Poker, like any other game, has its own set of terminology, and the expressions used in poker are generally applicable to all its variations. Take a look at the following poker terms to enhance your gameplay and improve your performance.
Check out the poker jargon
Discover the intricate lexicon and underlying connotations of the terminologies encompassing the realm of the enthralling poker game. Delve into the rich tapestry of expressions and unravel the true essence and implications behind the words that form an integral part of this captivating universe. Allow yourself to be immersed in the intriguing world of poker, where words hold great power and understanding their significance can unlock a whole new level of mastery in the game.
- Action or Ação: a term widely used in poker that describes a lot of action in a hand or betting round. For instance, when a game involves multiple raises and re-raises during a hand.
- All-in: a widely used term and one of the most well-known. A bettor who is all-in has wagered all of their remaining chips.
- Ante: there are several variations of poker, such as Stud, which is played with an ante, meaning chips that can be placed in the pot before each round. Antes also come into play in the later stages of tournaments of other poker variants.
- Bad Beat: a hand that is lost.
- Blackdoor Draw: an incomplete hand that requires two or more outs to be formed. For example, if a player has three hearts on the flop, then two additional hearts are needed to complete the flush.
- Badugi: a variant considered new in poker with its origins in Asia. Each player is dealt four cards, and there are three draws. The player with the lowest hand wins the pot. It can also have another meaning: four cards of different suits that do not form a pair.
- Barrel: a bet made on the flop, even if it hasn't hit anything.
- Bet: amount of money placed in the pot when opening the action in a specific betting round. If the bet is later increased, it will be considered as a raise.
- Big Stack: a player who holds a large number of chips.
- Blind: another commonly used term in poker. It is a mandatory bet before the cards are dealt. The player to the left of the dealer bets the small blind, and the player two places to the left of the dealer bets the big blind. It is worth remembering that the amount of the big blind bet is always double the small blind.
- Blind Level or Blinds Level: it is the level of mandatory bets in certain stages of a tournament. The amount of blinds increases with each new level.
- Blind Stealing: it's a pre-flop raise with a weak hand and aims to force opponents to fold in an attempt to "steal" the blinds.
- Bluff: to bet and raise with a weak hand, aiming to make other players fold with a stronger hand.
- Bluff Catcher: a weak hand that could be good enough for a bluff, even though it would be beaten by most other hands if it reached a showdown.
- Board: 5 community cards placed on the table in poker games.
- Break-even: A break-even player is someone who neither wins nor loses.
- Broadway has two distinct meanings: a straight sequence with the Ace as the highest card, or it can refer to a specific card.
- Bubble or Bolha: a situation in a tournament where only a few bettors need to be eliminated before reaching the prize.
- Bubble Boy: a player who finishes in the last position before the money, ending up with nothing.
- Burn Card: burned card. This card is discarded by the dealer before distributing the community cards.
- Busted or Bust-out: when you are eliminated from a tournament by losing all the chips you had.
- Button or Botão: it can refer to the plastic disc that moves clockwise to determine the dealer's position or it can be a term used to describe the dealer in a particular hand.
- Buy-in: the amount that bettors must pay to enter a tournament.
- Call: matching or following a bet or wager.
- Calling Station: a player who frequently plays hands without any technique.
- Cash Game: a poker game played with real money and blinds levels that are not increased. Bettors can buy chips whenever they desire and can also enter and leave the game at their convenience.
- Check ou Passar: the moment when the player needs to act and no one else has bet, this bettor can decide whether to perform a check, that is, to pass, without having to put more chips in the pot.
- Check-Call: to check and then immediately match an opponent's bet.
- Check-Raise: to perform a check and then raise (increase) the bet of an opponent.
- Chipleader: the bettor with the highest number of chips in a tournament.
- Cold Deck: when a hand considered very strong loses against an opponent who improves their hand on the board.
- Community Cards are five face-up cards on the table that can be used by all the players still in a game during a specific hand.
- Connector: two or more consecutive cards. Furthermore, consecutive cards of the same suit are known as suited connectors.
- Continuation Bet or C-Bet: a bet made on the flop by the last player to raise pre-flop.
- Cut-off: the player who is sitting to the right of the dealer. It is considered a favorable position as it is one of the last players to make their decision in each betting round, which means they can analyze the entire round made by other players before making a decision.
- Dead Money: money in a pot from bettors who have given up and can no longer bet in the round.
- In live games and physical casinos, the dealer is a staff member who handles the cards. However, in online games, the dealer position is indicated by a button that the dealer rotates clockwise around the table.
- Defender Blinds: when a bettor is in a blind and bets with the aim of winning the pot in order to avoid losing their chips placed in the mandatory blind bet.
- Door Card: the first exposed card in a hand in stud games.
- Downswing: regarded as a streak of bad luck.
- Draw: a poker hand that requires additional cards to be improved or completed.
- Equity or Equidade: the probability of winning multiplied by the chips in the pot. For example, if you have a 40% chance of winning and there are $10 in the pot, your equity is $4.
