ABC PLAYER: An ABC player is a player who is very predictable. This player generally reads a poker book or two and follows them to the word. They always play hands the same way and are generally pretty tight. These types of players are often winners at lower stakes and loose games but are easily crushed by advanced players.
See also: nit.

ACE HIGH: A hand with no pairs and an Ace high card. This hand beats all other hands with no high cards, and is a possible winner in a heads-up or very short game.

ACE RAG: Ace with a weak kicker.

ACTION: Betting, raising, and calling. A game with a lot of action is a game in which a lot of money is changing hands. These are good games to seek, because the more money moves, the more opportunity you have to win money.

ADVERTISE: When a player advertises, he plays in a different fashion from his usual strategy in order to confuse his opponents. A player will generally alter their strategy so that they play more loose and are more apt to be paid off by their opponents when they hold a strong hand.

Example: He is normally is not a loose player, he is just advertising by showing down those bad hands.

AGGRESSIVE: A player who bets and raises a lot when he has a good hand.

ALL-IN: To bet all your chips, or to call with all your chips. If another player bets more chips than you have in a No Limit game, you can go all-in and stake your total stack against an equivalent amount of your opponent’s stack.

ANTE: A small amount of chips placed into the pot before each hand. This acts as a “tax” for playing hands and is usually used in Stud games, whereas Hold’em games usually have blinds.

Axs: Axs is a poker abbreviation for Ace-X suited. It means to hold an ace and a low card of the same suit. The other card is generally 9 or below. For example, a hand of A6 of clubs would fall into the category of Axs.

BAD BEAT: A bad beat is a loss in which the losing player had the better odds on the winning player earlier in the hand. In general, the term is used when all the chips go in the pot when the losing player had odds. To take a bad beat means to be on the losing end of a bad beat; to lay a bad beat means to be on the winning end of a bad beat.

BB: Short for big blind or big bet.

BELLY BUSTER: An inside straight draw. Also a synonym for gut-shot.

BET: To put chips into the pot. Other players must either Call your bet, Raise you, or Fold.

BET THE POT: Also known as: Pot-Sized Bet.
To bet an amount of chips approximately equal to the amount of chips in the pot. In Pot Limit games, this is the maximum bet; however, the pot size in Pot-Limit games is calculated in an unintuitive way: All the money in the pot, plus (if you have been raised) the amount you would bet if you reraised.

BIG BET: The larger bet in a fixed-limit game. For example, in a $10-$20 game, the $10 bet is the small bet and the $20 bet is the big bet.

BIG BLIND: The larger of the two forced bets preflop. The person in second position posts the big blind, which is equivalent to a small bet.

BLANK: A card that means nothing to anyone’s hand. For example, in a hold’em game if the board is: As Ks Jd 8h, if a 3c came on the river, the 3c is considered a blank considered a blank.

BLINDS: These are the forced bets that take the place of an ante. The person to the left of the dealer must pay the small blind and the person after him must pay the big blind.

BLUFF: To bluff means to make a bet that you hope is not called by your opponents. The aim of a bluff is to win a pot because everyone else folds.

BOARD CARDS: The cards in the middle of the table that are shared by everyone.

BOTTOM PAIR: Also known as third pair. A pair consisting of the lowest card on the flop and one of your hole cards.

BRICK AND MORTAR: This refers to a land-based casino such as the ones on the Vegas strip.

BROADWAY: Broadway means a straight from ten to ace. This is the best possible straight.

BURN: To place a card down prior to dealing the flop, turn and river.

BUTTON: At most casinos, the players themselves do not deal the cards. Therefore, a button is used to indicate who is in the dealer’s seat. Except in the preflop round, the player who is on the button acts last in a round of betting.

CALL: To place an amount of chips in the pot equal to the previous bet. It is necessary to at least call a bet to stay in the game; the other options are to raise or fold.

CALLING STATION: Also known as: Loose-Passive, Policeman.
Type of player who will call a lot. They do not think about other people’s hands, but rather just want to see if their hand will win. They do not bluff much and are not aggressive; they just call a lot.

CAP: In Limit, to make the maximum amount of raises allowed in a betting round. A common cap seen in internet games is 4 bets (3 raises) per round (in other words, one bet and three raises). Casinos often have 5 bets (4 raises) per round.

