POKER TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

Add-On – A purchase of more chips (optional) at the end of a re-buy period in a tournament.

All-In  – When a player bets all of his/her chips. In online poker, you may be deemed 'all-in' when you are disconnected. (even if you have chips remaining)

Ante  – Money placed into the pot before a hand begins. Similar to a 'blind' except antes apply to every player at the table.

Backdoor Flush Draw  – Needing two cards to make your flush.

Bad Beat  – When a good hand is beaten by a lucky draw, or when a player goes runner-runner to win.

Blind Raise  – When a player raises without looking at his/her hand.

Broadway  – An ace-high straight. (A-K-Q-J-10)

Buy-In  – How much money you bring to the table. Also means how much it costs to enter a tournament.

Cash Out – To leave a game and convert your chips to cash.

Chip Dumping  – A cheating tactic used by two players or more at the same table. The cheating players will try to get themselves heads-up against each other in a pot, then the player with the bigger stack will 'dump' chips by raising, and then folding to a re-raise by the player with the smaller stack no matter what cards their holding.

Community Cards  – Face-up cards every player can use in combination with their hole cards to make the best five-card winning poker hand.

Co-op Raising  – Cheating players who raise and re-raise each other pushing unsuspecting opponents out of a pot.

Deposit Bonus  – Money given to you when you deposit money for the first time at a poker room. This bonus is usually the largest you will get.

Donkey / Fish  –  A player that takes lots of chances when the odds of them winning is low.

Early Position  – Position on a round of betting where the player must act before most of the other players at the table. It's considered two positions to the left of the big blind.

Felted  – When you lose all your chips at the table.

Flop  – The initial three community cards a dealer lays out in Texas Hold'em poker.

Going South  – When a player wins big, leaves the table, then comes back but without the money/chips they previously won. This is very common online.

Heads-Up  – Playing against just one opponent.

Implied-Odds  – Calculated the same way as pot-odds, but you take into consideration estimated future betting.

Inside Straight Draw  – Four cards which require another between the top and the bottom card to complete a straight. Players who catch this card make an 'inside straight'.

Kicker  – The highest unpaired side-card in a player's hand.

Late Position – Position on a round of betting where the player must act after most of the other players have acted. It's considered to be the two positions next to the button.

Limit Poker – A game that has fixed minimum and maximum betting intervals along with a prescribed number of raises.

Limp-In – When a player calls the big blind in the first round of betting hoping to see the flop without any raises being made.

Lobby  – Where you can access the tournaments and table listings.

Multi-Table  – A tournament with up to 2000 players in the field.

Multi-Tabling  – Playing more than one table at a time. Some players use more than two monitors to multi-table.

Mucking – Throwing your hand away (folding) face down to the dealer.

No-Limit – A game where players can bet as much they like (as long as they have it in front of them) on any round of betting.

Nuts – The best possible hand at the time. The nuts can change after another community card is seen.

Hole Cards  – The down cards each player is dealt.

On-Tilt – Players who play aggressively or erratically after losing a big hand, or after losing continuous hands in a row.

Open-Ended Straight Draw – Four consecutive cards whereby one additional (consecutive) card is needed at either end to make a straight.

Outs – The number of cards remaining in the deck you could catch to win a particular hand.

Quads – Having four-of-a-kind.

Pot-Limit – A game where the maximum bet can equal the pot only.

Pre-Flop – Any action (betting) before the community cards are dealt.

Pot-Odds – Ratio of the current size of the pot to the cost of a contemplated call.

Railbird – Someone who hangs around a poker room and/or watches games taking place. In online poker it's common for 'railbirds' to type comments in the chat box.

Rainbow Board – When community cards are showing not more than one kind of suit in a given betting round. Note: A board is still considered 'rainbow' on fifth street if it was rainbow on fourth street.

Rag Card – Name for a player’s low 'kicker card'.

Rake  – The amount the poker site takes every hand. Most sites don’t take more than $4 per pot.

Raked Hands – Each time you play a hand, money is taken out of the pot. Each hand where money is taken out is considered a raked hand.

Re-Buy – The amount of money a player pays to add a fixed number of chips to his/her stack in a tournament.

Reload Bonus  – Bonus money you receive for depositing. Reload bonuses are different from initial deposit bonus.

Re-Raise – Raising a raise.

Runner-Runner – When a player gets two consecutive community cards (turn and river) they need to win the hand.

Small / Big Blind  – Before the first round of betting, the two players to the left of the dealer button must put in chips/money called a 'blind'. The first player to the left of the dealer button is the small blind, and the second player is the big blind. The amount of the small blind is usually half the big blind.

Set / Trips – If you start the hand having two of the same numbered cards say two 5’s, and a 5 comes on board, you have a 'set'. If you start the hand having two different cards, say 7-8, and two 8’s come on board, you have 'trips'.

Side Pot – A separate pot(s) which is contested by remaining active players when one or more players are all-in.

Sit n Go  – A 'sit n go' is just like a tournament, but with fewer players.

Slow-Play / Trapping – When a player has a big hand, but acts like they have a weak hand (checks) to induce betting from their opponent.

Straddle – A blind bet made by the player left of the big blind (usually double the big blind) before the cards are dealt.

Stuck – A player who has lost money or is losing in a game.

Tight – A player who doesn't play many hands. A 'tight game' is one without much action (betting). Note: A 'tight' may also be used to describe a player having a full-house.

Top-Top – Having top pair with the highest 'kicker' card possible.

Under-The-Gun  – The player sitting directly left of the big blind in a given hand. A player that is 'under-the-gun' will always be first to act in the first betting round.