- Final Table or Mesa Final: the final table in a tournament is typically played with nine or ten players where the largest prizes are awarded.
- Fish: a player who is either very bad or inexperienced.
- Floorman: an employee of a poker room or casino who makes decisions and has the final say in disputes between players and the dealer. A floorman has more authority than the dealer.
- Flop: a term that is frequently mentioned, it has two meanings. It can refer to the first three community cards dealt in Texas Hold'em and Omaha, and it can also denote the second betting round in Texas Hold'em and Omaha.
- Flush: combination of five cards of the same suit.
- Flush Draw: when a bettor holds a combination of four cards of the same suit and is only missing one more card of that suit to complete the flush.
- Fold - Run away: a player who folds is no longer in the round and cannot win any part of the pot. In other words, when the player runs away from someone's bet and gives up on a particular round.
- Fold Equity: the likelihood of one or more players folding after their turn.
- Free Play: an opportunity to see the next community card without having to put chips in the pot.
- Freeroll: it can either be an opportunity to make money without any risk or a free-entry tournament without a buy-in.
- Full House: a poker hand that consists of having three of a kind and a pair of cards.
- Full Ring: a cash game table with nine or ten players. It's the opposite of shorthanded.
- Gambling: the act of risking luck instead of playing according to logic and probabilities. This term originates from games considered to be luck-based, and in poker, it is derogatory. A gambler who engages in "gambling" seeks to win relying on luck rather than their knowledge of the game.
- Gutshot: an unfinished straight where only one card from the inside is missing to complete it.
- Heads-up: a mano a mano game between two bettors.
- High Card: the lowest hand in a poker game, with less value than a pair.
- High Roller: a gambler who plays high limits.
- Hold'em: a diminutive of Texas Hold'em, it is also a general term for poker games that involve the use of community cards, of which Texas Hold'em and Omaha are the most well-known.
- Hole Cards or Hand Cards: face-down cards that each player receives at the start of each hand. They are used in conjunction with the five community cards to form the best possible combination with five cards.
- Implied Odds: calculation of probabilities in relation to the estimated final value of the pot. Consequently, expected profits are added to the odds.
- Kicker: a letter that can assist, but doesn't belong to the optimum combination of letters.
- Lay-down: it refers to a player who folds despite having a hand that is insufficient to beat the opponent.
- Limit is considered the diminutive of "Fixed Limit" where all minimum and maximum betting intervals are fixed at all times, and it can also refer to the size of the blinds or the maximum buy-in, indicating the amount of money with which one plays. It also refers to No-Limit or Pot-Limit games.
- Limp or Limper: it's an action where one chooses to call the big blind instead of raising.
- Live Cards: cards in the deck that have not yet been dealt.
- Low Card: a card that can complete a low hand in various forms of poker, such as Stud Hi-Lo and Omaha Hi-Lo.
- Made Hand or Mão Feita: a hand made with little likelihood of improvements.
- Hand: it has two meanings, including: it is the moment in the game when the cards are dealt, chips are bet, and the pot is won. After that, the button moves to the left where the next hand begins, as if it were a new round of play. It can also mean the best possible combination of five cards using the two hole cards and the five community cards.
- Hand Dominance: in the event that two players possess a card of equal value, the player with the superior kicker prevails over the opponent.
- Speculative Hand: a seemingly weak hand that can be enhanced.
- Marginal Hand or Marginal Hand: a hand that can sometimes be challenging to know what to do with it.
- Monotone: a hand to play in Omaha, consists of four cards of the same suit.
- Muck: it can be a set of cards that have been discarded by all players and are placed in the area of the table in front of the dealer, or, when the bettor takes the "muck" action, which means that they have thrown the cards face down towards the dealer. By taking this action, the bettor gives up any rights to any portion of the pot in the hand in question.
- Nuts: the best possible hand in a particular game situation, meaning when the player has the strongest hand.
- Odds: a way to present probabilities, one of them is to make a hand that is defined in relation to the probabilities of not making it. In other words, if you have a 20% chance of winning and an 80% chance of losing, the odds in this case are 80:20 or 4:1.
- Offsuit: two cards that are of different suits.
- Omaha: a variation of poker where players are dealt four hand cards and five community cards on the table. To form their hand, they must use exactly two of their hand cards and three of the cards on the table. The rules are identical to Texas Hold'em.
- Open Pair: open pair on the board.
- Option or Opção: a player who, in the big blind, has the choice to either check or raise in the absence of a previous raise.
- Out of Position or Sem Posição: being out of position, when you are one of the first to decide and speak in a betting round.
- Overcard: the highest card on the board, surpassing all others.
- Overpair: a pair in hand that is higher than any community card.
- Pocker Tracker: software that records the hands the gambler played, enabling the monitoring of their game and opponents.
- Pocket Pair or Hand Pair: two cards with the same value, dealt as hole cards.
- Position: It refers to the position of the bets in relation to the dealer. The farther you sit from the dealer, the better the position is considered, as you can be one of the last to speak in each betting round. This is a significant advantage that allows you to analyze the betting patterns of your opponents.
