Poker Terms
December 15, 2008
There is hundreds of poker terms out there that you’ll come in contact with. These terms will help you understand the poker talk going on at the table and could lead to valuable information about hands. Over time you’ll become more familiar with the terms and they’ll become easier to remember, but for now I’ve compiled a list of some common terms that you should read and become familiar with.
Active Player – This means that the player is still active in the hand.
Ante – A pre-determined amount of chips that every player need to place in the pot.
Bad Beat – Losing a hand to a hand that was a huge underdog percentage wise.
Blank – When the turn or river doesn’t add any value to your hand it’s called a blank.
Blinds – The small blind and big blind are forced bets in every pot that rotate every hand.
Community Cards – The five cards which all players can use to better there hand.
Chasing – When you call a bet or multiple bets in hopes of hitting a draw like a flush or straight.
Dealer Button – A puck like disc which is passed around the table to show who the dealer is that hand.
Drawing Dead – When you’re drawing dead it means you have no possibility of winning the hand.
Flop – The flop are the first three community cards displayed in a hand.
Late Position – When you act after most of the other players in a hand.
Loose – Term used for players who play more hands then most of the other players.
Misdeal – A misdeal happens when the dealer makes a mistake which forces a re-deal.
Nuts – The best possible hand given the current cards in play.
Outs – The cards which will make your hand improve to win the pot.
Over-Pair – An over-pair is when you have a pocket pair higher then any of the community cards.
Play the Board – When you play the five community cards as your best possible hand.
Push – When two players tie a hand it’s called a push.
Rags – Cards that aren’t good cards to play, often low unsuited cards.
River – The river card is the fifth and last card to be displayed.
Showdown – When players flip cards at end of hand to see who wins it’s known as a showdown.
Stack – Your stack is the chips that are in front of you while playing poker.
Tight – When a player rarely plays a hand there known as a tight player.
Turn – The turn card is the fourth card that is displayed in a poker hand.
Weak – Someone who folds unless they have the nuts.
These are some of the common poker terms that you’ll hear around the poker tables and you should learn these so that you can understand the table talk going on. There are some other common poker terms that you should learn as well. If you want to win money in poker you need to spend the time learning the game and this is apart of the learning.
