Poker glossary
Plain-language definitions for the words you meet at a Texas Hold’em table, from blinds and position to equity, blockers and tournament formats.
197 terms · grouped by topic · every term has a direct link
How a hand works
Read this first. Every other word in the guide fits somewhere in these seven steps, and a hand of Hold’em takes about two minutes from the first card to the last chip.
- Hand
Either one complete deal from the shuffle to the pot being awarded, or the cards a player holds. Poker players use both meanings constantly, and the context makes it clear which one is meant.
“Nice hand” praises your cards; “that was a long hand” describes the deal.
- Betting round
One pass of action around the table on a single street. It ends when every player still in the hand has either folded or put in the same amount as everyone else.
- Pot
All the chips wagered during the current hand. At the end, the pot goes to the winner, or is divided if the best hands tie.
The table and the seats
Where you sit decides when you act, and when you act decides how much you know. Positions are named after the dealer button, which moves one seat to the left after every hand.
- Small blind
Also called: SB
The seat directly to the left of the button. Before the cards are dealt, this player must put in a small forced bet, usually half the size of the big blind. After the flop the small blind acts first, which is the worst position at the table.
At 25/50 blinds the small blind posts 25 chips before seeing a card.
- Big blind
Also called: BB
The seat two to the left of the button. This player posts the full forced bet that sets the price of entering the hand. Before the flop the big blind acts last and may still raise when everyone only called. Stacks and bets are often counted in big blinds.
At 25/50 blinds the big blind posts 50 chips. A “100 BB stack” at those blinds is 5,000 chips.
- Blinds
The small blind and the big blind together. They are called blind because they are posted before anyone has seen their cards. In tournaments the blinds rise on a schedule, which forces players to act rather than wait forever.
- Ante
A small forced contribution from every player before the deal, separate from the blinds. Many tournaments use a single big-blind ante, posted by one player on behalf of the whole table. Antes make the pot bigger from the start, so folding every hand costs more.
- Under the gun
Also called: UTG
The first player to act before the flop, seated directly left of the big blind. Acting first, with the most players still to speak after you, makes this the tightest seat: good players raise only their strongest hands here.
- Hijack
Also called: HJ
The seat two to the right of the button, just before the cutoff. At a six-handed table it is the second player to act before the flop.
- Cutoff
Also called: CO
The seat directly to the right of the button. Only the button and the two blinds act after you, so you can raise with more hands than from the earlier seats.
- Position
Where you sit relative to the dealer button, which decides when you act in each betting round. Acting later is better because you see what everyone else does before you decide.
- In position
Also called: IP
Acting after your opponent on the flop, turn and river. The player on the button is always in position after the flop. Being in position lets you check behind, control the pot and bluff with more information.
- Out of position
Also called: OOP
Acting before your opponent on the later streets. The blinds are out of position against everyone after the flop, which is why they need stronger hands to continue.
- Early, middle and late position
Rough labels for the seats. Early positions (under the gun and the seat after it at bigger tables) act first before the flop. Late positions (the cutoff and the button) act last. The blinds are their own case: last before the flop, first after it.
- Heads-up
A hand or a whole game with only two players. In heads-up play the button posts the small blind, acts first before the flop and last after it.
- Six-max
Also called: 6-max
A table with at most six seats: under the gun, hijack, cutoff, button, small blind and big blind. Pokerista’s range charts and the Arena use this format.
- Full ring
Also called: 9-handed
A table with up to nine or ten seats. With more players still to act, opening ranges from the early seats are tighter than at a six-handed table.
- Straddle
An optional extra blind, usually twice the big blind, posted by the player left of the big blind before the cards are dealt. It raises the stakes for that hand and gives the straddler the last action before the flop. Common in cash games, rare in tournaments.
- Seat
Your physical place at the table. Your seat stays the same all session; your position changes every hand as the button moves.
Cards and the board
Two cards are yours alone. Five more arrive in the middle for everyone. The words here describe those cards and how they fit together.
- Hole cards
Also called: pocket cards, your hand
The two private cards dealt face down to you at the start of the hand. Nobody else sees them unless you show them at showdown.
