online poker Glossary

In this section, we provide a helpful poker glossary of common terms for poker games online. If you are new to Texas Holdem, this is a good page for you. Once you're familiar with the poker basics, practice your skills at one of our tables 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

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Active Player

A player who is still in the game, and hasn't folded.

Aggressive Action

A wager that could enable a player to win a pot without a showdown; a bet or raise.

Bet

The act of placing a wager in turn into the pot on any betting round or the chips put in the pot.

Big Blind

the largest regular blind in a game.

Blind Game

A game which utilizes a blind.

Boardcard

A community card in the center of the table, as in holdem or omaha.

Boxed Card

A card that appears faceup in the deck where all other cards are facedown.

Broken Game

A game no longer in action.

Button Games

Games in which a dealer button is used.

California Lowball

Ace-to-five lowball with a joker.

Capped

Describes the situation in limit poker in which the maximum number of raises on the betting round have been reached.

Cards speak

The face value of a hand in a showdown is the true value of the hand, regardless of a verbal announcement.

Collection Drop

A fee charged for each hand dealt.

Collection

The fee charged in a game (taken either out of the pot or from each player).

Color Change

A request to change the chips from one denomination to another.

Common Card

A card dealt faceup to be used by all players at the showdown in the games of stud poker whenever there are insufficient cards left in the deck to deal each player a card individually.

Cut Card

Another term for the bottom card.Can also refer to a special hard plastic card used to cut the deck.

Cut

to divide the deck into two sections in such a manner as to change the order of the cards.

Dead Card

A card that is not legally playable.

Dead Collection Blind

A fee posted by the player having the dealer button, used in some games as an alternative method of seat rental.

Dead Hand

A hand that is not legally playable.

Dead Money

Chips that are taken into the center of the pot because they are not considered part of a particular player's bet.

Deal Off

To take all the blinds and the button before changing seats or leaving the table. that is, participate through all the blind positions and the dealer position.

Deal Twice

When there is no more betting, agreeing to have the rest of the cards to come determine only half the pot, removing those cards, and dealing again for the other half of the pot.

Dealer Button

A flat disk that indicates the player who would be in the dealing position for that hand (if there were not a house dealer). normally just called "the button."

Deal

To give each player cards, or put cards on the board. As used in these rules, each deal refers to the entire process from the shuffling and dealing of cards until the pot is awarded to the winner.

Deck

A set of playing-cards. in these games, the deck consists of either:

• (1) 52 cards in seven-card stud, holdem, and omaha.
• (2) 53 cards (including the joker), often used in ace-to-five lowball and draw high.

Facecard

A king, queen, or jack.

Fixed limit

In limit poker, any betting structure in which the amount of the bet on each particular round is pre-set.

Flashed Card

A card that is partially exposed.

Floorperson

A casino employee who seats players and makes decisions.

Flush

A poker hand consisting of five cards of the same suit.

Fold

To throw a hand away and relinquish all interest in a pot.

Forced bet

A required wager to start the action on the first betting round (the normal way action begins in a stud game).

Fourth street

The second upcard in seven-card stud or the first boardcard after the flop in holdem (also called the turn card).

Full Buy

A buy-in of at least the minimum requirement of chips needed for a particular game.

Full House

A hand consisting of three of a kind and a pair.

Hand

• (1) all a player's personal cards.
• (2) the five cards determining the poker ranking.
• (3) a single poker deal.

Holecards

The cards dealt facedown to a player.

Insurance

A side agreement when someone is all-in for a player in a pot to put up money that guarantees a payoff of a set amount in case the opponent wins the pot.

Joker

The joker is a "partially wild card" in high draw and gai-pow poker and ace-to-five lowball. in high and gai-pow, it is used for aces, straights, and flushes. in lowball, the joker is the lowest unmatched rank in a hand.

Kansas City Lowball

A form of draw poker low also known as deuce-to-seven, in which the best hand is 7-5-4-3-2 and straights and flushes count against you.

Leg Up

Being in a situation equivalent to having won the previous pot, and thus liable to have to kill the following pot if you win the current pot.

List

The ordered roster of players waiting for a game.

Lock-up

A chip marker that holds a seat for a player.

Lowball

A draw game where the lowest hand wins. See also Kansas City Lowball

Lowcard

The lowest upcard at seven-card stud, which is required to bet.

Miscall

An incorrect verbal declaration of the ranking of a hand.

Misdeal

A mistake on the dealing of a hand which causes the cards to be reshuffled and a new hand to be dealt.

Missed Blind

A required bet that is not posted when it is your turn to do so.

Must Move

In order to protect the main game, a situation where the players of a second game must move into the first game as openings occur.

Openers

In jacks-or-better draw, the cards held by the player who opens the pot that show the hand qualifies to be opened. example: you are first to bet and have a pair of kings; the kings are called your openers.

Option

The choice to raise a bet given to a player with a blind.

Overblind

Also called oversize blind. a blind used in some pots that is bigger than the regular big blind, and usually increases the stakes proportionally.

Pass

• (1) decline to bet. in a pass-and-out game, this differs from a check, because a player who passes must fold.
• (2) decline to call a wager, at which point you must discard your hand and have no further interest in the pot.

Pat

not drawing any cards in a draw game.

Play Behin

Have chips in play that are not in front of you (allowed only when waiting for chips that are already purchased). this differs from table stakes.

Play Over Box

A clear plastic box used to cover and protect the chips of an absent player when someone plays over that seat.

Play Over

To play in a seat when the occupant is absent.

Play The Board

Using all five community cards for your hand in holdem.

Position

• (1) The relation of a player's seat to the blinds or the button.
• (2) the order of acting on a Betting round or deal.

Push

When a new dealer replaces an existing dealer at a particular table.

Raise

To increase the amount of a prior wager. this increase must meet certain specifications, depending on the game, to reopen the betting and count toward a limit on the number of raises allowed.

Reraise

To raise someone's raise.

Scoop

To win both the high and the low portions of a pot in a split-pot game.

Scramble

A face-down mixing of the cards.

Setup

Two suited decks, each with different colored backs, to replace current decks in a game.

Short buy

A buy-in that is less than the required minimum buy-in.

Shuffle

The act of mixing the cards before a hand.

Tournament

A poker competition, normally with an entry fee and prizes.

Upcards

Cards that are dealt faceup for opponents to see in stud games.

Wager

• (1) to bet or raise.
• (2) the chips used for betting or raising.