The Basic Poker Glossary

Poker is a game with a long history. The shape and the concept of the game have both altered over the centuries, producing the family of poker games that exist today. As the game has been transformed from casino poker to online poker, and as it has developed into a wide range of different poker variations, the poker vocabulary of commonly used game phrases has also continued to expand. Like any game, poker uses its own particular jargon to describe the poker rules, the game's processes, and techniques and poker strategy that have been made famous over the centuries.

The poker dictionary is long and extensive. Some words pertain only to specific poker game variations, while others have fallen out of use or become obsolete. A cache of key phrases, however, does exist. Every poker player must know and understand what these phrases mean in order to fully participate in the game.

Ante: This is a mandatory bet used in some poker games that forces every player to contribute to the pot at the beginning of a game. It is commonly heard in the popular phrase, "Up the ante."

All-In: When a player bets all of their remaining chips on one hand.

Blind: Another type of mandatory bet that comes in two parts: small and big. The small blind is usually half the amount of the big blind. The blinds move around the table in a counter-clockwise direction starting with the player on the dealer's left.

Call: A type of bet that matches the current bet.

Check: The act of non-betting that a player may opt to do if no bet amount has been offered yet. It passes on the betting responsibility to the next player.

Community Cards: The shared cards dealt face up on the table that all players may use. Found in Texas Hold'Em poker and Omaha poker.

Flop, the: The first round in community card games that reveals the first three community cards.

Fold: To refuse to match the current bet and thus forfeit one's cards and exit the game.

Flush: Having five cards of the same suit.

Full House: A 5-card hand composed of a Pair and Three of a Kind.

No Limit: A poker gambling style that does not limit the maximum amount of a game's bets.

Pocket Cards (Hole Cards) : The first two or four private cards dealt to players when they play poker.

Poker Tournaments: A competitive series of poker games that eliminates players when they run out of chips.

Pot: The total amount of money a player stands to win at the end of a game.

Raise: When a player chooses to increase the current bet.

River, the: The last round in community card games that reveals the last community card.

Split Pot: When two players have the same final hand and must share the winnings.

Straight: 5 consecutive cards (e.g. 4-5-6-7-8).

Turn, the: The second round in community card games that reveals the fourth community card.

Gene Marshall is a renowned online poker buff who works for many popular poker web sites. Additional articles by Gene Marshall on the topic of internet poker are obtainable on the internet. He writes articles about casino poker and poker online.

Poker Terms - A Basic Poker Glossary

I was looking through all of the articles on EzineArticles.com the other day and I realized that no-one had actually covered a reasonably complete list of poker terms. I've been harping on why players new to poker should know about the lingo used in poker before jumping into the fray for a while, yet I never really focused on poker terms. My bad. So here is the first installment of the most common poker terms. Some of them are specific to online poker (OP) while others apply to poker in general.

Advance Action (OP)

This option is available in many online poker rooms. When you know what your next move is going to be and it is not your turn yet, you can already indicate what you are going to do with this option.

All In

This simply means you are betting all the chips you have. Players usually go all in when they are running out of chips yet they do not want to fold. As a result, a player who goes all in has the chance to win all the bets up to the last amount he put in.

Ante

This is the small amount of chips that each player at the table has to put in before he can participate in the game. In some games, instead of an ante, a blind is used.

Avatar (OP)

This is your online representation of yourself. Most online poker rooms have a variety of characters which you can choose from to represent yourself.

Bad Beat

You are a bad beat when you seem to have everything going for you at the table and then suddenly the statistical underdog comes up and beats you.

Bet The Pot

When you play pot limit games, you can bet an amount equal to the pot. Say, if the pot is at $100, then you bet $100 as well.

Blind

This is a mandatory bet used in place of the ante. In a game, there is a big blind and a small blind. The blinds are part of the player's bet and rotates around the table.

Big Blind

Generally, the big blind is the same amount as the lower stake in a poker game. The big blind is to the left of the small blind who is to the left of the dealer.

Board

For Texas Hold 'em Poker, the cards on the table - the community cards - are also known as the board.

Burn

Normally used for off line poker games, the top card in the deck is discarded - or burned - before the next card is shown face up. This minimizes the chances of cheating. In online poker, this is not done.

Button

In a real life poker game, this is a marker - usually round - that is used to indicate who the dealer is. It is also called the dealer button but is normally shortened to just "button." In an online game, the button serves the same purpose but is of course, a virtual marker. The button is only used in poker games wherein the position relative to the dealer is of any importance.

Buy In

A buy in is basically how much a person has to pay in order to play poker at a table. Most any poker game - even home games - has a minimum buy in. In most cases, the buy in for a poker game would be about 10 times as much as the big blind or the higher stake. However, there are always exceptions.

Call

This is a term used during betting. For example, if the last person bets $50, the next person up for betting will CALL if he matches the $50 bet.

Check

Another term used during betting, checking is allowed when there are no pending bets on the table. A person may check if he does not want to put in any money.

Collusion

This is a form of cheating which can be used for both online and offline games. What happens is that two or more players at the table exchange vital information in order to gain an advantage over the other players. Of course, this is more easily done online than offline.

Community Cards

Different poker games have community cards laid out on the table. These cards are shown face up and are shared by all the players at the table. They can be used in combination with the hand held by each player. The most popular community card poker games are Texas Hold 'Em and Omaha Poker.

Dead Hand

Quite obviously, a dead hand is one which is not included in the game anymore.

Flop

Used specifically for Texas Hold 'Em Poker, the flop is composed of the first three cards that are dealt face up (and thus become the community cards).

Flush

Five suited cards in one hand.

Fold

A player folds and withdraws himself from the game when he deems his cards unplayable. Folding is a necessary part of poker even if beginners find it difficult to do so at certain times.

Raise

Another term used during rounds of betting. More than just calling the bet of the person before him, a poker player can actually increase the amount by raising the bet. If he does so, the other player will be forced to match the raise or fold instead.

These are only some of the terms that you would most likely encounter when playing poker. Reading and memorizing them would do a certain amount of good but there is nothing like practicing and actually using these terms for you to be able to remember them all.

Paul Graham is a poker enthusiast, a writer, researcher, speaker, and consultant. You can visit his blog and sign up free to get blog updates by email, along with game winning tips, tested poker strategies, the latest poker news, free poker tools, additional resources, and a whole lot more! Go now to http://www.SmokePoker.com and you'll also receive a Free Poker Bot for streamlining and automating your poker play, as a thank you for visiting!