Ultimate Guide To Poker Terms – Understanding The Lingo

If you are new to the game of Poker, it is in your best interest to familiarize yourself with all Poker Terms so that you can play like a pro. You won’t become a better player as a result of knowing it, but at least you’ll be able to comprehend what the other players are talking about, and as a result, you’ll have more fun playing the game.

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Poker Terms A-Z

(A)

ABC Poker

A simple and predictable tactic in which the player only plays and bets on strong cards and folds the rest. Following the rules as they are written.

Airball

The term “airball” or “airballing” refers to the act of bluffing when a player has nothing more than “air,” or no actual hand, and no realistic prospect of improving.

American Airlines

An often-used moniker for a hand consisting of four aces, derived from the initials of the hand’s abbreviation, “AA.”

Ammo (Ammunition)

Means a player’s total number of chips. When you run out of ammunition, it indicates that your chips have been depleted. A good deal of military jargon has made its way into poker terms.

Angle Shooting

When a player uses strategies that aren’t technically illegal when we talk about poker terms but are still dishonest to acquire an unfair edge.

This is the poker terms that is typically used in the expression “shooting an angle.” Someone who doesn’t reveal their strong hand or who makes a false announcement during a showdown is cheating.

  (B)

Belly Buster

A shot is slang for a gun being fired; it’s also sometimes called an “inside straight draw.” This means that there are only four cards left in the deck that can be used to complete the player’s straight draw.

If you have 98 on A65, for instance, you have a belly buster since you need one out of every four 7s to make a straight.

Big Blind Special

When the large blind makes a winning hand or takes down the pot, it’s usually because they had a free look at the flop. If you watch poker shows regularly, you’ve likely heard this expression many times before.

Big Slick

Aces and Kings in any suit are the best possible starting hand. Many well-known things also begin with the letters AK, such as Anna Kournikova, Korean Airlines, and the AK-47.

Bloodbath

When two or more players are ready to get involved in a massive pot, commentators may sometimes use the term “bloodbath” to characterize the situation.

Several players are likely to be eliminated from the tournament or have their stacks significantly reduced if all of their chips go into the center in this situation, as it normally occurs when all involved players have a large hand or a big draw.

Brick

Used to indicate a card that cannot be used to make any more draws and has no bearing on the present hand.

Busted

When you go bust, you completely run out of money or chips. It has more than one meaning, including being eliminated from a tournament when all of your chips are gone.

If you lose all your cash and can’t reload, the same logic applies to cash games. A player is also said to be “busted” if they have lost their whole bankroll and are therefore unable to continue playing poker.

    (C)

Cambodia

74o is a description of the player’s hole cards; the suited form of this term is frequently called “Cambodian Slick.” The word was popularized in New York City cardrooms, although its etymology remains a mystery.

Card rack

Used to describe a player who’s been getting dealt good hands for the entire session or a tournament. A “card rack” will often go on a heater, getting big pocket pairs, hitting all of their draws, and stacking many players in the process.

Chip Dumping

A practice that’s only found in poker tournaments and is when one player intentionally loses to another player to transfer chips from one stack to another.

Players can chip dump for a variety of reasons, but the most common scenario is when two players are colluding in a tournament and one of them accumulates a big stack, allowing them to “share” some of their wealth.

Chip dumping is against the rules and can lead to a tournament suspension or even money confiscation if players get caught doing it.

Clicking Buttons

Used to characterize the behavior of players who don’t know what they’re doing and whose actions make no sense at all.

Although the word was coined in the context of online poker. These poker terms are increasingly common in live games as well.

Computer Hand

A nickname for the starting hand Q7o. Modern-day poker relies heavily on math and numbers. People have come up with all sorts of calculations, especially for the starting hands. Someone worked out that the hand Q7o was the worst profitable starting hand with slightly positive equity against a random hand, which got dubbed “computer hand.”

Cooler

The term “cooler” is used to describe a situation in which both players have a very good hand and, regardless of their strategy, they are both likely to lose the entirety of their stack to the pot. One of the participants will inevitably lose a lot of money because of an unavoidable cooler.

Cowboys

A common shorthand among poker players and pundits for pocket kings (KK).

Crabs

Crabs You have been dealt crabs if both of your pocket cards are threes.

The number three on the cards kind of looks like a sideways crab, which is probably where the nickname comes from.

Roulette with Credit Cards

A method employed by players to choose who will foot the bill for an upcoming meal or night out on the town. The group puts their credit card information into a hat or box, and whoever pulls out the winning card foots the bill.

