- All-in
- Betting all of your remaining chips. A player who is all-in can only win the part of the pot they have matched.
- Ante
- A small forced bet taken from players before a hand begins, in addition to the blinds. Common in tournaments as blinds rise.
- Bad beat
- Losing a hand in which you were a strong favorite when the money went in, usually on a late card.
- Big blind
- The larger of the two forced bets, posted by the player two seats to the left of the button. It sets the minimum bet size.
- Big blind ante
- A tournament format in which the player in the big blind pays the ante for the whole table in one payment.
- Blinds
- The two forced bets posted before the cards are dealt, which give every hand something to play for.
- Bluff
- A bet or raise made with a weak hand, intended to make better hands fold.
- Board
- The community cards dealt face up in the middle of the table: the flop, turn and river.
- Bubble
- The stage of a tournament just before players start being paid. The last player eliminated before the money “bursts the bubble.”
- Button
- The dealer position, marked with a disc. The button acts last on every betting round after the flop.
- Buy-in
- The amount needed to enter a tournament, or the amount of chips you purchase when sitting at a cash game.
- Call
- Matching the current bet to stay in the hand.
- Check
- Passing the action without betting, allowed only when no bet has been made on the current round.
- Check-raise
- Checking, then raising after an opponent bets on the same betting round.
- Color up
- Exchanging small tournament chip denominations for larger ones when the small chips are no longer needed.
- Continuation bet
- A bet on the flop by the player who made the last raise before the flop, whether or not they improved. Often called a c-bet.
- Cooler
- A hand where a very strong holding loses to an even stronger one, making a big loss almost unavoidable.
- Cutoff
- The seat directly to the right of the button; a strong position for raising.
- Domination
- When one hand shares a card with another but has a better second card, such as ace-king against ace-queen.
- Draw
- An unfinished hand that needs more cards to become strong, such as four cards to a flush.
- Effective stack
- The smaller of the stacks of the players in a hand; the most anyone can win or lose against that opponent.
- Equity
- Your share of the pot based on your chance of winning the hand if all the cards were dealt out.
- Flop
- The first three community cards, dealt face up together.
- Fold
- Giving up your hand and any claim to the pot.
- Hijack
- The seat two to the right of the button, just before the cutoff.
- Hole cards
- The two private cards dealt face down to each player in Hold'em.
- ICM (Independent Chip Model)
- A method of estimating the real-money value of tournament chips, given stack sizes and the prize structure.
- Implied odds
- Pot odds adjusted for the extra money you expect to win on later streets if you make your hand.
- Kicker
- The highest unpaired card used to break ties between hands of the same rank.
- Limp
- Entering the pot before the flop by just calling the big blind instead of raising.
- Muck
- The pile of discarded cards; also, to discard your hand without showing it.
- Nuts
- The best possible hand given the community cards on the board.
- Outs
- The unseen cards that would improve your hand to the likely winner.
- Pot odds
- The ratio of the current pot to the cost of calling, used to judge whether a call is profitable.
- Position
- Where you sit relative to the button, which determines the order of action. Acting later is an advantage.
- Rake
- The fee a card room takes from cash-game pots, usually a percentage up to a cap.
- Range
- The full set of hands a player could hold in a given situation.
- Re-entry
- Buying into a tournament again after being eliminated, where the rules allow it.
- River
- The fifth and final community card.
- Satellite
- A tournament whose prizes are entries into a larger tournament.
- Semi-bluff
- A bet or raise with a drawing hand that is probably behind now but can improve to the best hand.
- Set
- Three of a kind made with a pocket pair plus one matching card on the board.
- Short stack
- A stack that is small relative to the blinds or to the other stacks at the table.
- Showdown
- The point after the final betting round when remaining players reveal their hands to decide the winner.
- Small blind
- The smaller forced bet, posted by the player directly to the left of the button.
- String bet
- An illegal bet in which a player adds chips in more than one motion without first announcing a raise.
- Suited connectors
- Two consecutive cards of the same suit, such as eight-seven of hearts.
- Three-bet
- The first re-raise before the flop (the blind counts as the first bet and the open raise as the second).
- Tilt
- Playing worse than usual because of frustration, anger or another strong emotion.
- Turn
- The fourth community card.
- Under the gun (UTG)
- The first player to act before the flop, seated directly to the left of the big blind.
- Value bet
- A bet made with a strong hand, intended to be called by worse hands.
- Variance
- The natural short-term swings in results caused by luck, even when decisions are good.
