Aces Up
Two pairs with one pair containing aces. Action
The betting. Also the opportunity to act. If a player seems not to
realize that it’s his turn, the dealer may say, “Your
action,sir.” Add-On
The opportunity some tournaments allow to buy additional chips. All-In
A player is considered to be ‘All-In’ when betting his
last remaining chips. In table stakes games, a player may no go into
his pocket for more money, during a hand. If a player runs out of
chips, a side pot is created in which he has no interest, though
he can still win the pot for which he had the chips. Ante
A bet required to begin a hand. BACK TO TOP Blind
A forced bet (or partial bet) put in by one, or more players before
any cards are dealt. Blinds are normally put in by players immediately
to the left of the button. Board
All the community cards in a Texas Hold'em game - the flop, turn,
and river cards together. Button
A disc used to identify the dealer. Call
To match the current bet. If there has been a bet of $10 and a raise
of $10 then it costs $20 to call. Calling is the cheapest (and also
the most passive) way to remain in a hand. Cardroom
The rooms in which poker is played, or the organizations who run
them. Most casinos offering poker have a separate room, or at least
a roped-off area, designated as the cardroom. Check
If there has been no betting before you in a betting round, you may
check, which is like calling a bet of $0, or passing your turn. BACK
TO TOP Exposed
Card
A card that has been inadvertently turned face up when it wasn't
supposed to be, (such as during the deal in a draw game). Fifth Street
The fifth card dealt. After this card comes the third round of betting
in 7-card Stud, (and the fourth round of betting in Texas Hold'em).
In Texas Hold'em, this card is also called the ‘river’ and
is the last community card dealt. Fixed Limit
Bets can only be made in specified increments. Flop
Games with five community cards - called flop games. Texas Hold'em
and Omaha are two popular flop games. The flop is the first three community
cards dealt. Flush
When all five cards in your hand are of the same suit, you have a flush.
The flush with the highest card not in common is best – thus,
AK873 spades is a better flush than AK872 hearts. A flush ranks between
a straight and a full house. Fold
Muck your cards, because someone else has made a larger bet than you
are willing to call. You cannot win the pot, but you don't lose any
more money. Forced Bet
A blind bet, or a bring-in. Full House
A strong hand that ranks between a flush and four-of-a-kind, consisting
of three cards of one rank and two cards of another. AAA77 is aces
full of sevens, often abbreviated to "aces full". BACK TO TOP Green
$25 chips. Hand
Everything that happens after the initial shuffling of the cards – the
deal, the betting, the showdown. Hand can also mean the five cards
you chose to play in a game with more than five cards. Heads-up
One-on-one poker. House
Everything that makes up the cardroom, including dealers, management,
etc. The house rakes money from the pot, and sets and enforces the
house rules. Jackpot
A lot of cardrooms offer jackpots for certain things, such as the
high hand of the hour. The rules vary from cardroom to cardroom. Kicker
The highest extra card in your hand that doesn't participate in
a straight or flush. The kicker does not contribute to the strength
of your hand except by itself. For example, if you hold KK953,
you have a pair of kings with a nine kicker. Five-card hands, such
as straights, flushes and full houses, have no kickers. In games
with community cards, kickers are especially important, because
it's easy for two players to make similar hands. For instance,
if you are holding A9 and someone else holds A8, and the flop is
AK642, you have your opponent out-kicked. Your hand is AAK96, while
theirs is AAK86. Kill
A game in which a player may place an extra bet, causing the betting
limits to go up for just that hand. The player posting the bet
is the ‘killer’ and the hand is considered a ‘kill
pot’. The player is said to have ‘killed the pot’ for
the amount of the kill. If one player wins two pots in a row in
a kill Texas Hold'em game, he is required to kill by posting a
blind small bet on the next hand, with the limits doubled for that
hand. BACK TO TOP Limit poker
A structured poker format with fixed limits on betting and raising
in each round. Limit poker games impose specific bet amounts,
as opposed to no-limit games in which you can bet as much as
you like. A $5-$10 Texas Hold'em game usually requires $5 bets
and raises on the first two rounds (pre-flop and post flop)
and $10 bets and raises on the last two rounds(after the turn
and river). In a $5-$10 game, the small blind is $2 and the
big blind is $5. Live Hand
A hand that has not been folded, or mucked; or a hand with many
outs remaining. Main Pot
The only pot an ‘all-in’ player is eligible to win.
