Glossary
Poker Terms
The words you hear at the table and read on a tournament schedule, explained in plain English from A to Z.
- Jack of hearts
- Jack of clubs
A
- Action
- Whose turn it is to act. "The action is on you" means it is your turn to check, bet, call, raise or fold.
- All in
- Betting every chip you have in front of you. A player who is all in cannot be made to fold, and can only win as much from each opponent as they put in.
- Ante
- A small forced bet put in before the cards are dealt, on top of the blinds. In most tournaments today it is a big blind ante, paid by the player in the big blind for the whole table.
B
- Bad beat
- Losing a hand you were a big favourite to win, usually to a lucky card on the turn or river.
- Big blind
- The larger of the two forced bets, put in by the player two seats to the left of the button. It sets the minimum bet for the hand.
- Blind level
- A stage of a tournament with fixed blinds and ante. When the level ends the blinds go up, usually every 20 to 60 minutes.
- Blinds
- Two forced bets, the small blind and the big blind, made before any cards are dealt in Hold'em and Omaha, so every pot has something to win.
- Board
- The shared cards dealt face up in the middle of the table in Hold'em and Omaha: the flop, the turn and the river.
- Bounty
- A prize for knocking a player out of a tournament. In a progressive knockout, part of each bounty you win is added to your own. Tournament formats →
- Bring-in
- In Stud games, a forced bet made on the first round by the player showing the lowest up card (the highest in Razz).
- Bubble
- The point in a tournament just before the prize money starts. The player knocked out last before the money "bursts the bubble" and wins nothing.
- Burn card
- The top card of the deck, dealt face down and out of play before each new round of shared cards, so no one can see it by accident.
- Buy-in
- The price of entering a tournament, or the chips you bring to a cash game table.
C
- Call
- Matching the current bet to stay in the hand.
- Cash game
- A game played with chips worth real money, where you can sit down and leave when you like and the blinds never go up. Also called a ring game.
- Check
- Passing the action to the next player without betting. You can only check when no one has bet yet in the round.
- Check-raise
- Checking, then raising after another player bets in the same round.
- Chip leader
- The player with the most chips in a tournament.
- Chop
- Splitting a pot between players with equal hands, or agreeing to split the prize money when a tournament is down to its last few players.
- Community cards
- The cards dealt face up for every player to use. Another name for the board.
- Cooler
- A hand where two very strong hands meet, so one player was always going to lose a lot. Different from a bad beat, because no lucky card was needed.
D
- Dealer
- The person who shuffles, deals and runs the game. In a casino or a tournament, a staff dealer does it and the button shows whose turn it would be.
- Deep stack
- A stack of chips that is large compared with the blinds. A deep-stack tournament gives everyone more chips to start.
- Draw
- A hand that needs more cards to become strong, such as four cards to a flush. In Draw games, it is also the part of the hand where you swap cards.
E
- Equity
- Your share of the pot if the hand were played out many times: how often you would win, plus your part of any split. The odds calculator works it out for any hands. Poker odds calculator →
F
- Final table
- The last table of a tournament, once only enough players are left to fill one table.
- Fish
- Slang for a weak or inexperienced player.
- Flight
- One of several Day 1 sessions in a big tournament. Players who finish a flight with chips go through to Day 2. Tournament formats →
- Flop
- The first three shared cards, dealt face up together after the first round of betting in Hold'em and Omaha.
- Flush
- Five cards of the same suit. It beats a straight and loses to a full house. Poker hand rankings →
- Fold
- Throwing your hand away and giving up any claim to the pot.
- Freeroll
- A tournament that is free to enter but still pays prizes.
- Freezeout
- A tournament where each player can buy in only once. When your chips are gone, you are out. Tournament formats →
- Full house
- Three of a kind and a pair in the same hand. It beats a flush and loses to four of a kind. Poker hand rankings →
G
- Guarantee (GTD)
- A prize pool the organiser promises to pay however many players enter. If too few enter, the organiser makes up the difference.
H
- Heads up
- A hand or a match with only two players left.
- Hole cards
- Your own cards, dealt face down. Only you see them.
I
- In the money (ITM)
- Far enough into a tournament to win a share of the prize pool.