CASE: The case (x) refers to the last card available of that rank in the deck. For example, if I hold pocket tens and the board is TAA4 and a ten comes on the river, that final card is considered the case ten.

CASH GAME: Also known as a ring game. This is the typical, non-tournament poker game where players buy-in and cash out as they please.

CHASE: Also known as draw. To call in the hopes of hitting a draw. This word often notes that someone is a calling station and will call even with bad odds.

CHECK: To not put any chips into the pot, to decline to bet. If it is your turn to act, and there is no bet to you, you may check instead of betting. However, if there is a bet to you, then you must call, raise, or fold.

CHECK-RAISE: To check with the intention of raising your opponent’s bet. This is a technique used to get more money into the pot (two bets instead of one), and is more effective at Limit Poker than at No Limit

CHOP: A chop essentially means to split the pot. It can be used in two situations:

1. If everyone folds to the blinds, the blinds may elect to have the blind money returned to them and proceed to the next hand.

2. A chop can refer to just splitting the pot between the players. Either the players hands are tied or the players agree to simply split the pot in half instead of seeing whose hand wins (this occurs rarely and only if the pot is very large and the players hands are of almost equivalent value).

COLD CALL: This means to call a bet and a raise. An example would be if it is preflop and you are in late position, a person in earlier position raises the blinds and you call two bets flat.

COLD CARDS: A player who is receiving cold cards is usually an experienced rounder who is having bad luck due to a long running string of bad cards. A similar example is a writer who is experiencing “writers block”.

COLLUSION: Collusion is a form of cheating. Players will work in a team to try to gain an advantage over the other players. They will somehow signal to each other what their cards are. They will then use this information to gain an unfair advantage. Collusion is illegal. It is sometimes hard for brick and mortar cardrooms to detect colluders, but online poker rooms can track potential colluders becasue they can review hand histories.

COMMUNITY CARDS: Also known as: Board Cards.

CONNECTED: When your hole cards are consecutive, (89, 45, etc. When someone is suited and connected they are holding consecutive cards of the same suit, (QsJs, 2d3d)

COUNTERFEIT: Sometimes a card will come on the board that will hurt your hand because it makes previously valuable cards in your hand communal property. For example, suppose you hold A9 in a game of Texas Hold’em. The board is 5678. You hold a straight to the 9! However, if the final card on the river comes a 9, your hand is counterfeited. Now, everyone has a straight to the nine. Being counterfeited occurs a lot in Omaha Hi-Lo. Many times people’s lows are counterfeited by the board. Suppose you hold AAK2. The board is 367Q. You hold the nut low (A2367). However, if the river comes a 2, you no longer hold the nut low. Your low is A2367 still. However, someone with A4 in their hand will have you beat with a low of A2346.

CUTOFF (CO): The seat in front of the button, i.e., the last player to act before the button does.

DEAD MONEY: An inexperienced player who has virtually no shot at winning a tournament. Their chips are said to be “dead money.”

DOMINATED: In Hold’em, a hand that is similar to another hand but has a lower kicker. For example, AQ dominates A8 because even if an ace come, AQ still has a better hand. To win, the person with A8 would need to hit an 8 without the other player hitting a queen or would need to hit a weird straight or flush. Someone whose hand is dominated has few outs and thus little chance to win.

DOUBLE UP: To double the size of your chip stack on a single hand. (This is typically done by going All In against another player and winning the hand.)

DRAW: Drawing means hoping to improve your hand with the cards that will come on the board. You are on a draw when you want other cards to come out on the board to complete your hand. If you have 10 9 and the flop is QJ2, you are trying to draw an eight or a king on the turn or river.

DRAWING DEAD: Drawing to a hand that will lose even if you hit your draw. For example, if you have a flush draw but your opponent already has a full house, you are drawing dead.

EARLY POSITION (EP): These are the people in the small blind, big blind, and under the gun positions. These players have to act earlier during betting rounds after the flop.

EXPECTED VALUE (EV): This is a mathematical term that is highly relevent to poker. It is how much you expect to win or lose on an action in the long run.

For example, suppose you have a 50% chance of winning a $12 pot. Sometimes you will win $12 and sometimes you will win $0. However, your expected value is $6.

The way you calculate expected value is (percentage chance of winning * pot size).

