Poker Glossary

Welcome back gang. We hope your weekend was agreeable, sociable and profitable.

On Friday, I was a shattered individual when I left you. I had poker formulae swimming past my eyes and I pledged that I would endeavour to explain some of the game’s more technical terms. I’ve also decided to include some of the game’s slang as it should help offer colour to the piece.

(Incidentally, anyone looking for a general overview of Hold ‘em should check out our earlier articles that begin on the 17th October 2008)
A

Advertise: There is a lounge lizard character that occasionally pops up in The Simpsons that claims, ‘Disco Stu don’t need to advertise’. Most of the time, nor will you. However, if you ‘advertise’ in poker, you show your cards after making a bluff in an attempt to portray yourself as a major player.

Avatar: This can mean the incarnation of a god. For online poker, it means the graphical image of the player. For some online egos, it means both.

B

B&M: An old school ‘real’ poker room, as described by members of the online community; short for ‘bricks and mortar.’

Back Door: when a player hits a flush or a straight using both the turn and river cards. Usually causes the slamming of doors in the B&M world.

Belly Blow: to fill an inside straight (one with only four outs). Very apt.

Bicycle: the lowest possible straight - ace to five.

Big Slick: A-K

Blow Back: handing back all or most of your profits. The price of over confidence.

Bobtail: a straight that is possible to fill at both ends: open ended with eight outs.

C

Card Protector: used in a live game, it is usually either a disc or a lucky novelty placed on the player’s hole cards, primarily to prevent them being accidentally cleared by the dealer. Particularly useful in seats one and ten.

Coffee-Housing: psychological warfare. Essentially it means chatting about your hand whilst in play in attempt to unnerve your opponent(s). Has a sense of ironic politeness.

Come: usually, ‘to play on the come’ – trying to improve a trash hand by seeing one more card.

Cut-Off: the player before the button.

D

Dead Money: the stack in front of a less than gifted opponent.

Dog: underdog.

F

Family Pot: one in which most of the players see the flop.

Free Ride: to be allowed to say in the hand without being forced to pay.

G

Gutshot: See Belly Blow.

H

High-Low: both the high hand and low hand share the pot.

I

Inside Straight: four cards needing a middle one to make a straight; eg 9-T-Q-K

J

Juice: Rake.

L

Limp: to call rather than raise; mostly used pre-flop. Beloved of call stations.

Live Player: short term owner of Dead Money.

Lock: the nuts.

M

Mechanic: for obvious reasons, only used in live games – a cheat who can alter the pack.

N

Nuts: an unbeatable hand. However, the ‘nut flop’ is not necessarily the’ nuts’ after the turn or the river.

O

Omaha: Hold ‘em variant, often played High-Low, in which players receive four hole cards and must use two of them to combine with the flop. For example, unlike Hold ‘em, the board cannot win and players need two suited hole cards to complete a flush.

Over The Top: a reraise

P

Pip: on a non court, the symbol that denotes its rank.

Play Back: reraise

Poker Tracker: a piece of software that ‘tracks’ hands and provides statistics on plays

PTBB: Poker Tracker Big Blind. Has become the industry standard to measure profit/loss in online cash games. A PTBB is 2x the big blind/100 hands. EG a player is dealt 100 hands at a 1-2NL game and wins €40. He/she has a PTBB of 10. He/she has won 20 big blinds and so we halve it to get the PTBB.
If another player loses €40in the same game over 100 hands, the PTBB is -10. A PTBB above 5 denotes a steady, successful player.

R

Rabbit-Hunting: to discover ‘what would have happened’ in a hand that terminated at the flop. The dealer reveals the turn and the river cards.

Rags: worthless cards.

Railbird: spectator, often someone who has busted out and is supporting a friend.

Rainbow: flop of three suits.

Represent: a betting pattern that suggests a certain holding. EG, if some raises on JT pre-flop and sees a flop of A-9-6, they will often bet in a way that ‘represents’ AK or AQ.

Riffle: skilful manipulation of chips.

ROI: an acronym for Return On Investment. Used mainly for online tournaments, it is expressed as a positive or negative percentage of the money spent on entrance fees. E.g., if a €100+8 ‘Double or Nothing’ Tournament yields €200 and a player wins his/her first tournament, we say he/she a ROI of (approx) 92.6%

Runner-Runner: a hand that is helped by both the turn and the river. Often hit by the kind of player who promptly leaves the table.

S

Sand-Bagging: check-raising; or, sometimes, to be caught between two raisers.

Softplay: not to be confused with the widely known ‘Slowplay’; to go easy on an opponent.

Squeeze: to look at one’s hole cards in such a way that doesn’t lift them from the table.

Straddle: a blind raise made before the deal.

String Bet: an illegal, two motion bet: a player puts some chips into the pot and then attempts to bet more.

T

Tapped Out: broke.

U

Under The Gun: the first player to act after the blinds.

W

Whale: a loser with a big bank roll.

Whipsaw: a word for the action that catches a caller in the middle of two raisers.

Wired: two paired hole cards.

We hope this glossary helps but, in the days to come, if there are any other terms you would like us to explain, please drop us a line and we will do our best.