Poker Dictionary, Poker Terms and Slang

Our poker dictionary is a guide to international poker terms, and poker slang, used at tables and in online games all over the world today:

Add-on

1. A last buy-in optionally permitted in a rebuy tournament, usually with no minimum chip requirement. That is, at the point of the add-on, every player still in the tournament can get another buy-in, generally receiving for the add-on in a larger amount of tournament chips than any of the rebuys. The add-on usually comes after a predetermined amount of time, say one hour.

2. The act of adding on, or the point in a tournament at which players can add on.

Agent

This is the partner of a thief in a poker game cheating scheme.

Aggressive

This is a style of play characterized by much betting, raising, and reraising. This is not the same as loose play. Some of the best players are very selective about the cards they play, but when they do get into a pot, play those cards aggressively.

Alcohol

I’ll call.

All in

Out of chips, due to having put one’s remaining chips into the current pot, while other active players still have more chips and have the option of further betting. He can’t call the whole bet because he’s all in. Or in no limit games, it just means putting all your remaining chips in the middle no matter how much has been in the pot.

Ammunition

Chips; Houseman, I need more ammunition is a request for more chips.

Ante

This is the mandatory bid in the later stages of a poker tournament. Sum (amount), which all players invest at the beginning of the round before the division of tickets.

Ax

The percentage of a pot kept by the management to pay expenses

Bankroll

This is the total amount of money that the player has. (The players Fund)

Barnburner

Very good hand

BB

This is shorthand, particularly in e-mail and Internet postings, for big blind.

B-game

This is the second-highest game in a particular club. Compare with A-game, big apple.

Big player

This is a big-limit player, or someone who plays in large no-limit games.

Blinds

Forced bets, the players to the left of the button must make, before sharing cards. Two Blind are called Small Blind called (half the minimum bet) and the Big Blind (the full minimum bet). Small Blind is seated directly to the left of the dealer button and Big Blind to the left of the Small blind. If there are only two players then the player on the dealer button is the Small blind and the other player is the Big Blind.

Bluff

1. Bet a weak hand with the hope of driving the other players out. Sometimes done with the intention of losing (and thus being forced to show the hand), which makes it a form of advertising. See advertise.

2. The act of poker bluffing. That was a good bluff. Both meanings also called snow.

Bring-in

1. The amount required to open a pot. What’s the bring-in is asked by a player who wants to know how much the minimum that he can bet is, or how much is the required amount to open the pot.

2. The player who opened the betting.

Bubble

The position just out of the money in a tournament.

Buck

1. A marker used in games with a house dealer to indicate the dealer position. Once upon a time, an actual buck knife was used as the marker, hence the name. Usually found now as part of the phrase pass the buck, that is, refuse to deal when it is one’s turn to deal, passing the deck instead to the next player to the left. The phrase has passed into general usage meaning shift responsibility to someone else, and has found a place in most collections of famous quotations and sayings with Harry Truman’s well-known slogan, The buck stops here.

2. (vt) Go up against [(usually) a better hand], in the sense of an inferior hand trying to beat an obviously better hand. For example, a player who has, in seven-card stud, only a pair of jacks, playing against someone with an exposed pair of aces, is said to be in the process of bucking the aces. The term is also found as part of the phrase buck the odds. See also chase, worst of it.

Button

1. The disk or other marker that indicates the dealer position in a game dealt by a house dealer.

2. The actual dealer position (or, usually, the player in that position in poker) in a game dealt by a house dealer. I opened the pot, and the button raised.

Call

This is a bet that doubles the sum that any of the players have invested in the poker game.

Caller

This is someone who calls a bet or raise. I bet $100 and got five callers.

Check

If you don’t want to bet then you say “check”, “check” transfer and further action on the following players. This action is actually very passive in poker, however, can sometimes serve as unexpected trap for opponents.

Chip Leader

This is the poker player who currently has the most chips. This term is usually used in poker tournaments.

Community Cards

Cards that are dealt face up in the middle of the table and are available to all active players.

Crab

Three (the card).

Crabs

In Hold’em, when you get 3-3 as the first two cards. See crab.

Crack

Beat.

Daub

Markings put on cards with paint, ink, or some other fluid. This is also called cosmetics white on white, a form of daub. Compare with shading.

Drum

What players sometimes compare a tight player to, as, He plays tighter than a drum.

