Poker glossary

139 poker words in plain English, each with a one-line definition and an example you can picture.

Cards & hands

suit One of the four card symbols: spades ♠, hearts ♥, diamonds ♦ and clubs ♣. No suit beats another.
rank A card’s value: 2 is lowest, then up through 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace, the highest.
hand The five cards that count for you at showdown. It also means one deal, from shuffle to pot.
hand rankings The order of the ten poker hands, from royal flush at the top to high card at the bottom.
high card A hand with no pair, no straight and no flush. Its highest card names it.
pair Two cards of the same rank.
two pair Two different pairs in the same five cards.
three of a kind Three cards of the same rank.
straight Five ranks in a row, in mixed suits. The Ace can play high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low (A-2-3-4-5).
flush Five cards of one suit, not in a row.
full house Three of a kind plus a pair.
four of a kind All four cards of one rank.
straight flush Five ranks in a row, all in one suit.
royal flush A-K-Q-J-10 all in one suit: the best hand in poker.
kicker A leftover card that breaks a tie between two hands of the same type.
wheel The lowest straight, A-2-3-4-5, with the Ace playing low.
split pot When the best hands tie exactly, the pot is shared equally between them.
Texas Hold'em The most played poker game. Everyone gets two private cards and shares five face-up cards in the middle.
hole cards Your two private cards, dealt face down. Only you see them.
board The five shared cards dealt face up in the middle: the flop, the turn and the river.
the board plays When the five board cards are everyone’s best hand, so nobody’s hole cards matter.
pocket pair Two hole cards of the same rank.
suited Two hole cards of the same suit.
offsuit Two hole cards of different suits.
nuts The best possible hand on this board right now.
set Three of a kind made from a pocket pair plus one matching card on the board.
trips Three of a kind made from one hole card plus a pair on the board.
overpair A pocket pair higher than every card on the board.
top pair Pairing the highest card on the board with one of your hole cards.
middle pair Pairing a board card that is neither the highest nor the lowest with one of your own two cards.
bottom pair Pairing the lowest card on the board with one of your own two cards.
underpair A pair in your own two cards that is lower than every card on the board.
made hand A hand that is already a pair or better, not one still waiting for a card to finish it.
suited connector Two cards of the same suit next to each other in rank, like the 7 and 6 of spades.

How a hand plays

pot All the chips bet in a hand. The best hand at showdown takes it, or the last player left in.
button A disc that marks the dealer’s seat.
blinds Two forced bets posted before the cards are dealt, so every pot has something in it to win.
small blind The smaller forced bet, posted by the player just left of the button.
big blind The bigger forced bet, posted two seats left of the button. Bets are often counted in big blinds.
ante A small forced bet everyone posts before a hand, on top of the blinds.
preflop The first round of betting, after the hole cards are dealt and before the flop.
flop The first three board cards, dealt face up together.
turn The fourth board card. Betting on the turn means the round of betting right after it is dealt.
river The fifth and last board card. Betting on the river is the last round of betting, right after it is dealt.
street One round of betting in a hand: preflop (before any board cards), then the flop, the turn and the river (each right after those cards are dealt).
showdown After the last bet, the players still in show their cards. The best five-card hand wins.
muck To throw your cards away without showing them. Also the pile of folded cards.
stack The chips a player has in front of them.
effective stack The smaller of two players' stacks: the most either one can win from or lose to the other.
short stack The player with the fewest chips in a hand. They can only win as much as each other player matches.
free card A card you see without paying, because nobody bet on the round before it.
heads-up A pot, or a game, with just two players.
multiway A pot with three or more players still in.
tournament A game where everyone starts with the same chips and plays until one player has them all.
blind level A set stretch of a tournament when the blinds stay the same. When it ends, the blinds go up to the next level.
action Whose turn it is. It moves one seat to the left at a time, skipping anyone who has folded or is all in.
act in turn Wait until the action reaches you before you say or do anything. Then what you say is what you must do.
burn card A card the dealer deals face down, out of play, before the flop, the turn and the river.
cards speak At the showdown the cards decide who wins, not what a player says about them.

Betting

check Pass without betting. You can only check when nobody has bet yet this round.
bet Put chips in when nobody has bet yet this round. Everyone else must call, raise or fold.
call Match the current bet to stay in the hand.
raise Make the current bet bigger. Everyone else must match the new amount, raise again or fold.
fold Give up your hand, along with any chips you have already put in.
all-in Betting every chip you have left.
side pot A separate pot for bets an all-in player can’t match. That player can only win the main pot.
limp Just calling the big blind preflop instead of raising.
open-raise Being the first player to raise preflop, after everyone before you has folded.
min-raise The smallest raise allowed: it must go up by at least the size of the last bet or raise.
pot-sized bet A bet as big as everything already in the middle.
first in Putting chips in first by choice: everyone before you folded, and only the forced bets are in.
steal A raise from a late seat that hopes everyone folds, to win the forced bets already in.
3-bet The first re-raise.
4-bet A re-raise of a 3-bet.
cold call Calling a raise when you have no chips in the pot yet.
isolate Raising over one or more limpers to play against them alone.
straddle An extra blind posted before the cards by the seat left of the big blind, usually double the big blind.
squeeze A 3-bet after one player has raised and at least one other has called.
check-raise Checking, then raising after someone else bets.
c-bet Continuation bet: the player who raised preflop bets again on the flop.
raise to How bets are named: by the total.
string bet Putting in a call, then reaching back for more chips to make it a raise. It only counts as a call.
table stakes Only the chips in front of you when a hand starts can play in it, so nobody can bet you out of a pot.

