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Poker Dictionary (slang terms and phrases)

There are many words used commonly during poker game or when talking about game. Sometimes it can be confusing for beginners to follow. There are already few much bigger poker dictionaries out there with all words in alphabetical order. I am not trying to compete that. My whole idea is just to give a jump start to people new to poker. Here are some of most used terms and phrases in no particular order :

hole cards – Two cards(in Texas Holdem) every player receive at the start of the hand

 

hole cards pokerdiaries
player looking at his hole cards

 

hand – hand begins when all players received their hole cards and finish when all cards are out and all betting is finished. Than dealer shuffles and deal a next hand.

pot – all the money in the middle of the table that winner takes after the hand

stack – all the chips that player have in front

flop – first three cards on the board
turn – 4th card
river – 5th card

Actions

bet – every putting money in the pot
raise – bet more than big blind (minimum raise is 2x big blind)
limp – enter the pot without raise by only paying the blind
3bet – reraise after somebody already raised(1st bet is considered blind 2nd is original raise)
4bet – reraise after somebody (or you) already raised and other player reraised
5bet/6bet… – just add one more raise for every increment 
squeeze reraise after one player already raised and 1 or more called
all in – bet all the chips that player have in front of him
shove/ship it– same as all in

 

all inpokerdiaries
  pushing all in

 

fold – throw cards away and get out of the hand

call – pay amount that player bet before you and stay in the hand

preflop – action with only hole cards before the flop comes

original raiser – player who raised preflop

continuation bet – when original raiser bet again on then flop

 

cash game – poker game where chips represent money value. You can join or leave anytime

poker tournament – poker game where players pay entry fee and get chips to play. Players are eliminated when they lose all the chips and winner takes most(or all the money in some cases). Other players receive smaller part of the prize pool according to their finishing position and tournament structure

rebuy – adding more chips in cash game or tournament

add-on – adding more chips in tournament for last time after rebuy period is finished

chip leader – player with biggest stack in tournament

Implied odds – potential to win big if making a hand

direct odds – mathematically correct call

coin flip/race – all in situation when both players have around 50% chance of winning

Type of players

fish/sheep/live one – a bad player
whale – very bad player(used mostly online)
reg – professional player, game regular
TAG(tight agressive) – play style of reg
LAG(loose agressive) – more agressive play style of reg

 

Tilt – psychological state of mind when someone is playing much under his capabilities usually because he is angry for being unlucky or loosing a lot

If you want to learn more about tilt refer to this article or follow website and blog of most famous mental game coach Jared Tindler.

Bad beat – when a player had much bigger chance of winning but ends up loosing because his opponent gets very lucky
Running hot/good – constantly getting good hands and winning more than it is mathematically logical
Running bad – constantly getting bad hands and loosing more than it is mathematically logical
Down swing – Big stretch of running bad
He got felted – He lost all of his chips (only felt left)

 

phil helmuth pokerdiaries
 phil helmuth is famous for tilting when he gets  unlucky

 

He is steaming/tilting – he is on tilt

He stacked him – he took all of his chips (his stack)

take a stab – try a small bluff usually on the turn when everybody checked the flop

your turn sir – way the dealers usually politely reminds player that action is on them. Player can chose to check, fold or bet(if there is bet before them they can call,fold or raise)

Poker position

position – players position in relation to the button
utg(under the gun) – first position next to big blind
mp(middle position) – next to utg(and utg2 if there are more than 6 players)
HJ(high jack) – same as mp3 position
CO(cut off) – next to high jack
Button – last position(except blinds preflop)
Small blind – next to the button
Big blind – next to the small blind

If you want to learn more about poker position read this article.

 

bankroll – money for playing poker

equity – mathematical probability of winning the hand

EV(expected value) – How much money you will win(or lose) in specific situation over a big sample size

win rate – usually used among online players. It refers to how many big blinds are won for 100 hands played(bb/100)
hourly rate – how much player is earning for 1 hour of play

 

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