- Community cards
Also called: the board
The five shared cards dealt face up in the middle of the table in three stages: the flop, the turn and the river. Every player still in the hand can use them.
- Flop
The first three community cards, dealt together after the first betting round. The flop is where most hands take shape.
- Turn
Also called: fourth street
The fourth community card, dealt after the flop betting round.
- River
Also called: fifth street
The fifth and last community card. After the river there is one final betting round and then the showdown.
- Street
A stage of the hand with its own betting round: pre-flop, flop, turn and river.
- Pre-flop
Everything that happens after the hole cards are dealt and before the flop: the blinds, the first decisions and the first raises.
- Burn card
A card the dealer sets aside face down before dealing each street. It prevents anyone who glimpsed the top card of the deck from gaining an edge.
- Suited
Two cards of the same suit, such as the ace and king of spades, written AKs. Suited cards can make a flush together, which makes them a little more valuable.
- Offsuit
Two cards of different suits, written AKo. Slightly weaker than the suited version because a flush is much harder to make.
- Pocket pair
Two hole cards of the same rank, such as two queens. A pair is already a made hand before the flop, and it can turn into a hidden three of a kind.
- Connectors
Two cards next to each other in rank, such as 9-8. They can make straights in more ways than cards with a gap between them.
- Suited connectors
Connectors of the same suit, such as 9♥ 8♥. They can make both straights and flushes, so they play well when the pot is likely to grow.
- Gapper
Two cards with one or more ranks missing between them: 9-7 is a one-gapper, 9-6 a two-gapper. The bigger the gap, the fewer straights they make.
- Rank
A card’s value, from two up to ace. Aces rank highest, except when an ace stands in for a one in the lowest straight.
- Suit
Spades, hearts, diamonds or clubs. In Hold’em no suit outranks another; suits only matter for making a flush.
- Broadway cards
Ten, jack, queen, king and ace. A straight from ten to ace is called Broadway and is the highest straight possible.
- Overcard
A card higher than the cards you are comparing it with. Holding ace-king on a 9-7-2 flop, you have two overcards to the board.
- Overpair
A pocket pair higher than every card on the board, such as two queens on a 9-7-2 flop. Usually the best hand on the flop, but vulnerable to sets and draws.
- Kicker
The highest card that is not part of your matched cards, used to break ties between equal hands.
With A-K on a K-9-4 board you have a pair of kings with an ace kicker, which beats K-Q’s pair of kings with a queen kicker.
- Board texture
How the community cards relate to each other. A wet board, such as 9♥ 8♥ 7♣, offers many draws; a dry board, such as K♠ 7♦ 2♣, offers almost none.
- Rainbow
A flop with three different suits, so no flush draw is possible yet.
- Paired board
A board containing two cards of the same rank. It makes full houses and trips possible for anyone holding the matching card.
- Coordinated board
A board whose cards work together, making straights and flushes possible. The opposite of a dry board.
- Blank
Also called: brick
A turn or river card that almost certainly changed nothing, such as an offsuit deuce on a K-9-4 board.
Hand rankings, strongest first
Every showdown is settled by the best five cards you can make from your two hole cards and the five on the board. Here they are from best to worst, with the names players actually use.
- Royal flush
Ten, jack, queen, king and ace, all of the same suit. The best possible hand; nothing beats it.
- Straight flush
Five cards in a row, all of the same suit, such as 5-6-7-8-9 of hearts. Between two straight flushes, the higher top card wins.
- Four of a kind
Also called: quads
Four cards of the same rank plus any fifth card. Rare enough that most players see it only a few times a year.
- Full house
Also called: boat
Three cards of one rank and two of another. It is named by the three first: three kings and two fours is “kings full of fours”, and beats “fours full of kings”.
- Flush
Five cards of the same suit that are not in sequence. When two players hold flushes, the highest card in each decides, then the next highest.
- Straight
Five cards in a row of mixed suits. An ace can be high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low (A-2-3-4-5), but a straight cannot wrap around, so Q-K-A-2-3 is nothing.
