1. Texas Holdem Terminology
2. Texas Hold'em Terms And Phrases

Sitting down to play Texas Hold’em for the first time can be a bewildering experience, what with players casually talking about spiking a double belly-buster to sink a sucker’s set. Unless you know the lingo, learning the game may be slow going, so take the time to study this comprehensive glossary of common Texas Hold’em terms before you move on to rules and strategy.

Texas Hold’em: This is also the name for Hold’em, the most popular form of poker. Third Street: In Seven Card Stud and Seven Card Stud 8 or Better, this is the first playing round on the first three cards. Thirty Miles: Three tens. Three of a Kind: Three cards of the same number. A Texas Hold’em tournament is the same as any other game of Hold’em with a few added rules and twists. Learn more about the unique rules of Texas Holdem poker tournaments. Meanwhile, a Texas Holdem cash game is played on a single table with 2 to 10 players.

All-In – The trademark declaration of No-Limit Texas Hold’em, all-in is the phrase used by a player to signal that they are wagering all of their chips. You may also put an opponent all-in by betting enough to cover their entire stack should they commit to calling. Any hand of Hold’em can instantly become an emotional roller coaster the moment you put yourself all-in.

Ante – In tournament Hold’em, these are an escalating series of forced bets that each player must make before every hand. Typically the ante stage of a tournament begins after six blind levels have passed. Antes increase the size of pots before the cards have even been dealt and give aggressive players a reason to steal the blinds.

Blinds – Every hand of Texas Hold’em begins with two players ponying up forced bets before the cards are dealt. Known as the small and big blinds because you are effectively betting without seeing your cards, these positions on the table rotate after every hand, stimulating future betting by giving players a pot to fight over on every single deal. The small blind is always the seat directly left of the dealer button, while the big blind is the next seat to the left, meaning the players on the blinds act first throughout the hand.

Boat – Another name for a full house.

Broadway – The best straight possible, consisting of the 10-J-Q-K-A. Individually, these five cards are also known as Broadway cards.

Burn Card – Whenever the dealer is ready to reveal the next community card, he or she will first discard the top card in the deck face down on the table. By “burning” a card before the flop, turn and river, the dealer assures the rest of the table that everything is on the level, with no stacking of the deck or marked cards.

Button – Typically a circular disk with “Button” emblazoned on each side, this object is used in Texas Hold’em to denote the dealer position on the table. After every hand the dealer button is moved one seat position to the left, which moves the blinds and facilitates the forced betting fairly.

Call – Deciding to equal a bet made by another player to remain in the hand.

Check – When the action comes to a player and they elect to pass without betting any chips. You may verbally say check, or simply tap the table with your knuckles, to pass the action along without parting with any of your hard earned money.

Check-Raise – A raise which comes after you have checked to your opponent and they have bet into you. The cornerstone of every poker game is deception, and in Texas Hold’em the most basic act of trickery is the check-raise. When you check and passively invite your opponent to bet, only to respond with an immediate raise, the check-raise can chip away at their stack in short order.

Chop – A chop occurs when the action folds all the way around the table leaving only the small and big blinds, and both players elect to take their money back rather than play a paltry pot and surrender half of it to the rake.

Chopped Pot – A draw or tie during the showdown. If the remaining players turn over the same hand, such as a pair of jacks with an ace kicker, the pot is chopped up, or split into even portions and distributed.

Counterfeited – The unfortunate role reversal which can occur when the board cards nullify certain cards in your hand. A common example of a hand being counterfeited is when a player flops bottom two pair, say the 3-5 on a 3-5-10 flop, and the turn or river brings a second Ten to the board. The resulting pair of Tens shared by both players extinguishes the strength of bottom two pair, giving the lead to anybody with a pocket pair in the hole.

Door Card – Also known as the card in the window, this is the first card player’s see as the dealer is spreading the flop. Most casino dealers reveal the flop with a flourish, pausing with the door card tantalizingly exposed before rapidly flashing the rest of the flop across the table.

Double Belly-Buster – A straight draw in which you need to hit any of two unconnected cards to complete your hand. If you have 7-8 in the hole and the flop has fallen 4-6-10, you now need any 5 or Ten to make a straight, thus you hold a double belly-buster straight draw.

Flat(call) – A modern take on a classic idiom, the word flat is used by younger poker players to denote a smooth call. The term is a bit superfluous, as there is no other way to call but to flat call, but you will invariably hear players mention that they “flatted” on the flop when recounting a recent hand.

Flop – The first three community cards revealed to the table simultaneously. The flop comes after the opening betting round and allows players to convert their two hole cards into a five-card poker hand of varying strength.

Fourth and Fifth Street – The fourth and fifth community cards used by all players to form a hand, these are more commonly known as the Turn and River.