This isn’t a poker word per se, but you’ve likely heard it before if you follow high-stakes games online or listen to poker podcasts.

Sometimes people may talk about how they lost money playing credit card roulette because they were unlucky with the volatility. That’s one usually in poker terms.

  (D)

A Dolly Parton

The “9-5” is the slang moniker for any opening pair of 9s. Dolly Parton’s hit song “9 to 5” is the inspiration for the name. The term “full-time job” may also be used to describe this situation. These days, only the most seasoned gamers will take advantage of it.

Donkey

Refers to someone who doesn’t know how to play well. Although there’s no steadfast definition of a “poker donkey” you’ll probably know it when you see it.

Doomswitch

A poker terms is used to describe a player running poorly and on the wrong side of variance.

It originates from online poker and the theory that poker sites have a certain “switch” they can turn to make particular players win or lose more often.

Although most players take this as a joke, some genuinely do believe sites operate this way to stop you from winning too much money. It’s only a myth, so don’t worry.

Ducks

Due to the number 2’s superficial resemblance to a duck, it has earned the nickname “ducks” for use in the context of pocket deuces.

Stack of Dirt

Describes a pile of chips where the denominations are all mixed together at random.

When playing poker, it is considered polite (and often even required) to arrange your chips in piles, with the highest denominations in the front.

(F)

Fist Pump

A motion used to celebrate winning a pot or another positive outcome at a table.

It’s become quite common to refer to other situations as well, such as “fist-pump shove” – being thrilled to move all in after your opponent bets into your monster.

(G)

Gappers

The term “gapper” is used to describe hole cards that have the potential to make straights (connectors).

The number of cards needed in the middle is the “gap” so if you have a hand like 5-7, you have a one-gapper (the 6 is missing). A hand like 7-10 is a two-gapper, etc.

Gears

Describes a player’s ability to adjust to different situations and find the best play available to them on the spot.

Such a player is capable of shifting gears as required, just as if they were driving a car.

GG

An abbreviation of a good game is often used online to express gratitude for a good match.

It can also be used ironically to make fun of weaker players or when someone makes a very bad play.

Going South

When a player “goes south” in a poker game, it means they removed a portion of their chips from the table to reduce their stake.

This is against the rules in most games and can even be called an angle shoot.

All the money you win has to remain in play until you decide to get up and leave, so be sure to avoid “going south” – no matter what.

  (H)

Hero

If you watch poker training videos or hand reviews, you’ll often come across the term “hero.” This is refers to the player whose hand is being reviewed or the one you are focusing on.

High Society

A stack of “high society” refers to the stack of the highest denomination chips available in the casino.

Although the term is used by gamblers in general, it was made famous in poker circles thanks to the cult movie Rounders.

Hit And Run

You’ve decided to cash out immediately after winning a massive pot or a string of banks.

Some players do this to keep their gains secret, but it’s not right and you shouldn’t do it often.

Horse

Horse A participant in a tournament or cash game who is being financially supported by another player.

Both the “horse” and the “backer” contribute their respective talents to the project, but the latter also pays some or all of the initial investment. Any financial gains are split 50/50 between the two parties.

   (I)

Idiot End

A straight (draw) is meant by “I Idiot End.” The term “drawing to the idiot end of the straight” is used to describe a situation in which a player has a chance to make the lowest possible straight but also has possibilities for making straights of higher rank.

(J )

Jam

The term “jam” is shorthand for “raising all-in,” which means to put all your chips into the pot at once.

(L)

One, Live

A “live one” is a player who isn’t particularly skilled at poker and is therefore an easy target at the table, just like a “donkey” is used to describe a player who isn’t very good at horse racing.

A “live one” is a player with a large bankroll who is willing to lose a lot of money for the sake of entertainment.

Lodden Thinks

Several high-stakes poker players, including Antonio Esfandiari and Phil Laak, have brought the game of “Lodden Thinks” to wider attention.

Despite its lack of relevance to the game of poker, it is frequently employed during breaks.

Bets are placed on the opinion of an opponent on a given topic.

The “Lodden” player will write down their response, and the other participants will wager on the correctness of that response. The fact that the response need not be correct at all adds to the game’s appeal.

It requires some knowledge of psychology and the ability to “read” other players’ thoughts.

(M)

Muck

As an alternative term for folding, “muck” is also commonly used. However, mucking is most commonly used to describe folding without exposing one’s hand during a showdown when one’s opponent reveals a better hand than one’s own.