- Three of a kind
Three cards of the same rank. Players call it a set when it comes from a pocket pair plus one board card, and trips when one hole card matches a pair on the board.
- Two pair
Two different pairs plus a fifth card. The higher pair is compared first, then the lower pair, then the kicker.
- One pair
Two cards of the same rank plus three unmatched cards. Most Hold’em pots that reach showdown are won by one pair or two pair, which is why kickers matter so much.
- High card
No pair or better: your hand is simply your highest card, then the next. Ace-high beats king-high. Weak, but it still wins when nobody made anything.
- The nuts
The best possible hand given the cards on the board. It cannot lose, only tie.
On a board of 9♠ 8♠ 7♦ 2♣ K♣ the nuts is a jack-ten straight, since no flush or full house is possible.
- Top pair
A pair made with the highest card on the board. Holding A-K on a K-9-4 flop gives you top pair with the best kicker, often written “top pair, top kicker” or TPTK.
- Middle pair and bottom pair
A pair made with the second-highest, or the lowest, card on the board. Worth something, but easily beaten.
- Set
Three of a kind made from a pocket pair plus one matching board card. Sets are hidden, so opponents rarely see them coming, which makes them the most profitable hands in Hold’em.
- Trips
Three of a kind made with one hole card and a pair on the board. Because the pair is public, opponents can have trips too, or a full house, so it is weaker than a set.
- Wheel
The lowest straight, ace-2-3-4-5, where the ace counts as a one.
- Counterfeited
When new board cards make your hand worse compared with everyone else’s, even though it did not change. Holding 5-5 on a board that runs out K-K-Q-Q-A, your fives no longer play: everyone has two pair with an ace kicker.
- Playing the board
When your best five cards are all on the board, so every remaining player has at least the same hand and the pot is usually split.
Actions you can take
When the action reaches you there are only a few things you can do, but each one has a name, and combinations of them have names too.
- Check
Pass the action to the next player without betting, which is only allowed when nobody has bet yet on this street. You stay in the hand and keep the chance to act again if someone bets.
- Bet
Put chips into the pot when nobody has bet yet on this street. Everyone still in must then call, raise or fold.
- Call
Match the current bet to stay in the hand. Calling never wins the pot by itself; you are paying to see the next card or the showdown.
- Raise
Increase the current bet. Everyone else must match your new total, re-raise or fold. In Pokerista, “raise to” always means your total for the street, not the extra chips.
Facing a 3 BB bet, “raise to 9 BB” means you put in 9 BB in total, 6 BB more than the bet.
- Fold
Give up your cards and any chips you have already put in. You cannot win the pot, but you lose nothing more. Folding is the most common action in poker and often the best one.
- Re-raise
A raise made after someone else has already raised on the same street.
- 3-bet
The second raise in a betting round. The big blind counts as the first bet and the first raise as the second, so the first re-raise is the third bet. The raise after that is a 4-bet, then a 5-bet.
The cutoff raises to 2.5 BB and the button re-raises to 8 BB: the button has 3-bet.
- All-in
Also called: shove, jam
Betting every chip you have. You cannot be forced out of the hand, but you can only win from each opponent as much as you put in yourself.
- Open
Also called: open-raise, first in
Being the first player to raise before the flop when everyone before you folded. Pokerista’s range charts show opening ranges for each seat.
- Limp
Just calling the big blind before the flop instead of raising or folding. Usually weak, because it invites the blinds into the pot cheaply and gives away that your hand is not strong.
- Check-raise
Checking, then raising after an opponent bets. It works with strong hands, to build the pot, and with bluffs, to take it away.
- Continuation bet
Also called: c-bet
A bet on the flop by the player who raised before the flop, continuing the story that they have a strong hand. Many flops are won with a c-bet alone.
- Donk bet
A bet into the player who was the aggressor on the previous street, made by someone out of position instead of checking to them. The name is unkind; the play is sometimes correct.
- Min-raise
The smallest legal raise: adding at least as much as the previous bet or raise, so a 2 BB bet can be raised to 4 BB at the minimum.
