Poker glossary

360 terms

A

Ace-to-five, ace-to-six: Methods of evaluating low hands. See lowball.
Act: To make a play (bet, call, raise, or fold) at the required time. It is Ted's turn to act. Compare to "in turn".
Act out of turn: Betting, calling or folding before it is your turn, which gives away information and can be penalised.
Action: A player's turn to act. The action is on you. "A willingness to gamble. I'll give you action or There's plenty of action in this game." Or "A bet, along with all the calls of that bet. For example, if one player makes a $5 bet and three other players call, he is said to have $5 "in action", and to have received $15 worth of action on his bet. Usually this term comes into play when figuring side pots. See table stakes."
Action button: A marker similar to a kill button, on which a player places an extra forced bet. In a seven-card stud high-low game, the action button is awarded to the winner of a scoop pot above a certain size, signifying that in the next pot, that player will be required to post an amount representing a completion of the bring-in to a full bet. For example, in a stud game with $2 and $4 betting limits and a $1 bring-in, a player with the action button must post $2; after the cards are dealt, the player with the low card must still pay the $1 bring-in, then when the betting reaches the player who posted the $2, he is required to leave it in as a raise of the bring-in (and has the option to raise further). Players in between the bring-in and the action button can just call the bring-in, but they know ahead of time that they will be raised by the action button.
Action card: In Texas hold 'em or other community card games, a card appearing on the board that causes significant betting action because it helps two or more players. For example, an ace on the flop when two players each hold an ace.
Action only: In many cardrooms, with respect to an all-in bet, only a full (or half) bet can be reraised. Anything less than a full (or half) bet is considered to be action only, that is, other players can call the bet but not raise it. For example, Alice bets $100. Bob calls. Carol goes all in for $119. When the action returns to Alice and Bob, they may only call the extra $19; they cannot raise it. Carol's raise is called action only. Compare to "full bet rule", "half bet rule".
Active player: A player still involved in the pot. If there are side pots, an all-in player may be active in some pots, but not in others.
Add-on: In a cash game, to buy more chips before you have busted. In tournament play, a single rebuy for which all players are eligible regardless of their stack size. This is usually allowed only once, at the end of the rebuy period. The add-on often offers more chips per dollar invested than the buyin and rebuys. Compare with "rebuy".
Advertising: To make an obvious play or expose cards in such a way as to deliberately convey an impression to your opponents about your style of play. For example, to make a bad play or bluff to give the impression that you bluff frequently (hoping opponents will then call your legitimate bets) or to show only good hands to give the impression that you rarely bluff (hoping opponents will then fold when you bet).
Affiliate: A site paid a commission for sending players to an operator. This one is an affiliate, which is disclosed on every page.
Aggression factor: A statistic comparing how often a player bets and raises against how often they call.
Aggressive, aggression: The tendency for a player to open betting or raise rather than call or check. See main article: aggression. Compare to "loose", "tight", "passive".
Air: In lowball, "giving air" is letting an opponent who might otherwise fold know that you intend to draw one or more cards to induce him to call. "Nothing, as in That last bluff was with total air, or I caught air on the river."
All in: Having bet all of your chips in the current hand. See main article: all in.
Angle Shooting: A technically legal, but borderline unethical, play. For example, deliberately miscalling one's own hand to induce a fold, or placing odd amounts of chips in the pot to confuse opponents about whether you mean to call or raise. A player employing such tactics is called an "angle shooter".
Anna Kournikova: Ace-king. A joke name: it looks good and never wins.
Anonymous tables: Tables where screen names are hidden or randomised each session, so nobody can build a history on anyone.
Ante: A forced bet required, in some types of poker, of all players before the hand begins. See main article: ante.
Ante off: In tournament play, to force an absent player to continue paying antes, blinds, bring-ins, or other forced bets so that the contest remains fair to the other players. Go ahead and take that phone call. We'll ante you off until you get back. Also "blind off".
Ass end: The lowest of several possible straights, especially in a community card game. For example, in Texas hold 'em with the cards 5-6-7 on the board, a player holding 3-4 has the bottom end straight, while a player holding 4-8 or 8-9 has a higher straight. Also known as "idiot end."
Auto-muck: A setting that folds your losing hand at showdown without showing it.

