Understanding Poker Jargon: The Essential Terms Every Player Should Know

Poker is a game of strategy, skill, and psychology, but it also has a language all its own. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced player, understanding poker jargon is crucial to improving your game and communicating effectively at the table.

This guide to poker jargon will introduce you to essential poker terms, categorized for easy reference, with the most popular terms poker players use first, then some more advanced words and poker slang that are part of everyday conversation at the felt.

After reading our poker jargon guide, you should be able to understand poker conversation much better and utilize this knowledge of vocabulary to improve your online poker game by watching training videos and maybe even employing a poker coach.

Basic Poker Terms

You’ll need to known these basic poker terms when playing the game for the first time. These are the most common terms you’ll hear around a poker table, from your fellow players, and the dealer.

Ante

The ante is a small, mandatory bet that all players must place before the cards are dealt in some poker variations. It ensures that there’s always something at stake in every hand.

Blinds are forced bets posted before the cards are dealt in games like Texas Hold’em and Omaha. There are two types:

Small Blind (SB): The smaller of the two forced bets, which is traditionally placed by the player to the direct left of the dealer in a clockwise fashion.
Big Blind (BB): Typically twice the size of the small blind, this blind is posted by the player to the left of the small blind player.

Call

To call a bet is to match the current bet made by another player, allowing you to stay in the hand and see another card, or all the cards at showdown if you call a bet on the river.

Check

If no bets have been placed in a round, a player can check, meaning they pass the action to the next player without betting, or end the hand by checking as the last player following the river card.

Raise

A raise occurs when a player increases the current bet amount, forcing opponents to call the new bet, fold, or re-raise the bet themselves.

Fold

To fold is to discard your hand and forfeit any chance of winning the pot in that round. You lose all the chips you have committed to the pot until that point by doing so.

Pot

The pot is the total amount of chips or money wagered during a hand. This increases with new bets and when the winning hand is declared, the pot is awarded to the player or players with the winning hand.

Hand rankings decide who wins each hand and you’ll want to be on board with all these terms to known exactly how the cards are referred to.

A Royal Flush is the strongest hand in poker... it's The Nuts.

Hole Cards

These are the private cards dealt to each player that only they can see. In No Limit Hold’em, for example, you’ll receive two of these cards to use. In Pot Limit Omaha, you’ll receive four cards but only be allowed to use two of them.

Community Cards

The community cards are dealt face-up in the center of the table and shared by all players and are used in games like Texas Hold’em and Omaha.

Pocket Pair

A starting hand consisting of two cards of the same rank (e.g., two queens or two sevens) are called a pocket pair.

The Nuts

The best possible hand at a given moment in the game is called the nuts. If you hold the nuts, you have the strongest hand available. Make sure that you bet with it if all the action folds to you – it is against the rules to check the nuts as the last action in the game – you have the best hand!

Kicker

A kicker is an unpaired card that helps determine the winner when two players have the same ranked hand. For example, in Texas No Limit hold’em, if one player has king-eight and the other queen-eight, a board of 8-8-4-5-J would see both players make trip eights, but the player holding the king would have the highest-ranking five card hand.

Draw

A drawing hand (or ‘draw’) is when you need additional cards to complete a strong hand, such as a flush draw (one card away from a flush) or a straight draw (one card away from a straight).

Suited or Offsuit

Suited: This term refers to cards of the same suit (e.g., ace and queen of hearts).
Offsuit: Fairly obviously, two cards of different suits (e.g. the ace of hearts and king of clubs).

Betting and Strategy Terms

If you want to win at poker, you’ll have to bet. Knowing when to bet, of course, is the real trick. Here are some terms to help you fathom out how to do so.

The Dealer Button indicates a position of strength at the poker table.

Check-Raise

This term refers to a deceptive play where a player checks early in the betting round, waits for an opponent to bet, and then raises their bet, i.e. checking before they raise.

Continuation Bet (C-Bet)

The c-bet move came into poker and changed the game. This is a bet made by the player who took the last aggressive action in the previous round, regardless of whether they improved their hand.

All-In

When a player bets all their remaining chips on a single hand.

Overbet

An overbet is a bet larger than the size of the current pot, often used to put opponents under pressure and force them to make a tough decision for more chips than they expected.

Under the Gun (UTG)

The first player to act in a betting round, usually in reference to pre-flop action.

Button

The dealer position, which rotates clockwise each hand and determines the order of betting is called ‘the button’. They are the last player to act each round, and therefore have a position of power at the table in that round.

Cutoff

The seat directly to the right of the button, often an aggressive position for raising and stealing blinds as it is a late position at the table.

Position

Where you are seated relative to the dealer is your ‘position’ at the table, and this affects the perceived relative strength of your hand and the decisions you should make.

Advanced Poker Concepts

These more advanced terms often reference gameplay, or more complex moves that you might not initially try to implement if you’re a beginner.

Bluff

Once called “The Cadillac of poker moves”, the bluff is a tactic whereby a player bets or raises with a weak hand to deceive opponents into folding stronger hands.

Semi-Bluff

A bluff made with a drawing hand that has the potential to improve if called.

Slow Play

Playing a strong hand passively to trap opponents into committing more chips before revealing your strength is called a slow play.

Floating

Calling a bet with a weak hand or draw with the intention of bluffing on a later street, you might float to victory if you can then turn your hand into a bluff or make your draw.