For more information, please read this article: http://www.pokertips.org/strategy/expected-value.php

Expected value is central to the concept of pot equity

FAMILY POT: Also known as: Multi-way Pot.
When more than three players are contending for a pot, the pot is often considered a family pot. These pots often occur when there are many fish at the table, and the game is very loose.

FIFTH STREET: Also known as the river.

FISH: A fish is a bad player, who often loses a lot of money.

FIXED-LIMIT: Fixed-Limit is another way to say Limit Poker. There are set bets. For example, in a $3-$6 game, the bets and raises preflop and on the flop are $3 each, and the bets and raises on the river are $6 each.

FLOP: The first three board cards in Holdem.

FLUSH: A poker hand consisting of 5 cards of the same suit.

FOLD: To not match the bet in the pot and to thus forfeit the hand. The player throws the hand into the muck and is out of the hand. You should fold when you think you will lose the hand.

FOUR OF A KIND: A poker hand consisting of four cards of the same rank and one other card.

FOURTH STREET: Also known as the turn

FREE CARD: A free card refers to seeing the turn or river card without having to make/call a bet.

Example: Suppose you have a T9 of spades, and you are on the button. The flop is AK4; the ace and king are of spades. It is checked to you, and you check as well. The turn comes. The turn card is a free card; you did not have to call a bet to see if you would complete your flush draw on the turn.

FREEROLL: Most often, a freeroll refers to a touranment with no entry free. These sorts of tournaments are generally promotions run by poker rooms to attract customers. For example, a $5000 freeroll means that the poker room is putting up $5000 in prize money for a tournament, and there is no entry fee into the tournament.

A freeroll can also be used in reference to a poker game. It occurs when two players with the same hand are against each other. However, one player will have a draw to a stronger hand, and the other player will not. For example, suppose Joe has QJ of spades and Bob has QJ of diamonds. The board is AKT, with the ace and king of spades, and the ten of clubs. This means both Joe and Bob have a straight. However, Joe also has a draw to a flush. This means that either Joe and Bob will tie for the pot or Joe will win. In this case, Joe is considered to have a freeroll.

FULL HOUSE: A poker hand consisting of a three-of-a-kind and a pair.

GAP CONCEPT: The gap concept is a term coined by David Sklansky. It is a tournament strategy concept relating to the idea that it takes a stronger hand to call a raise preflop than to make the original raise. In essence, there is a “gap” between the hands that can make a raise and hands that can call a raise.

In a tournament, stealing the blinds holds a lot of value. Thus, one can be fairly liberal with raising the pot pre-flop in order to make a steal. However, to call a bet requires a much better hand because you can not win the hand preflop uncontested.

GRINDER: A grinder is the same as a rounder. These tend to be semi-professional players that make most of their money playing poker, though they do not make much money. A grinder plays in a similar fashion as a rock. Often, these players can beat lower and mid-stakes games but can not beat or make much money at the higher stakes games.

GUTSHOT: An inside straight draw. An example of a gutshot (also known as belly buster) is to have 89JQ, aiming to hit a ten.

HEADS UP: Heads Up refers to when there are only two people in the pot. Example, a one versus one game is a heads up match. Another example of “heads up” is if one person raises preflop and only one person calls. The pot is “heads up” at the flop because there are only two people competing for the pot.

HOURLY RATE: Hourly rate refers to how much one wins or losses per hour. For example, suppose someone lost $100 playing poker over 20 hours of play. That person’s hourly rate is -$5.

People also refer to hourly rate in terms of BB/hour. For example, if that person who lost $100 was playing $1-$2 limit, this means he or she lost 50 big blinds over 20 hours. Thus that person’s hourly rate could also be measured as -2.5 big bets an hour.

Please note, that for no-limit games, BB/hour generally refers to big blinds per hour.

IDIOT END: Also known as the Bad End or Ignorant End. This refers to drawing to the lower end of a straight. For example, if you hold a 45 and the flop is 679, you are drawing to a very low straight. If you hit an 8, someone with even just a ten will beat you. Often, fish lose a lot more money than they should when they draw to the idiot end of a straight.