The main pot consists of the ‘all-in’ player’s
bet plus all players’ calls of that bet. Additional bets,
placed in a side pot, are contested among the remaining players. Meet
Means the same as call. Middle Pair
If you pair one of your pocket cards to the second highest card
on the flop, you have middle pair. Muck
To throw your cards away, because you cannot, or did not win
the pot. Once mucked, they are ineligible to win the pot. BACK TO TOP No-Limit
A version of poker in which a player may bet any amount of chips
(up to the number in front of him), whenever it is his turn to
act. No-limit poker is very a different game to limit poker. Open
Make the first bet in a round. Open-Ended Straight Draw
A straight draw with four consecutive cards that can be completed on
either end. For example: 5/6/7/8, since a 4, or 9 will complete the
straight. Option
If no one raises the big blind, the player in that position has the
option to raise when their turn comes around. The dealer will normally
say something such as ‘your option’ to remind them. Over Button
A type of button that indicates you are willing to play at higher limits.
Anytime everyone left in the hand has an over button, the limits go
up. BACK TO TOP Pair
Two cards of the same value such as a (Ace of Hearts, Ace of Clubs) Pocket
Your first two down cards. Hold'em players usually call them pocket
cards; stud players call them hole cards. Position
Your place at the table, relative to the order of betting within
a betting round. The first few players to act are in early position,
the next few are in middle position and the last few are in late
position. The advantage of being in late position is that you will
know what your opponents in the early and middle positions have done.
In some games, the dealer, or the player on the dealer button, is
always in last position. If you have ‘position on someone’,
then they are on your right and you will always act after them. Position Bet
A bet made on the strength of one's position rather than on the strength
of one's hand. If no one opens, a player on the button in Texas Hold'em
is in good position to steal the pot, thanks to his position. Post
To put into the pot the required amount before the hand starts, such
as an ante or blind. Pot
The money gathered in the middle of the table from blinds, bets,
and raises. This money goes to the winner, or winners as the case
may be. If you have not yet folded, you are ‘in the pot’. Pot Limit
A poker structure (format) in which the maximum bet, or raise is
the size of the pot. For raises, the size of the pot includes the
call, so if the pot is $100 and player ‘A’ bets $100,
then player ‘B’ can throw $400 out for a maximum raise
(calling the $100 and then raising the size of the $300 pot). Pot Odds
A mathematical calculation helping you to decide whether, or not
a particular situation is worth a call. The Pot Odds is the ratio
of: the amount of money in the pot, to the amount of money it will
cost you to call a bet. The greater the pot odds, the more likely
it is that you should call. Pre-Flop
Before the flop, such as raising pre-flop. Protect
Induce folding, in order to prevent another player from outdrawing
you, is called protecting your hand. This is done by betting and
raising, so that someone on a draw will fold rather than call to
see if their cards come off. A ‘protectable’ hand is
almost always the best, but one that is vulnerable to being outdrawn.
It's easier to protect a hand in no-limit play, where you can potentially
make it as expensive as you like for someone to draw.
To protect your cards is to put a chip, or some other object on them,
so that the dealer doesn’t muck them. BACK TO TOP Raise
To increase the amount of the bet, after the betting has already been
opened in a round. For example: if the betting limit is $10 and player ‘A’ bets
$10, then player ‘B’ can fold, call the $10, or raise it
to $20. An inexperienced player will often say ‘bet’ when
he means raise, or ‘raise’ when he means bet. Rake
The house cut of each pot. Protocol and the amount of the rake varies
from cardroom to cardroom. Some rake the big blind and put the small
blind into a jackpot; some make a time charge; others take a percentage
of the pot as the rake. Rank
The numerical value of a card. Every card has a suit and a rank. The
three of spades and the three of hearts rank the same. A pair consists
of two cards of the same rank. Re-buy
If you run out of chips in a tournament, but wish to continue playing,
then you may be permitted a ‘re-buy’ – meaning: you
buy more chips. This is only legal in ‘re-buy’ tournaments
and you can ‘re-buy’ only up until a certain point. See:
Add-On. Redraw
After your initial draw, picking up another draw. For example, if you
hold 8h3h and the flop comes Th9h2s, you have a flush draw. If the
turn is the 7h, you have made your flush and picked up a straight flush
redraw. Re-raise
A second raise, after the initial raise in a round. This occurs when
a player raises, after a raise by another player. River
The fifth and final community card dealt in flop games, or the last
card dealt in non-flop games - also called Fifth Street in Texas Hold'em. Round
A betting round begins after a card, or several cards are dealt. Each
player is given a chance to act and the round ends when everyone has
either folded to, or called the last bet or raise. Each round of betting
is followed by further dealing, or by the showdown. In Texas Hold'em,
there are four betting rounds (pre-flop, post flop, after the turn
and after the river). A round of hands is one full rotation around
the table, with each player holding the dealer button once, (or being
the dealer, if no pitcher were present). Royal Flush
This is the highest ranked hand – consisting Ace, King, Queen,
Jack, and 10 of the same suit. BACK TO TOP Scare Card
A high card which, when revealed on a turn, creates the possibility
for a better hand. In Texas Hold'em, a third suited card on the river
is a scare card, because it makes a flush possible. If you're confident
your opponent paired a king on the flop, an ace on the turn is a
scare card, because it makes possible a pair of aces beating that
pair of kings. Scare cards can often make it difficult for the best
hand to bet, while offering the an opportunity for bluffing. 7-Card Stud
A popular game in which each player is dealt seven cards of their
own: two down, then four up, and a final card down. There is a round
of betting after the first up-card and after each subsequent card
dealt. 7-Card Stud is mosty played with a small ante and a forced
bring-in on Third Street. In limit games, the bet size usually increases
on Fifth Street. Showdown
The showdown comes at the end of a hand, to determine the winner, if
there is more than one player left. You can either show your cards,
or, if you’re not a winner, you can usually muck them. Shuffle
The mixing of the cards by the dealer, before each hand, so that the
cards occur randomly. Sit In
To join in a game which has already started. Split Pot
In a game that isn't high-low split, a tie between at least two players.