B

Back in: To enter a pot by checking and then calling someone else's open on the first betting round. Usually used in games like Jackpots, meaning to enter without openers.
Back into: To win a pot with a hand that would have folded to any bet. For example, two players enter a pot of draw poker, both drawing to flushes. Both miss, and check after the draw. The player with the ace-high draw "backs into" winning the pot against the player with only a king-high draw. Also to make a backdoor draw, for example, a player who starts a hand with three of a kind, but makes a runner-runner flush, can be said to back into the flush.
Backdoor: A draw requiring two or more rounds to fill. For example, catching two consecutive cards in two rounds of seven-card stud or Texas hold 'em to fill a straight or flush. "A hand made other than the hand the player intended to make. I started with four hearts hoping for a flush, but I backdoored two more kings and my trips won."
Backraise: A reraise from a player that previously called in the same betting round. I decided to backraise with my pocket eights to isolate the all-in player.
Bad beat: Losing with what is, or appears to be, a considerably stronger hand. See main article: bad beat.
Badugi: A four-card draw game where the best hand is four different ranks in four different suits, as low as possible.
Bagging: Counting and sealing your chips at the end of a multi-day tournament's playing day.
Balance: Playing very different hands in the same way, with the aim of making it more difficult for an opponent to gain useful information about the cards a player has, even though on a value basis one would play them differently.
Bank: Also called the house, the person responsible for distributing chips, keeping track of the buy-ins, and paying winners at the end of the game.
Bankroll: 1) The amount of money that a player has to wager for the duration of his or her poker career. 2) To fund someone's participation in a game. As in, "John bankrolled Kate's $5,000 entry fee into the tournament." Compare with "staking".
Bankroll management: Choosing the correct stakes and game type to avoid exhausting one's bankroll during downswings.
Barrel: To keep betting on later streets. Firing a second barrel is betting the turn after betting the flop.
Behind: 1. Not (currently) having the best hand. I'm pretty sure my pair of jacks was behind Lou's kings, but I had other outs, so I kept playing. 2. Money on the table but not currently in the pot, which can be bet later in the hand - He bet $50 with $100 behind, so I folded my low pair. Or Money in play but not visible as chips in front of a player. For example, a player may announce "I've got $100 behind" while handing money to a casino employee, meaning that this money is "in play" and he may bet or call with that money even before the chips are brought to him."
Bet: Any money wagered during the play of a hand. More specifically, the opening bet of a betting round. In a fixed limit game, the standard betting amount. There were six bets in the pot when I called.
Bet sizing: How much to bet, as distinct from whether to. Often a larger decision than the choice to bet at all.
Betting structure: The complete set of rules regarding forced bets, limits, raise caps, and such for a particular game. See main article: betting.
Big bet: The larger of two bet amounts in a fixed limit game. See main article: big bet.
Big blind: The larger of two forced bets in certain types of poker. See main article: blind.
Big blind ante: A format where the big blind posts the ante for the whole table, which speeds play up considerably.
Big blind special: A hand won by the big blind playing very weak pocket cards because there was no raise pre-flop.
Big full: The best possible full house in community card games. I had the big full when the flop came A-A-5 and my hole cards were A-5. A stronger hand than the "underfull".
Big slick: Ace-king.
Big stack: A stack of chips that is relatively large for the stakes being played. Also called "deep stack". Compare with "short stack".
Blank: A card, frequently a community card, of no apparent value. I suspected Margaret had a good draw, but the river card was a blank, so I bet again. Compare to "rag", "brick", "bomb".
Bleed: Consistently losing chips through bad play, possibly resulting from tilt. When a player is consistently losing chips, they are "bleeding chips."
Blind: A type of forced bet. In Texas Holdem, the small blind is the first player to the left of the dealer, the big blind is the second player left of the dealer. The big blind usually posts 2 times the amount of small blind and then the 3rd person to the left of the dealer must either call, raise or fold the big blind bet. The blinds are posted prior to players seeing any cards so as to put some money already in the "pot"
Blind level: A period of a tournament during which the blinds stay fixed.
Blind off, blinded: To have one's stack reduced by paying ever increasing blinds in tournaments. Ted had to make a move soon or he would be blinded away in three more rounds.
Blind stud -: A stud poker game in which all cards are dealt face down. Was popular in California before legal rulings made traditional stud legal there.
Blocker: In community card poker, holding one of the opponent's outs, typically when the board threatens a straight or straight draw. A blocker is also having a combination of cards that turn your opponents outs into your own, such as having four to a straight flush. The two cards to give you a straight flush are blockers against his high flush draw. The board was A23 but with my pair of fives I held two blockers to the straight. Compare to "dry ace".
Blocking bet: An abnormally small bet made by a player out of position intended to block a larger bet by an opponent.