End

1. A share given by a cheater to an accomplice.

2. Any share of a poker pot. I made a seven on the last card and I got the low end of the pot.

3. The bet made during the final round of betting, as, for example, $2-$4 Hold’em with $8 on the end permits a last round at double the stakes.

Face Down Cards

Cards that are dealt face down, also known as Hole Cards. This is the opposite of cards that are shared face-up.

Face up cards

Cards that are dealt face up so all players can see them. This is the opposite of cards that are delta face-down.

Fish

This is a beginner poker player who has little experience, players who needs to learn some poker strategy online.

Floorman

The employee, who seats players, brings new decks, keeps order, settles disputes, and sometimes sells chips to players.

Flop

The first three community cards are dealt face up face-up in Texas Hold’em and Omaha.

Fold

This means that a player gives up and hands in the game, no longer has a chance of winning the pot.

Foot

Poor hand. I got a hand like a foot.

Forced Bets

In some poker games it is required to make deposits, mostly at the beginning of each hand. Blind and Ante are perfect examples of Forced bet.

Freeroll

This is poker tournaments in which the players is not due to pay entrance fee, but have the opportunity to win real money.

Freeze out

Bet in such a way as to prevent another player getting into a pot. They bet so much that they froze me out of the biggest pot of the night.

G1

This is shorthand for good one. Used in the chat facility while playing poker in an online card room.

Gap

1. A missing card in a hand, particularly in the middle of an inside straight

2. This is an empty seat. When a table has one or more empty seats, the dealer or one of the seated players may try to entice a prospective participant this way: Sit down. There’s a gap in the trap for a sap.

Gc

This is shorthand for good call. Used in the chat facility while playing poker in an online card room.

Good

1. Not foul, that is, describing a legitimate, playable hand, one that has not run afoul of the house rules.

2. See make the blind good.

3. In lowball, smooth I’ve got a good eight means the hand is probably an 8-5 or 8-4.

4. Describing a, or the, winning hand, often said by the loser of a pot with respect to the hand that has beaten him, before he has shown his own hand. Saying that’s good essentially surrenders the pot. See Good hand.

Good game

One in which you expect to win a lot of money, presumably because the game is full of worse players than you.

Good hand

This is a verbal acknowledgment by a player on the showdown that another player has the best hand.

Hard-play

Show no mercy in one’s play against another player, that is, do one’s best to beat the opponent.

H/e

This is shorthand, particularly in e-mail and Internet postings, for Texas Hold’em Also HE.

Heads Up

This is poker one on one. Heads-up poker is any game where you play two players.

Horse

Someone playing for you, with your money, or with money owed you. I’m losing, but I’ve got a horse in the 20 who’s way ahead means that I have a part (or all) of someone’s action (definition 4) in the 20-limit game.

Hit it!

1. Let’s go. That might be, depending on the situation, I’ll call your large bet, I’ll draw cards, I’ll play in this pot.

2. I raise.

Horn

A drink; How about a horn? Is a suggestion to join someone in a libation.

IGHN

I go home now, in RGP speak. The expression is used in e-mail, and is also heard at the table. The implication is that a good hand held by the speaker just got beat, probably by a long shot. Also see YGHN.

LL

This is shorthand, particularly in e-mail and Internet postings, for low limit. From an RGP posting: The Pastime Club has mostly LLHE.

Load

This is a decent session’s winnings. He’s back for another load.

Lollapalooza

A freak hand, often five specific, but random, cards, allowed winning once a night.

Looloo

Lollapalooza.

Loose

Playing liberally.

Loose juice

Booze.

Loose player

One who plays loose.

Loosey

This is a loose player.

Loosey-goosey

1. A loose player.

2. (Adv) Playing in a loose fashion.

Loser

1. A losing player.

2. A player losing. (There is a distinction. Definition 2 may be just a temporary situation, while 1 implies permanency.) I’m loser today. (The implication here is that, yes, today I’m losing, but that will change.)

3. A losing session. I booked a loser my last three plays. 4. A hand that cannot (or probably cannot) win in a particular situation. I can’t call.

Low

In a high-low split game, the low hand.

Luck

An illusory factor that losers think is the only reason for winning, and that winners know is the main determinant for winning only in the short run.

