Poker Glossary Section

As this is a new site, the glossary will be a little thin. We would therefore like your help! If you would like to add another term to the glossary, please fill in the short form below.

All-In
When you bet all your chips on one hand. Typically this will happen in a no-limit game. If your stack of chips is smaller than the total bet by another player, you will only be able to win the main pot. Any extra chips bet by other players will form a side pot, which the remaining players will contest.
All-In protection is also offered by some online sites. This is a different concept all together and basically means that if you fail to play a hand in time, you will stay in the hand and be eligible to win any money which your betting has matched. Any further bets, beyond what you have contributed to the pot, will be contested between the other remaining players.

Ante
A small “tax” per hand, which each player must pay in order to be in the game.

Bad Beat
To lose a hand when you were, at one point in the hand, a heavy favourite. For instance, you and one other player go “All-In” pre flop - you have pocket aces and lose to someone
holding 2,2 when the board comes up A,2,3,J,2.

Blind
(Small blind/big blind) These are the forced bet, which ensure people do not simply sit and wait for two hours, to get AA. The person to the left of the dealer must pay the small blind and the person after him must pay the big blind.

Board Cards
The community cards, which are dealt face up in the middle of the table. All players can use these cards to complete their best possible hand.

Burn Card
Removing the top card from a deck to be discarded from the current deal. This is done in case a player has accidentally seen the card at the top of the deck.

Buy In
The amount charged to enter a tournament. This will be exchanged for a fixed number of chips (e.g. 1000). Everyone will start the tournament with the same number of chips.

Double Up
When you double the size of your chip stack. Usually in a no limit game and often when two players go All In against each other.

Drawing Dead
When you have a hand that cannot win, no matter what remaining cards are dealt.

Drawing Hand
If you hold a drawing hand, you need to improve your hand to win the pot. A typical drawing hand would be holding 4 cards of the same suit, in which case you would need a 5th card of that suit to be dealt as one of the community cards.

Fish
Someone who loses a lot of money (usually at poker). "If you can't spot the fish, you are the fish".

Freeroll
A free to enter tournament, which offers a prize to the winner (usually cash) and also to a set number of finishers – perhaps the top 10. Many sites offer large freerolls to new customers and to players who play a certain number of raked hands over a set period of time. Freerolls with total prize pools of $250, $1000 or even $5000 are not uncommon, so don’t waste your time playing those which have piddling prizes, such as $5 to the winner.

Gunshot / Belly Buster
An inside straight draw. E.g. you have 4,5,7,8 and need to hit the 6.

Implied Odds
Similar to Pot Odds, but also takes into account future bets. I.e. whatever you have to bet now to stay in the pot, as a fraction of what you think the final pot is likely to be, if you complete your desired hand.

Limit Poker
All bets, calls and raises in limit poker are to a fixed value. In a $1-2 limit game, all bets and raises are $1 in the first two rounds (preflop and flop), whilst all bets and raises are $2 in the last two rounds (turn and river).

Limp In
To only call the big blind, pre flop.

MTT
Multi Table Tournament. The tournament will start with e.g. 1000 players, playing at 100 tables and the field will slowly be eliminated until there is one table of 10 people, then finally 1 winner. Such tournaments require very different strategies to single table play.

No Limit
In no limit, bets can be as large as a player’s available chip stack. There will be a minimum level of bet (that of the big blind) and each subsequent raise usually has to be at least double the current bet amount.

Nuts
Holding the best possible hand, which cannot be beaten.

Outs
The number of unseen cards which can still be drawn and which would complete your desired hand. For instance, if you hold A clubs, K clubs and the flop is Qc,9s,7c and you believe someone holds a Q, then you have 15 outs (9 clubs, 3 Aces and 3 Kings) to beat a pair of queens.

Pocket Rockets
AA as your hole cards. The best starting hand in Texas Hold’em. Also known as American Airlines.

Pot Limit
All bets are limited to the size of the current pot. However, it is not calculated that simply – the size of the pot is defined as the money currently in the pot + (if you have been raised) the amount you would bet if you re-raised.

Pot Odds
In very simple terms, if the pot is $1 and you have to bet 10c to stay in the pot, the pot odds are 10-1. Again, in very simple terms, if the pot odds are greater than your odds of winning the hand, then you should stay in the hand. If the pot odds are smaller than your chance of winning, you should fold. In a complicated world, you should also take into account “Implied Odds” when making this decision.

Pre-flop
You have been dealt your two hole cards, but no community / board cards have yet been dealt.

Rake
A rake is a small fee (percentage of the pot) charge by the poker room or casino in return for hosting the game. A typical rake is 5% of the pot up to $3.

Ring Game
A single table, real money game. Players buy in and cash out chips with a real monetary value rather than, for instance, having 1000 chips in a $2 buy in tournament.

Semi Bluff
When a player makes a bet with a hand that is currently not the best but has the potential to become a very strong hand, if they draw the right cards.

Shoe
The box, which holds the cards from two or more decks, ready to be dealt.

Slow Play
When a player gives the impression that his hand is weaker than it is, by checking or only calling, with the intention of drawing substantial bets from a player he has beaten.

Stone Cold Nuts
Holding the best possible hand, which cannot be beaten and cannot even be tied for the pot with an identical hand.

The Flop
The first 3 board cards in Texas Hold’em.

The Turn
The 4th board card in Texas Hold’em.

The River
The 5th and final board card in Texas Hold’em.

Trips
3 cards of the same rank, e.g. 999 or 333.

WSOP
The World Series of Poker.