Poker Terminology: Poker Phrases You Need to Know

The simplest way to play poker is by using an ABC strategy, which means you call or raise with strong hands and fold weak ones.

The highest-ranking card in a deck is an ace.

Certain poker tournaments give you the option to add extra chips to your stack at the end of a rebuy period. Add-ons typically cost the same as the tournament’s entry fee, minus the rake.

Pushing all of your chips into the pot is known as going all-in.

Attempting to gain an unfair advantage through any means is known as shooting an angle.

This is a forced pre-flop bet. Some poker variants (flop games) have two antes known as the big blind and the small blind. Draw poker variants have blinds and smaller antes for each player. Finally, Stud poker games have a bring-in. Everyone pays an ante in Stud, and the person with the lowest value up-card also pays the bring-in.

Betting and raising a lot of hands is regarded as an aggressive style of poker.

Hitting consecutive cards to complete an unlikely draw is known as doing it via the backdoor.

You’re said to suffer a bad beat when the odds of your hand being beaten are extremely low. For example, you might lose to a player who can only hit one card on the river.

The money you have set aside to play poker is called your bankroll. A bankroll should be money you can afford to lose, i.e. it should be disposable income.

The act of putting chips into the pot is known as a bet. Technically, you can only make a bet if there hasn’t been any prior action. If someone has placed a bet before the action gets to you, there are two options: call (match the current bet) or raise.

Forced antes in Hold’em and Omaha are called blinds. The small blind is directly to the left of the button and 50% of the big blind’s value. For example, $1/$2 means the small blind is $1, and the big blind is $2. Blinds continually move clockwise around the table.

Cards that don’t improve anyone’s hand are known as blanks.

Holding a blocker means you’ve got a card that prevents other players from making certain hands. For example, let’s say you have the A♦️ and K♠️. The board is 4♦️ 5♦️10♦️ J♣️ T♥️. In this scenario, no one can have the nut flush (aka the best flush) because you’ve got the A♦️. Therefore, you block the nut flush.

Making everyone fold when you’ve got the worst hand is called bluffing.

The board consists of community cards, i.e. cards in the middle of the table that everyone can use in conjunction with their own cards to make a ranked poker hand.

A full house can also be called a boat. An example of a boat in poker is A♦️ A♥️ K♠️ K♣️ K♥️, i.e. two matching cards + three matching cards.

Software programmed to play poker on someone’s behalf is known as a bot. Legit online poker sites class bots as a form of cheating.

It’s possible to win prizes by eliminating players in certain poker tournaments. These prizes are bounties.

The best straight in poker, 10 J Q K A, is a Broadway straight.

The position before the payouts start in a tournament is called the bubble.

You’re said to go bust when you lose all of your chips in a cash game or tournament.

The button shows where the dealer is sitting. The person on the button doesn’t have to deal cards. However, it’s an important position on the table because the dealer always acts last after the flop. Acting last gives you access to more information, which is useful in a game of incomplete information.

The entry fee for a tournament is known as its buy-in. The amount you sit down in a cash game is also known as the buy-in. Cash game tables have minimum and maximum buy-in amounts, typically 40x (minimum) and 100x (maximum) the big blind.

Matching the last biggest bet is known as calling. A cold call is when you call a three-bet, i.e. you’re calling an aggressive action having previously not been involved in the hand.

You’re labelled as a calling station if you call a lot of bets but rarely raise.

Poker games where the chips have a direct monetary value are known as cash games or ring games. For example, if you sit down with $100 in chips, those chips are worth $100 in the real world. The blinds never increase in cash games.

Tokens used to play poker with are known as chips.

Passing the action on to the next player without putting in a bet is known as checking. You can only check if there hasn’t been any betting action.

A deck is described as cold if two or more players make strong hands.

Two players working together to cheat are said to be colluding.

You have a combo draw when it’s possible to make more than one ranked hand. For example, if you’re holding A♦️ 2♦️, and the board is 3♦️ 4♦️ 6♣️, you’ve got the ability to make a straight or a flush.

Two cards close in value are connectors, e.g. 7 and 6.

Betting after the flop when you’ve taken the lead (i.e. made the biggest pre-flop bet) is known as making a continuation bet.

The position directly to the right of the button is called the cut-off. You can play a wide range of hands from the cut-off because it’s regarded as a late position. Being in a late position gives you access to more information than players in an early position.

Someone with little skill or chance of winning is said to be dead money.

The technical name for the number two. A pair of twos is known as deuces or ducks.

Bad players, aka dead money, are called donks.

Betting into a pre-flop raiser is known as making a donk bet. There can be certain strategic benefits to the donk bet, such as taking away the pre-flop raiser’s momentum.

