poker terms
poker terms 93 80
hold 'em poker slang terms 5 4
list of poker terms 5 4
poker terms raked hand 5 4
bottomstock poker terms 4 3
hold em poker terms 2 2
old west poker terms 2 2
online poker terms 2 2
origins of poker terms 2 2
poker terms runner 2 2
printable poker terms 2 2
rebuy poker terms 2 2
terms used in poker 2 2
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Poker terms - Part VII
Poker terms - Part VII 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 river, you can throw away just about anything but the nuts.
Runner
Typically said "runner-runner" to describe a hand that was made only by catching the correct cards on both the turn and the river. Example: "He made a runner-runner flush to beat my trips." See also "backdoor."
Satellite
A tournament that does not award cash to its winners, but a seat (or seats) in a subsequent "target" tournament.
Scare Card
A card that 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. See "top pair."
Sell
As in "sell a hand." In a spread-limit game, this means betting 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. Example: you have Ks-Qs, and the flop is Th-5s-Jc. If you bet now, it's a semi-bluff. You probably don't have the best hand, and you'd like to see your opponents fold immediately. Nevertheless, if you do get callers, you could still improve to the best hand.
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.
posted by poker terms at 10:07 AM  
Monday, June 27, 2005
Poker terms - Part VI
Poker terms - Part VIPost
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. Example: a player leaves one seat at a table and takes another in such a way that he moves farther from the blinds. He is required to post an extra blind to receive a hand. See also "extra blind."
Pot-Committed
A state where you are essentially forced to call the rest of your stack because of the size of the pot and your remaining chips.
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 1 out of 12, 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."
Put On
To mentally assign a hand to a player for the purposes of playing out your hand. Example: "He raised on the flop, but I put him on a draw, so I re-raised and then bet the turn."
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.
Rank
The numerical value of a card (as opposed to its suit). Example: "jack," "seven."
Rebuy
An option to buy back into a tournament after you've lost all your chips. Tournaments may offer one or more rebuys or (often) none at all.
posted by poker terms at 7:53 AM
Monday, June 20, 2005
Poker Terms Glossary: Part V
Poker Terms Glossary: Part VManiac
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.
Made Hand
A hand to which you're drawing, or one good enough that it doesn't need to improve.
Micro-Limit
Games so small that they couldn't be profitably dealt in a real cardroom. They exist only at online poker sites. You might arbitrarily call games $.25-.50 and smaller "micro-limit."
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. Example: "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 from limit poker.
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 might say they had the "nut straight."
Offsuit
A hold'em starting hand with two cards of different suits.
One-Gap
A hold'em starting hand with two cards 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 called.
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.
Pat
A hand that you make on the flop. For instance, if you have two spades in your hand and the flop has three spades, then you've flopped a pat spade flush.
Pay Off
To call a bet when 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 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."
Pocket Pair
A hold'em starting hand with two cards of the same rank, making a pair. Example: "I had big pocket pairs seven times in the first hour. What else can you ask for?"
posted by poker terms at 1:04 PM
Monday, June 13, 2005
Poker Terms Glossary: Part IV
Poker Terms Glossary: Part IVFast Play
To play a hand aggressively, betting and raising as much as possible. Example: "When you flop a set but there's a flush draw possible, you have to play it fast."
Fish
A poor player -- one who gives his money away. It's a well-known (though not well-followed) rule among good players to not upset the bad players, because they'll stop having fun and perhaps leave. Thus the phrase, "Don't tap on the aquarium."
Flop
The first three community cards, put out face up, all together.
Fold Equity
The extra value you get from a hand when you force an opponent to fold. That is, if you don't have to see a showdown, your hand has more value than if you do.
Foul
A hand that may not be played for one reason or another. A player with a foul hand may not make any claim on any portion of the pot. Example: "He ended up with three cards after the flop, so the dealer declared his hand foul."
Free Card
A turn or river card on which you don't have to call a bet because of play earlier in the hand (or because of your reputation with your opponents). For instance, if you are on the button and raise when you flop a flush draw, your opponents may check to you on the turn. If you make your flush on the turn, you can bet. If you don't get it on the turn, you can check as well, seeing the river card for "free."
Free Roll
One player has a shot at winning an entire pot when he is currently tied with another player. For instance, suppose you have Ac-Qc and your opponent has Ad-Qh. The flop is Qs-5c-Tc. You are tied with your opponent right now, but are free rolling, because you can win the whole pot and your opponent can't. If no club comes, you split the pot with him; if it does come, you win the whole thing.
Gap Hand
A starting hand with cards more than one rank apart. For instance, T9 is a one-gap hand. 86 is a two-gap hand.
Gutshot Straight
A straight filled "inside." If you have 9s-8s, the flop comes 7c-5h-2d, and the turn is the 6c, you've made your gutshot straight.
Heads-Up
A pot that is being contested by only two players. Example: "It was heads-up by the turn."
Hit
As in "the flop hit me," meaning the flop contains cards that help your hand. If you have AK, and the flop comes K-7-2, it hit you.
