Poker Glossary

All-in

When all your chips are in the pot, you are said to be All In. When you are All In you can only win as much as you have put into the pot, but you can win this amount from every player.

Bet

To bet is to be the first to put any chips into the pot in each betting round. This person "opens the betting".

Blind

A compulsory bet made by a designated player or players before the initial deal. A blind becomes part of that player's bet if they come into the pot. In Texas Hold'em there is the small blind equal to half the small bet and the big blind equal to the small bet.

Bluff

To bet a weak hand in hopes of causing your opponents to fold.

Board

The five community cards in Texas Hold'em or the player's four exposed cards in Seven Card Stud.

Call

To match the current bet made by the players before you. If one player has bet $1 and another has raised by $1 then it costs $2 to call.

Check

If no one has bet before you in a betting round, you have the option to check. This means that the action moves past you and the next player decides what to do (it is the equivalent of calling a bet of $0).

Check-raise

To check initially and then raise an opponent who has bet behind you.

Connector/s

Cards sequenced in rank, such as a nine and an eight or a queen and a jack.

Community Cards

The cards that are dealt face up on the table and which belong equally to each player active in the hand.

Flop

The first three cards community cards in Texas Hold'em. Or to make a hand using your hold cards and the first three community cards, as in "he flopped a flush".

Hole Cards

Any cards dealt face-down to a player and which are for that player's use only.

Heads Up

Playing one-on-one.

Pot Limit

A betting structure in which the size of a player's bet is limited only by the current size of the pot.

Pot Odds

The ratio of the size of the pot compared to the size of the bet a player must call to continue in the hand. For example, if the pot contains $10 and you must call a $5 bet; this gives you pot odds of 2 to 1.

Raise

To increase the amount of the previous bet. For example, if the tables betting limit is $1 and player A bets $1, player B can fold, call $1, or raise by $1 (making the total bet by him in that round $2).

River

The fifth and final community card. Also used as a verb for being beaten by a hand that an opponent makes on the river card (i.e. "I got rivered when that Ace hit!").

Showdown

The point in a hand when all the betting is over and the players still vying for the pot turn their cards face up to determine the winning hand or hands.