Bluff: A bet made with a hand that is mathematically unlikely to be profitable either to make money or to disguise play patterns. See main article: bluff.
Board: 1) The set of community cards in a community card game such as Texas holdem or Omaha. If another spade hits the board, I'll have to fold. 2) The set of face-up cards of a particular player in a stud game. Zack's board didn't look too scary, so I bet into him again.
Board texture: The shape of the community cards: how many draws they offer and whose range they favour.
Boat: Another name for Full house
Bomb pot: A hand where everyone posts an agreed amount and the flop is dealt with no preflop betting.
Bot: A program playing without a human. Prohibited everywhere, and detected mainly by timing patterns and inhuman consistency.
Both ways: Both halves of a split pot, often declared by a player who thinks he or she will win both low and high. Also known as "scooping" the pot
Bottom dealing: Trick or cheating deal where a card or cards are dealt from the bottom of the deck rather than the top.
Bottom end: The lowest of several possible straights, especially in a community card game. For example, in Texas hold 'em with the cards 5-6-7 on the board, a player holding 3-4 has the bottom end straight, while a player holding 4-8 or 8-9 has a higher straight. Also known as "idiot end" or "ass end".
Bottom pair: In a community card game, a pair made by matching the lowest-ranking board card with one (or two) in one's private hand. Compare second pair, top pair.
Bottom set: In a community card game, a set made by matching the lowest-ranking board card with the two in one's private hand. Compare second set, top set.
Bounty: An aspect of some poker tournaments that rewards players for eliminating other players with a cash prize for each player they eliminate, separate from the tournament payout structure.
Box: The chip tray in front of a house dealer, and by extension, the house dealer's position at the table. You've been in the box for an hour now; don't you get a break?
Boxed card: A card encountered face-up in the assembled deck during the deal, as opposed to one overturned in the act of dealing. Most house rules treat a boxed card as if it didn't exist; that is, it is placed aside and not used. Different rules cover cards exposed during the deal.
Break - 1): In a draw poker game, to discard cards that make a made hand in the hope of making a much better one. For example, a player with J-J-10-9-8 may wish to break his pair of jacks to draw for the straight, and a lowball player may break his 9-high 9-5-4-2-A to draw for the wheel. In a Jacks-or-better draw game, a player breaking a high pair must keep the discarded card aside, to prove he had openers. 2) To end a session of play. The game broke at about 3:00. 3) During a tournament, an interval where play ceases and the players are free to refresh or relieve themselves.
Brick: A "blank", though more often used in the derogatory sense of a card that is undesirable rather than merely inconsequential, such as a card of high rank or one that makes a pair in a low-hand game. Also known as a bomb. Compare to "rags".
Brick & Mortar: A brick & mortar or B&M casino is a "real" casino based in a building, as opposed to an online casino. This refers to many real world locations vs. their Internet counterparts. It is not just a poker term or even a gambling term; it is often used in e-commerce in similar situations.
Bridge order: Poker is neutral about suits. A spade flush and a club flush with all ranks matching is a tie. But in determining the dealer at the start of a game, or in determining the bringin bettor in a stud game, bridge rank rules: Spades beat hearts beat diamonds beat clubs. It's convenient but coincidental that this works out to reverse alphabetical order.
Bring in: To open a betting round. Alice brought it in for $4, and Bob raised to $10. A forced bet in stud games. In the first betting round, the holder of the worst (lowest or highest, depending) upcard must post a bring-in bet. The bring-in bet is typically a quarter to a third of a small bet. The bring-in bettor may look at his cards, and place a full bet if he deems it wise.
Bring-in: In stud, the forced bet made by the player showing the lowest up card.
Broadway: A 10 through ace straight. Can also include any group of cards from 10 to ace- i.e. I had position and two broadway cards (king-queen), so I called to see the flop.
Brush: A casino employee whose job it is to greet players entering the poker room, maintain the list of persons waiting to play, announce open seats, and various other duties (including brushing off tables to prepare them for new games, hence the name). To recruit players into a game. Dave is brushing up some players for tonight's game.
Bubble: The last finishing position in a poker tournament before entering the payout structure. He was very frustrated after getting eliminated on the bubble. Also can be applied to other situations like if six players will make a televised final table the player finishing seventh will go out on the "TV bubble". Also applies to any situation close to the payout structure.
Bubble boy: The player eliminated in the last position before the payouts begin. The worst finish in the tournament.
Bully: A player who raises frequently to force out more cautious players, especially one with a large stack for the size of the game (a "big stack" bully).[1]
Burn card: A card discarded face down before the flop, turn and river, so that a marked top card cannot be read.
Button: The disc marking the nominal dealer, and so the player who acts last after the flop. It moves one seat clockwise each hand.
Buy-in: The amount needed to enter a game or a tournament.

