Excerpt from: The Intelligent Guide to Texas Hold'em Poker

all in—when a player places all his or her remaining chips into the pot. Players going all in do not call additional bets, and they cannot compete for additional bets made by other players, which go into a side pot.

bad beat—an improbable loss, such as losing with a very strong hand or losing to someone’s long-shot draw.

bet—to place money in the pot that other players must match to remain in the hand.

big blind—the player two seats to the left of the button, who must make a pre-flop bet before receiving pocket cards.

bluffing—betting on a weak hand in order to convince others the hand is strong.

board—the face-up cards on the table (see community cards).

boat—alternate term for full house.

button—a small plastic disk used in casino games to mark the player in the “dealer’s position.” After each hand, the button rotates to the next player on the left. Because a non-playing casino employee deals the cards, the button is moved after each hand, allowing players to takes turns having the advantageous dealer position of acting last.

call—to match another player’s bet.

cards speak—a rule that players do not have to correctly state the contents of their hand. The dealer will award the pot to the player showing the best cards, regardless of what statements the player made. Casino games are usually played with the cards speak rule.

check—to pass on betting.

check-raise—to raise another player’s bet after initially checking (see raise).

chips—tokens purchased by players for use for placing bets.

community cards—the five cards placed face-up in the center of the table, and used by all the players to form their hands (see board).

dealer—the person who deals the cards and manages the money going into the pot. In a casino, the dealer is an employee, not a player in the game.

drawing dead—drawing in a situation where even if the draw is made, the player still loses. For example, if you draw for a flush when someone already has a full-house.

drawing hand—a hand that will not win unless it is improved. Having four cards to a straight or four cards to a flush are examples of drawing hands.

flop—the first three community cards in Hold’em, which are shown all at once.

fold—to drop out of a hand and forfeit all interest in the pot.

free card—seeing a fourth or fifth community card without having to call a bet.

freeroll tournament—a poker tournament with no cash entry fee, but cash prizes for the winners at the end (see poker tournament).

high-low split—a poker game where the pot is split by the players holding the highest and lowest hands. In many high-low games, the low hand must qualify to claim half the pot. A common qualification is that the low hand must not have a card higher than an eight. If no low hand qualifies, the high hand takes the entire pot.

implied collusion—a situation where many players are on an improbable draw to beat the best hand.

implied pot odds—the ratio of the total amount of money a player expects to win to the amount of money that a player must contribute to the pot. For example, the pot may contain $50, but you expect five players to call your $10 bet. The implied odds are 10 to 1 since you expect to win $100. Contrast with pot odds.

jackpot game—a poker variant found in some casinos where an amount is taken from each pot to accumulate in a jackpot. To win the jackpot, an unlikely poker event must occur. The most common is the “bad beat jackpot” where a player holding Aces-full or higher loses the hand. Jackpots in low-limit Hold’em games can accumulate to tens of thousands of dollars and their existence encourages loser play because players often stay in hands longer than they should in hopes of hitting the jackpot.

kicker—a card that is part of a hand, but not part of a combination. For example, if you hold A, K and the board shows K, 8, 8, 3, Q, your hand is two pair (Kings and eights) with an Ace kicker.

limit Hold’em—a common variation where the bets and raises are limited to fixed amounts in each round of betting. In $5–10 limit Hold’em, bets and raises are in increments $5 before and after the flop and $10 after the turn and river cards.

monster hand—a very high-ranked hand. Aces full, four of a kind, any straight flush, are often referred to as monsters since losses with these kinds of hands are very infrequent.

no-limit Hold’em—a variation where in any betting round, the players can bet any amount up to what they have on the table.

nuts—the highest possible hand that can be formed with the cards on the board.

nut-flush—the highest possible flush that can be formed with the cards on the board.

nut-straight—the highest possible straight that can be formed with the cards on the board.

