Poker glossary: every term explained
Poker has a vocabulary of its own, and half of it is never explained at the table. This glossary covers the words that actually come up: the rules terms a new player needs on day one, the tournament jargon that decides whether you understand a structure sheet, and the strategy language (ranges, equity, pot odds) behind every modern discussion of the game. Each entry is a sentence or two you can read at the table, then a little more if you want it.
ruleshandsbettingstrategytournamentscash gamesonlineslang
2
A
Action
Any bet, raise, call, check or fold a player makes; also used for a game with lots of betting ("a great action table").
bettingAdd-on
A one-time option at the end of the rebuy period to buy extra chips regardless of your stack size. Almost always worth taking because the ch…
tournamentsAll-in
Betting every chip you have in front of you. You can't be forced out of the hand after that, but you can only win from each opponent as much…
bettingAlpha (bluff break-even)
The percentage of the time a bluff needs to work to break even: bet ÷ (bet + pot). It is the mirror image of minimum defence frequency.
strategyAngle shooting
Using technically legal but unethical tricks to gain an edge — pretending to fold, hiding big chips, ambiguous verbal declarations, or actin…
slangAnte
A small forced bet every player at the table posts before the deal, on top of the blinds. Common in tournaments from the middle stages on; m…
rulesB
Backdoor draw
A draw that needs both the turn and the river to complete — for example three cards to a flush on the flop. Backdoor draws add a few percent…
handsBad beat
Losing a hand in which you were a heavy favourite when the money went in. Many rooms run a bad beat jackpot that pays out when a very strong…
slangBad-beat jackpot
A progressive prize funded by a small extra drop from each pot, paid out when a very strong hand — typically quad eights or better — loses a…
cash gamesBalance
Having a mix of strong hands and bluffs in the same line so that an opponent cannot tell which one you hold and cannot profitably always cal…
strategyBankroll management
The discipline of only playing stakes your bankroll can survive. Rules of thumb: 20–50 buy-ins for cash games, 100 or more for tournaments, …
strategyBig blind
The larger of the two forced bets posted before the cards are dealt, by the player two seats to the left of the dealer button. It sets the m…
rulesBig blind ante
A tournament format where, instead of every player posting an ante, the player in the big blind posts one large ante for the whole table eac…
tournamentsBlind steal
A late-position raise with a weak hand whose main purpose is to win the blinds and antes uncontested. Steals from the button and cutoff are …
strategyBlinds
The two forced bets (small blind and big blind) posted by the players to the left of the button before any cards are dealt. They exist so th…
rulesBlock bet
A small bet made out of position, often on the river, with a medium-strength hand to set a cheap price and discourage the opponent from maki…
strategyBlocker
A card in your hand that reduces the number of ways an opponent can hold a specific hand. Holding the ace of spades on a three-spade board '…
strategyBluff
A bet or raise made with a hand you believe is not the best, intended to make a better hand fold. A semi-bluff is the same move with a drawi…
strategyBluff-catcher
A hand that can only win at showdown if the opponent is bluffing — it beats their bluffs but loses to all their value hands. Deciding whethe…
strategyBoard
The community cards in the middle of the table that every player can use: the flop (three cards), the turn (fourth) and the river (fifth).
rulesBoard coverage
Having hands in your range that connect with every type of flop, so that no board leaves you with nothing to bet or defend. It is the reason…
strategyBomb pot
A cash-game hand where every player posts a fixed ante, there is no pre-flop betting, and the flop is dealt straight away. Often played with…
cash gamesBounty
A cash prize paid for knocking a specific player out of a tournament. In a knockout event every player carries a bounty; in a progressive kn…
tournamentsBracelet
The gold bracelet awarded to the winner of every World Series of Poker event — the most coveted trophy in the game. Bracelets are also award…
tournamentsBroadway
The ace-high straight, A-K-Q-J-10, and by extension any of the five cards from ten to ace ('broadway cards'). Hands like K-Q and Q-J are cal…
handsBubble
The point in a tournament just before the payouts begin: the next player eliminated leaves with nothing while everyone else is guaranteed mo…
tournamentsBubble factor
A number that expresses how much more losing a pot costs you than winning it gains you, in tournament equity terms. A bubble factor of 1 mea…
tournamentsButton
The dealer position, marked by a round disc that moves one seat clockwise every hand. The button acts last on every betting round after the …
rulesBuy-in
What it costs to enter a tournament, or the amount you bring to a cash-game table. Tournament buy-ins are usually written as prize pool + fe…
tournamentsC
Calling station
A passive player who calls far too often and rarely raises or folds. Never bluff a calling station; value-bet them relentlessly instead.