Moving all-in and winning the pot can double the value of your stack.

Continuing with the aim of making a ranked hand is called drawing. For example, if you’ve got K♠️ Q♠️ and the board is 10♠️ 3♠️ 4♠️ 7♥️, you’re drawing to a flush.

Boards with unconnected cards, e.g. 5♠️9♦️ J♥️, are said to be dry. In other words, the board doesn’t give anyone much chance of making a strong hand.

You’re said to be in an early position if you’re far away from the button. Conventional wisdom says that it’s best to play a tight (i.e. limited) selection of hands from early position because you’ve got little information to work with.

You can only win as many chips as your opponent has in their stack. For example, if you have 2,000 chips and an opponent has 1,000 chips, the most you can win is 1,000 chips. In this situation, the effective stack size is 1,000 chips.

Having an edge is another way of saying you’ve got an advantage.

The likelihood of winning a hand is known as your equity.

Skilled poker players decide which moves to make based on their expected value (EV), i.e. how often the move is likely to yield a positive return.

Weak players are known as fish.

You’re said to be floating if you call a bet with the intention of making a move on later streets. For example, if you believe an opponent will fold to a raise, you can call with a weak hand on the flop and raise on the turn.

The first three community cards on the board are known collectively as the flop.

A flush consists of five cards of the same suit, e.g. 5♦️, 6♦️, 9♦️, K♦️ 2♦️.

Surrendering your hand is known as folding.

You can estimate how often an opponent will fold based on your cards, the board, and their tendencies. The percentage you assign to this is known as fold equity. The higher the fold equity, the better chance you have of successfully bluffing someone.

You’re making a four-bet if you’re raising a re-raiser.

The term freeroll is poker slang for a tournament that pays out cash prizes but doesn’t have an entry fee.

A full house is a poker hand that consists of a pair + three of a kind. It’s also known as a boat.

Playing in a mathematically unexploitable way is regarded as Game Theory Optimal (GTO).

You say Good Game, or GG, to someone after a match is finished.

Playing consistently for a long period of time is known as grinding.

Tournaments can have guaranteed prizepools. This means there is a minimum amount of money to play for, regardless of how many people enter. For example, let’s say the buy-in is $10, and the guarantee is $1,000. If only 50 people enter, the prizepool would be $500. However, because the guarantee is $1,000, there is a $500 shortfall (aka overlay). The host puts in the extra $500 to ensure the guarantee is honoured.

Needing one card to complete a straight is known as having a gutshot straight draw.

Tournaments move into a state of hand-for-hand play when the bubble is approaching. This prevents people from trying to squeeze into the money by playing slowly.

Poker hands are ranked according to how difficult they are to make. A poker hand consists of five cards. The best poker hand is a royal flush (an ace-high straight flush), and the worst is a high card (i.e. you don’t even have a pair).

One-on-one play is known as heads-up in poker.

A brave call with a weak hand is a hero call. It’s known as a hero fold if you lay down a very strong hand.

Someone who plays high-stakes cash games and poker tournaments is regarded as a high roller.

The seat directly to the right of the cut-off is called the hijack position. It has this name because players use it to hijack control. You have control because you act last if the cut-off and button fold.

The cards you’re dealt are called hole cards. These cards are concealed from other players at the table.

Online poker players can use something known as a Heads Up Display (HUD) to show an opponent’s playing stats in real-time. Some of the stats you can track and display with a HUD are VPIP (how often someone plays a hand/voluntarily puts chips in the pot), PFR (how often someone raises the hands they play), AF (aggression factor), and 3Bet% (how often someone 3-bets).

Tournaments with blinds that increase every 2 minutes or faster are classed as hyper turbos.

The amount of money you stand to win on a later street can be calculated using implied odds. Calculating implied odds isn’t an exact science because you don’t know what your opponent/s might do. However, you can factor in the current bet/raise size, an opponent’s stack, and the amount you could win if certain conditions are met on a later street.

You win prizes in tournaments when you make it past the bubble and into the money.

Players in the final stages of a tournament can assign a monetary value to their stack using an ICM calculation. The calculation takes into account the prizepool, a player’s stack size, and the stack size of everyone else left in the tournament. ICM calculations can be used to make deals at a final table, as well as strategic moves such as when to bet/fold.

You jam your chips into the pot when you move all-in.

Two equally ranked poker hands are separated by their highest card. For example, let’s say Player A has Ace King, and Player B has Ace 10. The board is showing A 3 6 8 J. Both players have a pair of aces, but Player A wins the pot because their second card (the King) is ranked above Player B’s 10.