C

Cage: The casino cashier. Some NJ rooms let you deposit and withdraw there in person, which is often the fastest route for a large sum.
Call: To match the current bet rather than raise or fold.
Calling station: A player who calls far too often and folds far too rarely. Bet your good hands relentlessly and never try to bluff them.
Cap: A limit on how many raises are allowed in a betting round, or in some games a ceiling on how much can go in.
Cap game: A no-limit game with a ceiling on how much can go in during one hand.
Card dead: Receiving nothing playable for a long stretch.
Cash game: A game where chips are worth their face value in money and you can sit down or leave whenever you like. Compare tournament.
Check: To pass the action along without betting. Only legal when nobody has bet in the current round.
Check-raise: To check, then raise after a player behind you bets. One of the strongest and most useful moves in the game.
Chip dumping: Deliberately losing chips to another player to move money between accounts.
Chip leader: The player with the most chips, usually said of a tournament.
Chip race: The procedure for removing small denominations from a tournament, dealing cards to decide who keeps the odd chips.
Chop: To split a pot between tied hands, or to agree to divide the remaining prize money in a tournament.
Cold call: To call a raise without having already put money into that betting round.
Collusion: Two or more players secretly working together, usually by sharing hole cards. The most damaging form of online cheating and the hardest to spot from a seat.
Colour up: To exchange a pile of small chips for fewer large ones.
Combinatorics: Counting the exact number of card combinations in a range. There are six ways to be dealt any pocket pair and sixteen of any unpaired hand, four of them suited.
Community cards: The shared cards dealt face up in the middle, which everyone may use. The flop, turn and river.
Computer hand: Queen-seven offsuit, supposedly the hand that wins exactly half the time heads-up against a random hand.
Connectors: Two hole cards of consecutive rank, such as 9-8. Suited connectors share a suit as well.
Continuation bet: A bet on the flop by whoever raised before it, whether or not the flop actually helped them. Usually shortened to c-bet.
Cooler: A hand where two very strong holdings meet and someone was always going to lose a lot. Not a mistake, whatever it feels like.
Cooling-off period: A temporary self-imposed lock on your account, shorter and more easily reversed than self-exclusion.
Counterfeit: When a community card makes part of your hand redundant, such as a board two pair that outranks the pair in your hand.
Cover: To have a bigger stack than someone, so you cannot be eliminated by them.
Cowboys: A pair of kings.
Crying call: A call made fully expecting to lose, because the pot has grown too large to fold.
Cutoff: The seat immediately to the right of the button, and the second-best position at the table.

D

Dead man's hand: Two black aces and two black eights, said to be what Wild Bill Hickok held when he was shot.
Dead money: Chips in the pot from players who have already folded. Also used of a player whose buy-in is effectively already someone else's.
Dealer: The person dealing the cards. In a home game the role moves with the button; in a card room the dealer is staff and the button moves instead.
Dealer's choice: A game where whoever holds the button picks the variant for that hand.
Deep run: Lasting well into the money in a large tournament.
Deep stack: A stack large relative to the blinds, leaving room for real play after the flop.
Deposit limit: A cap you set yourself on how much you can pay in over a day, week or month. Every licensed room offers one, and setting it before you need it is easier than after.
Deuce-to-seven: A lowball form where aces are high and straights and flushes count against you, so the best hand is 7-5-4-3-2 offsuit.
DGE: The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, the regulator every legal online room in the state answers to.
Disconnect protection: A rule protecting a player who loses their connection mid-hand. Rare now, and easy to abuse, which is why.
Donk bet: A bet into the previous round's aggressor, made by a player who is out of position.
Double up: To win a pot that doubles your stack, usually by getting all in and winning.
Draw: A hand that still needs another card to become strong, such as four cards to a flush.
Draw poker: Any game where you are dealt a complete private hand and may exchange cards, rather than sharing community cards.
Drawing dead: Holding a draw that cannot win even if it comes in.
Dry board: A flop offering few draws, such as K-7-2 of three different suits.
Ducks: A pair of twos.

E

Early position: The first seats to act after the blinds. The hardest place at the table to play, so play fewer hands from it.
Effective stack: The smaller of the two stacks in a pot, since that is the most that can actually be won or lost.
Eight or better: A qualifier for the low half of a split pot: the low hand must be five unpaired cards all eight or lower, or the high hand takes everything.
Equity: Your share of the pot, based on how often your hand wins from where it stands.
Equity realisation: How much of your theoretical share of the pot you actually collect. Being out of position lowers it, which is why position is worth so much.
Expected value: The average result of a decision if it were repeated many times. Positive expected value is the only thing that matters over the long run.
Exploitative play: Deliberately deviating from a balanced strategy to attack a specific mistake someone keeps making. It wins more than GTO against bad players and less against good ones.

