Poker Terminology

Glossary

To be a good card player you have to talk like one. Brush up on your poker terminology and impress your buddies at the next home game.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
ABC player	In poker terminology, an ABC player is one who plays by the book or wagers in predictable patterns.
Ace high	A poker hand with no pair where the highest card is an ace.
Aces full	A hand with 3 aces and a pair of any other value.
Aces up	Two pair, aces being one of them.
Active player	In poker terminology, an active player is a player who is in the pot.
Action	What's going on at the table. Also a measure of how lively a poker game is.
Advertise	To turn over hole cards to show how loose or tight you are playing, ideally to be used to your advantage later on, when you'll play in the opposite fashion.
All blue	A club flush.
All-in	The table stakes rule says that you can only bet up to the amount of money you had in front of you at the start of a hand.  When you've bet (or called) up to that amount, you're said to be all-in. You've put all the money into the pot that you can for that hand. Other active players can continue to bet among themselves, but they'll compete for a side pot. Your hand will compete for the pot at the point where you were able to match all bets.
All-in over the top	In poker terminology, going all-in over the top is raising with all of your chips after an opponent’s bet.
All-In Disconnect	A provision made by online sites to protect players who lose their Internet connection in the middle of a hand. A player who loses such connection is considered to be all-in for whatever bets he or she has made up to that point.
Alligator Blood	Plays well under pressure. "Nerves of Steel".
Angle	An action that's not explicitly against the rules, but is considered a serious ethical violation and unfair act.
Angle-shooting	Angle-shooting is the use of angles to gain an unfair advantage.
Ante	A bet required from all players before a hand as a requirement to being able to play in the hand. This money seeds the pot.
Avatar	In online poker terminology, an avatar is a computer-generated character who represents you in an online game. Not all sites use avatars; some represent players with empty chairs or other icons.
B	Back to Top
B&M	Brick and mortar cardroom, a place to play live poker against live opponents whose faces you can actually see, as opposed to online cardrooms where you play live poker against live opponents whose faces you cannot see.
Baby	In poker terminology, a baby is a small card, usually eight or lower.
Backdoor	In Texas holdem poker terminology, a backdoor is a draw where you have three of the five cards you need on the flop. To make your hand, you need the right cards on both the turn and the river. Three cards to a flush on the flop is a backdoor flush draw.
Back into a hand	To draw cards that make a hand that is different from the hand you were originally trying to make.
Back-raise	In poker terminology this is calling a bet, then re-raising when someone raises.  Sometimes called sandbagging, it's a form of slow play.
Bad beat	A good hand that is beaten by a better hand, usually through a lucky draw of cards by the winner.
Bad game	One in which you're in over your head.
Bankroll	The amount of money that a player has to wager for the duration of his or her poker career.
Base Deal	Dealing cards from the bottom of the deck rather than the top. A form of cheating.
Battle of the blinds	When everyone folds to the players who have forced bets.
Behind	When your hand is not the best hand before all the cards have been dealt.
Beer Hand	Texas holdem poker terminology calls 7 and 2 hole cards a Beer Hand, the worst possible starting hole cards
Belly Buster	An Inside Straight draw.
Best of it	Having the odds in your favor.
Bet	To put money into a pot, as in "I bet."
Bet into	To aggressively wager against a player who has represented a very strong hand by his earlier action.
Bet for value	When you bet in order to increase the pot size, not to make your opponents fold.
Bet hole	In online poker terminology, a bet hole is when frenzied wagering and the dizzying pace of play combine to relieve a player of many chips quickly.
Bet odds	The odds you get from the number of callers on a betting round. If you bet and four players call, then your bet odds are 5-1.
Bet on the come	To bet and raise before your hand is made.
Bet the pot	Poker terminology says to bet the pot is to make a bet that is the size of the pot.
Bicycle or wheel:	A Straight, A-5.
Big blind	The forced bet that is made by the person sitting two seats to the left of the button. The larger of two blinds. Usually this blind is the same size as the bet size on the first betting round. In tournament play, this amount increases after each timed round.
Big dog	An underdog. The person who has a very low chance of winning.
Blank	A card that is not of value to the players hand. Also known as a “rag”.
Blind	An initial forced bet that is put out before the cards are even dealt is called a blind bet. It's used in Texas holdem poker to replace the ante to get some initial money into the pot; it’s a mandatory bet placed by the two players to the left of the dealer button (big blind and small blind).
