Poker Glossary of Terms

On this page we have provided you with the definitions for a list of some of the terms often used in poker, as well as a few computer related terms.

Advance Action: To help keep the pace of the games moving nicely, we have provided advance action capabilities. When you know what you will do next, you can use these to indicate your next action prior to the bet reaching you. These advance action options will always present the correct options for the context of the play. Using Advance Action buttons will help keep the pace of the game exciting.
All-in: When you push all your chips in or you run out of chips during a hand, but don’t wish to fold, you are all-in. This means you have the potential to win a share of the pot up to and including your last contribution to that pot. If the pot grows larger, you cannot share in any bets added beyond that point. These bets form a side-pot. The all-in is also used for situations where a player in a hand loses connection to the server.
Avatar: A term from computer gaming for an image or figure used to represent a person.
Away-from-table: In tournaments, you may not “sit out”. Rather, you may be “away-from-table” which means your are dealt into every hand, posting blinds when your turn, and then folded when there is a raise before the flop, or a bet after the flop. When you are in a tournament and need to leave, time-out, or lose your connection, you are automatically marked as “away-from-table”.
Bad Beat: to be a heavy favorite in a hand and lose to an opponent who was a severe underdog statically speaking
Bet the Pot: This term is used in pot limit games. It means your bet matches the current amount in the pot. If, when your turn to bet, the pot was at $217, and you bet the pot, your bet is $217.
Big Blind: In games using a blind to put money in play, the big blind is generally equal to the lower amount of the stakes for that game. In a $5/$10 game, the big blind is $5. The big blind follows the small blind, which is put up by the first player to the left of the dealer.
Blind: This term refers to the required bets, called the small blind and the big blind used to put money into play. The blinds are mandatory bets and rotate around the table.
Board: The community cards in Hold’em are collectively known as the board.
Bring-in: In ante games, the bring-in is a mandatory bet, normally half the lower stake value. The player with the lowest face-up card must either bet the lower stake, or the bring-in to start the hand.
Burn: In physical poker rooms, the top card of the deck is discarded prior to each round of dealing. The intent is to minimize the risk of cheating by knowing the next card. There is no possibility of this happening in our poker room, therefore we do not burn cards.
Button: A marker, usually disk-shaped, to indicate which player is the virtual dealer. The button is used in games where position relative to the dealer is important.
Buy-in: There is a minimum chip value required to sit at any given table. Normally the minimum is 10 times the higher stake for that game. For some special games, that value may be higher. The minimum value required to be seated is called the buy-in. The amount of money you sit down in a game with. All games have a minimum buy-in, typically 10 times the big blind.
Call: When a player matches the prior bet on the table, that action is termed the call.
Cap: The last permitted raise in a betting round is called the cap. We allow three raises beyond the initial bet in limit games. The third raise is the cap.
Check: If there is no bet on the table and you do not wish to place a bet, that action is termed a check. You may only check when there are no pending bets.
Client: The term for the software that you download to your computer, allowing you to interact with the poker room’s servers.
Community Cards: Face up cards on the table that are shared by all players are termed community cards. Texas Hold’em and Omaha always have community cards. In stud games, a community card is dealt in place of the last down card when too few cards remain in the deck for each player to receive a down card.
Dead Blind: In a situation where you have missed your blinds and wish to re-enter the game before your turn to post the big blind. You must post both blinds and the small blind is termed a dead blind, meaning it does not count towards calling a bet.
Dead Hand: A hand no longer in the game.
Door Card: The first face-up card dealt with the two down cards in 7 Card Stud games.
Down Cards: The face-down cards dealt to a player.
Drawing Dead: This describes the situation where a player is trying to draw a card to complete a hand even though that completed hand will be beat by another hand.
Drop: To drop your hand when you decide not to go further with your hand; to return your cards to the muck. Same as fold.
Face Down: Dealt cards that are not visible to other players.
Face Up: Dealt cards that are visible to all players.
Fifth Street: The term for the fifth card in 7 Card Stud and the fifth board card in Hold’em.
Flop: In Texas Hold’em, the set of 3 face-up community cards; the first three cards on the board, all dealt at the same time.
Flush: Any 5 cards in one hand that are all the same suit.
Fold: Withdraw from further participation in the current hand. Also see drop.
Forced Bet: A mandatory bet. In certain games, a player is required to bet, having sat-in the game. Also see bring-in.
Four of a Kind: A great hand … all 4 of one rank. For example, 4 Tens.
Fourth Street: The term for the fourth card in 7 Card Stud and the fourth board card in Hold’em.
Full House: A hand in which you have a combination of 3 of a kind, and a pair.
Graphics: The term for the artwork used to present you with the images of a poker room, including the table, chairs, avatars, cards, and chips.
GMT: Greenwich, England has been the home of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) since 1884. It is the place from where all time zones are measured. To calculate your time from GMT, here is a handy resource: GMT Converter.
Hand: A set of cards used by a player during a single round. Another word for a single round of shuffling, dealing, and betting.
Heads Up: A game where only two players remain in contention for the pot.
Head to Head: A game where only two players may participate.
High Card: The card with the highest rank.
High/Low: A variation of a game where the pot is split between the best hand and the worst hand. The worst hand is comprised of the 5 lowest cards. Most poker rooms, including this one, consider 5, 4, 3, 2, A (the wheel) as the lowest possible hand, despite it also being a straight.
Hold’em: Also called Texas Hold’em. One of the most popular poker games. Each player gets 2 down cards and can use 3, 4, or 5 of the community cards.
Hole Cards: The down cards in a player’s hand.
