Poker Vocabulary

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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.

ainbow
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 permited).

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 postion 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.