slangCapped range
A range that, based on previous actions, cannot contain the strongest possible hands. A player who just called a raise pre-flop is often cap…
strategyCard room
A venue that offers poker without house-banked casino games. California's cardrooms (Commerce, The Bike, Bay 101) and Texas's membership car…
cash gamesCards speak
The rule that at showdown the actual value of the tabled cards determines the winner, regardless of what a player says they have. If you mis…
rulesCash game
Poker played for real chips with real value, where you can join, leave and re-buy whenever you like. The blinds never go up. The opposite of…
cash gamesCheck
Passing the action to the next player without betting, which is only allowed if nobody has bet yet on that round. If everyone checks, the ne…
bettingCheck-raise
Checking with the intention of raising after an opponent bets. It traps players who bet whenever they are checked to, and it is the standard…
strategyChip chop
A deal that splits the remaining prize money in proportion to chip counts. It overpays the chip leader and underpays short stacks compared w…
tournamentsChip dumping
Deliberately losing chips to another player — usually a friend or backer — to transfer value between accounts or stacks. It is cheating in e…
rulesChip leader
The player with the most chips in a tournament, or at a particular table. Chip leaders apply ICM pressure and can afford to take marginal sp…
tournamentsChop
An agreement among the last players in a tournament to split the remaining prize money instead of playing it out, usually by chip count (ICM…
tournamentsCold 4-bet
A 4-bet made by a player who has not yet put money in the pot — someone behind both the opener and the 3-bettor. It represents an extremely …
bettingCold call
Calling a raise (or a re-raise) without having put any money into the pot yet in that round. Cold-calling a 3-bet is rare; cold-calling an o…
bettingCollusion
Two or more players secretly working together against the rest of the table — sharing hole cards, squeezing a third player between raises, o…
rulesCombo draw
A hand with two draws at once, most commonly a flush draw plus a straight draw. Combo draws often have more equity than a made one-pair hand…
handsCombos
The number of distinct card combinations that make up a hand: 6 for any pocket pair, 4 for a suited hand, 12 for an offsuit hand, 16 for all…
strategyContinuation bet
A bet on the flop by the player who raised before the flop, made whether or not the flop helped them. It works because the raiser is credite…
strategyCooler
A hand where two players both hold very strong holdings and the money is going in no matter what — kings against aces, or set over set. Nobo…
slangCrusher
A player who beats a game by a wide margin over a long period — the best regular in the room. Being called a crusher is high praise in the p…
slangCutoff
The seat directly to the right of the button. Second-best position at the table, and the spot from which players most often try to steal the…
rulesD
Day 2 / bagging
At the end of a tournament day, surviving players 'bag' their chips in a sealed bag with their name and chip count written on it, to be brou…
tournamentsDead money
Chips in the pot that belong to nobody active in the hand — blinds, antes and bets from players who have folded. Dead money is what makes st…
strategyDeep stack
A tournament (or a cash-game stack) where players start with many big blinds — typically 100 or more — so there is room to play all streets …
tournamentsDomination
When two hands share a card and one has the better kicker, the weaker hand is dominated: it wins only about 25–30% of the time and is in dee…
handsDonk bet
Betting into the previous street's aggressor when you are out of position, instead of checking to them. Long considered a beginner's mistake…
strategyDownswing
A prolonged losing stretch caused mainly by variance rather than bad play. Its opposite is an upswing or 'heater'. 'Running bad' and 'runnin…
slangDraw
A hand that is not yet made but can become strong if the right card comes: four cards to a flush (a flush draw) or four to a straight (a str…
handsE
Effective stack
The smaller of the two stacks in a hand — the most that can be won or lost between those players. All strategy calculations use the effectiv…
rulesEquity
Your share of the pot in the long run, expressed as a percentage: how often your hand wins (or ties) against your opponent's hand or range i…
strategyExploitative play
Deliberately deviating from a balanced strategy to take advantage of a specific opponent's tendencies, such as folding too much to raises or…
strategyF
Fish
