When you’re playing poker, you may come across words that are unfamiliar. To help you learn the lingo of poker, we’ve developed a handy glossary of poker terms. To help you understand the relationships between these terms, we’ve built links between many of them. Simply press your browser’s ‘back’ button to return to your previous position in the glossary.
A
Ace-high
A five-card hand containing an ace, but no straight, flush or pair.
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Aces full
A full house with three aces (and any pair).
Aces up
When your hand contains two pairs, one of which is a pair of aces.
Action
The betting aspect of the game, including checking and raising.
Active player
Any player who hasn’t folded.
Add-on
A chance to buy more chips. Comes at the end of the re-buy period during a multi-table tournament (MTT), normally after 60 minutes.
All-in
Betting your entire chip stack, either as a tactic, or to call (match) another player’s bet.
Ante
A fee you pay before you see your hand, on top of the blinds – usually applies in later rounds of tournaments. The bigger the blind, the bigger the ante.
B
Backdoor
When you need the last two cards (the turn and the river) to make your hand. For instance, say you have J and Q of clubs with a flop of A of clubs, 5 of hearts and 6 of spades. If the turn and river are K and 3 of clubs, you’re looking at a backdoor flush.
Bad beat
When a strong hand – one that statistically ought to win – does not. Trust us, this does happen.
Bankroll
The money you have to bet, either in your partypoker account or set aside to add later.
Bankroll management (BRM)
Choosing the right game for your bankroll size, and knowing when to switch up to bigger games, and back down again.
Big blind
A big blind is twice the small blind (blinds being the two fixed bets that start a hand going).
Blank
A card that doesn’t go with anything else in your hand.
Bluff
When you haven’t got a great hand, but bet or raise as if you do.
Bounty
In multi-table tournaments (MTTs), we put a bounty on certain players, which means a reward for whoever knocks them out of the game.
Break
Multi-table tournaments (MTTs) can get quite long, so they often have built-in breaks, normally 5 minutes at 55 minutes past the hour.
Bubble
The last player out before the prize money starts. For example, if you have 200 entrants in a tournament and the prizes start at position 15, to finish 16th is the bubble (sorry, bubble).
Bullets
A pair of aces.
Button
A small disk marking the dealer position (moves one place clockwise at each hand).
Buy-in
The money you start with in a cash game, or the entry fee in a tournament.
C
Call
Where you match the bet someone else just made.
Cash game
In tournaments, chips have a point value. In cash games they have a cash value.
Check
It’s your turn, there’s no action in front of you and you choose not to bet.
Check-raise
A classic move. You check, hoping to draw others in to bet. When they do, you raise.
Community cards
The five cards in the centre of the table – the flop, turn and river (also known as ‘the board’).
Continuation betting
A type of bluff. Before the flop, your hand looked like the nuts – after, not so much. Your opponent doesn’t know that, so you bet again anyway. Cunning.
D
Dealer’s position
AKA ‘on the button’. The last to act in a betting round and the strongest position at the table.
E
Early position
First in the betting order, usually two positions to the left of the blinds.
Entry fee
The house’s portion of the tournament entry stake, usually 10%.
Entry stake
Unlike the buy-in (purely the cost of entering a tournament), entry stakes are the amounts players bring that make up the total prize pool.
F-G
Fifth street
Also known as the ‘river’. The fifth community card on the table and the final round of betting.
Fish
A new player, easy pickings for the more experienced ‘sharks’ at the table.
Flat call
Calling a bet without raising.
Flop
After the first round of betting, three cards are dealt face-up on the table. This is the ‘flop’, which starts the second round of betting.
Flush
Any five cards of the same suit.
Flush draw
When you have four cards in the same suit, hoping you’ll get a fifth to make a flush.
Fold
When you pull out of a hand by passing or ‘folding’ your cards.
Four of a kind
Four cards of the same number or face value, also known as ‘quads’.
Fourth street
The fourth community card dealt (also known as the ‘turn’). Starts the third round of betting.
Freeroll
A tournament that’s free to enter.
Full house
A hand of three same-value cards, plus a pair. For example three aces and two queens.
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