Poker Glossary

Here is a simple list of poker terms that you might hear in a poker game.

All-In: Putting all of the chips you have at the table into the pot, creating a side pot for the remaining players.

Ante:  A small portion of a bet contributed by each player to seed the pot at the beginning of a poker hand. Most hold'em games do not have an ante; they use "blinds" to get initial money into the pot. See Big Blind and Small Blind

Big Blind: The largest regular blind in a game.

Blind: A required bet dictated by the game that is made before any cards are dealt.

Bluff: A bet or raise with a hand that is unlikely to beat the other players.

Burn:  To discard the top card from the deck, face down. This is done between each betting round before putting out the next community card(s). It is security against any player recognizing or glimpsing the next card to be used on the board.

Buy-In: The minimum amount of money required to enter any game.

Check: To waive the right to initiate the betting in a round, but to retain the right to act if another player initiates the betting.

Draw: When players are given the opportunity to replace cards in their hands.

Fold: To throw a hand away and relinquish all interest in a pot.

Hit:  As in "the flop hit me." It means the flop contained cards that help your hand. If you have AK, and the flop comes K-7-2, it hit you.

Kicker: The highest unpaired card that helps determine the value of a five-card poker hand.

No-Limit: A betting structure where players are allowed to wager any or all of their chips in one bet.

Offsuit: Not of the same suit. In hold'em starting hand in which the two cards are of different suits.

Pocket:  Your unique cards that only you can see. Starting hole cards in stud and Hold'em.

Pot: The total amount of money bet so far in a hand.

Raise:  To increase the amount of a prior wager. this increase must meet certain specifications, depending on the game, to reopen the betting and count toward a limit on the number of raises allowed.

Reraise:  To raise someone's raise.

Side Pot: A separate pot formed when one or more active players are all in. For example when an active player runs out of money during the course of a hand, the remaining players participate in a second or Side Pot for the rest of the hand. Additional side pots are possible if several players run out of money at different points in a hand.

Suited: Cards are of the same suit.

Turn: The fourth community card dealt in Hold’Em or Omaha.