Omaha—a variation of Hold’em where players receive four pocket cards. A total of five community cards appear on the board, but the players are only allowed to use three of them to form their hand. Players must use two of their four pocket cards to make their hand.

Omaha Eight or Better—a variation of Omaha where the high and low hands split the pot. Each player is allowed to form two different hands, one using any two of their pocket cards to make the best possible high, and one using any two of their pocket cards to make the best possible low. To claim the low hand, there can be no card higher than an eight. Straights and flushes do not count in determining low. If no low hand qualifies, the high hand wins the entire pot.

outs—cards that will improve a hand. For example, if you have four to a flush, there are nine outs for making a flush.

overcard—a community card that is higher than either of a player’s pocket cards.

Pineapple—a variation of Hold’em where players are dealt three pocket cards, but at some point during the hand, must discard one.

pocket cards—the face-down cards dealt to each player at the beginning of a hand.

poker tournament—an event where players pay an entry fee to form a prize fund. Each participant is issued playing chips that have no cash value. The players who accumulate all the chips during play, win the cash prizes.

position—a player’s turn to act in a hand relative to the other players. A player in an early position is one of the first to act; a player in a late position is one of the last. Since late position is an advantage, position rotates one seat after each hand to give players equal turns.

post—a pre-flop bet required when joining a game in progress or when re-entering a game if a turn in the blind position is missed.

pot—the total amount of money wagered on a hand.

pot-limit Hold’em—a variation where in any betting round, the players can bet any amount up to what is currently in the pot.

pot odds—the ratio of the amount of money in the pot to the amount of money that a player must contribute to compete for the pot. For example, if you must call a $10 bet to compete for a $50 pot, the pot odds are 5 to 1.

proposition player—also referred to as a prop player, is a person paid by the house to play. The purpose is to have players available to start games or keep a game going. Proposition players play with their own money, so they must be good enough to at least break even at the table, or their pay will not cover their losses.

raise—both matching and increasing a bet made by another player.

rake—a fraction of each pot taken by the casino as a charge for running a poker game.

river card—the fifth and final community card in Hold’em.

royal flush—the highest ranked hand in poker—Ace, King, Queen, Jack, ten, all in the same suit.

scoop—to win the entire pot in a high/low split pot game.

semi-bluffing—betting on a weak hand that has a good chance of improving.
set—three cards of the same rank (also referred to as trips).

Seven-Card Stud—a popular poker game where each player receives seven cards and uses five to form their hand. Each player receives three cards initially—two face down and one face-up. The next three cards are dealt face-up and the final card face down. In contrast to Hold’em, there are no shared cards in a Stud game. Players may only use the cards they receive.

showdown—the act of showing cards to determine the winner of a hand.

side pot—a separate pot created after one player goes “all in.” Additional money wagered by the players who are not all in goes into the side pot. The person going all in cannot compete for the side pot (see all in).

slow-play—representing a strong hand as weak by not betting in order to disguise the strength. The opposite of bluffing.

small blind—the person to the immediate left of the person on the button. The small blind is required to place one half a pre-flop bet before receiving their pocket cards. To see the flop, the small blind must later on match the big blind’s bet plus any raises (see big blind). The small blind has the option of raising.

splashing the pot—throwing chips into the pot in such a way that the dealer is unable to count them. Splashing the pot is forbidden in cardroom play.

spread-limit Hold’em—a variation where bets and raises are not in fixed increments but can be any amount up to the specified limit.

string bet—placing a bet, then reaching for more chips in order to raise. String bets are forbidden in cardroom play.

table stakes—a rule requiring that all money put in play during a hand must be on the table before the hand begins.

tapped out—losing all the money placed on the table.

tell—a characteristic mannerism or behavior that indicates a player’s thinking.

trips—three cards of the same rank (also referred to as set).

turn card—the fourth community card in Hold’em.

wheel—a five-high straight: A, 2, 3, 4, 5 of mixed suits.

Excerpt from: The Intelligent Guide to Texas Hold'em Poke