- Overbet
A bet larger than the pot. It puts maximum pressure on hands that can beat only bluffs.
- Probe bet
A bet on the turn by the out-of-position player after the pre-flop raiser checked back the flop, taking the initiative when the opponent showed weakness.
- Muck
To fold your cards without showing them, or the pile of discarded cards in front of the dealer.
- Showdown
Revealing hands after the last betting round to decide the winner. The last player to bet or raise usually shows first; the others may show or muck a losing hand.
- The option
The big blind’s right to raise before the flop when everyone only called, because the forced blind bet has not yet been raised. The dealer asks “option?”.
- Action
Whose turn it is (“the action is on you”), or how much betting a table has (“a table with lots of action”).
- Check back
Also called: check behind
Checking as the last player to act on a street, which closes the action without a bet and deals the next card for free.
- Bet sizing
How much you choose to bet, usually described as a fraction of the pot (a third, half, full pot) or in big blinds. Smaller bets invite calls; bigger bets ask harder questions.
Chips, pots and stacks
Poker is played with chips, and how many you and your opponent have in front of you changes what is sensible to do.
- Chips
Tokens that stand for money in a cash game, or for your tournament life in a tournament. Pokerista’s training chips have no cash value.
- Stack
The chips you have in front of you. Your stack is the most you can lose in a single hand.
- Effective stack
The smaller of the two stacks in a confrontation. You can never win or lose more than the shorter stack, so it is the number that matters when planning a hand.
You have 120 BB and your opponent has 40 BB: the effective stack is 40 BB.
- Big blinds as a unit
Also called: BB
Stacks and bets are often counted in big blinds so that hands at different stakes can be compared. A 100 BB stack is deep; 15 BB is short. Pokerista’s scenarios use big blinds throughout.
- Short stack
A small stack compared with the blinds, roughly under 20 big blinds. Short stacks play simply: the main decision is whether to go all-in or fold.
- Deep stack
A large stack, about 100 big blinds or more. Deep stacks allow several betting rounds with real decisions, and make position and hand strength on later streets matter more.
- Main pot and side pot
Also called: side pot
When a player is all-in for less than others are betting, the extra chips go into a side pot that the all-in player cannot win. Each pot is awarded separately, so the all-in player can win the main pot while someone else wins the side pot.
- Side pot
The extra pot created when one player is all-in and the others keep betting. Only the players who put chips into it can win it.
- Split pot
Also called: chop
When two or more players have exactly the same best five cards, the pot is divided between them. Any odd chip usually goes to the player closest to the left of the button.
- Pot-committed
When so much of your stack is already in the pot that folding no longer makes sense, because the price of calling the rest is too good to refuse.
- Stack-to-pot ratio
Also called: SPR
Your effective stack divided by the pot on the flop. A low ratio means you will often end up all-in with one pair; a high ratio leaves room to play carefully over several streets.
With 40 BB behind and a 21 BB pot the ratio is about 1.9, which means the stacks go in easily.
- Pot-sized bet
A bet equal to the current pot. Half-pot and third-pot bets are the other common sizes.
- Buy-in
The amount you pay to enter a tournament, or the chips you sit down with in a cash game.
- Rake
A small share of each pot, or a fee on tournament entries, kept by the poker room. Rake makes marginal decisions slightly worse. Pokerista’s charts model no rake.
- Walk
When everyone folds to the big blind before the flop, so the big blind wins the small blind and any antes without playing a hand.
Draws, outs and the maths
You do not need to be a mathematician. A handful of simple ideas, counted on your fingers, cover almost every decision at the table.
- Draw
Also called: drawing hand
An unfinished hand that needs one more card to become strong, such as four cards to a flush. A draw is worth something because of what it might become.
- Flush draw
Four cards of one suit with cards still to come. Nine cards in the deck complete it, so it hits roughly 35% of the time from the flop to the river.
- Nut flush draw
A flush draw that would make the best possible flush, usually because you hold the ace of the suit.
