POKER VOCABULARY 1-2-3

Donkey

Stupid, weak player of stupid move.
Usage: Like in sentence "Let's go to this poker room. it is full of donkeys"

Fish

A player who loses money. An old saying is "If you can't spot the fish at the table, *you* are the fish."

Pigeon

An easy player such as Kamikaze Marc. 

Shark

A good/crafty player often posing as a fish early in the game.

Vultures

From PokerMantis vocabulary, a group of poker players waiting to devour your stack, constantly looking at your stack and waiting for you to get hurt so they can clean you out.

 

Aggressive

Adjective to describe a player who raises and re-raises and rarely calls.
Usage: Like in sentence "John is really an aggressive player".

Anna Kournikova

A name for A-K starting hand.
Usage: So called because "it looks great but doesn't win anything".

American Airlines

Two Aces.
Usage: This is a name of card combinations which was succesfully used by some player and historically called American Airlines. Abbreviated signing of this term is A-A.

Belly Buster

A draw and/or catch to an Inside Straight.
Usage: Like in sentence "Harry hit his 4-out belly buster on the river."

Bankroll

The amount of money you have.
Usage: Many serious poker players have a separate bankroll just for poker. If you bankroll someone, you are giving them money to play with, usually in exchange for a percent of their profit. Like in sentence "She doubled her bankroll after 1 month of playing the PartyPoker."

Bet in the Dark

To announce a bet before cards are dealt or looking at your hand.
Usage: Like in sentence "Phil announced a $5000 bet in the dark before the flop cards were dealt".

Bet for Value

Bet a hand with the intention of getting called by one or more lesser hands, as opposed to getting the others to fold. Usually implies betting a hand that has only a slight edge, and one that a conservative player would likely check with. Also value bet.

Big Slick

A hand that contains an Ace and a King (A-K).
Usage: Used in hold'em games, also known as Santa Barbara.

Backer

A nonplayer who finances an active player.
Usage: Like in sentece "How you gonna get into the tournament? I thought you were broke." "I have a backer."

Check-Raise

When a player first checks and then raises in a betting round.
Usage: This is done in an attempt to "trap" an opponent into betting to extract more chips/cash from them.

Counterfeit

To make your hand less valuable because of board cards that duplicate it. Example: you have 87 and the flop comes 9-T-J, so you have a straight. Now an 8 comes on the turn. This has counterfeited your hand and made it almost worthless.

Cheese

A very substandard starting hand.
Usage: Like in sentence: After being dealt Seven, Two again Howard announced "Nothing but cheese again!"

Coffeehousing

This is when Players chat about a hand they are involved in, with the intent of misleading or manipulating other Players.

Conservative

(of a poker player or play) tending to bet only with a good hand.

Dead Man's Hand

Two pair - Aces and Eights.
Usage: According to a legend, Wild Bill Hickok was shot during a poker game in Deadwood, South Dakota, and that the hand he held was two pair, black aces and black eights. The fifth card is not known for certain.

There is also a computer game about these cowboys.

Dead Money

Chips that are taken into the center of the pot because they are not considered part of a particular player’s bet.
Usage: Used to describe an inexperienced player with little chance of winning.

Double Belly Buster

A two-way inside straight. ie:, 3-5-6-7-9. Also called a Double Gutshot. 

Fifth Street

Also known as the "river" card. In flop games, this represents the fifth community card on the table and the final round of betting. In Stud games, this is the fifth card dealt to each player and represents the third round of betting.  

Fishhooks

Slang for Jacks.

Hit And Run

The act of joining a poker game, winning big in a short period of time, and leaving the table.

Iron Duke

An unbeatable hand (Ironclad Hand).

Late Position

Position on a round of betting where the player must act after most of the other players have acted (usually considered to be the two positions next to the button). 

Hitchhiker

A player who comes into a pot cheaply as the victim of a trap.  

Middle Position

Somewhere between the early and late positions on a round of betting (the fifth, sixth and seventh seats to the left of the button). 

Early Position

Position on a round of betting where the player must act before most of the other players at the table. (It's considered the two positions located to the left of the Blinds. )  

Maniac

A very aggressive player who plays a lot of hands such as my friend Kamikaze Marc.

Monster

A very big hand. In a tournament, a player who begins to accumulate chips after having a small stack is considered to be a monster.  

Muck

To discard or throw away your hand. It's also a pile of cards that are no longer in play. 

Komodo Dragoned

When a players hand is defeated because of an opponent completing a straight or flush on the river.  

Nuts

The best possible hand at any point of the game. A hand that cannot be beat. 

Open-ended Straight

Four consecutive cards whereby one additional (consecutive) card is needed at either end to make a straight. 

Passive

Checking and calling hands rather betting and raising hands.

Pegging

A cheater's technique to mark cards with his fingernail or a device

Raise Blind

1) To raise without looking at one's cards.
2) A forced raise.

Semi-Bluff

Betting with a mediocre or drawing hand.

Steal the Blinds

To win a small pot consisiting of only blinds by betting a weak hand and having other players fold.

Solid

A fairly tight player (and reasonably good).

Pay Station

A player who rarely folds, thus who frequently calls better hands and loses.

Calling Station

A passive and loose player who does not raise much, but calls more than he or she should.
Usage: Also known as "Policeman" these type of players rarely bluff.

Whore

A queen.

Wash

To Shuffle. 

Zombie

A poker player with no tells (see tell), one who has a poker face, shows no emotion, and otherwise exhibits no behavior to give away his holdings.  Jun plays like a zombie.

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