Jackpot
A special bonus paid to the loser of a hand if he gets a very good hand beaten. In hold’em, the “loser” must typically get aces full or better beaten. In some of the large southern California card clubs, the jackpots have gotten over $50,000. Of course, the jackpot is funded with money removed from the game as part of the rake.
Kicker
An unpaired card used to determine the better of two near-equivalent hands. For instance, suppose you have AK and your opponent has AQ. If the flop has an ace in it, you both have a pair of aces, but you have a king kicker. Kickers can be vitally important in hold’em.
Live Blind
A forced bet put in by one or more players before any cards are dealt. The “live” means those players still have the option of raising when the action gets back around to them. Blind
Maniac
A player who does a lot of hyper-aggressive raising, betting, and bluffing. A true maniac is not a good player, but is simply doing a lot of gambling. However, a player who occasionally acts like a maniac and confuses his opponents is quite dangerous.
Muck
The pile of folded and burned cards in front of the dealer. Example: “His hand hit the muck so the dealer ruled it folded even though the guy wanted to get his cards back.” Also used as a verb - “He didn’t have any outs so he mucked his hand.”
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. The best treatise on no-limit poker is in Doyle Brunson’s Super/System.
Nuts
The best possible hand given the board. If the board is Ks-Jd-Ts-4s-2h, then As-Xs is the nuts. You will occasionally hear the term applied to the best possible hand of a certain category, even though it isn’t the overall nuts. For the above example, somebody with Ah-Qc in the above hand might say they had the “nut straight”.
Offsuit
A hold’em starting hand in which the two cards are of different suits.
One-Gap
A hold’em starting hand in which the two cards are two apart in rank. Examples: J9s, 64.
Out
A card that will make your hand win. Normally heard in the plural. Example: “Any spade will make my flush, so I have nine outs.
Outrun
To beat. Example: “Susie outran my set when her flush card hit on the river.”
Overcall
To call a bet after one or more others players have already call
Overcard
A card higher than any card on the board. For instance, if you have AQ and the flop comes J-7-3, you don’t have a pair, but you have two overcards.
Overpair
A pocket pair higher than any card on the flop. If you have QQ and the flop comes J-8-3, you have an overpair.
Pay Off
To call a bet where the bettor is representing a hand that you can’t beat, but the pot is sufficiently large to justify a call anyway. Example: “He played it exactly like he made the flush, but I had top set so I paid him off.”
Play the Board
To show down a hand in hold’em when your cards don’t make a hand any better than is shown on the board. For instance, if you have 22, and the board is 4-4-9-9-A (no flush possible), then you must “play the board” - the best possible hand you can make doesn’t use any of your cards. Note that if you play the board, the best you can do is to split the pot with all remaining players.
Pocket
Your unique cards that only you can see. For instance, “He had pocket sixes” (a pair of sixes), or “I had ace-king in the pocket.”
Post
To put in a blind bet, generally required when you first sit down in a cardroom game. You may also be required to post a blind if you change seats at the table in a way that moves you away from the blinds
Pot Limit
A version of poker in which a player may bet up to the amount of money in the pot whenever it is his turn to act. Like no-limit, this is a very different game from limit poker.
Pot Odds
The amount of money in the pot compared to the amount you must put in the pot to continue playing. For example, suppose there is $60 in the pot. Somebody bets $6, so the pot now contains $66. It costs you $6 to call, so your pot odds are 11:1. If your chance of having the best hand is at least one out of twelve, you should call. Pot odds also apply to draws. For instance, suppose you have a draw to the nut flush with one card left to come. In this case, you are about a 4:1 underdog to make your flush. If it costs you $8 to call the bet, then there must be about $32 in the pot (including the most recent bet) to make your call correct.
Price
The pot odds you are getting for a draw or call. Example: “The pot was laying me a high enough price, so I stayed in with my gutshot straight draw.”
Protect
(1) To keep your hand or a chip on your cards. This prevents them from being fouled by a discarded hand, or accidentally mucked by the dealer.
(2) To invest more money in a pot so blind money that you’ve already put in isn’t “wasted.” Example: “He’ll always protect his blinds, no matter how bad his cards are.”
Quads
Four of a kind.
Ragged
A flop (or board) that doesn’t appear to help anybody very much. A flop that came down Jd-6h-2c would look ragged.
Rainbow
A flop that contains three different suits, thus no flush can be made on the turn. Can also mean a complete five card board that has no more than two of any suit, thus no flush is possible.
Rake
An amount of money taken out of every pot by the dealer - this is the cardroom’s income. Time
Rank
The numerical value of a card (as opposed to its suit). Example: “jack,” “seven.”
Represent
To play as if you hold a certain hand. For instance, if you raised before the flop, and then raised again when the flop came ace high, you would be representing at least an ace with a good kicker.
Ring Game
A regular poker game as opposed to a tournament. Also referred to as a “live” game since actual money is in play instead of tournament chips.
River
The fifth and final community card, put out face up, by itself. Also known as “fifth street”. Metaphors involving the river are some of poker’s most treasured cliches - e.g. “He drowned in the river.”
Rock
A player who plays very tight, not very creatively. He raises only with the best hands. A real rock is fairly predictable - if he raises you on the end, you can throw away just about anything but the nuts.
