supposed to, such as during the deal in a draw game. |
Fifth
Street
The fifth card dealt. Following this card is the third
round of betting in seven-card stud and the fourth
round of betting in Texas Hold 'Em. In Texas Hold
'Em, this is also called the river and is the last
community card dealt.
Fixed Limit
Bets can only be made in specified increments.
Flop
A series of games with five community cards. These
are called flop games. Hold 'Em and Omaha are two
popular flop games. The flop is the first three community
cards dealt.
Flush
When all five cards in your hand have a common suit,
you have a flush. The flush with the highest card
not in common is better, so AK873 of spades is a better
flush than AK872 of diamonds. A flush ranks between
a straight and a full house.
Fold
To muck your cards because someone else has made a
larger bet than you are willing to call. You are unable
to win the pot but at least you don't lose more money.
Forced Bet
A blind bet or a bring-in.
Full House
A strong hand that ranks between a flush and four
of a kind, that consists of three cards of one rank
and two cards of another rank. AAA77 is aces full
of sevens, often abbreviated to "aces full". |
Jackpot
A large number of card rooms offer sizeable jackpots
for certain things, such as the high hand of the hour.
The rules vary from card room to card room. |
Limit poker
A structured poker style that uses fixed limits on betting and raising per round. Limit poker games require specific bet amounts, as opposed to no-limit games in which you can bet the farm if so desired.
A $5-$10 Texas Hold' Em game usually requires $5 bets
and raises on the first two rounds (pre-flop and post
flop) and $10 bets and raises on the last two (after
the turn and river). In a $5-$10 game, the small blind
is $2 and the big blind is $5.
Live Hand
A hand that has not been folded or mucked, or a hand
with many outs remaining. |
Main
Pot
The only pot an "All-In" player is eligible to win.
The main pot consists of the "All-In" player's bet
plus all other players that have called that bet.
Additional bets, placed in a side pot, are contested
among the remaining players.
Meet
Same as call.
Middle Pair
If you pair one of your pocket cards to the second
highest card on the flop, you have middle pair.
Muck
The act of throwing your cards away because you cannot
or did not win the pot. They are ineligible to win
the pot if they are mucked. |
No-Limit
A version of poker in which a player may bet any amount
of chips (up to the number in front of him) whenever
it is his turn to act. It is a very different game
than limit poker. |
Open
To make the first bet in a round.
Open-Ended
Straight
A straight draw with four consecutive cards that can
be completed on either end. An example is 6/7/8/9,
since a five or a 10 will make a straight.
Option
If no one raises the big blind, then the player in
that position has the option to raise when their turn
comes around. The dealer will typically say something
like "your option," to remind them.
Over Button
A type of button that indicates you are willing to
play at higher limits. Any time everyone left in the
hand has an over button, the limits go up. |
Pair
Two cards of the same value such as an Ace/Ace.
Pocket
Your first two down cards. Hold 'Em players tend to
call them pocket cards; stud players tend to call
them hole cards.
Position
Your place at the table, relative to the order of
betting within a betting round. The first few players
to act are in early position, the next few in middle
position, and the last few in late position. There
is an advantage to being in late position, seeing
as how you know exactly what your opponents have done.
In some games, the dealer, or the player on the dealer
button, is always in last position. If you have position
on someone, then they are on your right and you will
always act after them.
Position
Bet
A bet made relying on the strength of one's position
rather than on the strength of one's hand. If no one
opens, a player on the button in Texas Hold' Em is
in good position to steal the pot, due to his position.
Post
To post is to put in the required amount in the pot
before the hand starts, such as an ante or blind.
Pot
The money gathered in the middle of the table from
blinds, bets, and raises. This money goes to the winner,
or winners as the case may be. If you have not yet
folded, you are "in the pot."
Pot Limit
A poker structure 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).
Pot Odds
A mathematical solution to whether or not a particular
situation is worth a call. The ratio of the amount
of money in the pot to the amount of money it will
cost you to call a bet. The greater the pot odds,
the more likely you should be to call.
Pre-Flop
Before the flop, such as raising pre-flop.
Protect
To induce folding in order to prevent another player
from outdrawing you is protecting your hand. This
is done by betting and raising so that someone on
a draw will fold rather than call to see if their
cards come off. A protectable hand is one that is
almost always the best, but is vulnerable to being
outdrawn. 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 put a chip or some other artifact on them so
the dealer does not muck them.
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Raise
To increase the amount of the bet after the betting
has already been opened in a round. For example, if
the betting limit is $10 and player A bets $10, player
B can fold, call the $10, or raise it to $20. Often,
an inexperienced player will say "bet" when he means
raise or "raise" when he means bet.
Rake
The house cut of each pot. The rake amount and protocol
changes from card room to card room. Some rake the
big blind and put the small blind in a jackpot, while
others use a time charge, and others yet do a percentage
of the pot as the rake.
Rank
The numerical value of a card. Each card has a suit
and a rank. The three of spades and the three of hearts
have the same rank. A pair is two cards of the same
rank.
Re-buy
If you run out of chips in a tournament, and you wish
to continue playing, you then re-buy, meaning, you
buy more chips. This is only legal in re-buy tournaments.
You can only re-buy up until a certain point. See
also: ADD-ON.