Bluff	To raise or bet a weak hand in order to make your opponent think you have a strong hand. A bluff is a bet that can't win if you're called. There are generally two ways for a bet to win. One is for the opponent to fold, conceding the pot, the other is for the opponent to call and your hand prevails in a showdown. A bluff can only win if your opponent folds.
Board	The board is specific to Texas holdem poker terminology, it's the community cards in the middle of the table are called the board. The board consists of either three, four, or five cards, depending on the betting round.
Boat	Refers to a full house (three of a kind plus a pair).
Book	Specific to online poker terminology, a book is a written record of your opponents' play in the past. Conscientious online players keep extensive book on their foes.
Boss trips	Highest possible three of a kind.
Bots	Short for robots. Poker playing software disguised as human foes.
Bottom Pair	The lowest pair on the board in Texas holdem poker. For example if the flop is 2c, 7h, Ks, and you have the 2h, and 10d in the hole, then your pair of twos is the bottom pair.
Bring in	Poker terminology stats this is to open a round of betting
Broadway	An ace-high straight.
Brush	Cardroom employee who handles the seating chart.
Bully	To use a big stack of chips (instead of strong cards) to intimidate opponents.
Bum card	The card on the top of the deck that's discarded by the dealer before dealing cards for the next betting round. This is done to minimize the advantage a player would get if he caught a glimpse of the top card. Also called “burn card”.
Bump	In poker terminology, this means to raise the pot. Often phrased as "Bump it up."
Burn	To discard the top card of the deck. This is done to prevent anyone from being able to determine the next card.
Button	The last player to act, before the blinds, is called the button. The button player is designated by a plastic disk, which rotates among the players. It is used to designate the player who holds the dealer's position in the betting order.
Bust a player	To eliminate a player from the game by taking all of his or her chips.
Bust out	In poker terminology, this means to lose all your chips and thus be eliminated from a tournament.
Busted hand	Four-card straight or flush that fails to get completed. Can also mean two pairs or three of a kind that fails to become a full house.
Buy-in	A minimum amount of money that must be paid in order to play in a tournament or live game. For example, in a $20-$40 Texas holdem poker game, the minimum buy-in is usually $200.
C	Back to Top
Call	When another player bets, you must either call by putting an amount equal to the bet into the pot (sometimes called equalizing the pot) or fold. If you don't have enough chips to completely equalize the pot, you can go all-in and call for only the chips you have.
Calling station	In poker terminology, a calling station is a loose-passive player who will seldom bet or raises but will call bets with very weak hands.
Cap	The number of raises allowed in a game. A player caps the betting by making the last allowable raise.
Capping	See four-bet.
Cards speak	When the best hand is determined by every player turning his cards face up, without any declaration.
Case card	The fourth or last card of that rank. "She hit the case nine to beat me."
Catch	To receive a card you need to make your hand.
Catch Perfect	To receive exactly the card you need, such as the four of diamonds to make a straight flush.
Chameleon	In poker terminology, a Chameleon is a player in a game who changes and varies his style of play from wild and unpredictable to tight and aggressive.
Change gears	To strategically alternate your play between conservative and aggressive.
Chase	Calling when you have not yet made your hand.
Chat box	Specific to online poker terminology, a chat box is a text window in which you can type messages, to other players. Most sites offer you a chat option, which lets you select whether or not to read what the others have to say.
Chat dork	Specific to online poker terminology, someone who chats not for strategic purposes but just to pass the time.
Chatterbox	Specific to online poker terminology, a player who uses the text window as an aggressive tool for putting players on tilt through distracting, nonsensical, or confrontational chat.
Check	Refers to declining to bet when it's your turn to do so.
Check-raise	In poker terminology, check-raising is a form of slow play. Checking with the intent of raising if another player bets.
Checks	Chips.
Chips	Clay or plastic disks representing money.
Chop	See Rake
Coffee housing or Hollywood	Poker play that is augmented by lots of talk or dramatics.
Cold	A run of bad cards and losing hands.
Cold-call	In poker terminology, this means calling a bet and a raise all at one time. If a player in front of you bets, a second player raises, and you call, then you've cold-called the raise. If a player in front of you bets and you call, then someone else raises and you call the raise, you've then called the raise, not cold-called it.
Cold-decking	A form of cheating where a prearranged deck is put into the game and given a false shuffle.
Come over the top	In poker terminology this means to raise or re-raise another player’s bet.