K
- Kicker
- A card that is not part of your pair, trips or quads but still counts when two hands are otherwise equal. A-A-K beats A-A-Q because of the king kicker. Poker hand rankings →
L
- Late registration
- The time after a tournament starts when new players can still enter, with the full starting stack, until registration closes.
- Limp
- Calling the big blind before the flop instead of raising.
M
- Main event
- The biggest and most important tournament of a series, usually with the largest buy-in and prize pool.
- Min-raise
- The smallest raise allowed: raising by the same amount as the last bet or raise.
- Muck
- The pile of folded and burned cards. To muck your hand is to throw it away without showing it.
N
- No limit
- A betting structure where you can bet any amount, up to all of your chips, at any time. No-Limit Hold'em rules →
- Nuts
- The best possible hand with the cards on the board at that moment.
O
- Offsuit
- Two hole cards of different suits, written with an o: AKo is an ace and a king of different suits.
- Outs
- The cards still in the deck that would improve your hand to the one you want. With four to a flush, there are nine outs: the other nine cards of that suit.
- Overpair
- A pair in your hand that is higher than every card on the board, such as queens on a board of J-8-3.
P
- Pocket pair
- Two hole cards of the same rank, such as two sevens. Pocket aces are the best starting hand in Hold'em.
- Position
- Where you sit compared with the button, which decides the order you act in. Acting later, "in position", means you see what others do first.
- Pot
- All the chips bet in a hand, won by the best hand at showdown or by the last player left.
- Pot limit
- A betting structure where the biggest bet or raise allowed is the size of the pot. Common in Omaha. Pot-Limit Omaha rules →
- Preflop
- The first round of betting, after the hole cards are dealt and before the flop.
- Prize pool
- The total prize money in a tournament, made up of the buy-ins (minus the house fee) plus any added money or guarantee top-up.
Q
- Quads
- Four of a kind: all four cards of one rank. Poker hand rankings →
R
- Raise
- Increasing the size of the current bet. Everyone else then has to call the new amount, raise again, or fold.
- Rake
- The money the house takes from each cash game pot, or the fee added to a tournament buy-in, to pay for running the game.
- Re-entry
- Buying into a tournament again after you bust, as a new entry with a fresh stack and a new seat, while registration is still open. Tournament formats →
- Rebuy
- Buying more chips in a tournament, usually allowed only when your stack is at or below the starting amount and only during the early levels.
- River
- The fifth and last shared card in Hold'em and Omaha, followed by the final round of betting.
- Royal flush
- A, K, Q, J and 10 all of one suit. The best hand in poker. Poker hand rankings →
S
- Satellite
- A cheaper tournament whose prize is a seat in a bigger one. A $100 satellite might give one seat in a $1,000 main event for every ten players.
- Set
- Three of a kind made with a pocket pair and one matching card on the board. Made with one hole card and a pair on the board, it is usually called trips.
- Shot clock
- A time limit on each decision, enforced by a clock, with time-bank chips for the hard ones. Tournament formats →
- Showdown
- The end of a hand, when the players still in show their cards and the best hand wins.
- Side pot
- A separate pot for the players who still have chips when another player is all in. The all-in player cannot win it.
- Small blind
- The smaller of the two forced bets, put in by the player directly to the left of the button. Usually half the big blind.
- Stack
- The chips a player has in front of them.
- Straddle
- An optional extra blind, usually twice the big blind, put in before the cards are dealt by the player to the left of the big blind, where house rules allow it.
- Straight
- Five cards in a row of mixed suits. It beats three of a kind and loses to a flush. Poker hand rankings →
- Suited
- Two hole cards of the same suit, written with an s: AKs is an ace and a king of one suit.
T
- Tell
- A habit or reaction that gives away something about a player's hand.
- Tilt
- Playing worse than usual because you are upset, often after a bad beat.
- Trips
- Three of a kind, usually one made with a pair on the board and one card from your hand. Poker hand rankings →
- Turn
- The fourth shared card in Hold'em and Omaha, dealt after the flop betting.
U
- Under the gun (UTG)
- The seat directly to the left of the big blind, which acts first before the flop.
W
- Wheel
- The lowest straight, 5-4-3-2-A, where the Ace plays low. In Razz and other ace-to-five low games it is the best possible hand. Poker hand rankings →
Playing a tournament?
Re-entry, bounty, flight, shot clock: see how each tournament format usually runs.
Tournament formats explained