Collusion

Two or more players secretly working together against the rest of the table — sharing hole cards, squeezing a third player between raises, or soft-playing each other. It is the most serious form of cheating in poker and grounds for a lifetime ban.

Example. The room reviewed the footage and ruled the pair had colluded by signalling their holdings.

Related terms

Full glossary

Chip dumping

Deliberately losing chips to another player — usually a friend or backer — to transfer value between accounts …

Soft play

Going easy on a particular opponent — checking down a strong hand against a friend, or not betting when you no…

Angle shooting

Using technically legal but unethical tricks to gain an edge — pretending to fold, hiding big chips, ambiguous…

2-7 Triple Draw

A lowball draw game with three drawing rounds where the best hand is 2-3-4-5-7 (not of one suit). Aces are hig…

Ante

A small forced bet every player at the table posts before the deal, on top of the blinds. Common in tournament…

Big blind

The larger of the two forced bets posted before the cards are dealt, by the player two seats to the left of th…

Blinds

The two forced bets (small blind and big blind) posted by the players to the left of the button before any car…

Board

The community cards in the middle of the table that every player can use: the flop (three cards), the turn (fo…