Redraw
After you get your initial draw, picking up another
draw. For example, if you hold 8h3h and the flop comes
Th9h2s, you have a flush draw. If the turn is the
7h, you have made your flush and picked up a straight
flush redraw.
Re-raise
A second raise after the initial raise in a round.
This occurs when a player raises after a raise by
another player.
River
The fifth and final community card dealt in flop games,
or the last card dealt in non-flop games. Also called
Fifth Street in Texas Hold' Em.
Round
A betting round 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. Each round of betting
is followed either by further dealing or by a showdown.
In Texas Hold' Em, there are four betting rounds (pre-flop,
post flop, after the turn, and after the river). A
round of hands is one full rotation around the table,
so, each player would hold the dealer button once,
or be the dealer if no pitcher were present.
Royal Flush
This is the highest possible ranked hand. To achieve
this hand you need an Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and
10 of the same suit.
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Scare
Card
A high card that, when it appears, brings forth a
possibility for a better hand. In Texas Hold' Em,
a third suited card on the river is a scare card,
because it makes a flush possible. If you're pretty
sure your opponent paired a king on the flop, an ace
on the turn is a scare card, because that lends the
idea of a pair of aces beating that pair of kings.
Scare cards will often make it difficult for the best
hand to bet, and offer an opportunity for bluffing.
7-Card Stud
A popular game commonly played in public card rooms.
In seven-card stud, each player is dealt seven cards
of their own: two down, then four up, and a final
card down. There is a round of betting after the first
up card and after each subsequent card dealt. 7-Card
Stud is usually played with a small ante and a forced
bring-in on Third Street. In limit games, the bet
size typically increases on Fifth Street.
Showdown
The showdown occurs at the end of a hand, to determine
the winner, if there is more than one player left.
You can either show your cards, or, if you aren't
a winner, you can muck them in most situations.
Shuffle
The mixing and rearranging of the cards before each
hand so that the cards occur randomly. This is done
by the dealer.
Sit In
To join in a game that has already started.
Split Pot
In a game that isn't high-low split, a tie between
at least two players. This happens when both players
show the same hand. This is common in Texas Hold'
Em for straights especially when both players are
playing the board. In a high-low split game, of course,
almost every hand results in a split pot.
Spread Limit
A structure in which betting limits have a fixed minimum
and maximum bet for each betting round. Any amount
in between these limits may be bet.
Starting
Hand
The two pocket cards in Texas Hold' Em or the first
three cards in 7-Card stud.
Straddle
Raising before looking at your pocket cards when you
are under the gun. There is no sound reason for doing
this, other than trying to liven up a tight table,
or for advertising value.
Straight
A straight is five cards of any suit in ascending
order. The ace can be either high or low and the high
straight wins the tie.
Straight Flush
A hand consisting of five cards of consecutive ranks
of the same suit, aces being high or low.
Structure
The rules of a particular game regarding betting,
including antes, blinds, and the amount that may be
bet on any round. In card rooms, games are typically
posted along with shorthand for the limits. For example,
Texas 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.
Games with more complicated structures sometimes spell
it out like this: 5-10-10-15. In connection with tournaments,
structure can also mean anything having to do with
the amount of money in tournament chips players can
get, the re-buy and add-on rules, and the way in which
the blinds increase.
Stud
Refers to stud games in general, however, usually
short for seven-card stud. Stud games are contrasted
with flop games and draw games.
Stud Poker
A form of poker with cards dealt to each person, some
being face down and some being face up.
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Table
Stakes
Table stakes is a rule saying that a player may only
wager money they have on the table at the beginning
of a hand, in other words, they can't put their car
keys down as a bet. It also implies that money may
not be removed from the table at any time, although
money may be added to one's stacks between hands.
Tell
A gesture or signal unintentionally done by a player
that gives other players information about the player's
hand. For example, a player who twitches when they
are bluffing.
Texas Hold
'Em
Often shortened to just Hold 'Em, is widely considered
the grandfather of poker. A flop game, in Texas Hold
'Em each player gets two pocket cards, while five
community cards are dealt face-up on the table. The
strength of a player's hand is the best five-card
hand that can be made with these seven cards. There
are four rounds of betting: after the pocket cards
are dealt, after the first three community cards (the
flop), after the fourth, or turn card, and after the
final, or river card.
Three of
a Kind
Having three cards of the same value.
Top Pair
If you have a pair with one of your pocket cards and
the highest card on the board, you have top pair.
Tournament
In a poker tournament, each player sits down with
the same number of chips, and eventually only one
player has any chips left. That is the basic idea
behind a tournament. Each card room runs tournaments
differently. 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.
Two Pair
A hand consisting of two pairs of cards with the same
value. |
Up
Card
A card dealt to a player or the dealer face up. |
Wager
A bet.
Wait for
the Blind
Instead of coming in the middle of a rotation, some
clubs do not let a new player be dealt in until it
is his turn to put in the blind. This prevents his
getting "free" hands. Some clubs allow the player
to join the hand if he immediately puts up the blind.
White
White is the color for $1 chips in most casinos.
Wild Card
Games that use a wild card are called wild card games.
A wild card is a card that can serve as any other
card in making your hand.
Winning
hand
The hand that takes all the chips in the pot because
it was the best hand in a showdown. |
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