Poker Abreviations - Part 1

Poker players use a lot of abbreviations when they describe hands. 2-9 is described numerical but the 10 is “T” the jack is “J”, queen is “Q”, king “K” and the Ace is “A”. The different suits are also described the first letter in their name. Example: The ace of clubs is referred to as Ac

Action

A fold, check, call, bet, or raise. For certain situations, doing something formally connected with the poker game that conveys information about your poker 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.

Active Player

A player still involved in a hand.

Ante

A small portion of a bet contributed by each player to seed the pot at the beginning of a poker hand. Casino.co.uk Online Poker Room uses "blinds" to get initial money into the pot.

All-In

To run out of poker chips while betting or calling. In table stakes games, a poker player may not go into his pocket for more money during a hand. If he runs out, a side pot is created in which he has no interest. However, he can still win the pot for which he had the chips. Example: "Poor Oscar - he made quads against the big full house, but he was all-in on the second bet."

Backdoor

Catching both the turn and river card to make a drawing hand. For instance, suppose you have As- 7s. The flop comes Ad-6c-4s. You bet and are called. The turn is the Ts, which everybody checks, and then the river is the Js. You've made a "backdoor" nut flush. See also runner.

Back Raise

To re-raise another poker players raise

Bad Beat

To have a hand that is a large underdog beat a heavily favored hand. It is generally used to imply that the winner of the pot had no business being in the pot at all, and it was the wildest of luck that he managed to catch the one card in the deck that would win the pot. We won't give any examples; you will hear plenty of them during your poker career.

Blank

A board card that doesn't seem to affect the standings in the hand. If the flop is As-Jd-Ts, then a turn card of 2h would be considered a blank. On the other hand, the 2s would not be.

Blind

A forced bet (or partial bet) put in by one or more players before any cards are dealt. Typically, blinds are put in by players immediately to the left of the button. See also “live blind”

Blind game

A game which utilizes a blind

Board

All the community cards in a Holdem game - the flop, turn, and river cards together. Example: "There wasn't a single heart on the board."

Bottom Pair

A pair with the lowest card on the flop. If you have As-6s, and the flop comes Kd-Th-6c, you have flopped bottom pair.

Button

The circle that symbolizes that one player is the dealer. Also used to refer to the player on the button. Example: "Oh, the button raised."

Buy

(1) As in "buy the pot." To bluff, hoping to "buy" the pot without being called.
(2) As in "buy the button." To bet or raise, hoping to make players between you and the button fold, thus allowing you to act last on subsequent betting rounds.

Buy-in

The minimum amount of money required to enter any game

Calling Station

A weak-passive player who calls a lot, but doesn't raise or fold much.

Cap

To put in the last raise permitted on a betting round. This is done after 1 bet and three raises.

Case

The last card of a certain rank in the deck. Example: "The flop came J-8-3; I've got pocket jacks, he's got pocket 8's, and then the case eight falls on the river and he beats my full house."

Center Pot

The first pot created during a poker hand. This is as opposed to one or more "side" pots that are created if one or more players goes all-in. Also "main pot."

Check

To not bet, with the option to call or raise later in the betting round

Check Raise

To check and then raise when a player behind you bets. Occasionally you will hear people say this is not fair or ethical poker. It is particularly useful in low-limit Holdem where you need extra strength to narrow the field when you have the best hand.

Cold Call

To call more than one bet in a single action. For instance, suppose the first player to act after the big blind raises. Now any player acting after him must call two bets "cold." This is different from calling a single bet and then calling a subsequent raise.

Come Hand

A drawing hand (probably from the craps term).

Common Card

A card dealt face up 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 individually.

Complete Hand

A hand that is defined by all five cards - a straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, or straight flush.

Connector

A Hold’em starting hand in which the two cards are one apart in rank. Examples: KQs or 76.

Counterfeit

To make your hand less valuable because of board cards that duplicate it. Example: you have 87 and the flop comes 9-T-J, so you have a straight. Now an 8 comes on the turn. This has counterfeited your hand and made it almost worthless.

Crack

To beat a hand - typically a big hand. You hear this most often used to apply to pocket aces: "Third time tonight I've had pocket aces cracked."

Cripple

As in: to cripple the deck. Meaning that you have most or all of the cards that somebody would want to have with the current board. If you have pocket kings, and the other two kings flop, you have crippled the deck.

Dead button

The button is on a position that just left the table and therefore the player on the buttons right has the same advantage as being on the button.