Pocket queens are known as ladies.

Sitting in late position means you’re one of the last players to act before and after the flop.

You’re said to make a laydown when you fold a poker hand.

Weaknesses in poker are referred to as leaks. Your goal as a poker player is to identify and, subsequently, plug as many of your leaks as possible.

Poker is played with three betting formats: Limit, Pot Limit, and No Limit. These formats dictate how much you can bet/raise. Limit games fix the amount you can bet or raise based on the size of the blinds. For example, if you’re playing a $1/$2 cash game, calls, bets and raises will be $2.

Calling the minimum bet when no one before you has raised is known as limping.

Playing a lot of hands aggressively is regarded as a LAG (loose and aggressive) strategy. Playing a LAG style can be difficult because you have to play a lot of weak starting hands and bluff a lot. However, done correctly, a LAG style can be hard for other people to play against.

The lowest value hand can scoop the pot in some poker variants. These variants are known as lowball games. For example, in 2-7 lowball, the best ranked hand is an unsuited 2-3-4-5-7. It’s the best because it’s the lowest value combination you can make without having a straight.

A player who continually defies the odds and wins pots based purely on luck is referred to as a luckbox.

A crazy player is known as a maniac.

You’re said to have made a misclick when you unintentionally call/bet/fold. It’s a knee-jerk reaction that can happen when you’re not fully focused.

A huge hand lurking in the shadows is known as a monster. You should bet aggressively when you’ve got a monster and fold a lot when you think an opponent holds a monster hand.

A poker tournament that starts with players spread across multiple tables, which is why it’s called a multi-table tournament (MTT). Players are moved around to maintain a balance across all tables until only one table remains.

You throw your cards into the muck when you fold. Cards can’t be retrieved from the muck, so be careful.

A nit is an extreme version of a tight player to the point they’re reluctant to play hands.

A no limit betting structure that allows you to wager as much as you want up to the value of your stack.

The very highest stakes are so high they can give you a nosebleed, hence the term “nosebleed games”.

The best possible hand given in a given scenario is known as the nuts.

A card that doesn’t complete a flush or isn’t the same suit as another is described as offsuit. For example, if the flop in a Texas Hold’em game is A♣️ k♣️ 8♣️, the 8h is offsuit.

The dealer is the player with the button. The button is the best position because you act last after the flop, which gives you more information to work with.

Any card that makes your hand is described as an out. For example, if you’ve got A♦️ K♣️ and the board is Q♣️ J♥️ 7♠️, you don’t have a ranked hand. However, an ace, king, or 10 are outs because they would give you a ranked hand.

Making moves when players can act after you is known as playing out-of-position (OOP). Playing OOP is disadvantageous because you don’t know how players are going to react.

Betting more than the value of the pot is regarded as an overbet. For example, if there’s £50 in the pot and you bet £75, it’s an overbet.

Cards that are worth more than what you hold or what’s on the board are overcards. Let’s say you have 7♠️ 7♥️, and the flop is 8♥️ A♣️ Q♥️. All three cards on the flop are overcards because they’re ranked higher than a 7.

A pair that’s higher in value than another is regarded as an overpair, e.g. A♣️ A♥️is an overpair to K♥️ K♣️.

A pair in poker is two cards of equal value, e.g. Q♥️ Q♣️.

A picture card has a picture on it. In poker, picture cards are Ace, King, Queen, and Jack.

If your hole cards haven’t connected with the board, the five community cards can be your hand. For example, let’s say the board is showing a straight: 4♥️ 5♣️ 6♣️ 7♥️8♥️. You have A♣️ J♦️. You can play the board and claim a straight.

Two cards of equal value in your hand are known as a pocket pair.

Skilled poker players think in ranges (see below), and a polarised range is one that contains one of two possible extremes. For example, let’s say the board is A♣️ K♣️ J♥️ 8♦️ 10♠️, and a player moves all-in. Based on their betting patterns, you believe they either have a straight or a bluff. Because there are only two possible options in your mind (a straight or a bluff), your opponent is said to have a polarised range. In general, you don’t want a polarised range because it can make it easier for your opponent to call or fold.

Every bet made during a round of poker goes into the pot.

You’re pot committed if you’ve put in so many chips that folding would leave you with an unplayable stack. In other words, you’re committed to calling off the rest of your stack because you won’t have many chips if you fold.

The ratio of the pot and the amount you need to call is known as the pot odds. For example, if there’s £10 in the pot and you have to call £5, the pot odds are 10:5. This gets reduced by dividing each side of the equation by the value of the call (5 in this example). This gives you 10/5 = 2 and 5/5 = 1. So the pot odds are 2:1. Add both parts of the equation and divide 100 by that number, e.g. 100 / 3 = 33.33% pot odds. This means you need to have the best hand 33.33% of the time or better to make a profitable call.