IMPLIED ODDS: The same as pot odds except it takes into account making bets in the future. Thus, you may call a bet at the flop, but have implied odds of making bigger bets on later rounds if you hit your draw. So, if you have AK of diamonds and the flop comes two diamonds, your implied odds are what you have to call at the flop compared to how large the pot will be at the end of the hand.

KICKER: A kicker is the highest card that is unrelated to the type of poker hand one has. For example, someone with the hand AKKQ54 has a pair of kings with an ace kicker.

Kickers are used to break ties. For example, if someone else had KKJ65, that person would have a pair of kings with jack kicker. The person with a pair of kings with ace kicker would beat the person with a jack kicker.

If two people have the same type of hand with the same type of kicker, the next highest kicker is used. For example, in a matchup between AKKJ5 versus AKKJ4, the person with AKKJ5 would win.

Kickers are also used to determine who wins if both players hold a flush or straight. The highest ranking card of the flush or straight is considered the kicker. For example, if I hold AKT75 of clubs and John holds K8764 of spades, I would win because my flush is to the ace and his is only to the king. Again, if two people have the same highest kicker, the next highest kicker is used until the tie is broken. If two players hold the a flush with all the same kickers, then the pot is split between the two players.

LATE POSITION (LP): These are players that act later in betting rounds. For example, the button and the player in the cutoff position are in late position.

LIMIT POKER: Poker with fixed bets. In a $2-4 limit game, all bets and raises are two dollars in the first two rounds (preflop and flop), and all bets and raises are four dollars in the last two rounds (turn and river).

LIMP IN To only call the big blind.

LIMP RAISE: To make a small raise preflop. Usually used when you have a very strong hand like AA and wish to provoke a reraise.

LIVE ONE: A fish who will call and raise a lot. A live one is a bad player who is either a calling station or a maniac. They play almost all of their hands and enjoy seeing showdowns.

LOOSE: Someone who plays a lot of hands. How many hands makes a loose player depends on the looseness of his opponents and the number of players sitting at the table. Playing more than 25% of hands in a full ring game is generally loose.

MANIAC: Nickname for a player who is aggressive beyond reason. This type of player plays a lot of hand, raises frequently, and often bluffs.

MIDDLE POSITION (MP): These are players that tend to act during the middle of a betting round. For example, in a field of 9 players, the players in the 4-6 position are players in middle position.

MUCK: 1. (n.) The area on the table where all of the dead cards are placed. Any hand that was folded and all burned cards are placed in the muck.

2. (v.) To throw your hand away into the muck. This term is often used when another hand is shown at the showdown that beats your hand. It can also mean to fold one’s hand.

NIT: Also known as a rock. A nit is a tight-passive player that avoids confrontations. Typically, the term nit is used when this type of passive player plays in a pot-limit or no-limit game. Nits tend to avoid big pots and do not like to gamble.

NO LIMIT (NL): A betting structure in which there is no maximum bet. Players may bet as much as they want at any time.

NUTS: The best possible hand that is a guaranteed winner.

OFFSUIT: Also known as unsuited. A Hold’em starting hand with two cards of different suits. These hands are weaker than suited hands because of fewer flush possibilities. Offsuit hands are sometimes denoted by an ‘o’; for example, 64o is pronounced “six-four offsuit” and refers to a hand with a six and a four of different suits.

OPEN-ENDED: A 4-card straight draw that can be completed at either end (such as a 6-7-8-9). As opposed to an inside straight draw (such as 6-7-9-10).

OUTS: Cards that can improve your hand. If the flop is QJ2 and you have 10 9, you want a king or an eight to complete your straight. There are 4 kings and 4 eights in the deck, so you have 8 total outs.

OVERBET THE POT: In a No Limit game, to make a bet that is larger than the size of the pot.

OVERPAIR: An overpair is a pocket pair that is higher than any card on the board. For example, if you hold pocket kings and the flop is Q97, you hold an overpair.

PAIR: A pair is two cards of the same rank. For example, holding the hand AAK54 would be referred to as holding a pair of aces.

PASSIVE: Someone who does not bet and raise a lot.

PLAYING THE BOARD: In hold’em, player uses only the cards on the board and none of his/her hole cards.

POCKET PAIR: In Hold’em, having two hole cards of the same rank. In other words, having a pair face down.

POT EQUITY: Pot equity is your expected value from the pot. Suppose you have a 20% chance to win the pot. There is $100 in the pot. Thus, your pot equity is $20 (.20 *100).

