2025
Jan 3
- Unveiling or Showdown
- This is the final phase, after the last round of betting, where players must show their cards to all players to determine who wins.
- Ace High
- Of the five cards, the highest is the Ace.
- Kicker
- Best card supporting a pair. For example, if you have a King (K) and a Queen (Q), and a King (K) comes on the flop, you have a pair of Kings (K) with a Kicker Queen (Q).
- Add on
- Possibility of increasing one’s buy-in, usually after a rebuy.
- All in
- When a player puts all his chips in play on one shot. The other players can bet and raise above the player’s total “All in”. The player may win the pot up that point (including players who followed behind the “All-in”). All bets and raises will create a side pot that can be won by the other players. If the “All-in” player wins the pot, the side pot is won by the second player who wins.
- Announcement
- What a player says during a round of betting, such as “check”, “raise”, etc.
- Rainbow
- When the three cards of the flop are of different “colours”. For example: 10 of Clubs, Queen of Diamonds and King of Spades.
- Assorted
- Used when the two private cards of a player are in the same “colour”.
- In the dark
- Said of a player who bets without looking at his private cards.
- Bad beat
- Name given to a bad hand that beats a good hand by a lucky combination.
- Bankroll
- Money available to a player.
- Bet
- Invest some money in the pot.
- Big blind
- Amount to be bet by the second player to the left of the dealer before the cards are dealt. It is usually twice the amount of the small blind.
- Blinds
- Amount that the two players to the left of the dealer must bet before the cards are dealt. They represent the initial pot and encourage players to invest in the game.
- Bluff
- When a player leads the other players to believe that he has a better hand than he really does. The bluffer will call, bet or raise as if he had a good hand, leading his opponents to fold before the showdown and therefore win the pot with a weak hand. The bluff can also occur the other way, where the bluffer leads the other players to believe that he has a weaker hand than he really does.
- Board
- The center of the table, where the community cards are the pot lay. When you play only with the cards from the board (that is, without your two private cards), you are “playing the board”.
- Bottom Pair
- When a player uses the lowest card of the flop to make a pair.
- Button
- Object placed in front of the dealer to “remember” the order in which the players are to speak. It is moved clockwise after each game.
- Three of a Kind
- Combination of 3 cards of the same kind (for example, three 10s), and 2 other different cards.
- Burn a card
- Before the Flop, the Turn or the River, the dealer “burns” a card; he removes the top card of the deck and keeps it face down.
- Buy-in
- Amount to bring to the table in order to be able to enter a tournament or to sit at the table.
- Call
- To align one’s bet to the highest current one.
- Check-raise
- “Ambush”. Check, with the intent of raising at the end of the round. This technique, meant to “inflate” the pot, was forbidden for a long time, but is now allowed.
- Chip or Token
- Betting unit.
- Chips Race or Color Up
- Exchange of tokens that are no longer used for tokens of higher value.
- Chip leader
- The chip leader has the largest number of chips.
- Poker or Four of a Kind
- Combination of 4 cards of the same kind (for example, four 7s), and 1 other card.
- Hidden cards or private cards
- Cards that only each player sees.
- Free card
- When a card is dealt without the players having to risk any more money. Players only need to check for the next card to be dealt. That card is “free”.
- High Card
- This is the lowest hand combination at Poker. It consists of the single highest card value.
- Up cards or community cards
- Cards laid face up on the Flop, the Turn or River. All players can see them and they are used along with their own cards to make combinations.
- Cash game
- Game where the chips represent real money.
- Cash out
- To Leave the game and exchange one’s chips for real money.
- Betting Round
- Order (clockwise) in which the players are invited to speak.
- Check
- Literally: “Continue”. Allows you to stay in the game without betting. Only possible if no bet was made in the current the betting round.
- Ranking
- Value of the cards in relation to each other and value of a five-card hand compared to other five-card hands.
- Fold or Skip
- To abandon the current game.
- Color or Flush
- Combination made up of 5 cards of the same “colour”.
- Flush
- Combination of 5 cards of the same “colour”, where the highest card is the Ace.
- Odds
- Probability of completing the hand vs. probability of failing to complete it.
- Cut off
- Player located “before” the dealer, i.e., immediately to his right and the last to speak. This situation is ideal to try to “steal” blinds when no one has bet or raised in the round.
- Dealer
- Player who deals the cards. The dealer changes at the end of each game. The button keeps track of who is the dealer.
- Dead Blind
- Fine when the player does not bet the blind while it is his turn to do so.
- Offsuit
- When the cards of a hand are not matched.
- Two pairs
- Combination of cards, where 2 cards are of the same kind, 2 other cards are of the same kind, and the last card is different. For example, two 2s, two Aces and a 5.
- Drawing-dead
- when the player draws a card, which will not help regardless.
- Bid
- Minimum amount to bet on the table during a betting round. It may be limited, or not (No limit).
- Family
- There are 4 families: Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs.