Seats

position Where you sit compared with the button, which decides when you act.
in position Acting after your opponent on every round after the flop.
out of position Acting before your opponent on every round after the flop.
UTG Under the gun: the seat just left of the big blind, first to act preflop.
early position The first seats to act preflop: under the gun (UTG) and the seat after it (UTG+1).
middle position The seats after early position and before the hijack.
hijack The seat two to the right of the button.
cutoff The seat just right of the button: the second-best seat at the table.
late position The cutoff and the button: you act after most of the table.

Pot math

outs The unseen cards that would turn your hand into the likely winner.
draw A hand that isn’t made yet but could be: four to a flush, or four to a straight.
flush draw Four cards of one suit, one short of a flush. It has 9 outs.
OESD Open-ended straight draw: four ranks in a row that a card at either end completes, 8 outs.
gutshot A straight draw missing one rank in the middle. It has 4 outs.
pot odds The price of a call: your call ÷ everything in the middle once you call.
odds A price or a chance said as one amount against another, like 4 to 1.
equity Your share of the pot if every card were dealt out: how often your hand wins from here.
rule of 2 and 4 A quick equity guess: outs × 4 when you will see both the turn and the river (someone is all in), otherwise outs × 2 per card to come.
implied odds Chips you expect to win on later rounds if you hit, on top of what is in the pot now.
reverse implied odds What you lose on later rounds when you hit your hand and still lose, or when you hit and they stop paying.
expected value The average result of a decision if you made it many times. EV for short.

Reading bets

range All the hands a player could have, given everything they have done so far.
combo One exact pair of hole cards. Each two-rank hand like Ace-King has 16 combos; each pocket pair has 6.
blocker A card you hold that makes some of their hands less likely, because that card cannot be in their hand too.
lead Betting first on a street when someone else was the one who raised before the flop.
scary card A board card that finishes a draw or makes a big hand easier to have, so it changes what bets mean.
bluff-catcher A hand that beats a bluff but loses to a real hand, so it only wins when the other player is bluffing.
aggressor The player who made the last raise before the flop. Their bets on the flop are continuation bets.
give up Stopping betting with a hand that missed, usually by checking after an earlier bet.
line The moves one player makes over a hand, read as one story: bet, then bet again, then check.
tier A group of hands that play alike, such as top pair or better, weaker pairs, or draws and nothing.
polarized A set of betting hands made of very strong hands and bluffs, with few medium hands in between.
merged A set of betting hands made of strong and medium hands, with few bluffs. Also called linear.
value bet A bet you make hoping worse hands call it.
bluff A bet or raise with a weak hand, to make better hands fold.
semi-bluff A bluff with a draw: it wins now if they fold, or later if you hit.
air A hand with nothing: no pair and no real draw.
slowplay Playing a very strong hand quietly, by checking and calling, to hide how strong it is.
overbet A bet bigger than the pot.
bet sizing How big a bet is compared with the pot: a quarter, a half, the whole pot, or more.
board texture How the board cards fit together: how many draws and strong hands they make possible.
dry board A board with few draws: unsuited cards, far apart in rank.
wet board A board full of draws: suited cards close together in rank.
paired board A board with two cards of the same rank.
monotone A flop with all three cards in one suit.
two-tone A flop with two cards of one suit, so a flush draw is possible.
connected Board cards close together in rank, so straights and straight draws are possible.
leak A habit that costs you chips or gives your hand away, found by looking at many hands instead of one.
tell A habit that gives away what a player holds: a pause, a glance, a favourite bet size.
bad beat Losing with a hand that was well ahead until a late card.

Player types

nit A very tight, careful player who only plays strong hands.
regular A solid player who plays a fair share of hands, bets draws as well as made hands, and bluffs now and then.
calling station A player who calls far too often and rarely folds or raises.
maniac A player who bets and raises with almost anything.
TAG Tight-aggressive: plays few hands, but bets and raises with the ones they play.
LAG Loose-aggressive: plays lots of hands and bets and raises often.

Practise it in 5 minutes Start from the first card, or at your own level.

Quads is for adults, 18 and over. It teaches with play chips only: there is no real money, ever.