Gutshot – A straight draw in which you need to hit precisely one card to complete your hand. If you have 7-8 in the hole and the flop has fallen 4-5-K, you now need any 6 to make a straight, thus you hold a gutshot straight draw.

Hole Cards – Every hand of Texas Hold’em begins with the dealer distributing two cards face down to each player. The cards you hold “in the hole” are yours and yours alone, which means you should always protect them from prying eyes. Hole cards can form a total of 169 nonequivalent starting hands, ranging from the lowly 2♥ 7♣ offsuit to the almighty A♠A♦, or pocket aces, and knowing which of these to hold and which to fold forms the foundation of Texas Hold’em strategy.

Kicker – The tiebreaker used to determine a winner when players in a showdown hold the same pair. For example, if I have the Ace-King and you have the King-Jack, and a King is on board giving us both top pair, my Ace kicker bests your Jack kicker and the pot is shipped in my direction.

Muck – This term can be used as both a noun and a verb. Folding your hand is also known as mucking, while the pile of folded hands that accumulates during every hand is called the muck. A hand can be declared dead the moment it touches the muck, which is why most players use card protectors to keep their cards safe and sound.

On the Come – Betting in a situation where you are still drawing to make a hand. When you need the right card to come in order to complete a straight, flush or full house, and still decide to push the envelope with a bet or raise, you’re doing so on the come.

Open-Ended – A straight draw in which you have four consecutive cards and need to hit either end to complete your hand. If you have 7-8 in the hole and the flop has fallen 9-10-A, you now need any 6 or any Jack to make a straight, thus you hold an open-ended straight draw.

Paint – A descriptive term for any face card, from Jack through King, which stems from the distinctive portrait-like appearance of these cards in most decks.

Pot – Used as a verb, as in “I’ll pot it,” this word is a fixture of Pot-Limit Hold’em, a game in which the maximum allowable bet is the current size of the pot.

Preflop – Any action that occurs before the flop has been dealt. Basically, the betting and folding to take place after you receive your hole cards, but before you see the flop, is known as the preflop stage of a hand.

Nuts – The best possible cards at any given moment in a hand. Pocket Aces is the nuts preflop, while the 10♥J♥Q♥K♥A♥ Royal Flush is the ultimate nuts. The ace-high flush is the nut flush, the Broadway straight is the nut straight, and the simple ace-high is sarcastically called the nut nothing.

Rake – The house fee taken from each cash game pot or tournament buy-in by the casino staff or home game operator. Because every single hand results in a few chips being pocketed by the casino cage, grizzled poker vets know that it takes talent just to beat the rake.

Rags – A derisive epithet for any traditionally inferior starting hand consisting of unconnected, low cards.

River – The fifth and final community card to be revealed. Fortunes can be won and lost on the river, as this conclusive card completes the board and leaves players with their final hand before the showdown.

Set – Fortuitously forming three of a kind while holding a pocket pair is known in Texas Hold’em as hitting your set. A set of deuces is much stronger than a pair of aces, and anytime you spike a set it’s a cause for celebration, but the hand’s real strength comes from its propensity for turning into a powerful full house.

Showdown – When the flop, turn and river have been exposed and the final betting round has occurred, the players still holding cards confront one another to determine the pot’s winner. All hands are not always turned over at the showdown, as a losing player may elect to muck his meek holding rather than let the competition see the goods.

Suckout – Anytime the statistically inferior hand catches up to best a made hand. Players will complain like clockwork about the brutal suckouts they suffer through, and you will soon learn to dread suckout artists who seem to catch every card they need.

Suited – Whenever you hold two hole cards of the same suit, your hand is said to be suited. Suited hands like 6♣7♣ are perceived to be slightly more valuable than their unsuited counterparts, because the possibility of making a flush is improved.

Turn – The fourth community card to be revealed. The turn card comes after the flop and before the river, meaning it can be a pivotal point in any hand.

If a player has an ace in their hand it’s known as having an ace in the hole.

In some tournaments, players can choose to add on. Usually, this occurs at the end of the rebuy period. Players will receive a set amount of extra tournament chips for a fee.

The amount of money in a hand or on the table in total is known as action. In poker, this also means when it’s a player’s turn the action is on them.

A hand which has no real value.

In no limit games all in refers to a player betting all of their remaining chips. You can do this verbally or by placing all of your chips in the middle.

A slang term for pocket aces.

An extra forced bet all players must make before the cards are dealt. This is in addition to the blinds and creates a larger pot to ensure more action.

Making a questionable play against the rules in order to get more information. This is considered cheating.

The turn and river cards. Generally, this term is used to describe making a strong hand like a backdoor flush.

When a player with a weak hand ends up beating a player with a statistically stronger hand.

Money that a player has set aside to play poker with.

The initial chips that are used in a poker game after a new card or cards are dealt is known as a bet. Before the flop is dealt, the small and big blinds are the first bets.

