Poker glossary: the terms every player should know

Poker has its own language. Here are the words you will hear at the tables, explained in one line each.

Positions and table

• Button (dealer) — the seat that acts last after the flop; it moves one seat left every hand.
• Small blind / big blind — the two forced bets to the left of the button.
• Under the gun (UTG) — the first player to act pre-flop.
• Cutoff — the seat right before the button.
• In position — acting after your opponent; a big advantage.
• Heads-up — only two players.
• Short-handed — a table with six or fewer players.

Streets and cards

• Hole cards — your private cards.
• Pre-flop, flop, turn, river — the four betting rounds; the board gets 3, 1 and 1 cards.
• Board — the community cards.
• Kicker — the side card that breaks a tie.
• Suited / offsuit — two hole cards of the same / different suits.
• Connectors — cards in a row, like 8-9.
• Pocket pair — two hole cards of the same rank.
• Nuts — the best possible hand on that board.
• Draw — a hand that needs one more card (flush draw, straight draw).
• Outs — the cards that complete your draw.

Actions

• Check, bet, call, raise, fold — the basic actions.
• All-in — betting all your chips.
• Limp — just calling the big blind pre-flop.
• 3-bet / 4-bet — the second / third raise in a round.
• C-bet — a bet on the flop by the pre-flop raiser.
• Check-raise — checking, then raising after an opponent bets.
• Bluff — betting a weak hand to make a better one fold.
• Value bet — betting a strong hand to get called by worse.
• Shove / jam / push — going all-in.
• Muck — throw away your cards without showing.
• Straddle — an optional blind raise before the cards are dealt.

Money and the room

• Buy-in — the money you bring to a table or pay to enter a tournament.
• Stack — your chips at the table.
• Pot — the chips in the middle.
• Side pot — the extra pot when a player is all-in for less.
• Rake — the room's fee from each pot; at Poker Taco 5% with a cap, no rake without a flop.
• Rakeback — part of the rake returned to you; up to 5% by VIP level.
• Bankroll — the money you set aside only for poker.
• Freeroll — a tournament with no entry fee.
• Guarantee (GTD) — the minimum prize pool of a tournament.
• Jackpot / bad beat jackpot — a special prize for very rare hands.

Formats

• Cash game — chips are real money; join and leave any time.
• MTT — multi-table tournament. See tournament strategy.
• Sit & Go — a tournament that starts when the seats fill.
• Spin & Go — a three-player sit & go with a random prize up to ×50. See Spin & Go strategy.
• NLH / PLO — No-Limit Hold'em / Pot-Limit Omaha.

Players and slang

• Tilt — playing badly after losing or getting upset.
• Bad beat — losing a hand you were a big favourite to win.
• Cooler — a strong hand losing to an even stronger one; nobody's fault.
• Fish — a weak player. Shark / reg — a strong regular.
• Nit — a very tight player.
• Tight / loose — playing few / many hands.
• Passive / aggressive — mostly calling / mostly betting and raising.
• VPIP — how often a player puts money in the pot voluntarily.
• Variance — the natural ups and downs of results.
• GG — "good game".

Now you speak poker. Learn the Hold'em rules and the hand rankings, then try it at the table.

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