POT LIMIT: A betting structure in which the maximum size bet is the size of the pot. However, the pot size is calculated in an unintuitive way: All the money in the pot, plus (if you have been raised) the amount you would bet if you reraised.

POT ODDS: This is the odds you are getting when you are drawing, without considering future bets. Basically, if you are drawing to hit your hand, you want to make sure there is enough money in the pot to justify drawing. The way you do this is you calculate your expected value of hitting your hand, which is called pot odds.

The simple mathematical formula for pot odds is:

(pot + bet) * (chance of hitting) >= bet

For example, say you have a flush draw of diamonds. You are fairly certain you will win if you hit the flush but will lose otherwise. Thus, there are 9 other diamonds out there (13 - your two, - two on board), so you have a roughly 19% chance of hitting a flush on the next card. If the pot is 90, and the bet is 10, you have odds with your flush draw.

(90 +10) *.19= 19
19>10, so you should call

However, lets say the pot is 10, you’re at the turn (one card left) and your opponent bets 40. So the pot is 50 (including his bet) and the bet is 40 to you.

(50 + 40) *.19= 17.1
17.1 < 40, so you should fold.

For more help with pot odds, feel free to use our pot odds calculator: http://simulator.pokertips.org/odds.php

PREFLOP: The stage of a hold’em game when you have two cards in your hand and there are no cards on the board yet.

RABBIT HUNT: When a player wins a pot without a showdown, some players want to know if they would have won had they stayed in the hand longer. To “rabit hunt” means to ask the dealer to expose what cards would have come if the player decided to play his hand. Generally, these players want to see if they would have hit their straight, flush,etc. Rabbit hunting is frowned upon when playing poker.

RAGS: Useless cards or cards that don’t improve your hand. Generally these are cards whose ranks are between 2-9.

RAINBOW: This describes a board that is comprised entirely of different suits. For example, a flop of Ace of clubs, King of hearts, and 5 of diamonds could be described as AK5 rainbow.

RAISE: To make a bet larger than the previous bet, thus forcing the original bettor to call the difference or fold.

RAKE: This is the fee the poker rooms charge players. Most often, it is a percentage of the pot. For example, many poker rooms will take 5% of the pot up to $3 as a fee for hosting the game. Many times, brick and mortar casinos will simply charge players a set fee per half hour in replace of the rake. When considering a poker game to play, keep in mind how much the rake will cost you. Often, the rake may be so high in relation to the limit played that it is impossible to win money at the game in the long run.

RAM-AND-JAM: To bet, raise, and re-raise aggressively.

RE-DRAW: This term is used to describe when a player who has a made hand is drawn out by another player. Then, on the river, the original player with the made hand draws another card to beat the person who drew out on him on the turn.

Example: Joe’s starting hand is Qs Qd and Bethany’s starting hand is Ah 4h. The flop is Qh Jh 3s.

Joe has a set of queens and Bethany has a flush draw.

Suppose the turn is a 6h. Bethany now is beating Joe with her flush.

If the river comes a 3d, then Joe will hit a full house. Joe will have hit a re-draw.

RING GAME: Also known as a Cash Game. A ring game is a non-tournament poker game. This is the typical type of poker game where players buy-in and cash-out whenever they wish.

The chips used at the table represent money. Thus, if a player buys in for $10 worth of chips and cashes out $50 worth of chips, he or she makes a profit of $40.

In contrast, a tournament game rewards players based on their final rank in the tournament. For example, if 10 people buy in for $10, then there will be $100 in the prize pool. Players would then receive a set amount of chips. These chips can not be cashed out for money; they are used solely for play in the tournament. Play would continue until one person possesed all of the chips.

A typical tournament would then award $50 to first place (person who possessed all of the chips a the end of the tournament), $30 to second place (person who was eliminated last), and $20 to third place (person eliminated just before second place finisher), with fourth and lower receiving nothing.

RIVER: This is the fifth and final card that comes on the board in Holdem, after the turn.

ROCK: This is a nickname for a type of player who will fold a lot and only raise the most premium hands. They fold most of their losers, but will not aggressively bet their winners.

ROI: ROI is short for “return on investment.” This is a poker term that is used to measure the profitability of one’s play in poker tournaments.

