Poker Rules

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Glossary

Rake Schedule

Action: Opportunity for a player to act.
Add on: Acquiring more chips before you lose your whole stack.
All in: To have your entire stack in the pot in one single hand.
American Airlines: A pair of Aces in the hole. (AA)
Ante: A mandatory bet that all players at a table must put in the pot before they see any cards.

Back Door: Hand made in the last two cards (the turn and the river)
Back-raise: A re-raise from a player that had previously just called the last bet.
Bad Beat: Losing when having a very strong hand and another player miraculously has an even better hand.
Bankroll: The money available for a player to gamble.
Bet: Adding value to the pot in a poker game.
Bicycle: The best possible low hand in lowball games: A,2,3,4,5. Also called Wheel.
Big blind: The second player to the left of the dealer will post a mandatory bet before being dealt cards, we call this player the big blind of the table.
Big Slick: AK in the hole, suited or not.
Blank: A community card that does not seem to affect any player’s hand.
Bluff: To make other players believe you have a very strong hand by betting and raising even though you have a weak hand or no hand at all.
Bottom Pair: The lowest ranking pair at a table.
Brick & Mortar (B&M): Real casino games, not online poker rooms.
Burn: To discard the top card of the deck.
Button: In poker games, a button is used to mark the dealer’s seat.
Buy-in: Required fee required to play at a tournament or table.

Call: Matching the previous bet.
Cash game: Poker games played with real money but are not played in a tournament structure.
Check: To pass the action to the next player without betting.
Chip Dumping: An illegal practice in which players collude in order to distribute chips/money between them.
Chip Leader: It refers to the player with the largest stack at a table or tournament.
Chip: Casinos use chips in representation of real money.
Community Card: An upcard on the board which can be used by all players.
Cooler: When a player loses with a very strong hand to a player with an even stronger hand.

Dead Man’s Hand: A pair of Aces with a pair of Eights.
Deal: For a dealer to give cards to the players.
Dealer Button: It indicates the dealer’s position at the table.
Dealer: the person giving out the cards.
Deuce: Two.
Donkey: A demeaning adjective that poker players use to refer to a very bad player.
Double up: For a player to double his stack.
Drawing Hand: An incomplete hand that could make a hand if the community card needed to complete it comes up.
Drop: Fold.
Ducks: a pair of Twos. (2 2)

Early Position: Position on a round of betting, where the player must act before most of the other players at the table. It's considered the two positions located to the left of the Big Blind, where the player wust act before most of the other players.

Family Pot: A pot in which all (or almost all) players called pre-flop.
Fifth Street: Also known as river, it is the fifth card dealt on the board in community card games.
Fish: Unskilled player, a player that gives his money away.
Flat Call: Calling a bet without raising.
Float: To call a bet in order to take the pot down afterwards. It is also called slow-play.
Flop Game: A community card game.
Flop: In Hold’em and Omaha, the flop is the first 3 community cards.
Flush: 5 cards of the same suit.
Fold: To dismiss your cards when it’s your turn to act.
Four of a Kind: Four cards of the same rank.
Fourth Street: Also known as turn, it is the fourth card dealt on the board in community card games.
Freeroll: A poker game with no buy-in required.
Full House: three cards of the same rank and two more cards of another rank. In other words ne pair and a three of a kind will make a full house.

Grinding: Playing with a minimal risk style.
Gut-shot: A drawing straight that is missing one of the middle cards.

H.O.R.S.E.: A poker game that involves the following poker varieties: Texas Hold’em, Omaha eight or better, Razz, seven card Stud, seven card stud Eight or better.
Hand: Set of cards that a player needs to construct to win the pot (one pair, flush, three of a kind, etc.)
Heads-up: A pot in which only two players are involved.
Heater: A player who has won several big pots or that is on a winning streak; also called a rush.
High Card: A hand ranked by the value of the highest ranking card.
Hi/Lo: Games in which the pot is split between the best low hand and the best high hand.
Hilton Sisters: A pair of Queens (QQ).
Hit: To ‘hit’ means to get the cards you needed to complete a hand.
Hole Cards: also called pocket cards, they are a player’s ‘private cards’.
Hooks: A pair of Jacks.
House: The establishment hosting the game.

In the Hole: in your hole cards. A pairs of sevens in the hole means that your hole cards are a pair of sevens.
In Turn: A player’s turn to act.
Inside Straight: Four cards that are missing one of the middle cards needed to make a straight. If a player gets the missing card then he will make an inside straight.

Jackpot: A prize fund awarded to a player who meets a set of predetermined requirements. For example, some casinos will give a jackpot to someone who gets four-of-a-kind or higher and loses.
Juice: Rake.

Key Card: A card that makes your hand or gives you a good draw.
Kicker: The highest unpaired card in a player’s hand.
Kick it: Raise.
Knock: Check.