Muck

This means throwing cards without showing them to the other players. As an adjective, “muck” is an action when a player finally deciding not to show their cards. If a player lays a bet, sometimes the correct strategy is to not show the hand.

N1

This is shorthand for nice one. Used in the chat facility while playing poker in an online.

Nc

This is shorthand for nice call. Used in the chat facility while playing poker in an online card room.

Nh

This is shorthand for nice hand. Used in the chat facility while playing poker in an online card room. The usual response is Ty.

Nhwps

RGP shorthand for nice hand.

N/l

This is shorthand, particularly in e-mail and Internet postings, for no-limit. You might see a posting on rec.gambling.poker that starts, I was playing n/l h/e at the Pasatiempo last night, and this hand came up…

NLH

This is shorthand, particularly in e-mail and Internet postings, for no-limit Hold’em.

No-brainer

This is a hand so good that it can be correctly played even by someone with no brains. In lowball that would be a good 6 or better, and in high, aces full or better.

No gypsy

In the larger double-limit games, usually above 15-30, with a live blind, the situation in which players are not permitted to open by just calling the blind, that is, opening with a bet the same size as the blind. Thus, the minimum opening bet is always two bets. See gypsying in.

No room

I have a full house.

No vacancy

I have a full house.

Nursing

1. Fondling one’s cards.

2. Playing extremely conservatively, usually with a small stack.

Overpair

In Hold’em this is a player’s pair higher than any card among the community cards. For example, you start with J-J, and the flop is 9-5-2.

Pace

This is the speed of a game, with respect to its action. Fast pace describes a game with a lot of betting and raising, performed by most of the players.

Philosopher

In English slang, a thief or cheat at cards.

Piece

A portion of one’s action given away in exchange for help on the buy-in.

P/l

This is shorthand, particularly in e-mail and Internet postings, for pot-limit. You might see a posting on rec.gambling.poker that starts, I was playing p/l h/e at the Pasatiempo last night, and this hand came up…

Player

1. Any participant in a poker game. There are eight players at each table.

2. Any participant in a particular pot. Even after the raise, there were still five players in the pot.

3. Someone who knows what’s going on in the card room milieu, and usually implying someone making his living playing cards. Who’s that guy putting all the chips in the pot? Some live one? Nah, he’s a player.

Pocket Cards

1. The first two cards in Hold’em that is a player’s private cards (as opposed to the community cards or flop). I had a king in the pocket.

2. The down card or down cards in a stud game.

3. (ADJ) Pertaining to the first two cards in Hold’em, usually a pair, as, for example, a pocket pair or pocket rockets.

Position

1. Where a player sits in relation to the others at the table.

2. Where a player sits in relation to the dealer, or, sometimes, in relation to the blinds. Position 1 is generally the position to the left of the current dealer, although, in a three-blind traveling blind game, position 1 could be the position to the left of the big blind, that is, position 1 is three positions to the left of the dealer. Mike Caro reckons position as the number of players remaining to act. Thus, in an eight-player game, the position to the left of the dealer is position 7, while the dealer position is position 0. The compiler of this dictionary has extended this in his writings to blind games, wherein the position immediately to the left of the big blind is position 7, the dealer is position 2, he middle blind is position 1, and the big blind is position 0 (because no players act after him). Also see early position, late position.

3. Where a player sits in relation to a particular player. Sitting to someone’s left is generally termed good position, and to his right bad position.

4. Good position with respect to the other players at the table. You can open with a worse hand when you’ve got position.

5. Sitting in good position with respect to a particular player, usually sitting one or two seats to the player’s left. I had position on the live one all night, but I never held any hands.

Possible

1. (In high poker, a hand that needs one card to be completed, as four cards to a flush or straight. For example, in seven-card stud, after the last card is dealt, you have face up three spades in sequence, possibly even four. Together with your three down cards, there exists a great possibility that you have a straight or better. A player may have board cards that rank higher than yours, such as a pair, but that player is afraid of your possibilities. When it is his turn to initiate the betting, he might say, Check to the possible. Math in poker is used to calculate the possibilities of striking a good hand.

2. (ADJ) In stud games, the description, often by the dealer of the hand, of a hand that could, based on its exposed cards, be part of a complete hand, such as a flush or straight. For example, in a five-card stud game, one player has four spades showing.