ROI is calculated as (100 * total profit/total buy-in). Thus, if one received a prize of $150 in a tournament with a buy-in of $100+$9, one’s ROI is calculated as 100 * $41/$109= 37.61%. ROI is used for tournaments though because tournaments always have a fixed buy-in in relation to the prize pool. ROI is not useful for ring game play. Some people keep track of their ROI for ring games based on their buy-in and how much they cash out. This is silly. Hourly rate is the measuring stick for ring game play.

For example, if one wins $10 at $.50-$1 limit over 5 hours, that person’s hourly rate is $2/hour. It will not matter if that person buys in for $100 at that game or $1 million, he or she made $2/hour.

However, that person’s ROI drastically changes. At a buy-in of $100, that person’s ROI is 10%. At a buy-in of a million, that person’s ROI is .001%.

RUNNER: This means a card that was drawn to help someone’s hand. It is generally used in conjunction with the hand the person improved to. For example, if someone hits two cards to make a flush (i.e. improves on the turn and river), then the person is said to hit runner, runner flush.

SANDBAGGING: Sandbagging is another term for slowplaying. It means to either check or bet weakly when you have a strong hand.

Sandbagging also can be a synonym for check-raising.

SCARE CARD: A scare card is a card placed on the board that has the potential to significantly improve someone’s hand. For example, if the board is Ah Kh 5d, a Th would be a scare card. That ten would complete both a flush draw or a straight draw.

Scare cards often present excellent bluffing opportunities for players.

SEMI-BLUFF: A semi-bluff is when a player makes a bet with a hand that is currently weak but has the potential to become a very strong hand. A common example is when someone has a flush draw and makes a bet into the pot. The bettor hopes that the other players will fold, and he wil win the pot right there. However, even if the other players do not fold, he still has a good chance at improving and winning the pot anyway.

SET: Also known as: Trips, Thee of a Kind.
A set means a three of a kind. Generally, people refer to a set when someone has a three of a kind because they have a pocket pair, with a board matching that rank of the pocket pair in hold’em. For example, if I hold 77 and the flop comes J76, I flopped a set of sevens.

SHORTHANDED: This refers to a poker game with six or fewer people.

SHOWDOWN: When two or more players play through the river to determine the winning hand.

After the river betting round, players show their hands to each other to determine the winner. This is called the showdown.

SIDEPOT: In a multi-way pot, a sidepot is created for other players if one player goes all-in. These other players bets and raises will go to the sidepot, and only the players that participated in the sidepot are eligible to win it.

SIT AND GO (SNG): Sit and Go is a type of tournament. This means that there is a pre-selected amount of player spots available. Once enough people have registered to fill these spots, the tournament begins.

Most often, a sit and go tournament is a single-table tournament. This means that once ten people register for the tournament, the tournament commences. Sit and go tournaments are very popular online, but they are somewhat rare in brick and mortar casinos.

SLOW ROLLING: Having the winning hand (often a massive hand) and taking a long time to show the hand when asked to declare. Considered bad etiquette.

SLOWPLAY: Slowplaying is a deceptive move. It is the opposite of bluffing. It means to check or bet weakly when one holds a strong hand. The point of the slowplay is so the competition builds a hand that will become the second best hand. Then, when the competition builds this hand, one will jam the pot with bets.

For example, suppose you hold 99 and the flop comes 994. You flopped quads! However, there is little chance you would be called at this point. A good idea is to slowplay and wait for the turn or river cards to come before you start firing. Then you can bet strongly because hopefully the competition will have some sort of hand that merits them calling you down.

SMALL BET (SB): The smaller bet in a fixed-limit game. In a $10-$20 hold’em game, the $10 bet is the small bet. The small bet is used during the pre-flop and flop rounds, and the big bet is used on the turn and river betting rounds.

SMALL BLIND (SB): The smaller of the two forced bets preflop. The person in first position posts the small blind, which is equivalent to half of a small bet.

SNAP: To break a better hand, similar to sucking out. For example, someone holding 2-7 offsuit can snap AA if the board comes out AK222.

STACK: Stack can be a noun or a verb.

(n) The amount of chips you have in front of you. The stack is how much money you have in a poker game.

(v) To take all the chips in front of your opponent. “I stacked him with my set of 3s when he couldnt getaway from his Aces.”

