Poker Terms
All In: Betting all of one’s chips in the current hand
Blind: A type of forced bet posted by players to the left of the dealer in flop style poker games.
Bully: A player who raises frequently to force out more cautious players, especially one with a large stack for the size of the game.
Button: The dealer position at the table.
Chop: To split a pot because of a tie, split-pot game, or player agreement.
Community Cards: “shared cards” or “window cards”), which are cards dealt face up in the center of the table and shared by all players.
Declare: Announcing whether you’re trying for the high hand, low hand, or both.
Flop: the dealing of the first three face-up cards to the board.
Heads Up: Playing against a single opponent
High/Low: The highest hand and the lowest hand split the pot.
Kicker: A card in a poker hand that does not itself take part in determining the rank of the hand, but that may be used to break ties between hands of the same rank.
Muck: To fold; To discard one’s hand without revealing the cards.
Natural: Without wild cards.
No-Limit: Rules designating players are allowed to wager any or all of their chips in a single bet.
Poker Face: A blank expression that does not reveal anything about the cards being held.
Pot-Committed: A situation where a player can no longer fold because the size of the pot is so large compared to the size of his or her stack.
Perfect low: A perfect low hand is A-2-3-4-6. However, it can also be A-2-3-4-5 if you play that straights don’t count when you go low, or it can be 2-3-4-5-7 if you play that Aces are always high, or 2-3-4-5-6 if you play both of the above.
Pre-Flop: On flop games refers to the time when players already have their pocket cards but no flop has been dealt yet. It’s also the first round of bets.
Raise: to increase the size of the bet required to stay in the pot.
River: the final card dealt in a poker hand, to be followed by a final round of betting.
Roll: Flip a down card up.
Rolling Showdown: A showdown in which cards are stacked and revealed one at a time with a round of betting after each card is revealed.
Rounder: An expert player who travels around to seek out high-stakes games.
Showdown: The process of revealing hands and determining the winner.
Tell: A tell in poker is a detectable change in a player’s behavior or demeanor that gives clues to that player’s assessment of his hand.
Turn: the fourth of five cards dealt to the board, constituting one face-up community card that each of the players in the game can use to make up their final hand.