F

Family pot: A pot in which most of the table sees the flop.
Final table: The last table of a tournament, once the field has shrunk to fit one. Where nearly all of the prize money is.
Fish: A weak player. If you cannot spot one at the table, consider the possibility that it is you.
Fishhooks: A pair of jacks, after the shape of the letter.
Five-card draw: The kitchen-table game: five cards each, one chance to exchange some of them, one more round of betting.
Flat call: To call a bet or a raise rather than re-raising.
Float: To call a bet with a weak hand, intending to take the pot away on a later street.
Floor: The staff member who rules on disputes. Calling the floor is how a disagreement gets settled.
Flop: The first three community cards, dealt face up together, and the betting round that follows them.
Flush: Five cards of the same suit. Between two flushes the highest card wins, then the next, and so on.
Fold: To give up the hand, forfeiting anything already put in. Roughly three-quarters of all hands should end this way.
Fold equity: The value of the chance that your bet makes a better hand fold. It is what turns a losing hand into a profitable bet.
Foul hand: A hand that cannot be played, usually for having the wrong number of cards.
Four of a kind: All four cards of one rank. Also called quads.
Free card: A card seen without paying for it, usually because everyone checked.
Freeroll: A tournament with no entry fee. Also a spot where you cannot lose the pot but might win more of it.
Freezeout: A tournament with no rebuys or re-entries: bust once and you are out.
Full house: Three cards of one rank plus two of another. Described high part first: kings full of fives.
Full ring: A table of eight or nine players, as opposed to six-max.

G

Geolocation: The check confirming you are physically inside state lines before real-money play is allowed. Failing it is the most common problem new players hit, and it is almost never the account.
Ghosting: Having someone else tell you how to play your hand, usually in a big tournament. Against the rules everywhere.
Grinder: A player who profits through steady volume rather than occasional big scores.
GTO: Game theory optimal: a strategy that cannot be exploited no matter how the other player adjusts. It is a defensive baseline, not the most profitable way to play weak opponents.
Guarantee: A prize pool a tournament promises regardless of how many enter. If entries fall short the room makes up the difference, which is called an overlay.
Gutshot: A straight draw needing one specific rank in the middle. Four outs.

H

Hand: Your five-card holding, or one complete deal from the shuffle to the showdown.
Hand history: The full record of a hand: who did what, in what order, for how much. Reviewing your own is the cheapest way to improve.
Hand reading: Narrowing down what someone can hold by working through the actions they took on every street.
Hand-for-hand: Near the bubble, every table plays one hand and then waits, so nobody can stall their way into the money while another table busts.
Heads-up: A pot, or a whole game, with only two players in it.
Hero call: Calling a bet with a weak hand because you believe the other player is bluffing.
Hi-lo split: Any game where the pot is divided between the best high hand and the best low hand.
High card: A hand with no pair, straight or flush. The weakest holding there is.
Hijack: The seat two to the right of the button.
Hole cards: Your own face-down cards. Two in Hold'em, four in Omaha.
HORSE: A rotation of Hold'em, Omaha hi-lo, Razz, Stud and Stud eight-or-better, changing game every orbit or level.
House rules: The particular rulings a room applies where the general rules leave room for interpretation.
HUD: Heads-up display: an overlay that shows statistics about each opponent from hands you have already played against them. Rooms differ on whether they allow one, and several NJ rooms do not.
Hyper-turbo: A turbo with even shorter levels and usually a shallower starting stack.

I

ICM: Independent Chip Model: the maths of what tournament chips are worth in actual money. It is why chips near the money are not worth their face value and why players tighten up on the bubble.
Implied odds: The money you expect to win on later streets if your draw comes in, on top of what is already in the pot.
In position: Acting after your opponent on every remaining betting round.
Insurance: An agreed side wager protecting a player who is well ahead when all in. Common in high-stakes cash games, rare online.
Isolate: To raise so that the pot ends up heads-up against one particular weak player.

J

Jam: To move all in. Same as shove.
Juice: The room's cut. Another word for rake.

K

Kicker: The unpaired side card that decides a tie between two hands of the same rank. It is why ace-king beats ace-queen when the board pairs the ace.
Kill pot: A pot played at raised stakes, usually because someone won the previous pot or two.
Knockout: A tournament format where part of every buy-in is a bounty paid to whoever eliminates you.
KYC: Know Your Customer: the identity verification an operator is required to complete before you can play or withdraw.