Community cards	In Texas holdem poker terminology, the cards that are played face up on the center of the table, and which can be used by all of the active players.
Connectors	Consecutively ranked cards that can help a player make a straight.
Counterfeit	A card that does not help you, but is likely to make an opponents hand better than yours.
Count Five Method	A strategy to prevent the time one takes to bet from being a tell. With the count five method, the player simply counts to five before taking all betting actions of any kind.
Court cards	Jacks, queens and kings.
Cowboys	Kings
Crying call	Calling a hand reluctantly, on the belief that you will likely lose but will be tremendously pleased if you win.
Cut	To divide the deck in half prior to the dealing of a hand, in an effort to keep the dealer honest and by spoiling an attempted stacked deck. The person to the right of the dealer cuts the deck.
Cyberchips	Specific to online poker terminology, this is your online poker bankroll.
D	Back to Top
Dead card	One no longer in play because of a misdeal or other irregularity.
Dead hand	One no longer in play because you have mucked it, or exposed it too soon, often by accident.
Dead Man's Hand	Two pair, aces and 8s. This term became part of the poker vernacular August 2, 1876, when a cowhand named Jack McCall walked into Carl Mann's Saloon Number 10 in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, and shot the legendary Wild Bill Hickok in the back of the head. Hickok slumped over dead, still holding his poker hand of two pairs-aces and 8s which has been known as Dead Man's Hand ever since.
Dead money	In poker terminology, this means money that was put into the pot by players who have since folded.
Deuce	A two
Dog	See underdog.
Dominated power hands	These are hands that are strong enough to be worth raising with from early position, but are probably not strong enough to call a raise from an early position raiser unless two or three other players have already called.
Dominating power hands	These are hands that are very strong and should almost always be played, even in situations that mean calling a raise from an early position raiser.
Donkey	A bad player. A fish.
Door card	In stud games, the first card dealt face up to a player.
Double belly-buster	A collection of five cards where two ranks of cards can complete a straight. Example: A player holds a 7-9-10-J-K. Either a queen or an 8 will complete a straight.
Double up	In poker terminology, this means to bet all your chips and win, ending up with twice as many chips.
Double/Half Rule	In online poker terminology, this this rule suggests that every time players double through online, they take out half their profit as dividend. For example, if you parlay $500 into $1,000, you draw down $250 as profit.
Down cards	The players cards which are dealt face down.
Down to the Felt	In poker terminology, this means out of money/chips.
Draw	To have four cards to a straight or a flush, with one or two community cards still to be revealed. "I knew he was on a draw, so I re-raised all-in with my pair."
Drawing dead	When your hand can't win even if it makes the improvement you're hoping for. An example is when the flop is all of one suit and someone has a flush and you've got a straight draw.
Draw fat	To have many cards still in the deck that would win you the pot; when you have, for example, top pair and both a straight draw and a flush draw, and all you need to beat is two pairs.
Draw out on	To make a big hand on fifth street, defeating a hand that was leading until that point. See bad beat; suck out.
Draw thin	In poker terminology, this means you have only one or two cards that would win you the pot.
Drawing hand	In general use, a drawing hand on the flop is one that probably has to improve to win. Before the flop, drawing hands are those two-card combinations that hope to flop a drawing hand. A hand like 7+6+ is a drawing hand. You're hoping to flop either a flush draw or a straight draw.
Drop	To fold a hand
Ducks	Twos
e	Back to Top
Early position	In poker terminology, this means you're in a position in the round of betting where you must act before the other players.  This is a disadvantaged position.
f	Back to Top
Family pot	In poker terminology, this refers to lots of players playing in a hand.
Fast	Aggressive
Fifth Street	The fifth and final card dealt in Texas holdem poker, also known as the river.
Fish	A bad player who can be counted on to lose his money.
Flat-call	To call when a raise is expected. See slow-play.
Flop	In Texas holdem poker terminology, the flop is the first three of the five community cards that make up the board.
Flush	Five cards of the same suit, but not in any particular order.
Fold	To concede any claim on the pot by discarding your hand rather than calling or raising a bet.
Forced bet	In poker terminology, this means a required bet of a prescribed size. The alternative is folding the hand, but not checking it.
Four-bet	To four-bet is to make the last raise. Most cardrooms have a limit of one bet and three raises per round, so the fourth bet is the third, and last, raise. Sometimes it's called capping it. To cap the betting is to four-bet it.
Four Flush	Four cards to a flush.