This happens when players show the same hand. This is common in Texas
Hold'em for straights especially when two players are playing the board.
In a high-low split game, almost every hand results in a split pot. Spread Limit BACK TO TOP
A structure in which betting limits have a fixed minimum and maximum
for each betting round. Any amount within these limits may be bet. Starting Hand
The two pocket cards in Texas Hold'em, or the first three cards in
7-Card stud. Straddle
Raising before looking at your pocket cards when you are under the
gun. There is no sound reason for doing this, other than trying to
liven up a tight table, or for advertising value. Straight
Five cards of any suit in consecutive order. An ace can rank high or
low - the high straight wins the tie. Straight Flush
A hand consisting of five cards of consecutive ranks all of the same
suit, aces being high or low. Structure
The rules of a particular game regarding betting, including antes,
blinds, and the amount that may be bet on any round. In card rooms,
games are typically posted along with shorthand for the limits. For
example, Texas Hold'em is usually a fixed limit game, played with $5
bets and raises pre-flop and on the flop, and $10 bets and raises on
the turn and the river. Games with more complicated structures sometimes
spell it out like this: 5-10-10-15. In connection with tournaments,
structure can also mean anything having to do with the amount of money
in tournament chips players can get, the re-buy and add-on rules, and
the way in which the blinds increase. Stud
Refers to stud games in general, however, usually short for seven card
stud. Stud games are contrasted with flop games and draw games. Stud Poker
A form of poker with cards dealt to each person, some face down and
some face up. BACK TO TOP Table Stakes
Table stakes is a rule that states a player may only wager money they
have on the table at the beginning of a hand, in other words, they
can't put their car keys down as a bet. It also implies that money
may not be removed from the table at any time, although money may be
added to one's stacks between hands. Tell
A gesture or signal unintentionally made by a player that gives other
players information about that player's hand. For example, a player
whose face twitches when he is bluffing. Texas Hold'em
Often shortened to Hold'em, and widely considered to be the grandfather
of poker, it is a flop game in which each player gets two pocket cards,
while five community cards are dealt face-up on the table. The strength
of a player's hand is the best five-card hand that can be made with
these seven cards. There are four rounds of betting: after the pocket
cards are dealt, after the first three community cards (the flop),
after the fourth, or turn card, and after the final, or river card. Three of a Kind
Three cards of the same rank, or value. Top Pair
If you have a pair with one of your pocket cards and the highest card
on the board, you have top pair. Tournament
In a poker tournament, each player sits down with the same number of
chips, and eventually only one player has any chips left. That is the
basic idea behind a tournament. Each card room runs tournaments differently.
Tournaments are usually played with chips that have no value outside
of the tournament. So a buy-in of $30 might get you $500 in tournament
chips to play with, but you can't cash them out in the middle. The
winner of a tournament (the last player to bust out) as well as several
of the other top finishers are typically awarded prize money according
to some predetermined schedule. Two Pair
A hand consisting of two pairs of cards. BACK TO TOP Wager
A bet. Wait for the Blind
Instead of coming in the middle of a rotation, some clubs do not allow
a new player to be dealt in until it is his turn to put in the blind.
This prevents him from getting ‘free’" hands. Some
clubs allow the player to join the hand, if he immediately puts up
the blind. White
White is the colour for $1 chips, in most casinos. Wild Card
Games that use a wild card are called wild card games. A wild card
is a card that can serve as any other card in making your hand. Winning hand
The hand that takes all the chips in the pot, because it is the best
hand in the showdown.
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