A pot limit betting structure that allows you to wager as much as you want up to the value of the pot.

The action that proceeds the pre-flop betting round is known as post-flop. The post-flop stage of a game involves community cards being dealt in three stages: the flop (three cards), the turn (one card) and the river (one card).

Any action that happens before the community cards are dealt is said to take place pre-flop.

Four cards of equal value are known as quads.

A qualifier is another name for a satellite, aka a tournament that gives you entry into another more expensive event. For example, you could win a ticket for the $10,000 WSOP Main Event by playing an online qualifier.

Betting more than the current biggest bet is known as a raise. The amount you can raise may be limited by the size of the blinds (Limit games) or the size of the pot (Pot Limit games).

Online and live poker operators take a small fee from each cash game pot and tournament entry fee. This fee is known as rake, and it covers the operator’s costs. The best online poker sites give you back some of the rake you pay through a promotion known as rakeback.

All of the possible hands an opponent can have is classed as their range. You should gradually whittle down an opponent’s range during pot by assessing their betting patterns and behaviours.

You read a player by analysing their actions. The better reads you have, the more likely you are to correctly guess what someone has.

You can re-enter certain tournaments when you lose your stack. This is known as rebuying.

The final community card in poker is called the river.

An extremely tight player who only plays premium starting cards is called a rock.

An extended period of poor results is known as running bad.

Betting without a ranked poker hand is known as a bluff. However, if you’ve got a good chance of making a strong hand on subsequent streets, you’re said to be semi-bluffing.

You’re said to shove your chips into the pot when you move all-in.

A showdown occurs when two or more players call the last bet. The best five-card wins the showdown and, therefore, the pot.

Single-table tournaments are also known as sit & gos because they start (i.e. go) when the table is full.

Deliberately taking a long time to reveal a hand that you know is best is called slow rolling. This is considered bad etiquette and should be avoided at all costs.

You can squeeze a player (i.e. put pressure on them) if they call a raise. The action would play out as follows: Player A raises, Player B calls, You raise. Player B is sandwiched between two aggressive players, which means they have a tough decision to make.

Five cards of the same suit in sequential order are known as a straight flush, e.g. 5♣️ 6♣️ 7♣️ 8♣️ 9♣️.

Any physical, behavioural, or betting pattern that someone does over and over again is a tell. For example, if someone always scratches their head when they’re bluffing, it’s a tell.

You’re making a three-bet if you re-raise i.e. raise a raise.

Choosing a small range of starting hands (i.e. a tight range) and playing them aggressively (i.e. predominantly betting and raising) is known as a TAG style.

Playing emotionally (and badly) after losing a pot/s is known as going on tilt.

You set a trap by deliberately playing a strong hand as if you’ve got something weak.

The turn is the fourth community card in poker.

A poker hand that contains two pairs. For example, you’ve got A♣️ K♠️, and the board is A♥️ K♥️ 9♠️ 3♣️ 5♦️.

The first player to act is said to be under the gun, i.e. they’re staring down the barrel of a gun because everyone else gets to act after them. Therefore, they’re under the most pressure.

A sustained period of positive results and/or luck is known as an upswing. It’s the opposite of a downswing.

Making a bet you know an opponent/s will call when you’re sure you’ve got the best hand is a value bet. For example, let’s say you’ve got A♦️ Q♦️, and the board is 3♦️ 6♦️ 9♦️ 10♣️ J♠️. You’ve got the nut flush and can’t lose. There’s £50 in the pot, and you think your opponent has a straight. In this situation, £50 could be a value bet because your opponent has a strong hand, which means they’re likely to call a lot. If, however, you put your opponent on a pair, something like £15 might be a more appropriate value bet. Essentially, you’re aiming to make the biggest bet that someone will call.

The swings of positive and negative results in poker are known collectively as variance. There is no escaping variance in poker, as it’s a natural part of the game.

Wet board is one that contains a lot of possible draws. For example, 4♠️ 5♠️ 8♥️ is a wet flop because it contains draws to straights and a flush.

The lowest straight in poker, e.g. A♥️ 2♠️ 3♣️ 4♠️ 5♥️, is also known as a wheel.

The World Poker Tour (WPT) is an organisation that hosts major tournaments in the US, Europe, Australia, and Asia.

The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is an annual series of tournaments that takes place in Las Vegas from May to July. WSOP winners receive gold bracelets, and the biggest event in poker, the $10,000 WSOP Main Event, headlines the series.