Four of a Kind	Four Cards of the Same Rank
Fourth street	In Texas holdem poker terminology, this means the fourth community card. Also known as the turn.
Free card	A card received at no cost, because no bets were made by the players on the prior round.
Free roll	When a player is tied with another, but has a draw to a higher hand that the other doesn't. Example: In Texas holdem poker, both players have played a suited Q-J as their hole cards, one in spades, the other in hearts. The flop comes: Q of diamonds, 5 of spades, 9 of spades. Both have a pair of queens with a jack kicker, but the player with the Q- J of spades is freerolling on the flush draw.
Freeze out	Tournament without rebuys played until one contestant has all the chips.
Full House	A hand with three cards of one rank, and two cards of another rank. 7h, 7d, 7s and 10h, 10c for example.
g	Back to Top
Gambling hand	In Texas holdem poker, a gambling hand is a hand that isn't immediately the best hand but has long-shot chances of developing into the best hand. These hands are usually playable pre-flop when six or more other players are active. Usually you should not call with these hands if the hand is going to be heads-up, but if seven or more players will call a raise, these hands are often worth a raise pre-flop when you're in a late position.
Get there	To make your hand. "I needed a club on the river to make the nut flush, and I got there."
Give action	In poker terminology, this means to call bets against aggressive player(s) with a hand that is not (yet) very strong.
Good game	One that features bad players.
Gutshot	An inside straight draw. An outside straight draw has eight outs. That's a hand like 6,7,8,9. An inside straight draw is a hand like 5,6,8,9 and has only four outs.
h	Back to Top
Handcuff	To bet an amount equal to roughly two thirds of your opponent's stack, thus making it impossible for her to make a significant raise.
Hand Log	Specific to online poker terminology, this refers to a recorded history of the play of each hand. These can be downloaded directly from the site or sent to the player via e-mail upon request.
Heads-up	Heads-up is a two player contest. Whenever there are exactly two active hands, the hand is said to be played heads-up.
High Society	The highest denomination of chips in a particular establishment
Holdem	Poker game in which each player receives two cards facedown, to be combined with five community cards to make the best five card hand.
Hole	Specific to Texas holdem poker terminology, this refers to your first two cards dealt face down in Texas Hold em and Seven-Card Stud. Also known as pocket cards.
i	Back to Top
Ignorant end	Low end of a straight, often beaten by a higher straight.
Implied odds	In poker terminology, this refers to the odds you are getting from an expectation of calls on future betting rounds.
Inside Straight	Hand in which you have four cards to a straight, but are missing one in the middle. For example 8,9,J,Q.
Isolate	Bet strongly in an attempt to make everyone fold except one other player.
k	Back to Top
Kicker	In Texas holdem poker terminology, the kicker is the highest odd card when you have a pair. If you have a pair of Aces with a King, a 10, and a 7 then you have a pair of Aces with a King kicker. It's often used to denote the lower of the two cards in your private hand. For example, if you have an Ace and a 10, you have an Ace with a 10 kicker. If your 10 pairs a 10 on the board, then you have a pair of I0s with an Ace kicker.
Kill	A kill is an extra blind that doubles the limit. If the game is a 10/20 limit game with 5/10 blinds and a player puts out a $20 kill, the game becomes a 20/40 game with three blinds for that hand.
Kill blind	See kill.
Kitty	Refers to the pot of money or chips in the middle.
l	Back to Top
Lay Down	To fold
Limp	In Texas holdem poker terminology, this means calling the blind bet in the pre-flop round of betting without raising. Also called limping into a pot. If this is done as a sandbag, it 's sometimes called a limp-reraise.
Live	Used in the context of either live hand or live one.
Live action	Game at a single table played without escalating blinds, as opposed to tournament action. Also called side action.
Live hand	In poker terminology, a live hand is a hand that has not been folded when all bets have been equalized.
Live one	A live one is a player who can be expected to lose chips quickly.
Lock	See Nuts.
Loose	In poker terminology, this refers to a player who stays in more hands than most, and stays in them longer.
Lowball	A poker game in which the best low hand wins.
m	Back to Top
Made hand	A strong hand, such as a straight or a flush, no longer requiring a card to complete it.
Main pot	If a player goes all-in, the amount of the pot that's been equalized is set aside as the main pot. Any further action by other active hands goes into a side pot that the all-in player does not compete for.