- Flop
- After the first betting round, the first 3 community cards are dealt. These make the flop.
- Freeroll
- Tournament for which registration is free, but where players can still make money.
- Freezeout
- Poker tournament where players start with the same number of chips without being able to rebuy or add-on. When a player is eliminated, he cannot come back after having bought new chips.
- Full or Full House
- Combination of cards, made of a Pair and a Three of a Kind.
- Gambler
- A player who plays using his psychological skills, his luck and mathematics. He is often difficult to “read” by his opponents.
- Grinder
- Player who plays games at a weaker level than his own. The goal of the grinder is to win against weaker players.
- Hand
- Best combination a player can get with 5 cards.
- Heads Up
- Final face-to-face.
- High card
- At the beginning of the game, to choose the first dealer, each player is given a card, and whoever gets the highest card is designated dealer.
- Hold’em
- Variant of the game of Poker. This variant is the most played around the world.
- Limp in or Slow Pay
- Underplay a big hand, by only following before the Flop.
- Limit
- Where the maximum value of a bet is limited. It can also limit the number of raises.
- Bet the Pot
- Make a bet of equal value as the pot.
- Mucker
- The player decides not to show his cards at the showdown if the opponent has shown a stronger hand or when all players have decided to skip.
- No limit
- Game where the players can bet the amount they please.
- Nuts
- Best possible hand at a point in time during the game.
- Omaha
- Variant of Poker where each player gets four private cards and shares five cards with the other players.
- On the rush
- A player is on the rush when the odds are on his side.
- Out of position
- A player is out of position when he is at the beginning or in the middle of the round.
- Outs
- Remaining cards that could allow an improvement of the hand.
- Opening
- A player opens when he is the first to speak in the first round of betting.
- Overcard
- Private cards which are higher than the community cards.
- Overpair
- Private pair which is higher than the community cards.
- Pair
- Combination of cards, where 2 cards are of the same kind, and the 3 others are all different. For example, two Jacks, a Queen, a 2 and a 5.
- Pocket Pair
- A pair in one’s private cards.
- Pile
- Tokens that a player has on the table.
- Paid Position
- In a tournament, the paid positions are the positions from which the players leave with real money. For example, out of 1,000 players, only the first 150 places might be paid.
- Pocket Hands or Starting Hands
- The two private cards that are dealt early in the game.
- Poker face
- Face without expressions, in order to avoid giving the opponents signs or hints.
- Closed Poker
- Poker where there are no community cards, as in Stud.
- Open Poker
- Poker where there are community cards, as in Texas Hold’em or Omaha.
- Pot
- All bets and blinds placed in the middle of the table and that will be won by the winner(s) of the game.
- Pot limit
- Game where the maximum bet the players can make is the value of the pot.
- Preflop
- Period before the Flop.
- Flush
- Combination where the 5 cards are consecutive, regardless of “colour”.
- Straight Flush
- Flush where the cards are of the same “colour”.
- Royal Flush
- Strongest combination of cards, where the 5 cards are consecutive from the 10 to the Ace, and in the same “colour”.
- Raise
- When a player bets more than the bet of an opponent. The re-raise is a raise on top of a raise.
- River
- Fifth and final card to come on the board. It is said that at the river, you either swim, or sink.
- Satellite
- Tournament where the prizes are seats to bigger tournaments.
- Shoot out
- Tournament in which there is no rebalancing of the tables when players are eliminated. There are the same number of tables at the beginning and the end of the tournament, and the winners of the tournament are the winners of each table.
- Side pot
- Auxiliary pot when a player goes all in and the betting continues.
- Signs or Tell
- Behaviour or attitude that can betray a player.
- Sit in
- When a player indicates that he wants to participate in the next game.
- Sit’n'go
- Tournament with few participants that begins only when the number of participants set is reached.
- Sit out
- When a player leaves his seat but without leaving the game.
- Small Blind
- Amount to be bet by the first player to the left of the dealer, before the cards are dealt. It is usually half the amount of the big blind.
- Split pot
- Pot shared between one or more players with hands of equal strength.
- String Bet
- Prohibited practice which consists in betting tokens in several times. Players must announce their bet and place the corresponding tokens on the board; they cannot make a bet by placing some tokens on the board, then some others, and more…
- Suited
- Having two cards of the same “colour”.
- Suited connector
- Having 2 cards of the same colour, in sequence.
- Top pair
- When the highest card of the board constitutes a pair with one of your private cards.
- Round of betting
- At Texas Hold’em, the betting rounds are: the distribution of private cards (preflop), the Flop, the Turn and the River.
- Turn
- Fourth open card to come on board.
- Under The Gun
- Player just after the Big Blind. This is a difficult position as the player needs to speak first, without “knowing” the attitude that will have opponents.
- Value bet
- Raise with the best possible hand, with the goal to be paid by the opponent.
Posted by Joe, Online Casino Reviewer in
