Poker Language

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R

Rack: A plastic tray which holds 100 chips in 5 stacks of 20.

Rag Off: To get a card on the river that doesn't help you.

Ragged Flop: Flop cards that are of no use to any player's hand.

Rags: Worthless cards; blanks.

Rail: The sideline at a poker table.

Railbird: A non-playing spectator or kibitzer, often used to describe a broke ex-player.

Rainbow: Three or four cards of different suits.

Raise: To call and increase the previous bet.

Rake: Chips taken from the pot by the dealer on behalf of the house.

Rank: The value of a card. Each card has a suit and a rank.

Rap: To knock the table, indicating a check.

Read: To try and determine your opponent's cards or betting strategy.

Rebuy: To start again, for an additional entry fee, in tournament play (where permitted).

Redraw: A draw to an even better hand when you currently are holding the nuts.

Represent: To bet in a way that suggests you are holding a strong hand.

Re-raise: To raise a raise.

Reverse Implied Odds: The ratio of the amount of money now in the pot to the amount of money you will have to call to continue from the present round to the end of the hand.

Riffle: To shuffle; or to fidget with your chips.

Ring Game: A non-tournament game.

River: In flop games, the last round of betting on the fifth street card; in stud games, the last round of betting on the seventh street card.

Rock: A very tight, conservative player.

Rock Garden: A table populated with rocks.

Roll: To turn a card face-up.

Rolled Up: In Seven-Card Stud, three of a kind on third street (the first three cards).

Rough: A lowball hand that is not perfect.

Round of Betting: The period during which each active player has the right to check, bet or raise. It ends when the last bet or raise has been called by all players still in the hand.

Rounder: A professional player who "makes the rounds" of the big poker games in the country.

Royal Flush: The best possible poker hand, consisting of the 10 through the Ace, all the same suit.

Run: A straight, or a series of good cards.

Run Over: Playing aggressively in an attempt to control the other players.

Runner-Runner: A hand made on the last two cards.

Running: Two needed cards that come as the last two cards dealt.

Running Bad: On a losing streak.

Running Good: On a winning streak.

Running Pair: When the last two cards on the board make a pair.

Rush: Several winning hands in a short period of time.

S

Sandbag: To check a strong hand with the intention of raising or re-raising.

Satellite: A small-stakes tournament whose winner obtains cheap entry into a bigger tournament.

Scare Card: An up card that looks as though it might have made a strong hand.

School: The players in a regular game.

Scoop: To win the entire pot.

Scooting: Passing chips to another player after winning a pot; horsing.

Seat Charge: In public cardrooms, an hourly fee for playing poker.

Seating List: In most cardrooms, if there is no seat available for you when you arrive, you can put your name on a list to be seated when a seat opens up.

Second Pair: In flop games, pairing the second highest card on board.

See: To call.

Semi-Bluff: To bet with a hand which isn't the best hand, but which has a reasonable chance of improving.

Set: Three of a kind; trips (usually applies to a pair in hand and a matching card on board).

Set You In: To bet as much as your opponent has left in front of him.

Seventh Street: The final betting round on the last card in Seven-Card Stud.

Shill: A cardroom employee, often an off-duty dealer, who plays with house money to make up a game.

Shootout: A tournament format in which a single player ends up with the entire prize money, or in which play continues at each table until only one player remains.

Short Odds: The odds for an event that has a good chance of occurring.

Short-Stacked: Having only a small number of chips left.

Show One, Show All: A rule that says if a player shows their cards to anyone at the table they can be asked to show everyone else.

Showdown: The point at the end of the final round of betting when all the remaining player's cards are turned up to see which player has won the pot.

Side Card: An unmatched card which may determine the winner between two otherwise equal hands.

Side Pot: A separate pot contested by other players when one player is all-in.

Sixth Street: In Seven-Card Stud, the fourth round of betting on the sixth card.

Skin: To fix the cards; cheat.

Slow Play: Disguising the value of a strong hand by underbetting, to trick an opponent.

Slowroll: To reveal one's hand slowly at showdown, one card at a time, to heighten the drama.

Small Blind: The smaller of the two compulsory bets in flop games, made by the player in the first position to the dealer's left.

Smooth: The best possible low hand with a particular high card.

Smooth Call: To call rather than raise an opponent's bet.

Snap Off: To beat another player, often a bluffer, and usually without a powerful hand.