Make a Hand	In poker terminology, this means to get a certain hand. For example, if you have 4,5,6,7 then you need a 3 or an 8 to Make your hand.
Maniac	A wild, very loose, and very aggressive player.  He plays a lot of hands and almost always raises when he plays. He will frequently raise on a bluff or with a very weak hand.
Mechanic	In poker terminology, this is someone who cheats by manipulating the cards while dealing
Misdeal	A hand dealt wrongly that requires a whole new redeal.
Morton's Theorem	A technical result that shows there are certain combinations of pot odds and outs that your opponents can have which create a situation where you don't profit from a bet if they all call. They all profit from the call, and the largest portion of the profit goes to the best draw.
Move	A large bet without a strong hand." I sensed she was putting a move on me, so I re-raised all-in. I was wrong."
Move in	In poker terminology, this means to bet all one's chips, usually as a raise or a re-raise.
Muck	Folding your hand by throwing it into the pile of dead cards.
n	Back to Top
Nit	Neurotically conservative or unsociable player; someone who wins a few dollars early and immediately gets up from the table.
No-limit	A betting structure where the only limit on bet size is the amount of chips on the table.
Nuts	In poker terminology, this is the best possible hand, given the cards on the board. For example, if the board does not contain a pair, and no player has a pair, then an Ace-high hand is the nuts.
Nut flush	Highest possible flush.
Nut Straight	Highest possible straight.
o	Back to Top
Odds	The probability of making your hand.  See bet odds, implied odds, and pot odds.
Off Suit	Cards with different suits, usually referring to hole cards. For example 8c, 9s might be called 8, 9 off suit.
Off the money	In poker terminology, this means to be eliminated in the last place that does not receive prize money.
Omaha	Variety of poker in which players receive four cards facedown, to be combined with five community cards; often played "high-low," in which the high and low hands split the pot.
On the bubble:	To be low on chips in one of the last few places before prize money is awarded.
On the come	In poker terminology, this is needing to improve the hand to have a chance at winning.
On Tilt	Betting wildly or making poor bets. Usually after a bad beat.
Open	To start the betting round by making a bet, as in "I open."
Open Ended Straight	A hand with four consecutive cards. A straight can be completed by drawing the fifth card at either end. For example, 5,6,7,8.
Open-raise	On the first betting round, the first player to voluntarily put money into the pot can do so by either calling the blind or by raising. A raise by the first player to voluntarily put money in the pot on the first betting round is called an open-raise.
Outs	Any remaining card that will give you the winning hand. For example if you have the 8, 9, 10, Q in various suits, and have not seen a Jack, then you have four outs to a Straight.
Overcall	In Texas holdem poker terminology, this refers to bets and calls as the last action on the river. If there is a bet and a call, the second caller is called an overcall. It generally takes a stronger hand to overcall than to call.
Overcard	A hole card higher than the highest card on the board Over the Top to raise a large bet.
Overpair	A pocket pair higher in rank than the highest card on the board.
p	Back to Top
Paint	Face Card
Pip	Number or letter on a card, indicating its rank.
Play back	To raise or, especially, re-raise.
Play the board	In Texas holdem poker terminology, this means to show down a hand that doesn't improve on the five community cards.
Pocket	Your private two-card hand.
Pocket pair	A pair of cards of the same rank as your private two card hand.
Poker face	Having no expression that may give away what a player may be holding.
Position	In poker terminology, this refers to your order in the betting sequence. If you are one of the first players to bet, then you're in an early position. If you're one of the last players to act, then you're in a late position. If there are one or more players who act before you and there are one or more players who will act after you, then you are in a middle position.
Post	To put your small or large blind (and/or your ante) into the pot before any cards are dealt.
Pot	Chips at stake in the center of the table.
Pot limit	In poker terminology, this means a game where the maximum bet allowed is equal to the size of the pot at the time of the bet.
Pot odds	The odds the current pot size is giving you to make a call. It is based on the number of bets in the pot, and is the ratio of the number of bets you have to call to equalize the pot and the number of bets in the pot.
Pre-flop	In Texas holdem poker terminology, this is the first betting round. It's the betting round after you've been dealt your two-card hand, but before the flop is dealt.
Prop player	In online poker terminology, a proposition player referrs to someone that is employed by a cardroom to play. He's used to start new games or to sit in on short-handed games to keep them going for a while. A prop player plays with his own money and plays in the games he's assigned but makes his own choices about how he plays. (See also shill and stakeplayer.)
