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.
- Board Card
- 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.
- Burn Card
- 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 holdem 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 bottom card.
- 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.
- Down cards
- 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.”
- Face card
- 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.
- Floor person
- 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.
- Hole cards
- 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 “partially wild card” in high draw poker and
ace-to-five lowball. In high, it is used for aces, straights, and flushes.
In lowball, the joker 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 at
lowball and other games, 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.
- Low card
- The lowest upcard at seven-card stud, 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 where players are allowed 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.
- Play over 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 bets
- Side-bets between players that are 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 suited decks, each with different colored backs, to replace the
current decks in a game.
- 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 final act of determining the winner of the pot after all betting has
been completed.
- 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. Example: You open the pot with a pair of aces. One
of your aces is a spade, as are the three other cards in the hand. If you
throw away the non-spade ace to go for the flush, you announce to the table,
“Splitting openers.”
- 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 bet made in more than one motion, without the declaration of a raise
(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 lose or that anyone can win from you on any one 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.
- Tournament
- A poker competition, normally with an entry fee and prizes.
- Turn card
- 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.
Many of the poker-specific definitions were lifted from Robert's Rules
of Poker