L

Ladies: A pair of queens.
LAG: Loose-aggressive: plays many hands and plays them fast. Dangerous when good, expensive when not.
Land-based partner: The Atlantic City casino whose licence an online room operates under. It is why the brands carry casino names.
Late position: The cutoff and the button, where you can profitably play the widest range of hands.
Late registration: A window after a tournament starts during which you can still enter, usually for a full starting stack.
Leak: A recurring mistake that quietly costs you money. Finding your own is what hand histories are for.
Level: In a tournament, a period of play at fixed blinds. Also used of thinking about what the other player thinks you hold.
Limit: A betting structure with fixed bet sizes and a set number of raises per round. The opposite of no-limit.
Limp: To call the big blind before the flop rather than raising or folding. Usually a mistake.
Loose: Playing a lot of hands. The opposite of tight.
Loose-passive: Plays many hands and mostly calls. The calling station, and the reason value betting works.
Lowball: A game where the worst hand wins. See ace-to-five for how those hands are ranked.

M

M-ratio: Your stack divided by the total blinds and antes per orbit: how many circuits you can survive without playing a hand.
Main pot: The pot every remaining player can win, as distinct from any side pot.
Maniac: A player who raises and bluffs wildly. Profitable to play against, provided you wait for real hands.
Mark: The player at the table everyone else is trying to win from.
Merged: A range of mostly medium-strength hands, which suits smaller bets.
Meta-game: The layer above the current hand: history with an opponent, and what they expect from you because of it.
Micro stakes: The smallest games a room spreads.
Middle position: The seats between early position and the cutoff.
Min-cash: The smallest payout, collected by finishing just inside the money.
Min-raise: Raising by the smallest legal amount.
Misdeal: A deal spoiled by a procedural error, which is cancelled and redealt.
Mixed game: Any game that rotates between several variants rather than staying on one.
Mixed strategy: Taking more than one action with the same hand at some frequency, so the hand cannot be pinned down.
MSIGA: The Multi-State Internet Gaming Agreement, the compact that lets some regulated states combine their online poker player pools.
Muck: To discard a hand without showing it. Also the pile of folded cards, which no player may retrieve.
Multi-table tournament: A tournament large enough to start on several tables, merging as players bust. Usually shortened to MTT.
Multi-tabling: Playing several tables at once. It multiplies your hourly rate and your mistakes in equal measure.
Multi-way: A pot with three or more players in it. Bluffs succeed far less often in one.

N

Nit: An extremely tight player who enters pots only with premium hands.
No-limit: A betting structure in which you may bet any amount up to your entire stack.
Nosebleed: The very highest stakes on offer.
Nuts: The best hand possible given the board.

O

Odd chip: The chip that cannot be split evenly in a divided pot. House rules decide who gets it.
Offsuit: Two hole cards of different suits.
Omaha: A community-card game dealt four hole cards, of which exactly two must be used in the final hand.
Omaha Hi-Lo: Omaha where the pot splits between the best high hand and the best qualifying low. Also called Omaha eight-or-better.
One-time: What players say aloud while asking the deck for a card they need. It has never once worked.
Open: To make the first raise of a betting round.
Open-ended: A straight draw that can be completed at either end. Eight outs.
Orbit: One full circuit of the table, after which everyone has paid both blinds once.
Out: A card that would turn your hand into a winner. Counting them is how you price a draw.
Overbet: A bet larger than the pot.
Overcard: A card higher than anything on the board.
Overfold: To fold more often than the pot odds justify, which is what makes bluffing profitable against you.
Overlay: The difference a room must make up when a guaranteed tournament attracts less than its guarantee. Free money for the field, and worth hunting for.
Overpair: A pocket pair higher than any card on the board.

P

Pair: Two cards of the same rank.
Payout structure: How a tournament divides its prize pool. Steep structures pay a few players a lot; flat ones spread it wider.
Penalty: Being sat out for a number of hands or rounds as a sanction, usually for abuse or for exposing cards.
Player pool: Everyone playing on one network. Two brands sharing a pool deal from the same tables, so signing up to both gets you the same games.
Pocket pair: Two hole cards of the same rank.
Pocket rockets: A pair of aces. Also called bullets.
Polarised: A range made up of very strong hands and bluffs with little in between. Large bets usually mean a polarised range.
Position: Where you act relative to the button. It matters more than most starting hands.
Post: To put in a required bet, such as a blind.
Pot: The chips at stake in the current hand.
Pot odds: The price you are being offered: what you must call, set against what the pot will be worth if you do.
Pot-limit: A betting structure in which the largest legal bet is the current size of the pot.
Pot-limit Omaha: Omaha played pot-limit, usually shortened to PLO. Four hole cards and bigger swings than Hold'em, because everyone's hand improves more.
Preflop: The betting round before the flop, when players hold only their hole cards.
Presto: A pair of fives.
Prize pool: The total money paid out, being the buy-ins less the room's fee, plus any guarantee shortfall.
Probe bet: A bet into an opponent who declined to continuation bet, on the read that their check gave up on the pot.
Progressive knockout: A bounty format where part of each bounty you win is added to your own head.
Protect: To bet so that hands with a chance to outdraw you have to pay to keep going.
Push-fold: Short-stacked tournament play where the only decisions left are moving all in or folding.