- Open-ended straight draw
Also called: OESD
Four cards in a row, such as 6-7-8-9, which a card at either end completes: eight outs.
- Gutshot
Also called: inside straight draw
A straight missing a card in the middle, such as 5-6-8-9 needing a seven. Only four cards complete it.
- Combo draw
Two draws at once, such as a flush draw plus a straight draw. Combo draws can have twelve to fifteen outs and are often favourites against one pair.
- Backdoor draw
Also called: runner-runner
A draw that needs both the turn and the river to complete, such as three cards to a flush on the flop. Worth a little extra, never a lot.
- Outs
The unseen cards that would improve your hand to one you expect to win with. Count them honestly: a card that helps your opponent even more is not a clean out.
A flush draw has 9 outs; add a gutshot to the same hand and you have 12.
- Rule of two and four
A quick estimate of your chance to hit: multiply your outs by two for the next card, or by four on the flop for the chance by the river. Twelve outs is about 24% on the turn and roughly 45% by the river.
- Equity
Your share of the pot if the hand were played out many times from this point. A flush draw against one pair has about 35% equity; a pair against two overcards about 55%.
- Pot odds
The price the pot offers on a call: what is already in the middle compared with what you must put in.
Calling 3 BB into a pot of 9 BB is 3 to 1, so the call breaks even if you win at least 25% of the time.
- Implied odds
The extra chips you expect to win on later streets when your draw hits. Good implied odds can justify a call that the pot odds alone would not.
- Reverse implied odds
The chips you may lose on later streets when you make a good hand that is still second best, such as a weak flush against a bigger one.
- Expected value
Also called: EV
The average result of a decision if you could repeat it endlessly. A positive-EV decision wins over time even when a single hand loses, and that is what good poker optimises.
- Break-even
The point at which a decision neither wins nor loses on average. A half-pot bluff needs to work one time in three to break even; a pot-sized bluff one time in two.
- Variance
The natural swing between what you should win on average and what actually happens over a short stretch. Good decisions still lose sometimes; that is variance, not a mistake.
- Combinations
Also called: combos
The number of ways a hand can be dealt: six for a pocket pair, four for a suited hand, twelve for an offsuit hand, 1,326 for all starting hands. Counting combinations shows how often an opponent can really have a hand.
- Blocker
A card you hold that makes certain opponent hands less likely, because they would need it. Holding the ace of spades on a board with three spades means nobody can have the best flush.
- Probability
The chance of something happening, from 0% to 100%. The maths chapter in About Texas Hold’em lets you try the numbers yourself.
Ranges and strategy words
Beyond the rules, players share a vocabulary for what they are trying to do. These are the words you will meet in Pokerista’s explanations.
- Range
All the hands a player could reasonably have in a spot, instead of guessing one exact hand. Thinking in ranges is the single biggest step from beginner to solid player.
- Opening range
The set of hands worth raising first-in from a given seat. Earlier seats open fewer hands; the button opens the most. Pokerista’s Ranges tab shows five of them.
- Value bet
A bet made with a hand you expect to be the best, hoping a worse hand will call. Value bets are how strong hands get paid.
- Bluff
A bet or raise made with a hand that is probably losing, hoping the opponent folds a better one. A bluff needs a reason: a believable story and an opponent who can fold.
- Semi-bluff
A bet or raise with a draw. You can win right away if the opponent folds, and you can still win later if the draw hits.
- Bluff catcher
A hand that beats bluffs but loses to every value hand. Calling with it is right when the opponent bluffs often enough.
- Slow play
Also called: trapping
Playing a very strong hand passively, checking or just calling, to let opponents catch up or bluff into you. Dangerous on boards with many draws.
- Float
Calling a bet, usually in position, with a weak hand, planning to take the pot away with a bet on a later street when the opponent shows weakness.
- Barrel
A bet on a later street after betting the previous one. Betting flop and turn is a double barrel; flop, turn and river is a triple barrel.
- Squeeze
A re-raise before the flop after one player raised and another called, aiming to win the pot right there while both are squeezed between you.
- Isolation raise
Also called: iso-raise
Raising over a limper to play the hand heads-up against them, usually because they are weak.
