Poker General Terms

If you’re viewing this section, it means you’re still confused with the terms used in poker – you’re a newbie perhaps? Fear not, all it takes to master this exciting card game is a lot of practice, an observant personality, a keen eye, plenty of confidence is all you need to succeed. However, you can’t speak the language if you can’t understand it! So read on and hopefully you will be able to speak poker as well as you can play.

AA: Notation for aces as your starting hand. Also known as Pocket Rockets or Bullets. The best starting hand in Hold’em.

AK: Ace-King or Ace-King suited (AK s). Nickname is “The Big Slick”.

All-In: Betting all your chips and placing them into the pot. Losing will automatically kick you out of the game.

Ante – A small part, usually half or a quarter of the minimum betting value, to be shelled out by each player to “seed” the pot at the beginning of a hand.

Bet: Placing money within the betting range into the pot.

Blind: A forced bet that must be put into the pot before a poker hand.

Bluff: Placing a bet when your cards are weak with hopes to win the pot by the folding of the other players.

Bottom Pair: Having a pair made of the lowest card value on the board.

Call: Placing money equal to the amount that the previous opponent bet. To call a raise requires adding extra cash to the initial bet in order to meet the previous opponent’s challenge and stay into the pot.

Check: Refusing to bet or fold when it’s your turn to act. This is a good way to stay in the game without raising the risk factors.

Community Cards: Cards dealt in the center of the table and available to all players to use in forming a good hand.

Connector: Two cards that are within 4 cards of each other so as to possibly make a straight. AK, JT, A2 are all connectors, as are Q8, 62, etc. The connectors that are “touching each other”, i.e., JT, 78, are better to have as they can pick up the straight on the low, and high side. There are no gaps between them.

Flop: The first three community cards to come out in a poker game such as Texas Hold’em and Omaha.

Hand odds: The odds of getting the card that completes your hand. This is a theoretical number at best, but it gives you something to go by, to see if the pot is worth it to try drawing the card you need.

Hand: The combination made by a player using his cards and/or the community cards. The best hand usually wins the pot money.

Hole Cards: Cards dealt to you that other players can’t see.

Home game: A game of poker played between you and your friends. Often there is a lot of bluffing; everyone stays in to see every card, and lower stakes. Not exactly “real” poker.

Multi-Table: A poker tournament that includes more than one table. As people are eliminated, everyone moves down to one, final table.

Nuts: A Poker term for the best hand possible in a given hand. You are always hoping to get The Nuts. You can’t lose if you have the “Nut Hand”. Unless you fold. Used as an adjective in terms such as “Nut Flush”, “Nut Straight”, and “Nut Trips”.

OS: The abbreviation for off-suit. Also can be abbreviated o. As in A9os, or A7o.

Outs: The number of cards that are theoretically left in the deck to complete your hand, or give you “the nuts”. Outs coincide with Hand Odds to give you your percentage chance of drawing the, hopefully, winning card.

Pair: Two cards that have the same number or face.

Position: The spot on the table where you are sitting in relation to the dealer “button”. To the left of the button are the small blind and big blind. The first 4 or 5 spots are said to be in “early position”. The person on the button is in the best position, because he gets to see how everyone else has bet when it finally comes to his turn. On the button and two to the right are said to be in “late position”. All other spots, in a 9 or 10 person ring, are said to be “middle position”. Playing “In Position” is the single-most important poker skill that beginners lack, or understand. Early position is bad, late position is good.

Pot committed: If you have put a lot of chips into a pot, you are said to be pot committed. Pot committed is a fallacy, and should not be used as an excuse.
Pot odds: The % worth you are getting for your bet. If it only costs you $10 to possibly win $100, you are getting “10-1 Pot Odds”. This term is more used in Limit Hold ‘em than No-Limit.

Pot: All the money that has been bet in a particular hand, also including the money from the antes or blinds.

Quads: Possessing four cards of the same number or face.

Raise: Placing a higher bet than what another player has placed.

Re-raise: Raising after an opponent calls a raise

Ring game: A table where the same folks play the same poker for the same blinds all the time. People can get up and leave at any time, and new folks can come in. You can also re-buy in if you are out of money. This is the kind of game most often played at card clubs.

River: The 5th and last community card. Also known as Fifth Street.

Satellite: A tournament, often a qualifier, held online to get into a bigger tournament that is held LIVE in a casino. For online play, any tournament can be considered a satellite tournament, as no one is actually playing “together”. Each satellite is someone playing from the comfort of his/her home.

Set: Possessing three cards of the same number or face as a result of a lucky deal.

Side Pot: A temporary pot created for one round of poker hands. This is necessary when one player has gone all in while the others are still betting amongst themselves

Sit ‘n Go (SNG): A 1-table game where everyone gets the same amount of chips for a set buy-in. The game is played in tournament format with increasing blinds every 10 hands. 10 to a table at PartyPoker, 9 at PokerStars. Top 3 spots win money.

Suited Connectors: Same as a connector, only suited also. 87s for example. These are powerful cards as you have the straight, the flush, and the straight flush in play, pre-flop. These cards usually give you a lot of “outs”.

Suited: Two or more cards of the same suit, i.e. Clubs, Spades, Hearts, Diamonds. In poker literature, suited is noted with a small “s”. As in, Ace-King suited would be, “A Ks”.

Trips: Being able to form a three cards of the same number or face with the help of community cards

Turn: The 4th community card. Also known as Fourth Street.

Under the gun (UTG): The first position after the big blind. It is the first position to bet before the flop and the 3rd to bet after the flop. Designated position #3 in this book.

Wired Pair: When face down cards contain a pair.