Put	Assuming someone's hand. If you think they have a pair of aces, then you put them on aces.
q	Back to Top
Quads	Four of a kind, or four cards of the same rank.
r	Back to Top
Rabbit hunting	In poker terminology, this means looking through the discards or undealt part of the deck. Usually rabbit hunting is the precursor to setting up a deck.
Rag	Refers to a worthless card or hand.
Railbird	A chatty spectator.
Railroad Bible	A Deck of Cards
Rainbow	In Texas holdem poker terminology, this is a flop containing three different suits.
Raise	You raise by putting an extra bet in the pot, requiring other active hands to either equalize the pot by calling your raise or fold.
Raiser	The player who raises.
Rake	In poker terminology, the rake is money taken out of the pot by the house dealer. How much is taken is a small fixed percentage of the pot and varies according to the bet limits. Also called the cut. This is the fee the house extracts for covering the overhead associated with the game.
Ratholing	Generally frowned upon practice of taking money off the table after winning some pots.
Read	To be able to gauge a person's hand based on their actions.
Re-buy	To purchase another set of chips, assuming the tournament's format permits it.
Represent	To have the appearance of a certain hand. For example, if the flop comes up with three spades, anyone who bets heavily might represent a Flush.
Re-raise	A re-raise is a raise after a previous raise by someone else.
Reverse implied pot odds	Ratio of the amount of money you might lose if you don't make your hand to the size of the bet you must call to continue drawing to it.
Reverse tell	In poker terminology, this means faking a tell.
Ring game	A regular game, as opposed to a tournament.
River	In Texas holdem poker terminology, the fifthe community card is called the river card. The river betting round is the last betting round of the hand.
Rock	A usually passive, very tight player.
Rolled Up	In seven card stud, three of a kind with your first three cards
Rounder	In poker terminology, a Rounder is a professional who plays for high stakes, often traveling widely to find the best games.
Royal Flush	10-A Straight Flush
Runner-runner	In Texas holdem poker terminology, this means two consecutive lucky cards on fourth street and fifth street that make someone's hand.
Rush	A hot streak in poker hands.
s	Back to Top
Sandbagging	In poker terminology this means a form of slow play. Usually means calling a bet when players are left to act behind you, intending to re-raise if someone in a later position raises. Sandbagging on the pre-flop round of betting is often called a limp re-raise.
Scare Card	A card on the board that could mean a monster hand for someone. The fourth card to a flush or strait for example.
See	To Call
Semi-bluff	A bet made with more cards to come when you probably don't have the best hand, but have outs if you're called.
Set	A form of three of a kind where you have two of the rank in your hand and one on the board. Because of the community card nature of Texas holdem poker, this is a much stronger hand than three of a kind made with one card from your hand matching a pair on the board. That's because with a pair on the board any player who has the fourth card of that rank also has three of a kind. If you have, for example, three Kings made as a set, then no other player can hold three Kings.
Set in	To bet as much as your opponent has in front of him; to put him all-in.
Set over set	When one set beats a lower set.
Shill	A shill is a cardroom employee who helps start new games by sitting in with house money. He doesn't get any portion of his winnings and is not responsible for his losses. Often he's given a set of rules to play by; generally he'll play tight and passive. (See also prop-player and stake-player.)
Shut out	To force an opponent out of a pot (or "off their hand") with a very large bet.
Short Stack	Having less chips than every one else at the table.
Showdown	In poker terminology, this is when all the cards are out and all the bets have been equalized, the active hands show themselves to determine what the winning hand is.
Side pot	Bets made after one player is all-in are put in a side pot.
Sit n Go	Small tournament with no set start time. Players sit down and the tournament starts as soon as there are enough players.
Six tits	Three queens.
Slow play	Playing a strong hand in a way that suggests you have a weak hand. Sandbagging and check-raising are forms of slow play. The term slow play often refers to checking and calling on the flop, intending to bet and raise on the turn, when the bet size increases.
Slowroll	In Texas holdem poker terminology, a slowroll is when on the river, you wait until everyone else involved in the showdown has turned over their cards before showing yours, even when you think you have the best hand. This is considered bad etiquette by some.
Small blind	Sits one to the left of the dealer and is forced to bet, or post, half of the big blind.
Smooth call	A call when a raise is expected. See slow-play.
Snap off	To re-raise a bluffer.
Speculative hand	Speculative hands are a group of hands that aren't immediately the best hand but are getting sufficient odds for a pre-flop call if four to five other players are active in the pot.