(N)

Nitfest

Slang for a game in which everyone plays extremely conservatively. A “nitfest” table is one that lacks entertainment value, hence the name.

Nosebleeds

There are micro-stakes, small-stakes, mid-stakes, and high-stakes poker games, and then there are the nosebleeds.

The term refers to games where extremely large amounts of money are always at risk. True nosebleeds are represented by the cash games in Macau, where it is not uncommon to win or lose several million dollars in a single session.

Nut Nut

You’ve probably heard the poker term “the nuts” before, which refers to the best possible hand.

However, “nut nut” refers to a hand that is both the nuts and has a chance to improve to even better nuts, representing the next level in poker jargon.

You might have the nut straight and a flush draw, for instance. For poker players, that’s known as the “nut nut.”

  (P)

Pwned

As another Internet-born phrase, “pwned” implies “owned” but with a few more nuances.

You were “pwned” if the opposing player either completely outplayed you or got lucky.

A significant number of your chips will be changing hands regardless of the outcome.

   (R)

Rags

Used to describe cards that are so awful that they can’t even be played. These are hands, such as 92o, J3o, etc., that have an extremely low probability of improving and should be folded preflop. A similar term that may be used is “napkins.”

Robusto

You’re probably familiar with the term “busto”, used when a player busts out of the tournament or loses all of their money. “Robusto” has the opposite meaning.

It describes someone who vastly increased their poker bankroll by playing a lot or by winning a big tournament, so you’d say “from busto to robusto.”

Runner Runner

This refers to a situation where you had to hit both cards on the turn and on the river to make your hand. For example, you have two clubs in your hand and there’s only one club on the flop, so to make your flush, you have to hit a club on the turn and another one on the river. Therefore you have a runner-runner flush draw.

(S)

Sailboats

S Sailboats Pocket fours slang because of the visual similarity between the number 4 and a sail.

Set Mining

The term “set mining” refers to the practice of calling with a (typically weak) pocket pair to flop a set.

Shark

A “shark” is the antithesis of a “donkey” in a game since they are extremely knowledgeable about the game and use that knowledge to their advantage by punishing weaker players for their blunders.

The term “shark” is often reserved for a professional poker player of high skill level. 

A “card shark” is someone skilled at a wide variety of card games, not only poker.

Shill

A “shill” is an advocate who promotes a company or product to sway consumers’ opinions in a favorable direction.

The poker terms “shill” is commonly used in the poker community to refer to forum users who defend specific poker rooms and their behavior by providing false testimony to mislead other players.

The Straddle Sleeper

The “sleeper straddle” is a variant of the blind bet (straddle) that is not commonly found in games.

The “sleeper” can be placed in any location and will only activate if no one takes any further action before folding.

Snowmen

Poker Terms for eights in one’s pocket; the number eight resembles a snowman, hence the name. Other names for this hand include “octopussy” and “infinities.”

Suicide King

King of Hearts is referred to as “Suicide King” in slang. If you look attentively, you can see that the king on this card has a sword through his chest or skull.

The poker terms were also popularized by the best-selling book “The Professor, The Banker, and the Suicide King,” which details high-stakes poker games between members of “The Corporation” and Andy Beal, a wealthy banker.

   (T)

Tanking

A player who “tanks” deliberates for an extended period before making a move. The phrase “time bank” inspired the term.

Tanking occurs frequently when a player is confronted with a large bet on the turn or river, where the outcome can have a significant financial impact.

   (W)

Walking Chips

A player is said to have “walking chips” if they have a sizable chip stack in a tournament and decide to take a walk around the venue while taking a break from playing.

This is a poor choice from a strategic perspective.

Only in a satellite tournament (a tournament where the winner receives entry to a larger tournament) where you have a huge stack would this strategy make sense.

Even so, it’s probably best to stay seated at your assigned table, as you never know what might be discussed.

Whiff

If you whiff on a draw, you completely miss your target. Simply put, that means you weren’t able to obtain the necessary card.

You “whiffed” if, while holding a flush draw, you called a wager from another player and the turn card did nothing to improve your hand.

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Mastering poker terms is more than just a matter of semantics; it’s about immersing yourself in a dynamic world where probabilities and human psychology dance in a delicate balance. Whether you’re honing your skills for casual games with friends or stepping onto the professional stage, a solid grasp of these terms equips you with the tools needed to make informed decisions, read your opponents, and ultimately shape your narrative within the game.

Frequently Asked Questions About Poker Terms