STRADDLE: A straddle is a blind bet made by the person under the gun. A straddle bet is equivalent to two big blinds. The person who posts the straddle gets to bet last in the preflop round. A straddle is very ill-advised in a limit game because you are unnecessarily posting a large blind bet out of position. Straddles are more common for games such as pot limit Omaha, where the straddle acts to increase the stakes of the game.

STRAIGHT: A poker hand consisting of 5 cards whose ranks form a sequence. The highest possible straight is AKQJT (Broadway) and the lowest straight is 54321 (the wheel).

STRAIGHT FLUSH: A poker hand consisting of 5 cards of the same suit whose ranks form a sequence. Thus, a straight flush is both a Straight and a Flush. The highest possible straight flush is AKQJT of the same suit (also called the Royal Flush). The lowest possible straight flush is 5432A of the same suit.

STRING BET: In a live game, someone does a string bet if they act like they are going to call but then make a raise. For example, it is standard etiquette that putting the requisite chips for a call into the pot just means a call. If one wants to raise, he or she needs to announce raise before placing chips into the pot. They cannot say ‘I call your bet…and raise you ‘x.’ They must say “I raise.” String bets confuse players as to whether the player is calling or raising, so they are not allowed.

SUCKOUT: It means someone hit a draw against you to win the hand, typically against the pot adds being laid.

SUITED: Referring to a Hold’em starting hand with two cards of the same suit. Suited hands are better than unsuited hands because of flush possibilities. A suited hand is sometimes denoted by an ’s’; for example, 98s is pronounced “Nine-eight suited” and refers to a 9 and an 8 of the same suit.

SUITED CONNECTOR: Two hole cards of the same suit that are consecutive in rank. e.g. 9 and 8 of clubs.

SUITED ONE-GAPPER: Two whole cards of the same suit that are one-off from consecutive in rank. E.g. 10 and 8 of clubs.

TABLE STAKES: All poker games are played table stakes. This means one can only bet what one has in front of him on the table on any given hand. Players cannot reach into their pockets and add to their bets. If a player runs out of chips in front of him in the middle of a hand, he or she is considered all-in.

TAPPING THE AQUARIUM: To tell a poor player what he’s doing wrong, i.e., waking up a [fish]. Also referred to as “tapping the glass”.

THREE BET: To “three bet” means to make the third bet in limit hold’em. For example, if person A bets, Person B raises, Person C re-raises, Person C would have three bet.

It does not matter who makes the third bet. If this hand was Person A bets, Person B raises, Person A re-raises, then Person A would have three bet.

THREE OF A KIND: Also known as trips. A poker hand consisting of three cards of the same rank, and two unpaired cards.

TIGHT: Someone who does not play many hands. The opposite of loose.

TILT: A player goes on tilt when his or her emotions take over. A player on tilt no longer plays rationally and instead plays like a maniac. Often, the player just suffered a bad beat and is very upset. A player on tilt often loses a lot of money, so going on tilt needs to be avoided. However, even the best players can go on tilt at times.

TIME POT: This is a form of rake. For poker rooms that charge players a fee per half-hour or hour, they will allow the players to have that money taken out of two or three pots. Since the ‘time’ money is taken out of these pots, they are called time pots. These are pots that exceed a certain threshold (they are typically $200 or more).

TOKE: A toke is a tip to the dealer after a player wins a pot. Generally, players toke the dealer $1 for every pot they win. Dealers at brick and mortar casinos make the majority of their income off of these tips.

TRIPS: Also known as three of a kind. Trips means three of a kind, holding three cards of the same rank.

TURN: This is the fourth board card that comes out in holdem, the card after the flop.

TWO PAIR: Two pair is exactly as it sounds- holding two pairs. Please note that it is impossible to hold a “three pair.” Poker hands only consist of five cards. Even if one is playing a poker game where more than five cards are in consideration (such as Texas hold’em or 7 card stud), you only use your best 5 card poker hand.

UNDER THE GUN (UTG): The position to the left of the big blind which acts first before board cards are dealt.

UNDERPAIR: An underpair is a pocket pair that is smaller than any card on the board. For example, if you hold pocket fours and the board is 89Q, you hold an underpair.

WIRED PAIR: A Pair in your starting hand.