Spike	To appear unexpectedly on the board, usually making a big hand for your opponent.
Splash	In poker terminology, this is when a player throws his chips into the pot before any body can confirm that it is the right amount of money.
Spread-limit	A betting structure that allows any bet size within a specified range.
Stake-player	In poker terminology, a stake-player is a player who has a financial backer. This is very common in tournaments, where one backer will stake more than one player in return for a percentage of their winnings. (See also prop-player and shill.)
Steal the Pot	To make a strong bet when it appears no one else has a good hand, causing everyone to fold.
Steal-raise	In Texas holdem poker terminology this refers to making an open raise from later position on the pre-flop, after everyone else has checked, in the hopes that everyone else will fold and you'll win the blinds.
Steam	To play too aggressively because you are angry.  See tilt.
Steel wheel	A five-high straight flush.
Stone killer	An extremely tight-aggressive player.
Straddle	A straddle is a voluntary extra blind. Unlike a kill, it does not raise the limits. It's just a blind raise within the nominal limits.
Straight	Five sequential cards. For example 8, 9, 10, J, Q. Suits can be mixed. See the Poker Hand Rankings page for more details.
Straight Flush	Five cards with sequential rank, all in the same suit.
String bet	In poker terminology, this refers to an illegal act where one player puts in an amount to call a bet and then goes back to his stack to put more chips in to raise, without having orally declared a raise.
Structured limits	A betting structure that specifies a bet size at each betting round.
Stuck	Losing money at the table
Stud	Older form of poker played without community cards.  In the commonest version, each player receives two cards facedown, four cards faceup, and the final card facedown (called seven-card stud). Allows for fewer players than hold' em, and requires a better short-term memory. In five-card stud, each player receives one card facedown, four cards faceup.
Suck out	In Texas holdem poker terminology, this means to complete a lucky draw on fifth street, especially with a hand you should have folded earlier.
Suited	Cards of the same suit
Suited Connectors	Sequential hole cards in the same suit. For example 10h, Jh
Sweat	To watch a friend play, usually from close behind his shoulder.
t	Back to Top
Table stakes	Typically means that the amount of money available for a player to play in a hand is limited to the amount in front of her (meaning that she cannot pull out money from her pocket to play in the middle of a hand).
Take a card off	To call a bet on the flop, usually with a mediocre hand, hoping to improve on fourth street.
Tapioca	Out of money/chips
Tapped out broke	Without money left to play. Also referred to as Tap City.
Tell	In poker terminology, this is an involuntary action that gives observers a clue as to the cards you are holding.
Three of a Kind	Three cards of the same denomination. 4h, 4c, 4s for example.
Throw a party	To lose a lot of money, often because of a tell.
Tight	A conservative player who doesn't play many hands.
Tight-aggressive player	A player who plays few hands, but when he does play he plays very aggressively betting and raising often.
Tilt	In poker terminology, this is a psychological state where you're playing very badly. The term is borrowed from pinball.
Toke	A tip for the dealer.
Top Pair	The highest pair on the board in Holdem or Omaha. For example if the flop is 2c, 7h, Ks, and you have the 10h, and Kd in the hole, then your pair of Kings is the top pair.
Torture	In poker terminology, this refers to making big bets against an opponent whose hand is clearly beaten, even if it's not clear to him.
Trey	A three.
Trips	Three of a kind. (Three cards of the same rank.)
Turn	In Texas holdem poker terminology, the turn is the fourth card placed on the board as a community card. The betting round after the turn is usually at a bet size double the size of the bets on the previous round.
u	Back to Top
Under the Gun	In Texas holdem poker terminology, this is the first player to act.
Underdog	An underdog has the odds against him.
Underpair	In poker terminology, this is a pocket pair smaller in rank than the highest card on the flop.
Up	Word following the larger of two pairs when declaring your hand. A player with two kings and two nines has kings up.
UTG	See under the gun.
v	Back to Top
Value bet	On the river, a bet that should win if called.
w	Back to Top
Wheel	In poker terminology, this is a five-high straight, called a steel wheel when all five cards are of the same suit.
Wired	Pocket cards of the same rank.
Worst of it	In poker terminology, this means having the odds against you. "With only three outs, I was taking the worst of it."
W.S.O.P	The World Series of Poker. Annual series of poker tournaments held at Binions Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas. The final event is a No Limit Texas holdem tournament.