Here is a pretty complete poker glossary so you will never be left behind in all the poker lingo.

A-E F-O P-Z

Aces Up: Two pair when on of your pairs is aces.

Action: When it is your turn to take action in a hand.

All-In: To have all of one’s chips in the pot.

Backdoor: To catch the turn and the river to win the hand. Also known as “Runner Runner”.

Bad Beat: To lose a hand when you were heavily favored. Also known as “Bad Luck”.

Big Blind: The larger of the two blinds.

Big Stack: The player at the table with the most chips.

Blank: A card on the turn or river that would not help any straight and/or flush draws.

Blind: A forced bet typically made by the first two players directly to the left of the dealer. See, Big Blind and Small Blind.

Board: All of the community cards, including the flop, turn, and river.

Bubble: In a tournament, the last player eliminated before the payoffs.

Burn: To discard the top card from the deck, face down. This is done before the flop, turn, and river.

Button: Usually a small white disk used to remind all of who the “dealer” is.

Buy-In: The amount of money you pay to enter a tournament.

Call: To put in the amount of money that was bet.

Calling Station: A player who calls a lot, but doesn’t raise or fold much.

Cap: This is the fourth and final bet in a limit game.

Case: The last card of a certain rank in the deck.

Check: To not bet, with the option to call or raise later in the betting round.

Check-Raise: To check and then raise a person who has bet.

Connector: A Hold’Em starting hand in which the two cards are one apart in rank.

Crying Call: A call that you make expecting to lose, but feel that you must make anyway because of the pot odds.

Dead Money: A player in a tournament who has no realistic chance of winning.
Draw: To play a hand that is not yet good, but could be if the correct cards come.

Draw Dead: To not have any outs left in the deck.  No remaining cards can have you win

Family Pot: A pot in which all of the players are in before the flop.

Fish: A very bad player who loses a lot of money. Also known as “Easy Money”.

Flop: The first three community cards, put out face up, all together.

Free Card: When it is checked around completely, the next card is free.

Free Roll: When one player is going to split the pot with another player, but has some chance to win the pot outright.

Gut Shot Straight: A straight draw where the card needed is in the middle of the sequence.

Heads-Up: When only two players are in the pot.

Hit: When a card or cards come to help your hand.

Jackpot: A special bonus paid to the loser of a hand if he gets a very good hand beaten. In Hold’em, the “loser” must typically get aces full or better beaten.

Kicker: An unpaired card used to determine the better of two similar hands.

Limp: To just call the blind pre-flop.

Muck: The pile of folded and burned cards in front of the dealer.

No-Limit: A version of poker in which a player may bet any to all of their chips.

Nuts: The best possible hand given the board.

Off Suit: A Hold’Em starting hand with two cards of different suits.

Out: Any remaining in the deck that will make your hand win.

Over Card: A card in your hand that is higher than any on the board.

Over Pair: A pocket pair higher than any card on the board.

Play the Board: The best possible hand you can make doesn’t use any of your hole cards.

Pocket Pair: A Hold’Em starting hand with two cards of the same rank.

Post: To put in a blind bet, generally required when you first sit down in a game.

Pot-Committed: When you are in a position that there is so much money in the pot, you are virtually committed for the rest of your money.

Pot-Limit: A version of poker in which a player may bet up to the amount of money in the pot.

Pot Odds: The amount of money in the pot compared to the amount you must put in the pot to continue playing.

Protect: To keep your hand or a chip on top of your pocket cards so that it is known that you don’t want to fold.

Put On: When you have a good idea of what another player has, you put them on a hand.

Quads: Four of a kind.

Ragged: A board when it appears that no one could possibly have a good hand.

Rainbow: A flop or board when no flush is possible because three or more suits are out.

Rake: The amount of money that is taken out by the dealer on every hand.  This is how card rooms make their income.

Re-Buy: Some tournaments have the option to buy back into the tournament after you’ve lost all of your chips.

Represent: To play a hand as if you are representing a good hand.

River: The fifth and final community card, put out face up, by itself. Also known as “Fifth Street”.

Runner: Usually said as Runner Runner, To catch the turn and the river to win the hand. Also known as Back Door.

Semi-Bluff: When you bet without the best hand, but have plenty of outs to make the best.

Set: Three of a kind when you have two of the rank in your hand, and there is one on the board.

Short Stack: The person at the table who has the least amount of chips.

Showdown: When all the players remaining in the hand turn their cards over and determine who has the best hand.

Side Pot: A pot created when one person is all in and others still in the hand can gamble in.

Slow Play: To play a strong hand weakly so more players will stay in the pot.

Small Blind: The smaller of two blinds.

Smooth Call: To simply call with a strong hand, a form of slow playing.

Splash the Pot: To toss your chips into the pot, rather than placing them in a stack in front of you.

Split Pot: A pot that is shared by two or more players because they have equal hands.

Stop-and-Go: A strategy when you call, then lead out and bet on the next round.

String Bet: When a player puts their money in the pot, then after a moment puts more money in the pot.  This is not allowed because a player may put in enough chips to call, and then by judging the players reaction decides to raise.

Suited: A Hold’Em starting hand in which the two cards are the same suit.

Tell: A clue a player does, sometimes unconsciously that gives away the strength of his hand.

Tilt: To play recklessly, often after taking a bad beat a player will play out of control.

Top Pair: A pair with the highest card on the flop.

Top Set: The highest possible three of a kind.

Top Two: Two pair consisting of the highest two cards on the board.

Top and Bottom: Two pair consisting of the highest and lowest two cards on the board.

Trips: Three of a kind when you have one of the rank in your hand, and there are two on the board.

Turn: The fourth community card, out face up, by itself. Also known as “Fourth Street”.

Under the Gun: The person who is first to act on a round of betting.

Wheel: A straight from ace to five.