Making a bet with the hope that certain cards will fall on later streets to make a strong hand.

The large forced blind bet. This is made by the player two spots to the left of the dealer button.

A card that is dealt usually on the turn or river and due to its rank it won’t impact the current hands that active players have.

To ensure action in every single hand the two players to the left of the dealer have to make forced bets. These are known as the blinds.

Representing a hand that you don’t have by betting and acting in a certain way with the intention of getting the other player or players to fold.

The cards that are dealt face up on the poker table are known as the board. These include the flop, turn, and river.

Slang for a full house.

A straight from ten to ace is known as Broadway.

Slang for two aces.

Prior to dealing the flop, turn, and river the dealer must burn a card and place it in the muck. This is done to ensure there is no card stacking and cheating.

In a tournament when you lose all your chips you bust out.

A white disc that designates a player as being in the dealer position for that hand. In a home game, this person will also deal the cards that hand. This position is the best at the poker table as you act last.

When you enter a poker cash game or tournament you must pay cash to buy in.

Matching another player’s bet and calling it in order to progress the hand.

Someone that always calls bets at the poker table and never, or rarely, bets or raises.

The final card of a certain rank in the deck. The fourth six or the fourth king are examples.

Not betting and passing the play along to the next player on the left is a check. Players can do this by saying check or patting the felt with their hand

Checking to another player then raising their bet is a check raise. It’s considered a strong move to make and represents a strong hand.

Small plastic or clay discs that have a cash value and are used in poker games. In tournaments, fake cash value chips are used that are different than normal casino chips.

If two player’s showdown and they have the same hand, then they will chop the pot in half and get an equal amount each. It’s essentially a draw.

When two players are all in and both have close to a 50% chance of winning. It’s sometimes also called a race and occurs a lot when one player has a pocket pair and another has high suited connectors.

The same as the board. The collection of cards dealt on the table face up is known as community cards because everyone can use them in their hand.

Two cards that are in sequential order are connectors, such as 9 and 10.

A standard move in poker where a preflop bettor or raiser will bet again on the flop. Also called a C bet.

When two or more players are dealt extremely strong hands initially which usually results in all in bets and calls.

Two kings.

The position to the right of the dealer in poker.

A dealer can mean two things in poker. It’s the actual person who deals the cards, and also a position on the poker table. In a home game, the dealer position will also be the person who deals the cards. In a casino, the dealer is the casino employee who deals the cards and the dealer position is purely for controlling positions in relation to the current hand.

A two.

One of the best no limit Texas hold’em players of all time. The Doyle Brunson is also the 10, 2 hand as he won two world series of poker championships in a row with this hand.

When you need one or more cards to make a five-card poker hand you’re drawing.

Having absolutely no way of winning a poker hand no matter what cards come on the turn or river.

A pair of twos.

A rating on whether a certain way of playing a hand will result in winning or losing in the long run. Usually, this is represented as positive or negative, or +EV and -EV. To be a winning poker player you’ll need to make +EV plays most of the time.

When everyone or almost everyone at the table enters a pot pre-flop.

An inexperienced and weak player.

Calling a bet with no real hand and hoping to bluff for the win later on.

Three cards that are dealt face up on the table after all the pre-flop betting has occurred.

A five card hand of all the same suit.

Exiting a hand and mucking your cards is a fold.

The amount of money or equity a player can get by making a bet and getting their opponent to fold.

Four cards of the same rank.

The turn card which is the fourth dealt face up on the board.

Three of a kind and a pair.

When everyone checks and the turn or river is dealt it’s known as a free card.

A freeroll is a tournament that is free to enter and also a hand where you can only win or chop due to the position that you’re in. If both players have ace king and are all in pre-flop and three of the same suited cards are dealt on the flop, then one of the players is free rolling as they win if they complete the flush and chop the pot if they don’t.

A type of tournament with no rebuys.

A player that plays standard poker for many hours on end to win small amounts consistently.

A straight draw that is completed by one of the internal cards. This means there are only four cards that can make the straight for the player. Usually, due to the low odds players won’t draw on a gut shot. This is also called an inside straight draw.

This can refer to three things in poker. The round of play is a hand, the player’s cards are a hand, and the final five card ranking the player has is a hand.

When playing online poker for real money, the client can be set up to track every hand. This can then be studied by the player when they’re reviewing how they played.

Texas Holdem Terminology

In a tournament when two players are left. Also, when only two people are left in a standard poker hand.

A player is on a heater when they’re hitting lots of strong hands and winning a lot of pots.

The position to the right of the cut off and two spots to the right of the dealer.

Players two cards that are dealt to them face down by the dealer at the start of the poker hand.

A pair of jacks.

Odds that include the amount of money you could make if you hit a particular hand later on. Implied odds can be a powerful tool when deciding if a play has a +EV or -EV.