Dog

Shortened form of underdog

Dominated Hand

A hand that will almost always lose to a better hand that people usually play. For instance, K3 is "dominated" by KQ. With the exception of strange flops (e.g. 3-3-x, K-3-x), it will always lose to KQ.

Downcards

Cards that are dealt facedown in a stud game.

Draw Dead

Try to make a hand that, even if made, will not win the pot. If you're drawing to make a flush, and your opponent already has a full house, you are "drawing dead". Of course, this is a bad condition to be in.

Equity

Your "rightful" share of a pot. If the pot contains $80, and you have a 50% chance of winning it, you have $40 equity in the pot. This term is somewhat fanciful since you will either win $80 or $0, but it gives you an idea of how much you can "expect" to win.

Expectation

(1) A term referring to the amount of you expect to gain on average if you make a certain play. For instance, suppose you put $10 into a $50 pot to draw at a hand that you will make 25% of the time, and it will win every time you make it. Three out of four times, you do not make your draw, and lose $10 each time for a total of $30. The fourth time, you will make your draw, winning $50. Your total gain over those four average hands is $50-$30 = $20, an average of $5 per hand. Thus calling the $10 has a positive expectation of $5.

(2) The amount you expect to make at the poker table in a specific time period. Perhaps in 100 hours play, you have won $527. Then your expectation is $5.27/hr. Of course, you won't make that exact amount each hour (and some hours you will lose), but it is one measure of your anticipated earnings.

Face card

A king, queen, or jack.

Family Pot

A pot in which all (or almost all) of the players call before the flop.

Fast

As in "play fast." To play a hand aggressively, betting and raising as much as possible. Example: "When you flop a set but there's a flush draw possible, you have to play it fast."

Flop

The first three community cards, put out face up, all together.

Fixed limit

In limit poker, any betting structure in which the amount of the bet on each particular round is pre-set.

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 Hold’em (also called the turn card).

Free Card

A turn or river card on which you don't have to call a bet because of play earlier in the hand (or a reputation which you have with your opponents). For instance, if you are on the button and raise when you flop a flush draw, your opponents may check to you on the turn. If you make your flush on the turn, you can bet. However, if you don't get it on the turn, you can check as well - seeing the river card for "free."

Free Roll

A large tournament with real money prizes, but with play money entry fee. A chance to win something at no risk or cost.

Gut shot Straight

A straight filled "inside". If you have 9s-8s, the flop comes 7c-5h-2d, and the turn is the 6c, you've made your gut shot straight.

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

Heads Up

Two people playing alone at one table

Hit

As in "the flop hit me." It means the flop contained cards that help your hand. If you have AK, and the flop comes K-7-A, it hit you.

House

The establishment running the game a.k.a. Casino.co.uk Online Poker Room. In online poker you do not play against the house, the house only takes out rake for the services provided. In all other games you play against the house.

Implied Odds

Pot odds that do not exist at the moment, but may be included in your calculations because of bets you expect to win if you hit your hand. For instance, you might call with a flush draw on the turn even though the pot isn't offering you quite 4:1 odds (your chance of making the flush) because you're sure you can win a bet from your opponent on the river if you make your flush.

Jackpot

A special bonus prize.

Kicker

An unpaired card used to determine the better of two near-equivalent hands. For instance, suppose you have AK and your opponent has AQ. If the flop has an ace in it, you both have a pair of aces, but you have a king kicker. Kickers can be vitally important in Holdem Poker.

Late Position

A position in which you act after most of the other players during a round.

Live Blind

A forced bet put in by one or more players before any cards are dealt. The "live" means those players still have the option of raising when the action gets back around to them.

Maniac

A player who does a lot of hyper-aggressive raising, betting, and bluffing. A true maniac is not a good player, but is simply doing a lot of gambling. However, a player who occasionally acts like a maniac and confuses his opponents is quite dangerous.

Middle Pair

Pairing the second highest card on the board.

Middle Position

A position in which you act somewhere between most of the other players during a round.

Muck

To throw away ones card because you don’t want to play them or because a player before you has shown a hand superior to yours.

No-Limit

A version of poker in which a player may bet any amount of chips (up to the number in front of him) whenever it is his turn to act. It is a very different game than limit poker. The best treatise on no-limit poker is in Doyle Brunson's Super/System.

Nuts

The best possible hand given the board. If the board is Ks-Jd-Ts-4s-2h, then As-Xs is the nuts. You will occasionally hear the term applied to the best possible hand of a certain category, even though it isn't the overall nuts. For the above example, somebody with Ah-Qc in the above hand might say they had the "nut straight".