Absent Button
Also known as Missed Blind Button, this is a button that's placed in a player's area showing that this person has previously missed his Blind Bet and is still absent from the table.
Poker Definitions
105 terms in this category. Open any term for full dictionary detail.
Action
This is when the player is acting in turn. 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.
Ante
This is a pre-determined contribution to the Pot by all players before any cards are dealt.
Bad Beat
This is when a player has a great hand and can't fold but then gets beaten by an even better hand.
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.
Betting Round
This is the complete cycle from the first bettor to the last person to call.
Big Blind
The larger amount of the two forced pre-flop bets. It is the largest regular blind in a game.
Blind
This is a forced pre-flop bet, there are usually two; the Big Blind and the Small Blind. This required bet is made before any cards are dealt.
Bluff
This is when a player bets or raises with the knowledge that he has little to no chance of winning in the hopes that his opponent will fold.
Board
This is the five community cards that are placed face up on the table and can be used by all of the players in order to make their best poker hand.
Button
A player who is in the designated dealer position. See dealer button.
California Lowball
Ace-to-five lowball with a joker.
Call
This is when a player matches the bet or the raise. The action of placing a bet equal to the highest legal bet in that round, or going all-in if the remaining chips are less than the size of a bet. In games incorporating blind bets, the first player to act after the initial deal shall call by placing a bet equal to the last blind bet. A player will be bound to a call if they announce their intention to do so.
Cap
This is the maximum amount of Rake or Commission to be collected.
Capped
Describes the situation in limit poker in which the maximum number of raises on the betting round have been reached.
Cards Speak
This is when a hand is placed face up, open and flat on the table and the dealer reads the cards to the entire table. The face value of a hand in a showdown is the true value of the hand, regardless of a verbal announcement.
Check
This is when the player bets nothing and passes the turn to the next player. In other words, to waive the right to initiate the betting in a round, but to retain the right to act if another player initiates the betting.
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.
Commission
The percentage of the pot due to the House or the amount taken by the House for hosting the game. This is also known as the rake.
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
This is when certain cards are dealt face up and can be used by all of the players, in order to make their best hand.
Complete The Bet
To increase an all-in bet or forced bet to a full bet in limit poker.
Cooler
This is the person that beats your great hand with an even better hand.
Cut Card
The card used to shield the bottom of the deck.
Dead Button
This is when a dealer places a button in front of an empty seat to adjust the movement of the Blind, so that each person pays the correct amount of Blind.
Dead Hand
This is a hand that has no claim on the Pot. This hand 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
This is the distribution of playing cards to the players, 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 player who is in the designated dealer position. See button.
Dealt-Out Button
A button placed by the dealer that shows that this player is to be dealt out of the current hand.
Defective Deck
This is a deck that contains an incorrect number of cards, duplicate cards, jokers, five or more boxed cards, two or more different back designs, marked or scratched cards, manufacturing imperfections or any problem with the deck that management considers to be detrimental to the security and integrity of the game.
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.
Down Card
This is a card that's dealt face down.
Draw
This can mean the action of taking or replacing additional cards; or it can be a type of poker, such as Draw Poker. In some places like California, the word "draw" is used referring to draw high, and draw low is called "lowball." It is also the point in the deal where replacing is done is called "the draw."
Drawing Dead
This is when a players hand can never improve beyond their opponent's hand.
Drop Slide
This is a device that is attached to the table and it's used for the placement and dropping of the commission into the Drop Box.
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
This is when a Down Card has been partially exposed.
Flop
This is the 1st three community cards that the dealer flips over so they are face up on the board. This is done after the first round of betting is complete.
Flush
This is a 5 card hand where all the cards are the same suit but not in sequence.
Forced Bet
This is a mandatory bet, during the first betting round, for the purpose of starting a pot.
Fourth (4th) Street
Also known as the Turn Card; this is the fourth out of five cards that is turned over so it is face up on the board.
Full Boat
Also known as a Full House, this is a 5 card hand where there are 3 matching cards of one rank and 2 matching cards of another rank. Basically, a hand consisting of three of a kind and a pair.
Full House
Also known as a Full Boat, this is a 5 card hand where there are 3 matching cards of one rank and 2 matching cards of another rank. Basically, a hand consisting of three of a kind and a pair.
