Poker Glossary and Terms

ABI = Average Buy-in

ACPT = Average Cost Per Tournament (Similar to ABI, but takes into account rebuys)

Action = Either it is your turn to make a decision (ie the action is on you) or often used for gambling in general (eg looking for action means are you looking to play some cards, get involved in some pots, make some bets, etc)

Ante = Compulsary bet posted by all players

APPT = Asia Pacific Poker Tour

Aussie Millions = The main annual poker series in Australia

B&M = Bricks and Mortar (real world casino/card room)

Backdoor = hitting both the turn and the river to make your hand (ie you need to hit 2 cards)  eg 'backdoor straight', 'backdoor flush'

Bankroll = The total money at your disposal to play poker with. Seperate to any real-word money that you might use for anything non-poker related.

Bankroll Management = The art of controlling poker variance by only every committing small proportions of your total bankroll

Bellybuster = Another name for a Gutshot

Big Blind = Compulsary bet, usually twice the small blind, poster by the player to the left of the small blind

Blank = A card which doesnt help you, or doesnt help a potential draw for an opponent

Blaze = Hand of 5 face cards

Board (as in The Board) = all of the face up cards in a community card game such as Holdem or Omaha.

Boat = Full House

Brick = A card that you miss your draw with. (eg I was playing Razz the other day and had 4 cards to a 6 at 4th street, but hit 3 bricks and lost the pot)

Bricks and Mortar = A real world casino or card room (as opposed to one online)

Bonus Code = A promotional code giving bonus money for joining and playing at an onlne poker site

BRM = Bankroll Management - For more details see Bankroll Management

Broadway Straight = AKQJT

Brick = A blank card that doesnt help your hand, when it is need of help

Bubble = In a tournament, the player who goes out in the place immediately before the money starts, has gone out on the bubble

Button = The position of the dealer

Call the clock = If a player is taking long over a decision, you can call the clock on them to force them to make a decision in the hand in a set amount of time (eg 60 secs)

Chip Dumping = Colluding with another player to deliverately lose chips/money to them at the tables

Chip Race = Process by which any odd small chips are eliminated following Chip Up

Chip Up = At set stages in a tournament small chips are cashed in by a dealer for larger chips. Also sometimes refered to in the sense of a player gradually accumulating chips in a tournament.

Chop = Money/chips being split between 2 or more players CO = Cutoff

Coffee Housing = Table talk designed at swaying a player into a decsion they might not otherwise make

Continuation Bet (or C-Bet) = Following pre-flop aggression, you follow-through and make the first bet post-flop

Counterfit = A previously good hand is eliminated by a hand appearing face up on the board (eg 33 vs A4. Flop J99. Turn K, River J. Your pair has been counterfitted by the 2 pair on the board, and the A4 wins because of the higher kicker)

Cutoff = Person to the right of the button

Doorcard = First upcard, or first visible card (eg 3rd street in 7-card stud)

Double Bellybuster = same as Backdoor

Double Gutshot = same as Backdoor

Downcard = Cards face down on the table

Drawing Dead = No cards can make you have the best hand out of the players remaining

EPT = European Poker Tour

EV = Expected Value.  How much you can expect to lose or win.  Example :- If you call an all-in for $1000, with say just $300 in the pot, then on a hand that you have a 40% chance of winning the EV equals (0.6*-1000) + (0.4*1300)  IE -80 EV.  To get a positive EV the pot before the all-in would have to be bigger than 500.

Family Pot = A hand which nearly all, if not all, of the players at the table get involved in

Fill Up = To hit the last card of your draw

Fish = A bad poker player, personified by drawing regularly to negative equity (fishing to catch good cards on a draw at seemingly any price)

Float = Calling a bet in order to take down the pot later

Flop = The 3 cards that first come down face up

FTP = Full Tilt Poker

Ghost = To watch exactly what cards a player plays and how they play them. Online this is either done by physically being in the same room (looking over the shoulder), or by a player telling his hands via a private chat or phone facility (eg Skype)

Grinder = A player who takes low risks, playing a large number of hands conservatively. You are unlikely to see them bet big without the stone-cold nuts. Gutshot = An Inside Straight draw

H4H = Hand for Hand

HH = Hand History

Hand for Hand = All tables start the hand at the same time, thus waiting for all tables to finish their hands before the new one is dealt (often done at the money bubble to prevent excessive stalling, and to clearly determine who busted first)

Hanger = Dealing cards from the bottom of the deck

Holdem = The most common variant of poker

Hole Cards = the 2 (or more) face down cards which were dealt to you

HU = Heads Up

Implied Odds = Paying beyond the natural value of a hand at any given point, with the knowledge (or assumption) that if you hit your required card, your opponent will pay enough money/chips to make the odds of the original call actually justifiable from an equity perspective.

Inside Straight Draw (Gutshot) = Drawing a card in the middle of a straight eg 4578, and hitting your 6

ITM = In the Money

Juice = Rake

Kicker = A card that doesnt change the rank of a hand, but comes into play if 2 or more players have the same hand (eg Board A58JQ.  AK beats A9, because although both have a pair of aces, the AK has the highest 'kicker' ie the King

Killer Card = A card that deadens a hand that was previously the nuts.