- Post-Flop: playing on the flop and in subsequent betting rounds.
- In this type of game, the player can bet a maximum amount equal to the total pot when it's their turn. The most popular Pot-Limit poker variant is Pot-Limit Omaha, but you can also play Pot-Limit in Hold'em and Draw Poker.
- Pot Odds: the current total amount of money in the pot compared to the amount you have to put in the pot to continue the game. The higher the pot odds, the better it is.
- Pre-Flop: playing before the flop, when bettors have two cards (hole cards or hand cards).
- Prizepool: the total amount of prizes to be distributed in a tournament. It is calculated by adding up the value paid in all registrations and awarded to the top-ranked participants in a tournament.
- Rainbow: it can either be a flop or turn in Hold'em where all three or four cards are of different suits, or in Omaha it can be a playable hand with all four cards of different suits.
- Raise: to increase the previous bet.
- Rake: the money or commission that the casino earns from each pot, or the entry fee for a tournament.
- Range: the hands that an opponent can have in a given game situation.
- Reversed Domination or Reversed Domínio: in Hold'em style, it occurs when an opponent has a card of the same value as us but with a better kicker. If the dominated player hits a pair with the lower kicker, it is said to be a reversed domination.
- To calculate Reversed Implied Odds, expected profits are added to the pot. Reversed Implied Odds refer to the expected losses in subsequent betting rounds. The loss is subtracted from the pot when calculating the odds.
- River: the fifth and final community card.
- Royal Flush: the best possible hand to achieve in poker. Straight flush from Ace to Ten (Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10).
- Runner-Runner: an incomplete hand that requires additional cards on the turn and river.
- Runner-Up: second player classified in a tournament.
- Satellite: a tournament with a moderate buy-in that offers a chance to win a spot in a bigger tournament.
- Seat: a place at the table assigned to a player.
- Second Barrel: a second bet on the turn.
- Semi-Bluff: betting or raising with a hand that is not the best, but has the potential to improve until the river. The main focus is to pressure opponents into folding. If the technique doesn't work, there's always the possibility of winning if the hand improves.
- Set: a trio that consists of having a pair in hand and a third identical community card.
- Shark or Tubarão: a bettor who is regarded as highly skilled and profitable, the complete opposite of a fish.
- Shorthanded: a game with 3 to 6 players is the opposite of Full Ring.
- Shortstack: a player at the table with a smaller chip stack.
- Showdown is the act of revealing the cards in the final round of betting, or earlier if a player chooses to go all in. In this case, all active bettors show their cards, starting with the player to the left of the dealer, to determine the winner. If someone bets or raises and there are no calls, then it is not considered a showdown.
- Single-Suited: a hand ready to play in the Omaha variant. Two cards of the same suit.
- Slow Play: a situation where the gambler acts cautiously even if they have a good hand, with the main objective of increasing the pot.
- Split Pot: divided pot, meaning the pot that is divided by two or more players due to having equal hands.
- Stack: chips or money that the gambler can use at the table.
- Steam: when the player gets angry about losing hands and consequently plays poorly in the following hands.
- Straight: five consecutive cards.
- Straight Draw: a combination where one card is missing to complete a sequence.
- Straight Flush: a sequence of the same suit.
- Street: betting rounds such as the flop, turn, and river.
- Stud: a variant of poker in which the players are dealt cards facing both up and down. One of them is the Seven Card Stud and Razz.
- Suck-out: when the gambler is fortunate and beats a superior hand.
- Suit or Naipe: spades, diamonds, hearts, and clubs.
- Suited: cards of the same suit.
- Table Stake: the amount a player can bet on the table during a cash game.
- Play only a few hands and fold all weak or marginal hands.
- Tilt: when the gambler reacts poorly to a bad beat or a downswing, allowing the game to be affected by it.
- Trash or Trash Hand: a hand without value and without potential to be improved.
- Trips or Trio: three cards of the same value.
- Turn: it can be either the fourth community card in Texas Hold'em and Omaha games or the second-to-last betting round, also known as Fourth Street.
- Under the Gun: the name of the player who acts first in the initial round of betting and sits to the left of the big blind. This position is not considered ideal as it requires one to act very early without much time to think.
- Underdog: the opposite of favorite, this term is used in poker to indicate the likelihood that a hand has of winning against another in a specific betting situation.
- Under Pair: hand in which the cards are lower than the lowest card on the table.
- Upswing: regarded as a fortuitous wave typically associated with a successful game.
- Walk: The player achieves a walk when their opponents fold pre-flop in their big blind, thus winning the pot uncontested and without having to take any action.
- The Wheel is the lowest straight (from Ace to five), it is named like that because in this situation, the Ace is used as the lowest card.
Play poker variants at the top online casinos!
Poker transcends mere luck as players' decisions have a profound impact on the outcomes. Consequently, being well-versed in all the terminology used in the game greatly influences your performance and results. Explore the top online casinos to engage in various poker variations such as Texas Hold'em, Poker Pai Gow, and Caribbean Poker.
