Learn to Play Poker     Learn Poker Hands

ACTION – A fold, check, call, bet, or raise. For certain situations, doing something formally connected with the game that conveys information about your hand may also be considered as having taken action. Examples would be showing your cards at the end of the hand, or indicating the number of cards you are taking at draw.

AGGRESSIVE ACTION – A wager that could enable a player to win a pot without a showdown; a bet or raise.

ALL-IN – When you have put all of your playable money and chips into the pot during the course of a hand, you are said to be all-in.

ANTE – A prescribed amount posted before the start of a hand by all players.

BET – (1) The act of making a wager before anyone else on a betting round. (2) The chips used by a player to bet, call, or raise.

BIG BLIND – The largest regular blind in a game.

BLIND – A required bet made before any cards are dealt.

BLIND GAME – A game which utilizes a blind.

BOARD – (1) The board on which a waiting list is kept for players wanting seats in specific games. (2) Cards faceup on the table common to each of the hands.

BOARDCARD – A community card in the center of the table, as in hold'em or Omaha .

BOXED CARD – A card that appears faceup in the deck where all other cards are facedown.

BROKEN GAME – A game no longer in action.

BURNCARD – After the initial round of cards is dealt, the first card off the deck in each round that is placed under a chip in the pot, for security purposes. To do so is to burn the card; the card itself is called the burncard.

BUTTON – A player who is in the designated dealer position. See dealer button.

BUTTON GAMES – Games in which a dealer button is used.

BUY-IN – The minimum amount of money required to enter any game.

CALIFORNIA LOWBALL – Ace-to-five lowball with a joker.

CARDS SPEAK – The face value of a hand in a showdown is the true value of the hand, regardless of a verbal announcement.

CAPPED – Describes the situation in limit poker in which the maximum number of raises on the betting round have been reached.

CHECK – To waive the right to initiate the betting in a round, but to retain the right to act if another player initiates the betting.

CHECK-RAISE – To waive the right to bet until a bet has been made by an opponent, and then to increase the bet by at least an equal amount when it is your turn to act.

COLLECTION – The fee charged in a game (taken either out of the pot or from each player).

COLLECTION DROP – A fee charged for each hand dealt.

COLOR CHANGE – A request to change the chips from one denomination to another.

COMMON CARD – A card dealt faceup to be used by all players at the showdown in the games of stud poker whenever there are insufficient cards left in the deck to deal each player a card.

COMMUNITY CARDS – The cards dealt faceup in the center of the table that can be used by all players to form their best hand in the games of hold'em and Omaha .

COMPLETE THE BET – To increase an all-in bet or forced bet to a full bet in limit poker.

CUT – To divide the deck into two sections in such a manner as to change the order of the cards.

CUT-CARD – Another term for the card used to shield the bottom of the deck.

DEAD CARD – A card that is not legally playable.

DEAD COLLECTION BLIND – A fee posted by the player having the dealer button, used in some games as an alternative method of seat rental.

DEAD HAND – A hand that is not legally playable.

DEAD MONEY – Chips that are taken into the center of the pot because they are not considered part of a particular player's bet.

DEAL – To give each player cards, or put cards on the board. As used in these rules, each deal refers to the entire process from the shuffling and dealing of cards until the pot is awarded to the winner.

DEALER BUTTON – A flat disk that indicates the player who would be in the dealing position for that hand (if there were not a house dealer). Normally just called “the button.”

DEAL OFF – To take all the blinds and the button before changing seats or leaving the table. That is, participate through all the blind positions and the dealer position.

DEAL TWICE – When there is no more betting, agreeing to have the rest of the cards to come determine only half the pot, removing those cards, and dealing again for the other half of the pot.

DECK – A set of playing-cards. In these games, the deck consists of either (1) 52 cards in seven-card stud, hold'em, and Omaha . (2) 53 cards (including the joker), often used in ace-to-five lowball and draw high.

DISCARD(S) – In a draw game, to throw cards out of your hand to make room for replacements, or the card(s) thrown away; the muck.