Post

Put up a missed blind. If you miss playing the blind in a particular round, probably because you were away from the table or because you just came into a game and the blind has already passed you, the house dealer asks if you want to post, that is, put in as many chips as are in the blind you missed. When the action gets to you, you have already called one bet, and, if the pot has not been raised, you do not have to put any more chips in the pot. (You can, of course, raise in turn.) This is not the same as an over blind or kill, in which the action temporarily skips the player who has put the blind chips in the pot, and which causes the limit to increase.

Rabbit

1. A weak player.

2. Short for after the rabbit or follow the rabbit. A form of draw, usually lowball, in which a player gets a bonus from the other players for winning two pots in a row. For example, in a $4-to-go no-limit lowball game, each player puts up $20, which goes into a kitty. Whoever wins two pots in a row gets the kitty. This tends to stimulate action, because when a player wins a pot, she is likely to loosen her requirements for the next pot to try to get the kitty. She may kill the next pot to try to increase her chances of winning the next pot and to keep out the two-card draws.

Raise

This means raising the stakes in relation to the previous bet.

Raiser

Someone who raises. Check to the raiser.

Rake

This is a small percentage of the pot that the organizer takes as a fee for its services.

Re-buy

This is the possibility to buy more chips. On tournaments with re-buys you can buy more chips per previously determined value, if you run out of them, and continue the game.

River

This is the last round of card that is distributed over a hand of poker.

Sax

6 (the card, or the lowball hand).

Say

1. Announce in turn whether one is betting or passing.

2. (n) Such an announcement.

SB

This is shorthand, particularly in e-mail and Internet postings, for small blind.

Shark

This is an experienced poker player that knows how to play the game, player with poker skills.

Sponsor

Someone buying you a drink or meal. If someone offers you a drink at the table, when you call the cocktail waitress, you can say, bring me a drink.

Squeezers

Special cards with suit and rank printed at the corners, so these can be seen by just barely squeezing back the corners. (This is the ordinary card format now, but many years ago, cards had no markings in their corners.)

Street

In stud (and sometimes Hold’em), the dealing of a round of cards, usually preceded by its number, as third street, fifth street, and so on.

Super-bluff

This is a successful bluff against the holder of a strong hand. For example, I have a pat 7-4 in no-limit lowball. You and I both have a lot of chips. Someone opens for $4, I raise $40, and you come in cold behind me. The first player does not call. After the draw, I bet $80. With only a momentary hesitation, you raise $200. I think you must have been slow-playing (see slow-play) a monster, and fold for the raise. You chuckle, and show a flash of paint in your hand as you muck it. You have just run a super-bluff.

Time!

1. A request by a player for more time to contemplate his action. In some clubs, unless a player calls time, others may act behind him, and if they do, his hand may become dead.

2. The verbal request by a house employee for the players to pay their time.

Treedlededee

Three cards, please. This is heard at the time of the draw in a draw poker game.

Turn

This is the fourth community card that is dealt in Texas Hold’em and Omaha.

Tx

This is shorthand for thanks. Used in the chat facility while playing poker in an online card room. Usually typed in response to Nh.

Ty

This is shorthand for thank you. Used in the chat facility while playing poker in an online card room. Usually typed in response to Nh.

Tyvm

This is shorthand for thank you very much. Used in the chat facility while playing poker in an online card room.

Up

1. Winning. How much you up?

2. In high poker, two pair, when referring only to the higher pair.

Ups

In high (draw, usually), the top pair in a two-pair hand. If two players have two pair, one might say, what are your ups? Wanting to know whether the other has, for example, aces up or kings up.

Up scope!

I raise.

Upstairs!

I raise.

Up the slope!

I raise.

Yo

Yoleven.

Yoleven

11, in respect to the size of a bet. Probably comes from craps dealers who pronounce the word clearly, loudly, and distinctly to distinguish amid all the casino noise from the similar sounding seven. Often they drag it out to eeyoleven, and this is sometimes shortened to eeyo, also yo.

Z-game

This is the smallest game in a card room or casino, the opposite of A-game.

Zombie

A poker player with no poker tell, one who has a poker face, shows no emotion, and otherwise exhibits no behavior to give away his holdings.

Zuke

Toke. This term is generally used only by dealers.

Now that you learned more about terms and slang used in online poker games in our poker dictionary; sign up and get your first deposit bonus and ticket to New Depositor Freerolls.

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