House
The establishment running the game. Example: "The $2 you put on the button goes to the house."
Implied Odds
Pot odds that do not exist at the moment, but may be included in your calculations because of bets you expect to win if you hit your hand. For instance, you might call with a flush draw on the turn even though the pot isn't offering you quite 4:1 odds (your chance of making the flush) because you're sure you can win a bet from your opponent on the river if you make your flush.
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, jackpots have gotten over $50,000. Of course, the jackpot is funded with money removed from the game as part of the rake.
Jam
To move all-in in a no-limit (or pot-limit) game.
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.
Leak
A weakness in your game that causes you to win less money than you would otherwise. Example: "She takes her pocket pairs too far; it's a leak in her game."
Limp
To call. Generally the term refers to pre-flop action. For instance: "He limped in early position with 77."
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.
Live
Cards that are not duplicated in an opponent's stronger hand. For example, if you have A9 and your opponent has AJ, then your ace is not "live" because making a pair of aces won't do you any good. The nine, however, is live; making a pair of nines gives you the better hand.
posted by poker terms at 1:42 PM
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Poker Terms: Big business
Poker Terms: Big businessAmong many, one South Sound casino also has seen the green.
Jack Newton, general manager at Freddie’s Club in Fife, recalls when the club’s poker room opened three years ago.
It was dark and uncomfortably crowded, even with a small band of players. “We only had half a game,” he said. “One game, half a day. We saw it amplify over the coming months. Now we’ve got three or four games daily. It’s 10 times the revenue from the first month we opened. It’s taken a life of its own.”
Newton was initiated into the world of poker and casinos decades ago in Las Vegas when he worked for the famous Jack Binion at the Horseshoe.
Poker then, he said, “was lower class, back-of-the-room, smoky, six-shooter.“
Now it’s different.
It’s evolved. At Freddie’s, Newton concentrates on providing “good food, good service. We don’t tolerate bad language. I’ll let it go once, but I’ll stop it.”
Newton estimates that 70 percent of his players are “business people, sales managers for car lots, doctors, people who own their own companies. Truck drivers, grandmothers. Poker has caught hold of the general consciousness. It has a way of focusing you in the ‘now.’”
In Las Vegas in the Horseshoe days, the regular players were there to take advantage of the tourists who came through town thinking they knew wired sevens from a can of Shinola.
“The mentality of it has changed,” Newton said. “There are now a lot of people who have read the books and seen it on TV. They study the game and play very well.”
Freddie’s, like other casinos, makes money either from an entry fee, at tournaments, or from a “rake,” in which the house takes a cut of every pot. At Freddie’s, the rake is 10 percent of the total money bet up to a maximum of $3.
But that’s not the only source of income.
“Poker does a number of things,” Newton said. “It brings people to the table, they buy drinks, they buy food.”
They also play table games – blackjack, pai gow, four-card poker and such – before and after playing poker. Newton estimates a “drop” of between $2,500 and $3,000 daily from poker players alone.
“We make money,” he said.
The average player plays for three hours, and Newton says he needs a base of at least 2,000 players to support three tables.
“I have a base of 2,000 people who play at least one time a month,” he said. “It’s not the same people every day. I think you need about 500 people per table to keep a table going all day.”
His games go until closing, which these days means nearly dawn.
“Poker hasn’t come close to reaching its peak,” he said.
One dealer speaks
Michael Palmus of Shelton deals poker at Little Creek Casino.
He has also dealt – and will this year deal – at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. He was the dealer at the final table for the 2003 World Series won by the then-unknown player Chris Moneymaker.
“Just like in business, you have to take a risk in the first place, just to open,” Palmus said. “You’re going to play loose in the beginning to capture chips, and then you’ll have to tighten down. You have to be very mathematically sound for the simple fact that you have to calculate pot odds, and how many cards are left in the deck.
“Is it a calculated risk to put this much money in the pot? Is it in their best interest to buy this stock? Is it going to grow or go down?”
Incidentally, organizers at this year’s World Series – which began Friday and runs through July 15 – anticipate 6,600 players, many of whom will buy in with an entrance fee of $10,000. Dealers will earn upward of $20,000.
After Palmus dealt that final table, $2.5-million winner Moneymaker offered a tip, as winners do.
“He showed me the best possible time that any person could possible have, and I don’t drink or do drugs,” Palmus said. “He spent $25,000.”
Rather than describe that night on the town, Palmus prefers to let imagination rule.
There are, of course, those who see gambling as a sin, a wrecker of lives, another temptation in Satan’s quiver.
“They even say God and the devil played poker,” said Jack Newton.
Business maybe. But poker as religion?
It’ll never happen.
posted by poker terms at 3:27 PM
Monday, May 30, 2005
Poker Terms - Part III
A Glossary of Poker Terms - Part III Complete Hand
A hand that is defined by all five cards -- a straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, or straight flush.
Connector
A hold'em starting hand in which the two cards are one apart in rank. Examples: KQs, 76.