DOWNCARDS – Cards that are dealt facedown in a stud game.

DRAW – (1) The poker form where players are given the opportunity to replace cards in the hand. In some places like California , the word “draw” is used referring to draw high, and draw low is called “lowball.” (2) The act of replacing cards in the hand. (3) The point in the deal where replacing is done is called “the draw.”

FACECARD – A king, queen, or jack.

FIXED LIMIT – In limit poker, a betting structure where the bet size on each round is pre-set.

FLASHED CARD – A card that is partially exposed.

FLOORPERSON – A casino employee who seats players and makes decisions.

FLOP – In hold'em or Omaha , the three community cards that are turned simultaneously after the first round of betting is complete.

FLUSH – A poker hand consisting of five cards of the same suit.

FOLD – To throw a hand away and relinquish all interest in a pot.

FOURTH STREET  – The second upcard in seven-card stud or the first boardcard after the flop in holdem (also called the turn card).

FOULED HAND – A dead hand.

FORCED BET – A required wager to start the action on the first betting round (the normal way action begins in a stud game).

FREEROLL – A chance to win something at no risk or cost.

FULL BUY – A buy-in of at least the minimum amount of chips needed for a particular game.

FULL HOUSE – A hand consisting of three of a kind and a pair.

HAND – (1) All a player's personal cards. (2) The five cards determining the poker ranking. (3) A single poker deal.

HEADS-UP PLAY – Only two players involved in play.

HOLECARDS – The cards dealt facedown to a player.

INSURANCE – A side agreement when someone is all-in for a player in a pot to put up money that guarantees a payoff of a set amount in case the opponent wins the pot.

JOKER – The joker is a “partly wild card” in high draw poker and ace-to-five lowball. In high, it is used for aces, straights, and flushes. In lowball, it is the lowest unmatched rank in a hand.

KANSAS CITY LOWBALL – A form of draw poker low also known as deuce-to-seven, in which the best hand is 7-5-4-3-2 and straights and flushes count against you.

KICKER – The highest unpaired card that helps determine the value of a five-card poker hand.

KILL (OR KILL BLIND) – An oversize blind, usually twice the size of the big blind and doubling the limit. Sometimes a “half-kill” increasing the blind and limits by fifty percent is used. A kill can be either voluntary or mandatory. The most common requirements of a mandatory kill are for winning two pots in a row, or for scooping a pot in high-low split.

KILL BUTTON – A button used in a lowball game to indicate a player who has won two pots in a row and is required to kill the pot.

KILL POT – A pot with a forced kill by the winner of the two previous pots, or the winner of an entire pot of sufficient size in a high-low split game. (Some pots can be voluntarily killed.)

LEG UP – Being in a situation equivalent to having won the previous pot, and thus liable to have to kill the following pot if you win the current pot.

LIVE BLIND – A blind bet giving a player the option of raising if no one else has raised.

LIST – The ordered roster of players waiting for a game.

LOCK-UP – A chip marker that holds a seat for a player.

LOWBALL – A draw game where the lowest hand wins.

LOWCARD – At seven-card stud, the lowest upcard, which is required to bet.

MISCALL – An incorrect verbal declaration of the ranking of a hand.

MISDEAL – A mistake on the dealing of a hand which causes the cards to be reshuffled and a new hand to be dealt.

MISSED BLIND – A required bet that is not posted when it is your turn to do so.

MUCK – (1) The pile of discards gathered facedown in the center of the table by the dealer. (2) To discard a hand.

MUST-MOVE – In order to protect the main game, a situation where the players of a second game must move into the first game as openings occur.

NO-LIMIT – A betting structure allowing players to wager any or all of their chips in one bet.

OPENER – The player who made the first voluntary bet.

OPENER BUTTON – A button used to indicate who opened a particular pot in a draw game.

OPENERS – In jacks-or-better draw, the cards held by the player who opens the pot that show the hand qualifies to be opened. Example - You are first to bet and have a pair of kings; the kings are called your openers.

OPTION – The choice to raise a bet given to a player with a blind.