Q

Quads: Four of a kind.
Qualifier: A tournament whose prize is entry into a larger one rather than cash.

R

Rabbit hunt: Asking to see the cards that would have come if the hand had continued. Most rooms decline, and online almost none allow it.
Rag: A low card that is unlikely to have helped anyone.
Rainbow: A flop of three different suits, so no flush draw is possible yet.
Raise: To increase the current bet, so that everyone still in must match the new amount, raise again, or fold.
Rake: The room's cut of each pot, or the fee added on top of a tournament buy-in.
Rakeback: A share of the rake you have paid, returned to you as a reward.
Range: The full set of hands a player could hold in a given spot. Strong players think in ranges rather than guessing at one hand.
Range advantage: Holding the stronger overall range on a given board, whether or not this particular hand is strong.
Rathole: To leave a table with a big stack and rejoin immediately for the minimum. Most rooms have a rule against it.
Razz: Seven-card stud played for low only. The best hand is A-2-3-4-5 and straights and flushes do not count against you.
Re-entry: A tournament format where busting lets you buy in again as a new entry, within a set window.
Re-raise: To raise a raise.
Rebuy: Buying more chips: topping up in a cash game, or re-entering a tournament where the rules allow it.
Recreational player: Someone playing for entertainment rather than profit. The reason the games are beatable, and worth treating well.
Redraw: Being reassigned to a new random seat, usually when tables merge or at the final table.
Reg: A regular: someone you will keep running into in the same games.
Replayer: A tool that plays a hand history back visually, street by street.
Responsible gaming tools: The limits, time-outs and exclusions every licensed room is required to provide in your account settings.
Reverse implied odds: The money you stand to lose on later streets when you do make your hand and it is still second best.
River: The fifth and final community card, and the betting round that follows it.
Rock: A very tight and highly predictable player.
Royal flush: A K Q J 10 all of one suit. The highest hand in poker, and the top end of a straight flush.
RTA: Real-time assistance: consulting a solver or chart while a hand is in progress. Banned by every licensed room.
Runner-runner: Needing both the turn and the river to complete a hand.
Running it twice: Dealing the remaining board twice when players are all in, and splitting the pot between the two results. It reduces variance without changing anyone's equity.

S

Satellite: A tournament that pays out entries to a bigger event instead of cash.
Scare card: A community card that plausibly improves the other player and makes carrying on uncomfortable.
Seat change: Moving to a better seat at the same table when one comes free, usually to sit to the left of the strongest player.
Seat draw: The randomly assigned table and seat you begin a tournament in.
Segregated liquidity: The opposite: a state whose players may only play against each other, which is why small markets have thin games.
Self-exclusion: Formally barring yourself from gambling. New Jersey's list is enforced across licensed operators, online and in person.
Semi-bluff: A bet with a hand that is probably behind now but has outs to improve. It wins two ways: immediately if they fold, later if it hits.
Set: Three of a kind made with a pocket pair plus one board card. Far better disguised than trips.
Set mining: Calling before the flop with a small pocket pair, hoping to flop a set.
Seven-card stud: A game with no community cards, dealt three down and four up over five betting rounds. The dominant form of poker before Hold'em took over.
Shared liquidity: Two or more rooms, or two or more states, combining their players into one pool so games run more often and get bigger.
Shark: A strong player, especially one who does not look like it.
Shootout: A tournament where you must win your whole table before advancing, rather than tables merging as players bust.
Short deck: Hold'em with the deuces through fives removed. Flushes beat full houses because they are harder to make. Also called six-plus.
Short stack: A stack small relative to the blinds, leaving little room to manoeuvre.
Short-buy: Buying in for less than the table maximum, often the minimum.
Shove: To move all in.
Show one show all: The rule that if you show your cards to one player, everyone at the table may see them.
Showdown: The end of a hand, when the remaining players reveal and the best five cards take the pot.
Side game: A cash game running alongside a tournament, often where the real money changes hands.
Side pot: A separate pot created when one player is all in for less than the others are betting.
Sit and go: A tournament that begins as soon as enough players have registered, rather than at a scheduled time.
Sit out: To stay at a table without being dealt in. Most rooms will eventually remove you if you keep doing it.
Slow play: Playing a strong hand passively in order to keep other players in.
Small blind: The smaller of the two forced bets, posted immediately to the left of the button.
Snap call: Calling instantly, with no thought required.
Snowmen: A pair of eights.
Solver: Software that computes near-optimal strategies for a given spot. Useful for study away from the table; using one during a hand is banned everywhere.
Splash the pot: Throwing chips into the pot rather than stacking them in front of you, so the amount cannot be verified. Against the rules.
Split pot: A pot divided between players holding equally ranked hands.
Squeeze: Re-raising after one player has raised and one or more have called, using their commitment as extra pressure.
Stack: The chips you have in front of you. It is also the ceiling on what you can win or lose in one hand, under table stakes.
Stack-to-pot ratio: The effective stack divided by the size of the pot, which tells you how much room is left to manoeuvre after the flop.
Stakes: The size of a game, quoted by its blinds. A 1/2 game has a $1 small blind and a $2 big blind.
Starting stack: The chips every entrant receives. Compare it to the blinds to see how much play a tournament has.
Steal: A raise from late position aimed at winning the blinds uncontested.
Straddle: An optional blind raise posted before the cards come out, usually double the big blind.
Straight: Five cards of consecutive rank in mixed suits. The ace can play high or low but cannot wrap around.
Straight flush: Five consecutive cards all of one suit.
Street: One betting round together with the card that opened it: the flop, the turn or the river.
String bet: Putting chips into the pot in more than one motion. It is ruled a call at whatever went in first.
Stud poker: Any game dealt partly face up with no community cards.
Suck out: Winning a hand after having been well behind in it.
Suited: Two hole cards of the same suit.

