In poker, many technical terms can be confusing for beginners. Players need to understand these phrases and expressions to play the game successfully. Becoming familiar with them will help you make better decisions during the game and improve your chances of winning.
In this post, you’ll find a list of some of the most commonly encountered poker terms and their definitions. After learning these terminologies, you can test your knowledge with a game at GGPoker, the world’s largest poker room. Simply sign up for an account on their website to gain access to various poker games and tournaments, from freerolls to more high-roller events.
1. Deck
Deck pertains to the standard 52-piece stack of playing cards distributed among players.
2. Pot
The Pot is the sum of money players bet in a poker hand. The player with the best hand wins the pot.
3. Poker Hands
Poker Hands pertain to the set of five cards a player is dealt. A poker hand’s value depends on the rank of the cards in it (more on poker hand rankings below).
4. Royal Flush
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This is the highest poker hand, consisting of an ace, king, queen, jack, and ten of the same suit.
5. Straight Flush
A hand comprised of five successive cards of the same suit. For example, a jack, a ten, a nine, an eight, and a seven of hearts.
6. Four of a Kind
Otherwise known as a quad, Four of a Kind is a poker hand comprised of four cards of equal rank. For instance, you can have a hand with four jacks and a nine of spades.
7. Full House
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A poker hand of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank.
8. Flush
A poker hand with five cards of the same suit. Unlike a Straight Flush, where the cards need to be successive, the cards in a Flush don’t have to be sequential as long as they are of the same category.
9. Straight
A poker hand comprised of five successive cards, but not all of the same suit. A seven of hearts with a six of spades, a five of diamonds, a four of clubs, and a three of spades, for example, makes a Straight.
10. Three of a Kind
Otherwise known as trips or set, Three of a Kind is a poker hand of three cards of one rank and two unrelated cards known as “the kickers.” For example, three nines with a seven and a nine as kickers. The cards in this hand don’t need to be of the same suit.
11. Two Pair
A poker hand with two distinct pairs of cards. For example, a hand with two kings, two aces, and a seven makes a Two Pair. If two or more players have this hand, the one with the higher ranking pairs wins.
12. Pair
A poker hand consisting of two cards of equal rank and three “kickers.”
13. High Card
A poker hand consisting of five unrelated cards. The highest card in the hand is used to determine the hand’s rank.
14. Poker Odds
Poker Odds refer to the chances of making a hand based on the number of cards that have been dealt. These can be expressed as a ratio or as a percentage.
15. Ante
The poker Ante is a forced bet that all players must make before the initial deal. This is usually much less than the minimum bet set for the game. Depending on the type of poker being played, an Ante is typically used to establish the initial pot players will try to win. Alternatively, in games that don’t traditionally have Antes, it can be used to “punish” players that don’t play enough hands. The more forced bets reduce these players’ chips, the more hands they have to play to try to win those chips back.
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16. Blind
A poker Blind is a forced bet that one or more players must make before the cards are dealt. Traditionally, these are assigned to the two players seated directly to the dealer’s left. By requiring one or two players to place a bet at each hand, blinds ensure that a poker game will advance as at least two players will have the motivation to participate.
17. Button
The Button is a marker that indicates which player is the dealer. The player who is dealt the button is the last to act in each betting round.
18. Flop
Flop pertains to the first three community cards dealt face-up in a poker game. This is traditionally seen in poker variants like Texas Hold’em and Omaha.
19. Turn
Turn refers to the fourth community card dealt dace-up in a game of Texas Hold’em or Omaha poker.
20. River
Also traditionally seen in Texas Hold’em and Omaha, the River is the fifth and final community card that is dealt face-up in a poker game.
21. Bluff
A Bluff is a poker move used to mislead other players about the strength of your hand. There are many ways to do this, among which is maintaining a poker face to bar your opponents from determining whether you have a good hand or not.
22. Check
A Check is a poker move that passes the action to the next player on the table, so the previous player can stay in the game without betting. However, this move is only allowed when no one else has placed a bet on the current hand.
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23. Raise
A Raise increases the money players must bet to stay in the game. You can raise right after the player before you place a bet.
24. Fold
A Fold, on the other hand, allows a player to get out of the game because they feel they don’t have a strong enough chance of winning or no longer wish to make bets. To fold means to forfeit your chances of winning the pot.
25. Call
A Call allows a player to stay in the game by matching the amount of money an opponent has betted.
26. Tell
A poker Tell is a physical or verbal cue that gives information about a player’s hand. This can be anything from nervous tics to general body language and other signs that can help you call an opponent’s bluff.
27. Kicker
The Kicker is the highest card in a poker hand that is not part of a pair or a set, as explained earlier. It is used to determine the winner of a poker hand. If two or more players have the same pair or set in a hand, the one with the higher kicker wins.
28. World Series of Poker
The World Series of Poker, or WSOP, is a series of poker tournaments held yearly in Paradise, Nevada. It started in the 1970s and features over a hundred poker variants, including Texas Hold’em and Omaha Hi-Lo.
29. WSOP Free Chips
WSOP Free Chips are poker chips that players can use for games and tournaments on the World Series of Poker website.
30. No-Limit
No-Limit or NL refers to a poker game with no betting restrictions. In No-Limit poker, players can bet as much as the number of chips they have on the table.
31. Pot-Limit
Pot-Limit poker games, on the other hand, caps betting to the size of the pot. This means that players cannot overbet or bet all their chips as they would in a No-Limit game.
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32. Limit
Limit or Fixed-Limit pertains to a type of poker with a specific betting amount for each round. Players must follow this betting cap.
There you have it – the poker glossary. With these poker terms, you’ll be able to hold your own in any poker game!