Acting after another player is known as being in position due to the fact you get all information on other players before you make your own move. It’s always good to be in position in poker.

An unused card in a poker hand that can be used to determine which player wins when two players have the same hand. You can also use multiple kickers in a two or three card hand to work out who wins.

One of the last people to act in a poker hand.

Another term used for a fold.

Just calling a blind pre-flop to enter the hand.

A player that plays lots of hands and bets a lot is a loose player.

A strong hand that is complete.

In between early and late positions.

Another term used for a fold. It’s also used for the pile of all the cards that have been folded and burnt in a hand.

You can bet any amount you like in no limit Texas hold’em.

Holding the best possible hand as determined by what cards are face up on the board.

Cards of different suits.

The percentage likelihood of a certain outcome. Also, can be represented as a ratio.

Four cards in sequential order where a fifth card at either end will make a straight.

When no raise has occurred pre flop the big blind position has the option to check or bet.

A complete rotation of the dealer button around the table.

The specific number of cards in the deck that can make a hand for a player.

Having to act before your opponent.

A large bet that is usually more than is currently in the pot.

Two cards of the same rank.

Using all five cards on the board as your hand and not using your hole cards at all.

When the first two cards that are dealt to the player are a pair.

The two face down cards that are initially dealt to the players.

Where the player is sitting at the table in relation to the dealer button.

All of the money that is in play in the middle of the table in a particular hand.

The comparison between the money currently in the pot and how much a player has to put in the pot to make a call. Pot odds can help players in determining whether to call or not with a certain hand.

When there is so much money in the pot that a player can’t fold.

The initial round of betting and action before the flop is dealt.

A bet to try and get other players to fold so that you’re playing against as few other hands as possible.

Slang for four of a kind.

Bad cards that don’t help at all and can’t make a good hand.

Cards of all different suits.

Betting more on top of another bet.

The way casinos make money is cash games is by taking a rake. This is a certain percentage amount of the pot that they take out for themselves. It’s usually capped so too much money isn’t taken from larger pots.

Some tournaments will allow players to re-buy back in once they lose all of their chips. Usually, you can re-buy in these tournaments until the first break.

A poker cash game.

The final card that is dealt face-up on the board. It’s also called fifth street.

A straight from ten to the ace of all the same suit. This is the highest ranked hand in poker.

The turn or river card is a runner when both or either of them is used to make a hand for a player.

A card that is dealt on the board that can ruin a made hand. It will usually be a higher ranked card.

Making a bet with a strong drawing hand.

Three of a kind, with two of them in a player’s hole cards.

A strong poker player.

A table with only a few players on it.

Revealing cards to see who is the winner of the hand.

A separate pot that is generated when a player is all in midway through a hand, and there are other players still going.

A tournament which starts once the required number of people have entered.

Trying to represent a weak hand by not betting or raising when you have a strong made hand.

Acting slowly when your hand strength dictates otherwise. This is considered unethical in poker.

The player to the immediate left of the dealer has to bet the small blind. This is the smaller of the two forced bets.

Texas Hold'em Terms And Phrases

An aggressive raise after players have already called a prior raise.

Your chips at the table.

A bet that is made to the left of the big blind which is usually double the amount and is considered another blind bet.

Five cards in sequential order. The ace can be high or low.

Five cards in sequential order of the same suit.

Another term for the cards dealt face up on the board. The turn is fourth street and the river fifth street.

A bad beat.

Two cards of the same suit.

Two cards of the same suit in sequential order.

Taking a long time to make a decision.

A common poker strategy where players are very tight with their starting hands and entering pots. When they do enter pots they bet and raise aggressively regardless of what comes on the board.

Information given by a player either physically or verbally that tells others what their hand may be.

Three cards of the same rank.

A player that doesn’t play many pots and doesn’t raise or bet often.

When a player loses a lot of hands they may begin to play poorly which is known as going on tilt.

Asking for time to make a decision, or clicking the time button online to get more time to decide on what to do.

The highest two pair that are available based on the community cards.

A type of poker where players buy in for tournament chips and play until there’s only one player left who is the winner.

A poker slang term for three of a kind.

A type of tournament where blinds go up a lot quicker and players have a limited amount of time to act.

The fourth card dealt on the board. Also known as fourth street.

The first player to act based on their position at the table in relation to the dealer button.

The player that is statistically meant to lose the poker hand.

A smaller bet placed on the river which is meant to entice the player to call so that your stronger hand gets paid off.

Voluntarily put money in the pot is a measure of how often a player enters a pot when they aren’t in the small or big blind.

If everyone folds pre-flop, then the big blind gets a walk and wins the small blind.

A straight from ace to five.

• PokerStars has an extensive dictionary of poker terms.
• Predictem also has a nice section.