A weak, usually recreational player who loses money over time. Not a term to use at the table; "recreational player" is what the industry sa…
slangFlight
One of several starting days of a large tournament (Day 1A, 1B, 1C and so on). Survivors of every flight combine on Day 2. Some events allow…
tournamentsFloat
Calling a bet with a weak hand, usually in position on the flop, with the plan of taking the pot away on a later street when the opponent sh…
strategyFlop
The first three community cards, dealt face up together after the first betting round. Most of the important decisions in hold'em happen on …
rulesFold
Giving up your hand and any claim to the pot. Folded cards go face down to the dealer; you cannot get them back. Folding when you are behind…
bettingFold equity
The part of a bet's value that comes from the chance the opponent folds. A bet with a hand that has 30% equity but makes the opponent fold h…
strategyFour-bet (4-bet)
A re-raise of a three-bet. Four-bet pots are large and usually decided pre-flop or on the flop; the range doing it is the tightest in the ga…
bettingFreeroll
A tournament with no entry fee that still pays real prizes, used by online rooms to attract new players and by clubs as a loyalty reward. Al…
tournamentsFreezeout
A tournament with one entry per player and no re-entries: when your chips are gone, you are out. The WSOP Main Event is the best-known freez…
tournamentsFull house
Three of a kind plus a pair, ranked by the three of a kind first. Nicknamed a 'boat'. It beats a flush and loses only to quads and straight …
handsG
Geometric bet sizing
Sizing bets across the remaining streets so that each bet is the same fraction of the pot and the last one is exactly all-in. It is the sizi…
strategyGPI (Global Poker Index)
A rolling ranking of live tournament players based on results over the previous three years, weighted by field size and buy-in. The GPI's nu…
tournamentsGTO (game theory optimal)
A strategy that cannot be exploited by any opponent because every decision is balanced between value and bluffs at the frequencies the maths…
strategyGuarantee
The minimum prize pool an organiser promises for a tournament regardless of how many players enter. If entries fall short, the venue covers …
tournamentsGutshot
A straight draw missing one card in the middle, with four outs. It is far weaker than an open-ended draw (eight outs) but frequently used as…
handsH
Heads-up
Poker between exactly two players, either as its own format or at the end of a tournament when two remain. Hand values shift a lot: any pair…
rulesHero and villain
The conventions used when writing up a hand: 'hero' is the player telling the story, 'villain' any opponent. The words carry no moral judgem…
slangHero call
Calling a big bet with a weak hand — a bluff-catcher — because you believe the opponent is bluffing. The opposite, folding a very strong han…
strategyHigh hand promotion
A card-room promotion that pays a bonus to the best qualifying hand made in each time window — every hour or half-hour — usually a full hous…
cash gamesHigh roller
A tournament with an unusually large buy-in, typically $10,000 and up; super high rollers start around $100,000. Small fields, mostly profes…
tournamentsHit and run
Winning a big pot and leaving the game immediately afterwards. It is not against the rules, unlike ratholing, but it is frowned upon in live…
slangHollywood
Over-acting at the table — agonising, sighing, staring at the board — to sell a story about your hand. Mild hollywooding is part of live pok…
slangHUD
A heads-up display: software that overlays statistics about each opponent on the online table, drawn from a database of hands you have playe…
onlineHyper-turbo
A tournament with extremely fast blind levels, often just two or three minutes online, so that the whole event is push/fold almost from the …
tournamentsI
ICM
Independent Chip Model: a way of converting tournament chips into their real money value, given the payout structure. Because payouts are no…
tournamentsICM chop
A deal among the remaining players in a tournament to split the prize pool according to each player's ICM equity — what their stack is worth…
tournamentsICM pressure
The tournament effect where medium stacks must fold hands that would be profitable in chip terms, because busting costs them far more real m…
tournamentsImplied odds
The odds you are getting on a call once you include the money you expect to win on later streets if you hit. Implied odds justify calling wi…
strategyIn the money
Having outlasted enough of the field to be guaranteed a payout. In most events roughly the top 12–15% of entrants finish in the money.