OVERBLIND – Also called oversize blind. A blind used in some pots that is bigger than the regular big blind, and usually increases the stakes proportionally.

PASS – (1) Decline to bet. In a pass-and-out game, this differs from a check, because a player who passes must fold. (2) Decline to call a wager, at which point you must discard your hand and have no further interest in the pot.

PAT – Not drawing any cards in a draw game.

PLAY BEHIND – Have chips in play that are not in front of you (allowed only when waiting for chips that are already purchased). This differs from table stakes.

PLAY THE BOARD – Using all five community cards for your hand in hold'em.

PLAY OVER – To play in a seat when the occupant is absent.

PLAYOVER BOX – A clear plastic box used to cover and protect the chips of an absent player when someone plays over that seat.

POSITION – (1) The relation of a player's seat to the blinds or the button. (2) The order of acting on a betting round or deal.

POT-LIMIT – The betting structure of a game in which you are allowed to bet up to the amount of the pot.

POTTING OUT – Agreeing with another player to take money out of a pot, often to buy food, cigarettes, or drinks, or to make side bets.

PROPOSITION BET – A side bet not related to the outcome of the hand.

PROTECTED HAND – A hand of cards that the player is physically holding, or has topped with a chip or some other object to prevent a fouled hand.

PUSH – When a new dealer replaces an existing dealer at a particular table.

PUSHING BETS – The situation in which two (or more) players make an agreement to return bets to each other when one of them wins a pot in which the other plays. Also called saving bets.

RACK – (1) A container in which chips are stored while being transported. (2) A tray in front of the dealer, used to hold chips and cards.

RAISE – To increase the amount of a previous wager. This increase must meet certain specifications, depending on the game, to reopen the betting and count toward a limit on the number of raises allowed.

RERAISE – To raise someone's raise.

SAVING BETS – Same as pushing bets.

SCOOP – To win the entire pot in a high-low split game by a wager or showdown.

SCRAMBLE – A facedown mixing of the cards.

SETUP – Two new decks, each with different colored backs, to replace the current decks.

SIDE POT – A separate pot formed when one or more players are all in.

SHORT BUY – A buy-in that is less than the required minimum buy-in.

SHOWDOWN – The showing of cards to determine the pot-winner after all the betting is over.

SHUFFLE – The act of mixing the cards before a hand.

SMALL BLIND – In a game with multiple blind bets, the smallest blind.

SPLIT POT – A pot that is divided among players, either because of a tie for the best hand or by agreement prior to the showdown.

SPLITTING BLINDS – When no one else has entered the pot, an agreement between the big blind and small blind to each take back their blind bets instead of playing the deal (chopping).

SPLITTING OPENERS – In high draw jacks-or-better poker, dividing openers in hopes of making a different type of hand (such as breaking aces to draw at a flush).

STACK – Chips in front of a player.

STRADDLE – An additional blind bet placed after the forced blinds, usually double the big blind in size or in lowball, a multiple blind game.

STRAIGHT – Five cards in consecutive rank.

STRAIGHT FLUSH – Five cards in consecutive rank of the same suit.

STREET – Cards dealt on a particular round in stud games. For instance, the fourth card in a player's hand is often known as fourth street , the sixth card as sixth street , and so on.

STRING RAISE – A wager made in more than one motion, without announcing a raise before going back to your stack for more chips (not allowed).

STUB – The portion of the deck which has not been dealt.

SUPERVISOR – A cardroom employee qualified to make rulings, such as a floorperson, shift supervisor, or the cardroom manager.

TABLE STAKES – (1) The amount of money you have on the table. This is the maximum amount that you can win or lose on a hand. (2) The requirement that players can wager only the money in front of them at the start of a hand, and can only buy more chips between hands.

TIME – An expression used to stop the action on a hand. Equivalent to “Hold it.”

TIME COLLECTION – A fee for a seat rental, paid in advance.

TURNCARD – The fourth street card in hold'em or Omaha .

UPCARDS – Cards that are dealt faceup for opponents to see in stud games.

WAGER – (1) To bet or raise. (2) The chips used for betting or raising.