Speed: The level of aggressiveness with which you play. Fast play is more aggressive, slow play is more passive.

Splash Around: To play more loosely than you should.

Splash The Pot: To throw your chips into the pot, instead of placing them in front of you. This makes it difficult for the dealer to determine the amount you bet.

Split: A tie.

Spread: When a cardroom starts a table for a particular game, it is said to spread that game. If you want to know what games are played in a particular place, you can ask what they spread.

Spread Limit: Betting limits in which there is a fixed minimum and maximum bet for each betting round.

Squeeze: To look slowly at the extremities of your hole cards, without removing them from the table, to worry your opponents and heighten the drama.

Stack: The pile of chips in front of a player.

Stand Pat: To decline an opportunity to draw cards.

Stand-Off: A tie, in which the players divide the pot equally.

Stay: To remain in a hand with a call rather than a raise.

Steal: A bluff in late position, attempting to steal the pot from a table of apparently weak hands.

Steaming: Playing poorly and wildly, often because the player is emotionally upset.

Steel Wheel: In lowball, a straight flush, five high (Ace-2-3-4-5).

Straddle: To make a blind raise before the deal; big blind.

Straight: Five consecutive cards of mixed suits.

Straight Flush: Five consecutive cards of the same suit.

Streak: A run of good or bad cards.

String Bet: An illegal bet in which a player puts some chips in the pot, then reaches back to his stack for more, without having first verbally stated the full amount of his bet.

Structure: The limits set upon the ante, forced bets and subsequent bets and raises in any given game.

Stuck: Slang for losing, often a substantial amount of money.

Stud: Any form of poker in which the first card or cards are dealt down, or in the hole, followed by several open, or face up, cards.

Suck Out: To win a hand by hitting a very weak draw, often with poor pot odds.

Suited: Cards of the same suit.

Sweat: To watch a player from the rail.

Sweeten: The Pot Slang for raise.

T

Table: Refers to the poker table itself, or the collective players in the game.

Table Cop: A player who calls with the intention of keeping other players honest.

Table Stakes: A poker game in which a player cannot bet more than the money he has on the table.

Table Talk: Any discussion at the table of the hand currently underway, especially by players not involved in the pot, and especially any talk that might affect play.

Take Off A Card: To call a single bet in order to see one more card.

Take Off The Gloves: To use an aggressive betting strategy to bully opponents.

Take The Odds: To wager less money on a proposition than you hope to win.

Tap City: To go broke.

Tap Out: To bet all one's chips.

Tapped Out: Broke, busted.

Tell: A player's nervous habit or mannerism which might reveal his hand.

Texas Hold 'Em: A form of poker in which players use five community cards in combination with their two hole cards to form the best five-card hand. Also called hold 'em.

Third Pair: In flop games, pairing the third highest card on board.

Third Street: In Seven-Card Stud, the first round of betting on the first three cards.

Three Flush: Three cards of the same suit, requiring two more to make a flush.

Three Of A Kind: Three cards of the same denomination, with two side cards; trips.

Throwing A Party: When several loose or amateur players are making significant monetary contributions to the pot.

Tight: A conservative player who only plays strong hands, or playing on fewer hands than the norm.

Tight Game: A game with a small number of players in most pots.

Tilt: See on tilt.

To Go: An amount "to go" is the amount it takes to enter the pot.

Toke: A tip to the dealer.

Top Pair: In flop games, pairing the highest card on board.

Trey: A three.

Triplets: Three of a kind.

Trips: Slang for triplets; three of a kind.

Turn: In flop games, the fourth street card.

Two Flush: Two cards of the same suit, requiring three more to make a flush.

Two Pair: A hand with two pairs and a kicker.

U

Under-Raise: To raise less than the previous bet; allowed only if a player is going all-in.

Under The Gun: The first to bet.

Underdog: A hand that does not have the best chance of winning before all the cards are dealt.

Up Card: An open card, a card dealt face-up.

W

Wake Up With A Hand: To be dealt a hand with winning potential.

Walk: To walk is to be away from the table long enough to miss one or more hands.

Walkers: Players who walk frequently.

Wheel: The lowest hand in lowball, Ace-2-3-4-5; also known as a bicycle.

Whipsaw: To raise before, and after, a caller who gets caught in the middle.

Wild Card: A card designated as a joker, playable as any value.

Wired Pair: A pair in hand.

World's Fair: A big hand.