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| Home |Texas Hold-em PokerPOKER TERMS
Poker has some unique terms which you should learn - not only will it help you sound like a pro - but you will understand more the going ons at the poker tables:
Action - As in bet, whos turn is to bet, you would ask, wheres the action at now? or if there was some large betting at a certain table or hand, you would say, "gee there was some heavy action at the main table just now"
All in - When you bet all your chips you have gone "all in".
Bad Beat - Unavoidable, but happens (too often to mention) when you have statiscally have the better hand to win, Such as A A, and someone calls you with a J - 5 and they draw 2 pairs and you lose, that is a "bad beat" which sometimes leads to a tilt (read further down).
Bicycle - Is the term for a straight A - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 hand
Blank - A card that does not improve your hand is a blank card.
Boat - Term for a full house, such as wow, that's a nice boat you have there
Bump - To raise the betting, for example if the blinds are 20 and you have a good hand you could say "I'm going to bump up the bet to R100".
Calling Station - A Player who just has to be in every hand and will call no matter what cards they have. Try and avoid becoming one.
Connectors (and also Suited Connectors) - two consecutive cards, such as 8 -9. Suited connectors (two cards of the same suit, such as 7 hearts and 8 hearts) are amongst the most overplayed hands in texas-hold-em.
Cut Off - Is the seat to the immediate right of the dealer button, and betting wise, is considered the second best seat to be in (With the dealer being the last to call, in the strongest position.)
Donkey (AKA Donk) - A bad poker player
Fish (or to go Fishing) - A sucker. If you were suckered into a bet by a previous check call, you could say, geez what a fish I was - and obviously the player who got you, is the one who went fishing
Fold - To discard your cards and no longer be in play.
Free Card - When everyone checks and you get to see the next card without having to bet - very handy when you are in a weaker position.
Gutshot - The term for an inside straight draw, when you are sitting with say the 8, 9, J, Q the 10 would be the gut shot draw - this is one of the times where a free card draw comes in handy.
Heads Up (Also Head to Head) - Either the last two players left in a tournament, or a quick game between 2 players.
Kicker - Is the card to determine who has the better hand in the event of a tie - for example if you have K - J and another player has K - 9 and there is a K, 10, 7, 5, 3 then you would win the hand with a pair of Kings with a J kicker.
Lay Down - To fold a strong hand when a player believes someone has a better hand. for example if you have pocket (Read down) Kings and then on the flop there is an A, J , 5 you lay down the kings to a high bet, believing the better holds an ace.
Limp - Is to bet the minimum required in order to see the next round of cards
Nuts - To have the nuts is to have the best possible hand on the table - for example if your hole cards are A - 5 hearts, and the community cards are J hearts, 10 hearts, 8 clubs, A spades, and 4 hearts, you have the Nuts, as there is no possible hand that can beat you.
On the Bubble - In A Tournament say when the top 20 places are paid and there are 21 players left then the players are "On the Bubble".
Pocket - Your first two cards dealt to you. You could say "gee I was dealt pocket a's and lost to two pairs J - 5. What a bad beat!"
quads - easy enuff - 4 of a kind.
Rake - The percentage taken by the casino of the betting.
Riffle - To shuffle your chips.
River (And River Rat) - The last card dealt is called the River. A river Rat is someone who has a losing hand but keeps playing and gets saved by the card dealt on the river.
Set - a set of cards is a term for 3 of a kind.
Suckout - Is when your better hand is beaten by a player getting lucky with hitting the one card they needed in order to win.
Tight - A tight player is a player who rarely bets and only calls his extremely strong hands.
Tilt (Or On Tilt) - The worst place to be. Happens when you let your emotions get the better of you - especially after a bad beat and you go on tilt - which is to play recklessly.
Wheel - Same as Bicycle - a straight A- 5.
