Poker glossary

Ante – the initial amount of money contributed by each player to make up the pot. In Texas Holdem the Blinds system is used instead.
All in – when a player commits all of his bankroll during a hand, it is said that he/she just went 'all in'
Action – whatever happens during play in poker is 'action'. Whatever a player does he/she 'acts'.
Bad beat – a continuous losing streak
Big blind – Initial potbuilding contribution.Usually twice the size of the 'small blind'
Blank – a blank is a card that has no effect whatsoever on the value of the hand the player held before it was shown.
Blind – see 'Big blind' and 'Small blind'
Backdoor – asituation in which the winning hand is made up using both cards that came on the turn and the river.
Board – all the community cards in a hand.
Poker bot – a computer program that plays instead of the player.
Bottom Pair – if one gets a pair on the flop with the lowest card from the flop.
Brick and mortar – a term used to describe real life poker rooms or casinos
Burn – used as: "to burn a card" meaning that the top card from the deck gets discarded.
Button – a term used to refer to the dealer position.
Buy-in - the amount of money one needs to consider as his/her bankroll to be allowed to a table.
Call – to match the previous bet.
Calling station – a player who makes a habbit of calling every bet.
Cap – to make the last raise allowed in any one betting round.
Check – to bet 0 money in a round, but stay in the game nonetheless
Chop – a 'chop' happens when to players agree to take back whatever they've contributed to the pot without playing out the hand.
Cold Call – calling a bet more than once.
Complete hand – a poker hand that uses all its five cards to make up the winning combination.
Counterfeit – in case you have a straight, then a card comes along the denomination of which is already present in your hand. This makes your hand counterfeit.
Dead money – money in the pot put there by someone who no longer stands a chance of winning it ( has folded)
Dominated Hand – a poker hand that is most likely to lose out to other hands.
Draw – in case someone has a straight (or other card combination) in the making but needs cards on the turn and river to complete it.
Equity – the amount of money someone has contributed to the pot represent his/her share in it, his/her equity.
Family pot – a pot in which the blinds are called by every player.
Fish – a newbie player, or one that has the wrong approach to the game.
Flop – the phase of the game in which 3 community cards are shown.
Gap hand – a hand which has the makings of a straight but has 1 or two cards missing from the middle.
Gotshot Straight – if one manages to make up the straight off s gap hand, it's called a gutshot straight.
Heads-Up – when only two players are left to contest a pot.
House – this is what the poker room the play's taking place in, is called.
Jackpot – part of the rake that is returned to the player who lost on a peculiarly strong hand.
Kicker – this is a card which is not taking part in the useful combination of a hand. For istance have two pairs, in this case the fifth unpaired card is the kicker.
To Limp – to call the blind or the bet before the flop.
Maniac – a term used to refer to an aggressive player.
Made hand – a hand which need no improving.
Muck – the cards that have been taken out of play.
No limit – the type of play when the players may bet any amount of money up to being "all in"
Nuts – the best possible hand that can be made with the cards on the table and the holecards.
Offsuit – cards that are not suited. As and Ad are not suited cards Out – the card that will turn your hand into a sure winner is called this.
Outrun – to beat someone's hand is to outrun him
Overcard – when a player is poosession of a card in the pocket which is far higher than all other cards on the board.
Pocket – the hole cards
Pocket pair – when someone has a pair as holecards.
Pot limit – in this version of the game the bet limit is set at the amount that in the pot at the moment of the bet.
Quad – the four of a kind hand is called this sometimes.
Rainbow – three different suit cards on the table at the flop.
Rebuy – the possibility to get back into a tournament when all the chips of a player have been lost
Ring game – a regular poker game, not a tournament
River – the last community card shown.
Rock – a term used for a tight player
Showdown – the last stage of a hand, when everybody shows what they have in the pocket.
Slow play – luring players into the pot on a strong hand.
Turn – the fourth community card on the board. Also called "4th street"
Under the gun – the position on the left of the big blind.
Underdog – the opposite of favorite.
Wheel – a low card straight from ace to 5.

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All articles written by (c) James West.