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.

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.