Squeeze Play

A re-raise made after an initial raise and call, designed to force out weaker hands, often made pre-flop.

Donk Bet

A bet made by an out-of-position player after calling a raise on the previous street, often unexpected, this can indicate strength but can also be a great way of bluffing.

Value Bet

This is a bet made with a strong hand aimed at extracting maximum chips from an opponent who holds a weaker hand, often in a marginal spot.

Poker Tournament Terms

Tournament poker is the most exciting format of the game to many. Here are a few terms that often crop up during tournaments such as Sit ‘n’ Gos or Multi-Table Tournaments (MTTs), such as the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Bubble

The bubble is the point in a tournament where one more player needs to be eliminated before the remaining players reach the payout spots. Whoever exits in this position is called the ‘bubble boy’ or ‘bubble player’.

Chip Leader

The player with the most chips in the tournament is referred to as the chip leader. This often changes during a tournament, especially in big field events.

Short Stack

The player with relatively few chips compared to the blinds and antes – and everyone else in the event – is often forced to make aggressive plays in order to improve their stack and their ‘equity’ in the tournament – the value of their action. For example, if a short stack has only five big blinds to their name, moves all-in pre-flop and everyone folds, giving them 10 big blinds, they’ve doubled their short stack.

Final Table

The last remaining table in a multi-table tournament, where the top finishers compete for the biggest prizes is called the final table. These are often six-handed or nine-handed but can host a varying number of players. At big events, these final tables are often streamed live on poker sites or television.

Heads-Up

When only two players remain in a hand or a tournament, battling one-on-one, it’s the heads-up battle. Heads-up often refers to only two players being left in a hand, too, i.e. ‘Three players saw a flop, but after X bet and only Y called, the remaining two players were heads-up to the turn card.’.

Common Poker Slang

Some poker terms have developed over many years, and have become common parlance, despite no-one outside the game understanding their meanings. Here’s a few to let you into the inner circle.

The six-time WSOP champion Josh Arieh is a great example of a poker shark.

Fish

A weak or inexperienced player who makes costly mistakes is known as a fish. Highlighting that someone makes mistakes can be known as ‘tapping the [fish] tank’.

Shark

A skilled and experienced player who preys on weaker opponents is known as a shark. This has nothing to do with the term ‘card sharp’.

Tilt

If you’re ‘on tilt’, you’re in a state of emotional frustration that causes a player to make poor decisions.

Cooler

This is a situation where a strong hand loses to an even stronger hand in an unavoidable manner, i.e. there are four players left in a tournament and you move all-in with pocket kings. A player calls you with pocket aces and eliminates you. You were in a cooler situation.

Bad Beat

If you lose a hand despite being a statistical favorite when the money went in, you were bad beat. Try to resist telling everyone about it!

Runner-Runner

Winning a hand by catching two consecutive perfect cards on the turn and river, such as holding two hearts and one came on the flop, a heart lands on turn and river; you made a ‘runner runner’ flush. This term does not refer to the awful poker movie Runner Runner starring Ben Affleck and Justin Timberlake.

Lesser Known Poker Slang

If you’ve already heard these terms, then maybe you aren’t as inexperienced as you think. How many can you spot that you’ve come across before?

The Squeeze Play is a common poker move used by experts to extract value.

Dead Man’s Hand: A two-pair hand consisting of Aces and Eights, historically associated with the death of Wild Bill Hickok, as this was the hand he had just played when he was shot in the back and killed.
Cripple the Deck - When a player’s hand significantly reduces the chances of an opponent making a strong hand.
Snowing - A bluffing strategy where a player keeps betting aggressively to force opponents to fold. This can also be referred to as ‘barrelling’.
Monster - A very strong hand, often unbeatable in a given situation, such as a pair of kings in your hand when a ten-high board lands.
Walking Sticks - A nickname for a pocket pair of sevens (77), which resemble the shape of walking sticks.
Big Slick - A nickname for Ace-King (AK), one of the strongest starting hands in Texas Hold’em.
Broadway - A straight from Ten to Ace, the strongest straight possible other than a straight flush.
Grinding - Playing a steady, conservative strategy over a long period to accumulate winnings, or multi-tabling tournaments online for 12 hours.
Felted - When a player loses all of their chips in a cash game or tournament.
The Wheel - A nickname for the lowest straight in poker, from ace to five in different suits. (A-2-3-4-5).
Deep Stack - A player who has a large number of chips relative to the blinds, allowing for more strategic play.

Master the Poker Terms

Understanding poker jargon is essential for players looking to improve their game and communicate effectively at the table. Whether you’re new to poker or refining your skills, mastering these terms will help you navigate the game with confidence. The next time you sit at the table, use this knowledge to make informed decisions, read your opponents, and increase your chances of success. Hey, you might even make some new friends who turn you from a fish into a shark.

Paul Seaton, an esteemed figure in the poker community with over ten years of experience, has provided live coverage from renowned poker tournaments like the World Series of Poker, European Poker Tour, and World Poker Tour. His involvement goes beyond observation; he has served as the Editor of BLUFF Europe Magazine and Head of Media for partypoker.

World Series of Poker bracelet on a branded poker table, with a blurred WSOP final table stage in the background.

Sandra Gaweda