tournamentsIsolation raise
A raise after one or more limpers designed to get heads-up against a weak player, in position, with the initiative. The aim is to isolate th…
strategyK
L
Laddering
Deliberately folding your way up the payout ladder at a final table, waiting for shorter stacks to bust so that your finishing position — an…
tournamentsLAG (loose-aggressive)
A style that plays many hands and plays them aggressively. In skilled hands it is the most profitable style because it puts constant pressur…
strategyLate registration
The period after a tournament starts during which new players can still buy in, usually with a full starting stack. Modern events keep it op…
tournamentsLevelling
Thinking about what your opponent thinks you have, and what they think you think they have — layers of reasoning stacked on top of each othe…
strategyLimp
Entering the pot pre-flop by just calling the big blind instead of raising. Open-limping is generally weak; limping behind other limpers, or…
bettingLimp-raise
Limping pre-flop with the intention of re-raising if someone raises behind. It is a trapping play with big hands and, in tournaments, a way …
strategyM
Maniac
A hyper-aggressive player who raises and re-raises with almost anything. Maniacs create huge variance at the table; the counter is to tighte…
slangMerged range
A range of hands that are all of moderate to good strength, with few pure bluffs — the opposite of a polarised range. Merged bets are usuall…
strategyMin-cash
The smallest payout in a tournament, paid to the last players to get in the money — typically about one and a half to two times the buy-in.
tournamentsMin-raise
The smallest legal raise: at least the size of the previous bet or raise. A min-raise on the flop or turn, especially online where it takes …
bettingMinimum defence frequency (MDF)
The share of your range you must continue with (call or raise) against a bet so that the opponent cannot profit by bluffing any two cards. M…
strategyMississippi straddle
A straddle posted from a position other than under the gun — most often the button, so that action starts with the small blind and the strad…
cash gamesMixed games
Formats that rotate between several poker variants, usually every orbit or every few minutes. H.O.R.S.E. (Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo, Razz, Stud, …
rulesMuck
The pile of folded and discarded cards, and the act of folding or throwing away a hand without showing it. Once cards touch the muck they ar…
rulesMulti-accounting
Playing on more than one account on an online site, or letting someone else play your account ('ghosting'). Both are banned because they def…
onlineMulti-state compact
The agreement that lets regulated US states pool their online poker players: Nevada, New Jersey, Delaware and Michigan share tables through …
onlineMystery bounty
A knockout format where bounties are not fixed: each time you eliminate someone after the bounty period begins, you draw an envelope from a …
tournamentsN
Nit
An extremely tight player who only plays premium hands and rarely bluffs. Nits are easy to steal from but should be respected when they bet …
slangNo-limit
A betting structure in which a player may bet any amount up to their whole stack at any time. No-Limit Texas Hold'em is the format of the WS…
rulesNode locking
A solver technique where you fix (lock) one player's strategy at a decision point to match how a real opponent plays — for example, 'this pl…
strategyNosebleeds
The very highest cash-game stakes — blinds of $500/$1,000 and up, where six- and seven-figure pots are normal. The name suggests altitude hi…
cash gamesNuts
The best possible hand given the cards on the board. If the board shows three hearts including the king, an ace-high flush is the nuts. "Sec…
handsO
Omaha Hi-Lo
A split-pot variant of Omaha where the best high hand and the best qualifying low hand (five unpaired cards eight or lower) each win half th…
rulesOpen-ended straight draw
Four consecutive cards where a card at either end completes a straight, giving eight outs. Combined with a flush draw it becomes a 'combo dr…
handsOuts
The cards still in the deck that would turn your hand into a winner. An open-ended straight draw has eight outs; a flush draw has nine. Roug…
strategyOverbet
A bet larger than the size of the pot. Overbets are polarised by nature and are used to extract maximum value from the nuts or to put maximu…
bettingOverlay
The gap between a tournament's guaranteed prize pool and what the entries actually generated. The organiser pays the difference, so a big ov…
tournamentsP
Passport package
An online satellite prize that covers not just the buy-in to a live event but travel and hotel as well, and — in the WPT Global version — ca…
onlinePay jump
The difference in prize money between two consecutive finishing positions. Pay jumps grow sharply toward first place and are what makes ICM …
tournamentsPFR
Pre-Flop Raise: the percentage of hands a player raises before the flop. Compared with VPIP it shows whether a player enters pots aggressive…
onlinePolarised range
A range made up of very strong hands and bluffs with little in between. Large bets are typically polarised: you either have it or you are re…
strategyPosition
Where you sit relative to the dealer button, which decides when you act. Acting last ("in position") means you see what everyone else does f…
strategyPot control
Deliberately keeping the pot small with a medium-strength hand — checking back, calling instead of raising — so that you are not forced to p…
strategyPot odds
The price the pot is offering you on a call, compared with your chance of winning. Facing a 50 bet into a 100 pot you must call 50 to win 15…
strategyPot-limit
A betting structure where the maximum bet or raise equals the current size of the pot. Pot-Limit Omaha is the most played pot-limit game and…
rulesPrize pool
The total money paid out to the finishers of a tournament: the sum of all buy-ins minus the fee, or the guarantee if that is larger.