Runner
Typically said “runner-runner” to describe a hand which was made only by catching the correct cards on both the turn and the river - “He made a runner-runner flush to beat my trips.” See also “Backdoor.”
Scare Card
A card which may well turn the best hand into trash. If you have Tc-8c and the flop comes Qd- Jd-9s, you almost assuredly have the best hand. However, a turn card of Td would be very scary because it would almost guarantee that you are now beaten.
Second Pair
A pair with the second highest card on the flop. If you have As-Ts, and the flop comes Kd-Th-6c, you have flopped second pair.
Sell
As in “sell a hand”. In a spread limit game, this means to bet less than the maximum when you have a very strong hand, hoping players will call whereas they would not have called a maximum bet.
Semi-Bluff
A powerful concept first discussed by David Sklansky. It is a bet or raise that you hope will not be called, but you have some outs if it is. A semi-bluff may be correct when betting for value is not correct, a pure bluff is not correct, but the combination of the two may be a positive expectation play.
Set
Three of a kind when you have two of the rank in your hand, and there is one on the board.
Short Stack
A number of chips that is not very many compared to the other players at the table. If you have $10 in front of you, and everybody else at the table has over $100, you are playing on a short stack.
Showdown
The point at which all players remaining in the hand turn their cards over and determine who has the best hand - i.e. after the fourth round of betting is completed. Of course, if a final bet or raise is not called, there is no showdown.
Side Pot
A pot created in which a player has no interest because he has run out of chips. Example: Al bets $6, Beth calls the $6, and Carl calls, but he has only $2 left. An $8 side pot is created that either Al or Beth can win, but not Carl. Furthermore, any more bets that Al and Beth make go into that side pot. Carl, however, can still win all the money in the original or “center” pot.
Slow Play
To play a strong hand weakly so more players will stay in the pot.
Split Pot
A pot which is shared by two or more players because they have equivalent hands.
Split Two Pair
A two pair hand in which one of each of your cards’ ranks appears on the board as well. Example: you have T9, the flop is T-9-5, you have a split two pair. This is in comparison to two pair where there is a pair on the board. Example: you have T9, the flop is 9-5-5.
Spread Limit
A betting structure in which a player may bet any amount in a range on every betting round. A typical spread limit structure is $2-$6, where a player may bet as little as $2 or as much as $6 on every betting round.
Straddle
An optional extra blind bet, typically made by the player one to the left of the big blind, equal to twice the big blind. This is effectively a raise, and forces any player who wants to play to pay two bets. Furthermore, the straddler acts last before the flop, and may “re-raise.”
String Bet
A bet (more typically a raise) in which a player doesn’t get all the chips required for the raise into the pot in one motion. Unless he verbally declared the raise, he can be forced to withdraw it and just call. This prevents the unethical play of putting out enough chips to call, seeing what effect that had, and then possibly raising.
Structured
Used to apply to a certain betting structure in “flop” games such as hold’em. The typical definition of a structured game is a fixed amount for bets and raises before the flop and on the flop, and then twice that amount on the turn and river. Example: a $2-$4 structured hold’em game - bets and raises of $2 before the flop and on the flop; $4 bets and raises on the turn and river.
Suited
A hold’em starting hand in which the two cards are the same suit. Example: “I had to play J-3 - it was suited.”
Table Stakes
A rule in a poker game meaning that a player may not go into his pocket for money during a hand. He may only invest the amount of money in front of him into the current pot. If he runs out of chips during the hand, a side pot is created in which he has no interest. All casino poker is played table stakes. The definition sometimes also includes the rule that a player may not remove chips from the table during a game. While this rule might not be referred to as “table stakes”, it is enforced almost universally in public poker games.
Tell
A clue or hint that a player unknowingly gives about the strength of his hand, his next action, etc. May originally be from “telegraph” or the obvious use that he “tells” you what he’s going to do before he does it.
Tilt
To play wildly or recklessly. A player is said to be “on tilt” if he is not playing his best, playing too many hands, trying wild bluffs, raising with bad hands, etc.
Time
(1) A request by a player to suspend play while he decides what he’s going to do. Simply, “Time please!” If a player doesn’t request time and there is a substantial amount of action behind him, the dealer may rule that the player has folded.
(2) An amount of money collected every half hour by the cardroom. This is another way for the house to make its money (see “rake”).
Toke
A small amount of money (typically $.50 or $1.00) given to the dealer by the winner of a pot. Quite often, tokes represent the great majority of a dealer’s income.
Top Pair
A pair with the highest card on the flop. If you have As-Qs, and the flop comes Qd-Th-6c, you have flopped top pair.
Trips
Three of a kind.
Turn
The fourth community card. Put out face up, by itself. Also known as “fourth street.”
Under The Gun
The position of the player who acts first on a betting round. For instance, if you are one to the left of the big blind, you are under the gun before the flop.
Underdog
A person or hand who is not mathematically favored to win a pot. For instance, if you flop four cards to your flush, you are not quite a 2:1 underdog to make your flush by the river (that is, you will make your flush about one in three times). See also “dog.”
Value
As in “bet for value.” This means that you would actually like your opponents to call your bet (as opposed to a bluff). Generally it’s because you have the best hand. However, it can also be a draw which, given enough callers, has a positive expectation.
Variance
A measure of the up and down swings your bankroll goes through. Variance is not necessarily a measure of how well you play. However, the higher your variance, the wider swings you’ll see in your bankroll.