Counterfeit
To make your hand less valuable because of board cards that duplicate it. Example: you have 87 and the flop comes 9-T-J, so you have a straight. Now an 8 comes on the turn. This has counterfeited your hand and made it almost worthless.
Crack
To beat a hand -- typically a big hand. You hear this most often applied to pocket aces: "Third time tonight I've had pocket aces cracked."
Cripple
As in "to cripple the deck." Meaning that you have most or all of the cards that somebody would want to have with the current board. If you have pocket kings, and the other two kings flop, you have crippled the deck.
Crying Call
A call that you make expecting to lose, but feel that you must make anyway because of the pot odds.
Cut-Off
The position (or player) who acts one before the button.
Dead Money
(1) Money contributed to a pot by a player no longer in the pot. (2) A player in a tournament who has no realistic chance of winning.
Dog
Shortened form of "underdog."
Dominated Hand
A hand that will almost always lose to a better hand that people usually play. For instance, K3 is "dominated" by KQ. With the exception of strange flops (e.g., 3-3-X, K-3-X), it will always lose to KQ.
Draw
To play a hand that is not yet good, but could become so if the right cards come. Example: "I'm not there yet -- I'm drawing." Also used as a noun. Example: "I have to call because I have a good draw."
Draw Dead
Trying to make a hand that, even if made, will not win the pot. If you're drawing to make a flush, and your opponent already has a full house, you are "drawing dead." Of course, this is a bad condition to be in.
Equity
Your "rightful" share of a pot. If the pot contains $80, and you have a 50% chance of winning it, you have $40 equity in the pot. This term is somewhat fanciful since you will either win $80 or $0, but it gives you an idea of how much you can "expect" to win.
Expectation
(1) The amount you expect to gain on average if you make a certain play. For instance, suppose you put $10 into a $50 pot to draw at a hand that you will make 25% of the time, and it will win every time you make it. Three out of four times, you do not make your draw, and lose $10 each time for a total of $30. The fourth time, you will make your draw, winning $50. Your total gain over those four average hands is $50-$30 = $20, an average of $5 per hand. Thus calling the $10 has a positive expectation of $5. (2) The amount you expect to make at the poker table in a specific time period. Suppose in 100 hours of play, you win $527. Then your expectation is $5.27/hr. Of course, you won't make that exact amount each hour (and some hours you will lose), but it's one measure of your anticipated earnings.
Extra Blind
A blind put in by a player just entering the game, returning to the game, or otherwise changing his position at the table. See also "blind" and "post."
Family Pot
A pot in which all (or almost all) of the players call before the flop.
posted by poker terms at 7:30 AM
Monday, May 23, 2005
Glossary of Poker Terms - Part II
More on Poker Terms...Button
A white acrylic disk that indicates the (nominal) dealer. Also used to refer to the player on the button. Example: "Oh, the button raised."
Buy
(1) As in "buy the pot." To bluff, hoping to "buy" the pot without being called. (2) As in "buy the button." To bet or raise, hoping to make players between you and the button fold, thus allowing you to act last on subsequent betting rounds.
Buy-In
An amount of money you pay to enter a tournament. Often expressed as two numbers, such as $100+9, meaning that it costs $109 to enter the tournament; $100 goes into the prize fund and $9 goes to the house.
Call
To put into the pot an amount of money equal to the most recent bet or raise. The term "see" (as in "I'll see that bet") is considered colloquial.
Calling Station
A weak-passive player who calls a lot, but doesn't raise or fold much. This is the kind of player you like to have in your game.
Cap
To put in the last raise permitted on a betting round. This is typically the third or fourth raise. Dealers in California are fond of saying "Capitola" or "Cappuccino."
Case
The last card of a certain rank in the deck. Example: "The flop came J-8-3; I've got pocket jacks, he's got pocket 8's, and then the case eight falls on the river, and he beats my full house."
Center Pot
The first pot created during a poker hand, as opposed to one or more "side" pots created if one or more players goes all-in. Also "main pot."
Chat
Typed conversation that you can have with other players at an online poker site (or any online gathering, for that matter).
Check
(1) To not bet, with the option to call or raise later in the betting round. Equivalent to betting zero dollars. (2) Another word for chip, as in poker chip.
Check-Raise
To check and then raise when a player behind you bets. Occasionally you will hear people say this is not fair or ethical poker. Piffle. Almost all casinos permit check-raising, and it is an important poker tactic. It is particularly useful in low-limit hold'em where you need extra strength to narrow the field if you have the best hand.
Chop
An agreement between the two players with blinds to simply take their blinds back rather than playing out the hand if nobody calls or raises in front of them.
Clean Out
A card that would almost certainly make your hand best. If you are drawing at a straight, but there is a flush draw possible, then the cards that make your straight but also the flush are not clean outs.
Cold Call
To call more than one bet in a single action. For instance, suppose the first player to act after the big blind raises. Now any player acting after that must call two bets "cold." This is different from calling a single bet and then calling a subsequent raise.
Come Hand
A drawing hand (from the craps term).
posted by poker terms at 7:37 AM
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