tournamentsProbe bet
A bet made out of position on the turn or river after the pre-flop aggressor declined to continuation-bet on the previous street. It 'probes…
strategyProgressive knockout (PKO)
A bounty tournament where half of each bounty you win goes into your pocket and the other half is added to your own bounty, so the chip lead…
tournamentsProtection bet
A bet made with a vulnerable made hand mainly to deny opponents a free card, charging draws and folding out hands with live overcards. Solve…
strategyPurple Jacket
The prize for winning the Poker Masters series on the PokerGO Tour, poker's version of a green jacket: the player with the most points acros…
tournamentsPush/fold
The short-stack strategy of either moving all-in or folding pre-flop, with no raises or calls in between. Below about 12–15 big blinds it is…
tournamentsQ
R
Rabbit hunt
Asking the dealer to reveal the cards that would have come if the hand had continued after everyone folded. Most cardrooms forbid it; some a…
slangRake
The venue's cut. In cash games a small percentage is taken from each pot, capped at a fixed amount; in tournaments it is the fee added to th…
cash gamesRakeback
A share of the rake a player has paid that the poker room returns to them, either as a direct percentage or through a loyalty or rewards sch…
onlineRange
All the hands a player could plausibly hold given how they have played so far. Thinking in ranges rather than trying to guess one exact hand…
strategyRange advantage
The situation where one player's range of possible hands has more equity — or more of the strongest hands — than the opponent's on a given b…
strategyRange bet
Betting your entire range — every hand you got to this spot with — for a small size, typically a quarter to a third of the pot. Solvers favo…
strategyRatholing
Taking chips off the table during a cash-game session — pocketing part of a stack after winning a big pot and continuing with less. Also cal…
cash gamesRazz
Seven-card stud played for the lowest hand, with A-2-3-4-5 the best possible and straights and flushes not counting against you. It is one o…
rulesRe-entry
Buying back into a tournament after being eliminated, as a fresh entry with a new stack, for as long as late registration is open. Distinct …
tournamentsRebuy
Buying more chips in a tournament after losing them (or dropping below a threshold) during the rebuy period, keeping your seat. Older format…
tournamentsReg
A regular: a player who plays a particular game or stake constantly, usually a professional or semi-professional. 'Reg' is neutral; 'grinder…
slangResteal
Re-raising a suspected blind steal, usually from the blinds and often as an all-in, to win the pot before the flop. It targets late-position…
strategyReverse implied odds
The money you stand to lose on later streets when you make your hand but the opponent makes a better one. Hands that make second-best hands …
strategyReverse tell
A deliberately staged behaviour designed to be misread as a genuine tell — acting weak with a strong hand or strong with a weak one. The old…
strategyRing-fenced player pool
An online poker market whose players can only play against each other, because the regulator forbids sharing tables with other jurisdictions…
onlineRiver
The fifth and final community card, followed by the last betting round. The hand is decided at the showdown after river betting.