- Steal
Also called: blind steal
Raising from a late seat with a modest hand to win the blinds without a fight.
- Defend
Calling or re-raising from the blinds instead of folding to a raise, because the chips you already posted give you a good price.
- Fold equity
The share of a bet’s profit that comes from the opponent folding rather than from having the best hand. Every bluff and semi-bluff relies on it.
- Balance
Playing strong and weak hands the same way often enough that opponents cannot read you from your actions alone.
- Polarised range
A betting range made of very strong hands and bluffs, with little in between. Big bets are usually polarised.
- Linear range
Also called: merged range
A range of the strongest hands down to a cut-off, with no bluffs mixed in. Early-position raises are usually linear.
- Thin value
A value bet with a hand that is only slightly ahead of what the opponent will call with. Profitable, but easy to overdo.
- Hero call
Calling a big bet with a weak hand because you believe the opponent is bluffing. Heroic when right, expensive when wrong.
- Line
The sequence of actions you take through a hand, such as “check-call the flop, then bet the turn”. Pokerista’s scenarios ask you to pick a line.
- Read
A conclusion about an opponent’s likely hand, drawn from their actions, bet sizes and habits.
- Tell
A physical or timing habit that gives away information about a hand. Online and in Pokerista, betting patterns replace physical tells.
- Showdown value
A hand that is not strong enough to bet for value but can still win if the hand checks through to showdown, such as second pair.
- Aggression
Betting and raising rather than checking and calling. Aggression wins the many pots that nobody wants to fight for.
- Solver
Software that calculates balanced strategies for a given spot. Pokerista’s content is authored, practical training, not solver output.
- Game theory optimal
Also called: GTO
A strategy that cannot be exploited whatever the opponent does. A useful benchmark, not a rule to follow blindly, because real opponents make mistakes you can take advantage of.
- Exploitative play
Deliberately moving away from balanced play to punish a specific mistake, such as bluffing more against someone who folds too much.
Player types and table talk
Players describe each other, and their luck, in a shorthand of their own. Knowing it helps you follow commentary and hand discussions.
- Tight
A player who plays few hands and waits for good cards.
- Loose
A player who plays many hands, including weak ones.
- Aggressive
A player who bets and raises often rather than calling.
- Passive
A player who mostly checks and calls, letting others drive the betting.
- TAG
Tight-aggressive: few hands, played firmly. The classic solid style and the one most coaching starts from.
- LAG
Loose-aggressive: many hands, played firmly. Hard to play against when done well, and expensive when done badly.
- Nit
An extremely tight player who waits for premium hands. Easy to steal from, dangerous to call.
- Calling station
A passive player who calls far too often and rarely folds or raises. Value bet them relentlessly and do not bother bluffing them.
- Maniac
A wildly aggressive player who bets and raises with almost anything. Wait for a real hand and let them bet into you.
- Regular
Also called: reg
A player who plays often and usually competently.
- Recreational player
Someone playing mainly for fun rather than profit. Everyone starts here, and there is nothing wrong with staying.
- Tilt
Playing worse because of frustration, anger or excitement, usually after a bad beat. The most expensive leak in poker. When you notice it, take a break.
- Table image
How the other players see you, based on what you have shown so far. A tight image makes your bluffs more believable; a loose image gets your value bets paid.
- Cooler
A hand in which two very strong hands collide and the loser could not realistically have avoided losing, such as a set against a bigger set.
- Bad beat
Losing with a strong hand to a much weaker one that got lucky on a later card. It happens to everyone; how you react is what matters.
- Suck out
Hitting a lucky card to beat a hand that was well ahead. The other side of a bad beat.
- Run good and run bad
Short-term luck going your way, or against you. Neither lasts, which is why decisions matter more than results.
- Grinder
A player who puts in long, disciplined sessions for steady results rather than big gambles.
- Leak
A repeated mistake in your game that costs chips over time, such as calling too much from the blinds. Pokerista’s decision record helps you find yours.