In: A term for being an active player; one who has not folded.
Inside Straight: The term applied when a player has 4 of 5 cards needed for a straight with the missing card being inside the sequence rather than at either end, and gets the missing card. For example, a player holding 3, 4, 5, 7 needs a 6 to complete the straight. Getting that 6 is termed “making the inside straight.”
Kicker: The term for the card used to break ties between two of a kind or between Two Pair.
Live Blind: A blind that counts towards any bet you call or raise.
Main Pot: The initial pot of money. When one or more players go all-in, a side pot is created for each all-in player.
Muck: As a noun, this refers to the pile of folded cards and discarded cards. As a verb, at showdown time, the act of returning a losing hand to the dealer face-down.
No Limit: A variation of the betting rules in which each bet is unlimited up to the number of chips a player has on the table (NL).
Omaha: A game in which each player receives 4 face-down cards and shares 5 community cards. The winning hand must use exactly 2 down cards and 3 community cards. This game also has a High/Low variant.
Omaha High/Low: This game allows players to compete for a pot split between the highest and the lowest hands using 2 down cards and 3 community cards. A player may use different sets of cards to make up the best high and the best low hands.
On the button: This term means you are in the dealer position in Texas Hold’em and Omaha games. The dealer position is marked by a “button” with a “D” in the center.
One on One: See head to head.
Option: This term refers to the option given the big blind player the option of raising before the flop.
Overcard: In stud, if you assume your opponent has a pair of sevens, then every card above seven in your hand is considered an overcard.
Pair: Also called two of a kind. This is a hand where the player’s best hand is made up of 2 cards of the same rank.
Pass: Can be used in place of either pass or fold depending on the context.
Play Chips: The chips used for play money games. Play chips have no monetary value.
Playing the Board: Using all the community cards in Hold’em as your best hand.
Pocket Cards: The term for the two down cards at the start of the hand.
Pot: The chips available to win in any given hand.
Pot Limit: A variation on betting where each player may bet up to the current amount in the pot (PL).
Profile: A term describing the information a player may enter about himself/herself that may be available, at the player’s option, to other players in the poker room. Your profile may include your favorite hobby, favorite web site, favorite quote, and more.
Raise: The act of increasing the amount bet by a prior bettor.
Rank: The value of a card. The rank of the 2 of Spades is 2. The rank of the Queen of Hearts is Queen. Rank value increases from 2 through 10, followed in order by Jack, Queen, King, and Ace. In High/Low games, the Ace may be used both for its high rank and as the lowest rank card.
Rebuy: To get more chips during a game but not during a hand that you are in.
Reducing: The act of removing chips from a table and returning immediately with fewer chips. Reducing is considered poor etiquette, and is not permitted in our poker room.
Registration: We ask you to select a screen name to serve as your poker room identity, a password, and to provide a location and email address to create an account. This is your registration.
River: The fifth and final community card. This card is also known as fifth street.
Round: This refers to the dealing of a set of cards and associated betting. For example, the dealing of the river and the bets that follow are a round.
Royal Flush: The best possible high hand. This is a straight flush from 10 through to Ace of the same suit.
Screen Name: The identity you select by which you are known in the poker room. We only allow one player to use a screen name so please understand if the one you have selected is already taken.
See: This is a synonym of call. It is often used in conjunction with the term raise, as in “I’ll see your $10 and raise you $10.”
Self-install: The term used to describe how the file you download from our web site is automatically installed and configured on your computer when you double-click on the file.
Server: The computer, or set of computers, providing a service to client computers. In this case the service is the poker room.
Showdown: After the final bet, when all players show their hands or muck, is known as the showdown.
Side Pot: This is a pot created when a player goes all-in. The side pot is the pot available to those players not all-in at that point. There can, on occasion, be more than one side pot.
Sit Out: We permit you to hold your seat at a table while not participating in some hands. Under most conditions, we limit the time you may sit out to a small number of hands. In blind games, you may be asked to post the equivalent of the blind if you return to your seat prior to the blind reaching you. To sit out you click a check box on the table screen. To return, you unclick the “sit out” check box.
Small Blind: In Hold’em and Omaha, this is the mandatory bet required of the player to the left of the dealer.
Stakes: See buy-in.
Straight: A hand in which the player has five cards in rank order. Suit does not matter. For example, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen.
Straight Flush: A straight all of the same suit.
STT: See Single-Table Tournament
Stud: The generic term for poker games where players receive the first card(s) down followed by some up cards where those up cards are exclusively for the use of that player. There may be a further down card as in 7 Card Stud.
Suit: One of Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, or Spades (in rank order).
Table Stakes: The value of the chips with which a player sits down at a table. Also a term for no-limit poker.
Texas Hold’em: The poker game where each player gets two down cards followed by five community cards face-up.
Third Street: The nickname for the third card in any game of Stud.
Three of a kind: A hand consisting three cards of the same rank.
Trips: A nickname for three of a kind.
Turn: The nickname for the fourth community card in Hold’em and Omaha.
Two Pair: A hand in which the player has two pairs of cards.
Under-raise: This occurs when a player raises a prior bet but has to go all-in to do so. If the player under-raising - going all-in to raise - has less than - of the expected raise for that betting round, the betting round is locked. The term locked here means that any player who has already acted in the round (checked, called, or raised) may no longer raise. They may only call or fold. However, players who have yet to act (betting has not reached them yet) may raise the expected raise for that betting round, after calling. If the under-raise is half or more than the expected raise, the lock rule does not apply.
Up Card: A card dealt face up, so that all players may see it.
Wheel: A nickname for the best low hand: 5, 4, 3, 2, A.