rulesROI
Return on investment: a tournament player's profit divided by total buy-ins, expressed as a percentage. A long-term ROI of 20–30% is very go…
tournamentsRoyal flush
A-K-Q-J-10 of one suit: the best possible hand in poker, and a straight flush at the same time. The odds of being dealt one by the river in …
handsRTA (real-time assistance)
Using a solver, chart or another person to decide hands while they are being played online. Every major site bans it, most explicitly name s…
onlineRun it twice
An agreement between all-in players to deal the remaining board cards two (or more) separate times, with each run deciding half the pot. It …
cash gamesRush poker
Fast-fold poker: the moment you fold, you are moved to a new table with new cards instead of waiting for the hand to finish. Every big onlin…
onlineS
Satellite
A cheaper tournament whose prizes are entries into a bigger one. Online rooms run satellites into live festivals constantly; that is how mos…
tournamentsScoop
Winning the whole pot in a split-pot game by holding both the best high and the best low hand, or by having the best high when nobody makes …
rulesSeat fee (time charge)
A fixed charge per hour or per session for a seat in a cash game, used instead of a pot rake. Texas card clubs use it because state law forb…
cash gamesSemi-bluff
Betting or raising with a hand that is probably behind now but has outs to become the best — a flush or straight draw. You win either when e…
strategySet
Three of a kind made with a pocket pair and one matching board card. It is stronger and better disguised than 'trips', which use one hole ca…
handsSet mining
Calling a raise with a small or medium pocket pair purely hoping to flop a set (three of a kind), which happens about 12% of the time. It re…
strategySeven-deuce game
A side agreement in a cash game where anyone who wins a pot with seven-deuce — the worst starting hand — collects a fixed bounty from every …
cash gamesShort deck
Hold'em played with the twos through fives removed, leaving 36 cards. Straights are more common and a flush beats a full house. Popular in A…
rulesShort stack
A stack that is small relative to the blinds — in tournaments usually under about 20 big blinds — or, in cash games, a player who buys in fo…
tournamentsShot clock
A per-decision timer used in many high-roller and televised tournaments, typically 30 seconds, backed by a small number of time-bank chips e…
tournamentsShowdown
The end of a hand when the remaining players reveal their cards and the best hand takes the pot. The last player to bet or raise shows first…
rulesShowdown value
The quality of having a hand that can win at showdown without improving, but is not strong enough to bet for value. Hands with showdown valu…
strategySide pot
A separate pot created when one player is all-in and others keep betting. The all-in player can only win the main pot they contributed to; t…
rulesSlow play
Playing a very strong hand passively — checking or calling instead of betting — to keep opponents in the pot or induce a bluff. Effective ag…
strategySlow roll
Deliberately delaying to reveal a winning hand at showdown — or calling an all-in with the nuts as if agonising over it — to make the oppone…
slangSmall blind
The smaller forced bet, posted by the player directly to the left of the button before the deal, usually half the big blind. The worst seat …
rulesSnap call
An instant call (or fold or shove) with no thought at all, either because the decision is trivial or to show confidence. Snapping is itself …
slangSoft play
Going easy on a particular opponent — checking down a strong hand against a friend, or not betting when you normally would — which cheats ev…
rulesSolver
Software that computes equilibrium strategies for a poker situation given the ranges, stack sizes and bet sizes you define. Solvers are how …
strategySpin & Go
A three-player online sit-and-go where the prize pool is drawn at random before the first hand, from a couple of buy-ins up to a jackpot of …
onlineSqueeze
A re-raise made after an open and one or more callers, exploiting the fact that the callers have shown weakness and the opener now faces mul…
strategyStack off
To commit your entire stack in a hand, usually by getting all-in on the flop or turn. 'Stack-off range' is the set of hands with which you a…
slangStack-to-pot ratio (SPR)
The effective stack divided by the pot on the flop. SPR tells you how committed you are: a low SPR means one bet gets the money in, a high S…
strategyStaking
An arrangement where an investor pays part or all of a player's buy-ins in exchange for a share of the profit. 'Selling action' at markup, a…
tournamentsStraddle
A voluntary blind bet, usually twice the big blind, posted before the cards are dealt by the player left of the big blind. It buys the right…
cash gamesString bet
Putting chips in the pot in more than one motion without first announcing the total amount. Under standard rules only the first motion count…