T

Table image: How the rest of the table reads your play, which is not always how you actually play.
Table selection: Choosing which table to sit at based on who is already there. Frequently worth more than any strategy adjustment.
Table stakes: The rule that you may only wager the chips in front of you when the hand begins. It is why you cannot be bet out of a pot by a deeper stack.
TAG: Tight-aggressive: plays few hands but plays them hard. The style most winning players start from.
Tank: To take a long time over a decision.
Tell: An unconscious habit that gives away something about a hand. Rare online, where timing is nearly the only one available.
Texas Hold'em: The game almost everyone means by poker: two hole cards each, five community cards, four betting rounds. All four NJ rooms spread it most.
Thin value: Betting a modest hand because slightly worse hands will still call. It is where a lot of small edges live.
Three of a kind: Three cards of one rank. Called a set when you hold a pocket pair, trips when two of them are on the board.
Three-bet: The second raise in a betting round; the blind counts as the first bet.
Three-bet pot: A pot in which there was a raise and a re-raise before the flop. Stacks are shallower relative to the pot, so decisions come faster.
Tight: Playing few hands, and only strong ones.
Tight-passive: Plays few hands and rarely raises even with them. Easy to push off pots.
Tilt: Playing badly because you are upset, usually after a loss. It is the most expensive thing in poker.
Time bank: A reserve of extra decision time online, spent once the normal clock runs out.
Time charge: A fee charged by the half hour instead of a rake taken from each pot, usual in higher-stakes live games.
Top pair: A pair made with the highest card on the board.
Top up: To add chips back to a full stack between hands in a cash game.
Tournament: A game with a fixed buy-in and rising blinds, where you play until you bust or win and only the top places are paid. Compare cash game.
Tracking software: A program that imports your hand histories and reports on your own play and everyone else's. The honest use is reviewing your own leaks.
Trips: Three of a kind made with one hole card and a pair already on the board.
Turbo: A tournament with short blind levels, so play is faster and luck matters more.
Turn: The fourth community card, and the betting round that follows it.
Two pair: Two different pairs. The higher pair is compared first, then the lower, then the kicker.

U

Under the gun: First to act before the flop, immediately left of the big blind. The worst seat at the table.
Underdog: The hand less likely to win.

V

Value bet: A bet made because worse hands will call it.
Variance: The swing of results either side of your long-term average. It is the whole reason bankroll rules exist.
Verbal declaration: Saying your action aloud. In a card room it is binding, and it beats whatever your chips then do.
Villain: Shorthand for the opponent when a hand is being discussed. You are the hero.
VPIP: Voluntarily put money in pot: the percentage of hands a player chooses to enter. The quickest read on whether someone is loose or tight.

W

Waiting list: The queue for a seat in a game that is currently full.
Way ahead way behind: A spot where you are either far ahead of their range or drawing nearly dead, with little in between. Usually an argument for keeping the pot small.
Wet board: A flop offering many draws, such as J-10-8 with two of a suit.
Whale: A wealthy and weak player.
Wheel: The straight A-2-3-4-5, the lowest one, with the ace playing low.
Wired pair: A pocket pair.

Z

Zoom: A fast-fold format where folding moves you straight to a new table with new opponents. Each room brands it differently.