LAPT = Latin America Poker Tour

LHE = Limit Holdem

M = Your chip total divided by the cost of one rotation. IE If you have 10,000 chips and the blinds are 200/400 with an ante of 50. The cost of a rotation is 200+400+(9x50) = 1050. Your M = 10000 / 1050 = 9.52 (an M of 9.52)

MTTs = Multi Table Tournaments (these start at a set time regardless of number of players)

Muck = to fold

NLHE = No Limit Holdem

Nuts = The best possible hand at that particular point

Omaha = Popular variant of poker, which involves 4 hole cards

Open-Ended Straight Draw = Draw a card at either end of a straight eg 5678, and hitting your 4 or 9

Overbet = A large bet, which is often a lot bigger than the pot

Overlay = The amount of money that a poker site needs to add to a guaranteed tourney, when it is short of entrants

Passive = Lots of checks and calls, but little (if any) raising

PLO = Pot Limit Omaha

PLO8 = Pot Limit Omaha Hi-Lo

Pocket Pair = Paired hole cards eg 55, 88, KK

Poker Deposit Bonuses = See Bonus Codes

Poker Forum = A place for the discussion of poker by an online community of poker players

Poker Prop = a prop is poker player employed by the poker sites in order to keep games moving.  You only really get them at new sites, for obvious reasons.  They play poker with their own money, but receive a fee for playing (usually based on rake).

Position = your position at the table in relation to the button

PP = Pocket Pair, or Party Poker

Prize Pool = The total amount of money which will be distribued in prizes

PS = PokerStars

Quads = 4 of a kind

Rail = To watch from the sidelines (in live games, physically seen as the rail behind which spectators must stand)

Railbird = someone who watches a game ('watching from the rail').  Often perceived negatively as someone who watches, commentates on hands, but rarely plays themselves at similar stakes

Rainbow Flop = a flop of 3 different suits (ie no 1 card to a flush draw)

Rake = The poker sites cut (in cash games this is a cut of the pot, normally a percentage)

Rakeback = A deal where you get a proportion of the rake back from rakeable hands. Only really worth while if you are a high volume cash player

Razz = A popular Stud based game where you are looking for low hands

Ring Game = another expression for a cash game/cash table

River = The next card after the turn

Rock = a very tight player. Getting a lot of money quickly out of a rock is like getting blood out of a stone

ROI = Return on Investment

Roll = short for Bankroll. Also used in the sense of staking, when a person you stake steals your money

Rolled up trips = 3 of a kind in the first 3 cards in 7-card stud

Runner Runner = same as Backdoor

Rush = A winner streak (often one which seems unnaturallylong)

Sandbag = Commonly meaning slowplaying a hand to trap someone (in olden days it refered to any poker play which was seen as devious or underhand)

Scoop = To win both the Hi and the Lo in a Hi-Lo game

Set = 3 of a kind (1 of which is on the board, combined with a pocket pair)

Shootout = A tournament structure where each table plays down to 3 players (or down to 2 or 1 player), and then when all tables are finished you reform the remaining players at a full table and repeat the same, until you get a overall winner

Showdown = The point at which the cards are flipped over for all to see

Slowplay = Deliberately playing a good hand slowly, eg checking, flat-calling, in order to try to induce a bluff or mislead an opponent into thinking their hand is the best

Slowroll = Deliberately playing slow (usually at showdown) even though you know you have won the hand. Done to give another player false hope, or to make them look stupid

Small Blind = Compulsary bet, posted by player to the left of the dealer

SNGs = Sit and Gos (can be one table or more.  when the seats are full the game starts)

Speed/Turbo = MTT or SNG structure where you have much shorter blind intervals (eg blind level increases every 3 minutes)

Stack Off = To commit all your chips in a hand. Used in the sense "I flopped and set, and this guy stacked off with TPTK"

Splash the pot = Throwing chips into a pot, as opposed to doing it in an orderly manner where others can easily count the chips correctly

Staking = Where someone pays for your tournament entry fee, in return for a percentage of any profits

Stand Pat = Declining a draw in draw poker. IE sticking with your hand as it it

Stud = A popular variant of poker with no community cards

String Bet = Moving chips in more than one physical movement. Not allowed, as it can easily be used to gauge an opponent's reaction

STTs = Single Table Tournament

Stuck = Losing money (stuck at a table, trying to win it back) eg I'm stuck for $300

Suckout = Hitting an unlikely draw

TAG = Tight Aggressive (playing style)

Tilt = Making irrational decisions, often as a result of a bad loss.  eg 'My AA was beaten by JJ, and I went on tilt after that'

TLB = Tournament Leaderboard (usually meaning the one on PokerStars)

TPTK = Top Pair Top Kicker

Toke = A tip to the dealer by the pot winner

Trey = a three

Trips = 3 of a kind (2 of which are on the board)

Turbo = see Speed

Turn = The next card after the flop

UTG (Under the Gun) = Player to the left of the big blind

Upcard = Card face up on the table

Value Bet = A bet where you want a call. A small enough amount to ensure a call in order to get some extra chips when you have an excellent hand. Your opponent feels obliged to call, as there is too much value there not too.

Walk = When the cards are all folded around to you, and you pick up the blinds for free

WCOOP = World Championship of Online Poker - WCOOP

Wheel = A2345

WPT = World Poker Tour

WSOP = World Series of Poker

WSOPE = World Series of Poker Europe

WSOP Bracelet = A bracelet awarded to the winner of each event in the WSOP (not just the winner of the Main Event)

 

Nicknames of Hole Cards

AA = Bullets, Rockets, Pocket Rockets, American Airlines

KK = Cowboys

QQ = Ladies

88 = Snowmen

77 = Walking Sticks

55 = Speed Limit

33 = Crabs

22 = Ducks, Deuces

AK = Big Slick

A8 = Dead Mans Hand (usually AA88)

KQ = Marriage

KJ = Kojak

Q7 = Computer Hand

Q3 = San Francisco Bus Boy

T2 = Doyle Brunson