- Sweat
To watch a hand or a friend’s tournament with a stake in the outcome, or the nervous feeling of doing so.
Tournament words
Tournaments add a clock, rising blinds and prizes to the game. That changes the value of a chip, and it brings a vocabulary of its own.
- Tournament
A game in which everyone starts with the same chips, the blinds rise on a schedule and players are eliminated until one remains. Prizes come from the entry fees and go to the top finishers.
- Cash game
Also called: ring game
A game with fixed blinds in which chips are worth their face value and you can join or leave at any time.
- Blind level
A period during which the blinds stay the same. When the level ends, the blinds increase, which is why stacks measured in big blinds keep shrinking.
- Structure
The schedule of blind levels, antes and starting stacks. A slow structure rewards patience; a fast one rewards aggression.
- Starting stack
The chips every player begins a tournament with.
- Chip leader
The player with the most chips at the moment.
- Bust
Also called: eliminated
Losing all your chips and leaving the tournament.
- Bubble
The stage just before the prize places begin, when one more elimination means everyone else is guaranteed money. Play tightens, and big stacks apply pressure.
- In the money
Also called: ITM
Having reached a prize-paying position in a tournament.
- Independent chip model
Also called: ICM
A way of valuing tournament chips in prize money. Because prizes are shared out, the chips you might lose are worth more than the chips you might win, so some calls are wrong even with the best hand.
- Final table
The last table of players, usually nine or six, competing for the biggest prizes.
- Freezeout
A tournament with a single entry and no rebuys: when you bust, you are out.
- Rebuy
Also called: re-entry
Buying more chips after busting, or when your stack drops low, during a set period early in the tournament.
- Add-on
An optional extra chip purchase, usually offered once at the end of the rebuy period.
- Bounty
A cash reward for eliminating a particular player. In bounty tournaments every player carries one.
- Push or fold
Short-stack strategy in which the only decisions before the flop are all-in or fold, because there are too few chips to raise and then fold.
- Sit and go
Also called: SNG
A small tournament, often a single table, that starts as soon as the seats fill rather than at a scheduled time.
- Satellite
A tournament whose prize is a seat in a bigger event.
- Payout
The prize schedule: how much each finishing place receives. Usually the top 10 to 15% of the field is paid.
- Deal
Also called: chop
An agreement among the last remaining players to split the prize pool instead of playing to the end, usually based on stack sizes.
- Late registration
A window after the scheduled start during which players can still enter a tournament.
Rules and etiquette you will meet
A few conventions keep the game fair and friendly. Most are common sense once you know they exist.
- Acting in turn
Wait until the action reaches you before folding, calling or raising. Acting early gives information to players who have not acted yet and is against the rules.
- Verbal declarations
Saying “call” or “raise” is binding at most tables, even if your chips say otherwise. Say what you mean.
- String bet
Putting chips in over several motions without first declaring a raise. Usually only the first motion counts, so state your amount before moving chips.
- Protect your hand
Keep your cards in view and place a chip on them so the dealer does not sweep them into the muck by mistake.
- Showing cards
At showdown you may show your hand or muck it. Showing your cards to one player but not the others is against the rules in many rooms: show one, show all.
- Angle shooting
Using technically legal but unethical tricks that exploit the rules or another player’s confusion. Frowned upon everywhere.
- Decision clock
Also called: time bank, shot clock
A limit on how long you may think. Online rooms and Pokerista’s Arena use a clock; when it expires you check if you can, otherwise you fold.
- Table stakes
You can only bet the chips in front of you at the start of the hand. Nobody can be bet out of a pot for money they do not have on the table.
- Misdeal
A deal with an error, such as a card exposed while dealing, which is cancelled and redone.
- Rabbit hunting
Asking to see what the next card would have been after the hand has ended. Usually not allowed, and never useful.
Start with the beginner guide to see how these terms fit into a hand.
Put the ideas into practice.
Start with the free introductory courses and save your progress as you learn.
For learning purposes only. Not a gambling app. Guides, not personalized betting advice. No real-money play or guaranteed results. AI can make mistakes. Read the educational disclaimer.