Texas Holdem Poker Glossary

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Texas Holdem Poker Glossary

Texas Holdem Poker betting terms

Texas Holdem Poker slang

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 American Airlines  -  A Texas Holdem poker slang for pocket aces

Ante  -  a certain amount of money contributed to the pot by every player at the start of the poker round

All-in  -  betting all the money the poker player has

Backdoor  -  the draws that need two cards(on the turn and on the river) to be completed

Bad Beat  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang that means an unlucky development resulting in the superior hand getting beaten by an inferior hand

Big Blind  -  the money that a poker player in second position has to put into the pot before the start of a poker round

Big Slick  -  a Texas Holdem Poker slang for AK

Blank  -  the card on the board that does not change the relative strength of the poker hands

Blind  -  an automatic bet that should be made by the first two players on the left of the button

Board  -  5 community cards in Texas Holdem poker laid out on the flop, turn and river

Boat  -  a Taxes Holdem poker slang for a full house

Bottom Pair  -  a pair that includes the lowest card on the board

Burn the card  -  discarding the top card in the deck between each betting round

Bump  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang for raising the pot

Button  -  a white plastic disc that determines the position of a poker player who is last to act

Buying the pot – a Texas Holdem Poker slang meaning bluffing with an attempt to steal the pot

Buying the Button  -  a Texas Holdem Poker slang meaning raising on the flop with the purpose to make the players in later positions to fold their hands and getting an opportunity to act last on the next streets

Call – it means to make the same bet as the previous player has made

Calling Station  -  a Texas Holdem Poker slang describing the weak and passive player who call all the way to the river even with weak hands

Cap  -  to make the last available raise (usually the third raise)

Case  -  the case card is the last card of a specific rank left in the deck

Center pot  -  the same as the main pot

Check  - a poker player checks when he chooses not to bet but has an option to call or raise later

Check Raise  -  checking first and then raising a player that has bet

Chop  -  the decision of the big and small blinds poker players to take their money back if nobody has bet

Cold Call -  it means calling a raise as opposed to calling a bet and then calling a raise

Come Hand  -  a drawing hand

Complete Hand  -  a poker hand that is made of 5 cards like a straight, flush, full house etc.

Connector  -  a Texas Holdem starting hand that is made of two cards adjacent in rank like J10

Counterfeit  -  any card that shows up on the board and makes your hand weaker, counterfeits your hand

Crack  -  a Texas Holdem Poker slang that means beating a very big hand with initially weak hand

Crying Call  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang for making a call with a little hope of winning

Dog  -  the same as an underdog or a weak poker hand that has small chance to win

Dominated Hand  -  a poker hand that has a weaker kicker

Draw  -  a poker hand that needs the right cards to come to become a good hand

Drawing Dead  -  a Texas Holdem Poker slang that means having a hand that can not possibly win even if it will get better. For ex. a poker player drawing to the flush can’t possibly win if a another player has a full house (unless he is drawing to a straight flush)

Equity  -  the share of the pot that a poker player expects to win on average on the basis of the winning chance

Expectation  -  the average win in certain situation on the basis of the poker player’s odds to win the pot and the odds laid by the pot

Extra blind  -  an additional blind money put into the pot by a poker player who is the new player, or a player who has changed the seat or missed his blinds

Family pot  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang meaning a big number of poker players participating in the pot

Fast play  -  a Texas Holdem Poker slang meaning an aggressive play

Fish  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang for a bad player who does not understands the game

Flop  -  the first 3 community cards of Texas Holdem poker that show up on the board face up

Free Card  -  the turn or river card that a poker player can see for free because all other player have checked

Free Roll  -  a Texas Holdem Poker slang that means that a poker player who is tied at the moment with another player can’t possibly lose but can still win. For ex if two poker players on the turn have the same straight but one player has also a flush draw, then he can’t lose but can win if the flush card will come on the river

Gutshot Straight draw  -  a straight draw that can be completed by a card of one rank only. For ex. a poker player has 109 and the board is 672. Only 8 will make that draw

Heads Up play  -  there are only two poker players left in the pot

Hit  -  for ex. to hit the flop means for a poker player to get the cards on the flop that improve his hand

Hole  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang meaning two initial cards

House  -  the same as the casino

Implied Odds  -  pot odds increased by the possible future win in the later streets when a poker player makes his hand

Jackpot  -  a reward paid by a casino to a losing player who had his very strong hand beaten by a better hand

Kicker  -  a second card from the starting two cards that was not paired or the one that accompanies an Ace in the situation when an Ace high is the best hand on the river. A pair or an Ace with a lower kicker lose

Limp  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang that means to call pre-flop a minimum bet without raising

Maniac  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang that means a very loose and very aggressive poker player who likes to raise and bluff a lot

Muck  -  a bunch of burnt and folded cards in front of the dealer. To muck the hand also means to fold the hand

No-Limit  -  a type of a Texas Holdem poker game where a poker player can bet all the money he has on the table

Nuts  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang that means the best possible poker hand, which is a guaranteed winner

Offsuit  -  a starting Texas Holdem poker hand that is made of two cards of different suits