Going South
This is when a player takes poker chips off the table and places them in his pocket. This practice is not allowed, as all funds must remain on the table until the player leaves.
Head to Head
This is when there are only two active players betting on the table.
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.
Kicker
If the players have the same poker ranking, then the winner will be determined but the next highest ranking card, which is the Kicker. This is the highest unpaired card that helps determine the value of a five-card poker hand.
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
This is a blind bet giving the player the option of raising if no one else has raised.
Manila
A type of poker
Miscall
This is when there's an incorrect verbal call on the ranking of a hand.
Missed Blind
A required bet that is not posted when it is your turn to do so.
Missed Blind Button
Also known as Absent Button, this is a button that's placed in a player's area showing that this person has previously missed his Blind Bet and is still absent from the table.
Muck
(1) The pile of discards gathered facedown in the center of the table by the dealer. (2) To discard a hand.
Mule
This is when the winner of a pot throws one or more chips to one or more of the other players at the game. This has the look of team play or collusion and is prohibited.
No Limit
A betting structure allowing players to wager any or all of their chips in one bet.
Omaha
A type of poker game
Open
This is the action of making the first bet.
Opener
This is the person who makes the first betting action.
Option
The choice to raise a bet given to a player with a blind.
Pass
(1) This is when you decline to bet, at which point you must discard your hand and forfeit any chance of winning the pot. 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.
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
This refers to the sum of money that players wager during a hand. At the end of the hand, the pot is the pile of chips that the winning player receives. It's also possible for more then one player to win the pot.
Pot-Limit
The betting structure of a game in which you are allowed to bet up to the amount of the pot.
Proposition Bets
A side bet not related to the outcome of the hand.
Protected Hand
When the player is physically holding the cards or if the cards are faced down and topped with a chip or some other item in order to protect it from becoming a Fouled Hand.
Rabbit Hunting
This is when the player wants to see a card that he would have received, had he called the bet; which is not allowed. This practice can also cause ill feelings amongst the players.
Raise
This is when a player increases the size of his bet, forcing the rest of the players to match that amount if they wish to continue playing the hand. A player who checks may raise after another player has bet. 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.
Rake
Also known as Commission, this is the act of taking a percentage of the pot and giving it to the house, as payment for hosting the game.
Rank
In poker games, the worth of a set of cards compared to other poker hands.
Re-raise
To raise someone's raise.
River Card
This is the final card to be turned over so it is face up on the board.
Round
This is the cycle of bets made by the players following the deal of cards, or a series of cards or hands dealt.
Royal Flush
This is a hand that holds a 10, Jack, Queen, King & Ace of the same suit. This is the highest ranking poker hand.
Scoop
To win the entire pot in a high-low split game by a wager or showdown.
Short Buy
This is when the player purchases chips that are less then the table minimum. Short-buys are only available to players who have already bought in for the required minimum amount.
Showdown
After everyone is done betting, the remaining players will show their cards and a winner is determined.
Side Pot
This is a separate Pot created because one or more players are All-In.
Small Blind
The smaller amount of the two forced pre-flop bets. In a game with multiple blind bets, the smallest blind.
Splashing the Pot
This is when the player throws chips, whether accidentally or deliberately, near the main pot, which results in a co-mingling of funds, therefore making it hard to determine how much the original bet was.
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).
Stack
Chips in front of a player.
Straddle
An optional additional blind bet, typically made by the player one to the left of the big blind and equal to twice the big blind. The straddler acts last before the flop and may re-raise.
Straight
This is a hand where all five cards are in sequence. For example 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Straight Flush
This is a hand where all five cards are in sequence and they are also all in the same suit. For example 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 of hearts.
String Bet
The action by a player of 'raising' in more than one motion, without verbal declaration, which is not allowed. This is to prevent an experienced player from betting, and then, seeing the action of the next player, trying to raise the pot to force that player out. This action also slows the pace of the game.
Stub
This is the remaining portion of the deck after all of the cards have been dealt. It is the portion of the deck which has not been dealt.
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.
Tap Out
Also known as All-In, this is when the player bets all of their money on one hand.
Time Collection
The collection of money due to the house determined as a set fee per time period.
Turn Card
Also known as the 4th Street; this is the fourth out of five cards that is turned over so it is face up on the board.
Up Card
A card that is dealt face up.
Well
This is a designated area inside the Float Tray to store a deck of cards.