Poker Dictionary

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A

Ace-High
A five-card hand containing an ace but no pair; beats a king-high, but loses to any pair or above.

Aces Full
A full house with aces over any pair.

Aces Up
Two pairs, one of which is aces.

Action
The betting.

Active Player
A player still in the pot.

Add-On
The opportunity to buy additional chips in some tournaments.

Advertise
To make a bluff with the deliberate intention of being exposed as a loose player.

All-In
When a player bets all his or her remaining chips.

An Ace Working
An ace in hand.

Angle
Any technically legal but ethically dubious way to increase your expectation at a game; a trick.

Ante
A token bet required before the start of a hand.

B

Baby
A small card.

Back Door Flush (or Straight)
When the last two cards make a player's hand, even though he or she played on the flop for some other reason.

Back Into A Hand
To draw into a hand different from the one you were originally trying to make.

Bad Beat
When a strong hand is beaten by a lucky hand; a longshot win.

Bankroll
The amount of money you have available to wager.

Behind
You're behind if you don't have the best hand before the last cards have been dealt.

Belly Buster
A draw to fill an inside straight; a gut shot.

Bet
To voluntarily put money or chips into the pot.

Bet For Value
Betting in order to raise the amount in the pot, not to make your opponents fold.

Bet Into
To bet before a stronger hand, or a player who bet strongly on the previous round.

Bet The Pot
To bet the total value of the pot.

Betting Black
Betting $100 amounts (black is a common color for $100 chips).

Betting Green
Betting $25 amounts (green is a common color for $25 chips).

Betting Red
Betting $5 amounts (red is a common color for $5 chips).

Betting White
Betting $1 amounts (white is a common color for $1 chips).

Betting Interval
The period during which each active player has the right to check, bet or raise; the round of betting. It ends when the last bet or raise has been called by all players still in the hand.

Bicycle
The lowest possible hand in lowball: Ace-2-3-4-5. Also called a wheel.

Big Bet Poker
Another term for pot-limit and no-limit poker.

Big Blind
The forced bet in second position before any cards are dealt. Usually this is a Live Blind, which means that the player in this position can raise if no one else has before the cards are dealt.

Big Slick
The Ace-King card combination.

Black Leg
Archaic term for crooked card-sharp.

Blank
A card that is of no value to a player's hand.

Blind
A forced bet that one or more players to the dealer's left must make before any cards are dealt to start the action on the first round of betting.

Blind Raise
When a player raises without first looking at his or her cards.

Blow Back
To lose back one's profits.

Bluff
To bet or raise with a hand that is unlikely to be the best hand.

Board
In flop games, the five cards that are turned face up in the center of the table; in Seven-Card Stud, the four cards that are dealt face up to each player.

Boat
Another name for full house.

Bottom Pair
When you use the lowest card on the flop to make a pair.

Bounty
A small amount of cash awarded to a player when he knocks out another player in some tournaments.

Brick
A blank.

Bring-In
The forced bet made on the first betting round by the player dealt the lowest card showing in Seven-Card Stud and the highest card showing in razz.

Bring It In
To start the betting on the first round.

Broadway
An ace high straight.

Brush
A cardroom employee responsible for managing the seating list.

Buck
In all flop games, a small disk used to indicate the dealer, or used to signify the player in the last position if a house dealer is used; a button.

Bug
A Joker that can be used to make straights and flushes and can be paired with Aces, but not with any other cards.

Bullet
An Ace.

Bullets
A pair of Aces.

Bump
To raise.

Buried Pair
In stud games, a pair in the hole.

Burn
To deal off the top card, face down, before dealing out the cards (to prevent cheating); or to set aside a card which has been inadvertently revealed.

Bust
A worthless hand that has failed to improve as the player hoped; a busted hand.

Bust a Player
To deprive a player of all his chips; in tournament play, to eliminate a player.

Bust Out
To be eliminated from a tournament by losing all your chips.

Busted
Broke, tapped.

Busted Flush
A hand with only four of five cards in a flush.

Button
In all flop games, a small disk used to signify the player in the last position if a house dealer is used; a buck.

Buy-In
The minimum amount of money required to sit down in a particular game.

C

Cage
The cashier, where you exchange cash for chips and vice versa.

Call
To match, rather than raise, the previous bet.

Calling Station
A player who invariably calls, and is therefore hard to bluff out.

Cap
In limit games, the limit on the number of raises in a round of betting.

Card Room
The room or area in a casino where poker is played.

Case Card
The last card of a denomination or suit, when the rest have already been seen.

Case Chips
A player's last chips.

Cash In
To leave the game and convert one's chips to cash, either with the dealer or at the cage.

Cash Out
To leave a game and cash in one's chips at the cage.

Caught Speeding
Slang for caught bluffing.

Chase
To stay in against an apparently stronger hand, usually in the hope of filling a straight or flush.

Check
To abstain from betting, reserving the right to call or raise if another player bets. Also another name for a chip.

Check-Raise
To check and raise in a betting round.

Check In The Dark
To check before looking at the card or cards just dealt.

Cheese
A very substandard starting hand.

Chip Race
As the limits increase in tournaments, lower denomination chips are taken out of circulation. Rather than rounding odd chips up or down for each player, the players are dealt a card for each odd chip. The player with the highest card is given all the odd chips, which are then colored up.

Chop
To return the blinds to the players who posted them and move on to the next hand, if nobody calls the blind.

Cinch Hand
An unbeatable hand; nuts.

Closed Hand
A hand in which all cards are concealed from the opponents.

Closed Poker
Games in which all of the cards are dealt face down.

Coffee Housing
An attempt to mislead opponents about one's hand by means of devious speech or behavior.

Cold
If a player says his cards have "gone cold," he's having a bad streak.

Cold Call
To call a raise without having already put the initial bet into the pot.

Cold Deck
A fixed deck.

Color Up
To exchange one's chips for chips of higher value, usually to reduce the number of chips one has on the table.

Come
Playing a worthless hand in the hope of improving it is called "playing on the come."

Come Hand
A hand that has not yet been made, requiring one or more cards from the draw to complete it.

Come Over The Top
To raise or reraise an opponent's bet.

Commit Fully
To put in as many chips as necessary to play your hand to the river, even if they're your case chips.

Community Cards
In flop games and similar games, the cards dealt face up in the center of the table that are shared by all active players.

Connectors
Consecutive cards which might make a straight.

Counterfeit
In Omaha Hi/Lo, when the board pairs your key low card, demoting the value of your hand.

Cowboy
Slang for a King.

Crack
To beat a powerful hand.

Crying Call
A call with a hand you think has a small chance of winning.

Cut It Up
To split the pot after a tie.

Cut The Pot
To take a percentage of each pot for the casino running the game.