rulesSunday Million
The big weekly online tournaments played on Sundays — historically PokerStars' Sunday Million, today also GGPoker's GGMillion$ and the Sunda…
onlineSuper high roller
A tournament with a buy-in of $50,000 or more — Triton, the Super High Roller Bowl and the $250,000 and $500,000 events at the WSOP are the …
tournamentsSwap
An agreement between two players in the same tournament to exchange a percentage of each other's winnings, reducing both players' variance. …
tournamentsSweepstakes poker
Online poker played under sweepstakes law rather than gambling law, the model used by ClubWPT Gold in the United States and Canada. Players …
onlineT
Table selection
Choosing to play in games where the opponents are weakest — and taking the seat to the left of the biggest fish. Table selection is one of t…
strategyTable stakes
The rule that you can only wager the chips in front of you at the start of a hand — no reaching into your pocket mid-hand, and no being bet …
rulesTAG (tight-aggressive)
A playing style that enters few pots but plays them aggressively with bets and raises. It is the classic recommended style for beginners and…
strategyTank
Taking a long time over a decision ('going into the tank'). When it goes on too long, any player can 'call the clock' and the floor gives th…
slangTell
Any unintentional behaviour that reveals information about a player's hand: a glance at chips, a change in breathing, how quickly they act, …
strategyThe Hendon Mob
The database of live tournament results, named after four London players from Hendon who founded it in the early 2000s. Its all-time money l…
tournamentsThin value
Betting a hand that is only slightly better than the hands the opponent will call with. Extracting thin value is a hallmark of strong player…
strategyThree-bet (3-bet)
The third bet in a betting round — in pre-flop terms, a re-raise of the opening raise (the big blind counts as the first bet). Three-betting…
bettingTilt
Playing badly because of emotion — usually after a bad beat. The single biggest reason competent players lose money.
slangTime bank
Extra decision time a player can draw on when the standard clock runs out, online or under a live shot clock. Online time banks refill slowl…
onlineTournament
A poker event where everyone pays the same buy-in, receives the same starting chips, and plays until one player has them all. Blinds rise on…
tournamentsTriple Crown
Winning a title on each of poker's three historic circuits: a WSOP bracelet, a World Poker Tour main event and a European Poker Tour main ev…
tournamentsTrips
Three of a kind made with one hole card and a pair on the board. It is weaker than a set because anyone holding the same rank has the same t…
handsTurbo
A tournament with short blind levels — often 10 to 15 minutes instead of 30 to 60 — so it ends in a fraction of the time. Luck plays a bigge…
tournamentsTurn
The fourth community card, dealt after the flop betting round. Bets are typically larger from the turn on because the pot has grown.
rulesU
V
Value bet
A bet made with what you believe is the best hand, sized so that worse hands will still call. The opposite of a bluff, and where most winnin…
strategyVariance
The natural swing in results caused by luck in the short term. Even a winning player has losing months; variance is measured in buy-ins or b…
strategyVerbal declaration
In virtually all cardrooms a spoken action ('raise', 'call', 'all-in') is binding the moment it is said, whatever the chips do afterwards. A…
rulesVPIP
Voluntarily Put money In Pot: the percentage of hands a player enters by calling or raising (not counting the blinds). It is the quickest me…
onlineW
Way ahead / way behind
A situation where your hand is either a big favourite or a big underdog against the opponent's likely holdings, with few cards that change t…
strategyWhale
A very wealthy recreational player who plays huge stakes and loses large amounts without much concern. Whales are the reason nosebleed priva…
slangWheel
The lowest possible straight, A-2-3-4-5, with the ace playing low. In lowball and split-pot games such as Omaha Hi-Lo it is also the best po…
handsWin rate
A cash-game player's profit measured in big blinds per 100 hands (bb/100) online, or in big blinds or currency per hour live. It is the cash…
cash gamesWSOP Circuit ring
The gold ring awarded to winners of events on the WSOP Circuit, the year-round tour that visits casinos in the United States and, as the Int…
tournamentsHow to use it
Browse by letter, or jump to a category: rules, hands, betting, strategy, tournaments, cash games, online, slang. Every term links to related ones, so "bubble" leads to "ICM" and "in the money", and "draw" to "outs" and "pot odds".
Missing something?
The glossary grows with every update. If a term you searched for isn't here, tell us at info@poker-in.com and it will be in the next batch.