Lay-down: Fold.
Lead: The first player to bet into a pot.
Limit: the minimum or maximum amount that can be bet in a game.
Limp: To enter a pot by just calling the blind instead of raising. It is also called gypsy.
Limper: The first player who calls a bet.
Live Hand: A hand that could still win the pot.
Look: When a player calls the final bet before the showdown.
Lowball: A form of draw poker in which the lowest hand wins the pot.

Made Hand: A complete hand.
Make: Shuffle. ‘To make the deck.’ Means to shuffle the deck.
Maverick: QJ in the hole suited or not.
Meet: Call.
Move in: Going all-in, to make a bet with all of your remaining chips.
Muck: For a player to discard their cards without revealing them.
Mullets: A pair of sevens in the hole.
Monster: A very big hand.

No-Limit: A game in which there is no minimum or maximum on the amount a player can bet.
Nuts, The: The best possible hand at any point of the game.

Odds: Probability.
Off-suit: Cards that are not of the same suit.
On the Button: The player that is on the dealer’s position.
Open: To make the first bet in a game.
Open Card: A card dealt face up.
Out: An out is any unseen card that could improve a player’s hand.
Over the Top: To raise by a very large amount.
Overcard: A higher card.
Overs: An option in limit games that allows players to raise the limit.

Pair: Two cards of the same rank.
Pass: Fold.
Pat: A hand that is completed on the first 5 cards dealt.
Play the Board: In community cards games, when a player has a hand and goes all the way to the showdown, that player is said to play the board.
Pocket Cards: The first two down cards dealt to a player in a poker game; also called hole cards.
Pocket Pair: When the first two down cards dealt to a player in a pocket game are of the same rank they make a pocket pair.
Pocket Rockets: A pair of Aces in the hole.
Poker face: A face with no expression in order to not reveal the cards that the player is holding.
Post: In games with blinds, it means to make the mandatory blind bet.
Pot: The total quantity of money that players gamble in one poker hand.
Pot Committed: A situation in which a player can no longer fold because the size of his stack is very small compared to the size of the pot.
Pot Limit: A game in which the limit of the maximum allowable raise is the size of the pot.
Pre-Flop: The point of the game when the players have been dealt two cards, but no community cards has been seen.

Quad: Four of a Kind.

Rack: 100 chips of the same denomination.
Rag: A card that has no impact on any player’s hand.
Railbird: A spectator in a poker game.
Rainbow: 3 or 4 cards with different suits.
Raise: To increase the size of the last bet.
Rake: The money that the house takes in a poker game.
Rakeback: A percentage of the rake that is given back to the players.
Read: To be able to guess what your opponent’s hand is based on his actions.
Rebuy: When a player runs out of chips there is an option that is called rebuy which means that the player can buy more chips to continue playing.
Reraise: To raise after someone has already raised the bet.
Ring Game: Also called cash games. They are games played with real money.
River: Also called Fifth Street. The fifth card dealt on the board in community card games.
Royal Flush: A straight Ace High suited.

Sailboats: A pair of Fours in the hole.
Satellite: A game in which the prize is the entry to another tournament.
See: call.
Semi-bluff: When a player bluffs with a drawing or inferior hand that can improve later.
Set: Three of a kind.
Scoop: It means to win both parts of the pot in a High-Low split game.
Shoe: Container for undealt cards.
Short Stack: A stack of chips that is small compared to the size of the stakes.
Shorthanded: A poker game with few players, usually six or less.
Showdown: To show the hands of the players remaining after the last betting round in a poker game in order to compare and determine the best hand.
Side Pot: A pot created when a player goes “all-in” and the other player(s) who wants to call does not have enough chips to do so.
Small Blind: Compulsory bet that the first player to the left of the dealer must pay before they are dealt cards. It is half the size of the big blind.
Snowman: A pair of eights in the hole.
Steam: Steaming is used to describe a player who gets angry after losing a pot.
Straight: A hand in which the five cards are consecutive, for example 4,5,6,7,8.
Suited: When the cards have the same suit.

Tell: A change in a player’s behaviour or attitude that a player unknowingly gives that lets the other players guess the cards he is holding.
Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same rank.
Tilt: To play wildly or recklessly, not at your best potential.
Top Pair: the highest pair considering the cards on the board.
Trips: Three of a kind.
Turn: Also called Fourth Street. The fourth community card dealt.

Underdog: A person or hand not mathematically favored to win a pot.

Value Bet: A bet made a player that wants to be called because they have a superior hand or a good drawing hand.
Vigorish: rake.

Walking sticks: A pair of sevens in the hole.
Wheel: The best possible low hand in lowball games: A,2,3,4,5. Also called Bicycle.
Wired: A pocket pair.