One-Gap  -  a Texas Holdem poker starting hand that is made of two cards with one card’s rank higher than the other by two. For ex 86 is a one-gap

Outs  -  the cards that will improve a poker player’s hand. For ex. 8 cards will improve a straight draw to a straight, so a poker player has 8 outs in this example

Overcall  -  to call a bet that has been called already by few other players

Overcard  -  a card in a poker player’s hand that is higher than any other card on the board

Overpair  -  a pair made of cards that are higher than any other card on the board

Paying off  -  a situation when a poker player knows that he is beat but calls a bet (pays off) anyway because he has a very good hand

Play the board  -  a poker player plays the board when the board contains the hand better than a player’s hand. For ex. a poker player has two pairs but the board shows 5-card flush. A player checks and hopes that other players will also play the board and he’ll split the pot with them instead of losing

Poker face  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang meaning no facial expressions

Pocket cards – first two initial cards of a poker player that nobody can see as opposed to community cards seen by everybody

Pocket rocket  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang for pocket aces

Pocket pair  -  a Texas Holdem poker starting hand consisting of the two cards of the same rank

Post  -  to post means to put a blind bet when a new poker player enters the game or changes the seat

Pot-Limit  -  a type of a Texas Holdem game where a poker player can make a bet up to the current size of the pot

Pot odds  -  the ratio of the size of the pot to the size of the bet necessary for staying in the pot and continuing to play

Protecting the hand  -  means protecting your cards for ex. with a chip from accidental muck or defending the blinds or raising by a poker player with the purpose of knocking out few opponents and increasing the chances for his hand

Putting on  -  as putting a poker player on a possible hand that he might have

Quads  -  the same as four of a kind

Rainbow  -  a rainbow flop means three cards of a different suit; a rainbow board means a board without a possibility for a flush

Rag  -  a Teaxs Holdem poker slang meaning a worthless card

Ragged  -  an uncoordinated rainbow flop with mostly small cards

Rake  -  a percentage from the pot taken by a casino

Rank  -  a numerical value of the card

Read  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang meaning guessing a poker player’s hand

Represent  -  to represent a certain hand is to play in a way characteristic of that hand. For ex. if a poker player raises and caps pre-flop he represents a big pair

Ring games  -  poker cash games as opposed to the tournaments

River  -  the fifth and last community card on the board. Another name for the river is the fifth street

Rock  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang that means a very tight poker player

Rush  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang meaning a hot streak of few winning hands

Runner-Runner  -  means that a poker player hit two necessary cards – on the turn and river – that helped him to win a hand

Sandbagging  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang, the same as slow playing

Scare Card – a card that can kill currently best hand. For ex. a poker player has a straight on the turn. On the river a third card of the certain suit shows up making a flush possible

Second Pair  -  a pair made with the second highest card on the board

Semi-Bluff  -  a poker player bets without the best hand but have outs to improve to the best hand

Set  -  a three of a kind when a poker player has two cards and the third is on the board

Short Stack  -  a poker player has a short stack of chips when the number of his chips is considerably less compare to the other players in the game

Showdown  -  a moment when remaining in the game poker players show their cards to see who has the best hand

Side pot  -  the part of the pot, which a poker player is not entitled to, because he ran out of chips prior to the end of the betting

Slow play  -  a poker player slow plays when he has a very strong hand but plays like he has a weak hand

Small blind  -  the smallest of the two blind bets that a poker player has to make before the start of the poker round

Smooth Call  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang that means that a poker player just calls a bet in front of him when the strength of his hand justifies raising the bet

Splashing the pot  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang that means throwing the poker chips into the pot instead of placing them in front of the player

Splitting the pot  -  dividing the pot equally between few poker players because they have the same hand

Straddle  -  an additional blind bet, which is two times bigger than a big blind

String Bet  -  a situation when a poker player does not put all the chips out in one motion when raising. In that case the raise will not be allowed. It is allowed if a poker player announces his raise

Stuck  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang for losing money

Suited cards  -  a starting poker hand that contains two cards of the same suit

Table stakes  -  a poker player can use only money on the table for betting purposes, he can go into his pocket or to ATM machine

Tell  -  an information that a poker player may give out about his hand due to the displayed physical, verbal or emotional mannerisms

Thin  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang - drawing thin means that a poker player was drawing having only very few outs to improve his hand

Tilt  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang that means that a poker player has started to play badly below his usual level of play because of an emotional upset

Time request  -  a poker player requests time when he needs more than usual time to make his decision

Toke  -  a tip to a dealer given by a winning poker player

Top Pair  -  a pair  that includes the highest card on the board

Top Set  -  a set that includes the highest card on the board

Top two  -  a poker player has two pair made with two highest card on the board

Top and bottom  -  a poker player has two pair made with the highest and the lowest cards on the board

Under the gun  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang meaning a poker player’s position at the table first after the big blind. A poker player under the gun acts first

Underdog  -  a poker hand that has a small chance to win

Value betting or raising  -  a poker player, who has a good hand, bets or raises because he wants more money in the pot

Wheel  -  a Texas Holdem poker slang that means A,2,3,4,5 straightess

 Copyright Progress Publishing Co.

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