Slang Term For Card Hands
AA Pocket Rockets, American Airlines, Bullets, Two Pips
AK Big Slick (originally referred to A?K?, but the name has become common for any Ace-King, especially suited), Anna Kournikova (looks good but rarely wins), Machine Gun (AK-47), Walking Back to Houston ("I can see you learned to play in Houston. Those Houston players would come to Dallas and play that ace-king, but they'd always end up against a pair of aces. That's why we call that hand ‘Walking back to Houston.'" - T.J. Cloutier, quoted by Barry Greenstein)
AQ Little Slick, Big Chick, Mrs. Slick
AJ Blackjack, Ajax
AT Johnny Moss, A-Team
A8 Dead Man's Hand (by analogy with Wild Bill's aces and eights)
A3 Baskin-Robbins (plays off the number 31: 31 Flavors), Friday The 13th (An ace played low would be considered equivalent to 1)
A2 Acey-Deucey, Drinking Age
KK Cowboys, Elvis Presley, King Kong, Ace Magnets
KQ Marriage, Royalty
KQ suited Royal Marriage
KQ unsuited Mixed Marriage
K?Q? Valentine's Day
KJ Kojak, King John
K9 Canine, Dog, Fido, Sawmill, The Donk
K7 King Salmon
K3 King Crab, Alaska Hand, Three Kings
QQ Cowgirls, Ladies, Siegfried and Roy
QJ Maverick (the theme song for the television series Maverick speaks of the title character as "livin' on jacks and queens")
QT Q-Tip, Varkonyi (named after Robert Varkonyi, 2002 World Series of Poker main event champion, who rather liked this hand)
Q9 Quinine
Q7 Computer Hand
Q3 Gay Waiter, San Francisco Busboy ("Queen with a tray")
Q3 suited Posh Gay Waiter
Q?3? Flaming Gay Waiter
JJ Fishhooks, Hooks, Jokers, Kid Dyn-o-mite
JT Cloutier (play on name: T. J. Cloutier)
J?9? T.J. Cloutier (T.J. flopped three straight flushes with this hand in one year)
J7 Jack Daniel's (Jack Old No. 7)
J6 Railroad Hand
J5 Motown, Jackson Five
J4 Flat Tire ("What's a jack for?")
TT Binary, Dimes, TNT
T5 Five and Dime, Woolworths
T4 Good Buddy, Over and Out, Roger That (play on radio code 10-4), Broderick Crawford
T2 Doyle Brunson, Texas Dolly (Brunson won the World Series of Poker Main Event with it twice in a row—1976 and 1977)
99 Wayne Gretzky (his jersey number), German Virgin ("nein, nein" means "no, no" in German)
98 Oldsmobile
96 Big Lick, Porno, Dinner for Two (play on number 69)
96 suited Prom Night ("Sixty-nine suited")
9?6? Valentine's Day
95 Dolly Parton (she sang "9 to 5"), Full-time job
94 Gold Rush, San Francisco (play off the number 49)
93 Jack Benny (play off his running gag of always being 39 years old), The Sik
92 Montana Banana
88 Little Oldsmobile, Snowmen, Infinities, Double Infinity
86 Maxwell Smart (Agent 86 in Get Smart)
83 Raquel Welch
77 Hockey Sticks, Candy Canes, Walking Sticks
76 Philadelphia, Union Oil, Trombones (from the song "76 Trombones")
75 Heinz, Ketchup (play on Heinz's 57 varieties)
74 Double Down, Blackjack hand
73 Hachem (named for Joe Hachem, winner of 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event who won the $7.5 million prize with this hand when he flopped a straight)
72 offsuit The Hammer, Beer Hand (72 offsuit is the worst possible starting hand; this name implies that you should order a beer rather than attempt play these cards.)
72 suited Velvet Hammer
66 Route 66
63 Blocky
62 Ainsworth
55 Presto, Speed Limit, Nickels
54 Jesse James, Colt 45 (both play off the number 45), Moneymaker (winning hand of Chris Moneymaker, 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event champion)
52 Bomber (B-52 bomber)
44 Sailboats (looks like two sails), Midlife Crisis, Magnum, Luke Skywalker ("May the fours be with you")
4?4? Darth Vader ("Dark Side Of The Fours")
33 Crabs, Hooters
32 Can of Corn
32 offsuit Houta Hand (pronounced like "Hooter", named for a Native American dealer who advocates playing this hand)
22 Ducks (from "deuces"), Swans, Sleepers, Quack Quack
any pocket pair Wired pair, Wired (for example, a starting hand of 8-8 might be called "wired eights" or "eights wired") | Poker Slang |
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