Texas Hold'em Poker Glossary

Bad Beat:
When a superior hand that should have won actually looses to an even better hand. For example four 10s does loose to someone else with four kings, that is a bad beat. Some casinos pay a large bonus if you are the victim of a bad beat.

Big Blind/Small Blind:
A forced bet two hands to the left of the button/ a forced bet of half the big blind immediately to the left of the Button.

Big Dawg:
The big underdog. Also known as the Big Dog or just plain Dog.

Big Slick:
If your first two cards are Ace & King you have big slick. It is also sometimes called the Anna Kournikova hand (her initials are A K) since it is very pretty but does not usually win anything.

Big Stack:
The player with the most money on the table.

Button:
Since the house does not play and there are positional advantages in Hold'em, a button with the word Dealer on it is passed around in a clockwise manner. It is the best position to be in since you bet last and get to see how strong or weak the other players are. This is not true in the very first round since the first two player have the option to raise the bet or not.

Check-raise:
If you check and down the line a player raises, you can re-raise to either trap players or try to bluff them out.

Doubling Up:
If you go all in against one player and win you double the amount of money you have. You will triple up against two callers if you win and they both have at least as many chips as you do.

Drawing Dead:
If someone can already beat a hand you are drawing for You are drawing dead. You have no chance whatsoever of winning but you don't know it.

Fish:
A sucker or bad player. It is said that if you sit down at a poker table and can't see the fish, then you are one of them.

Flop:
Texas hold'em starts with two down cards being dealt to you, these are called The Pocket Cards. The next are three cards are dealt all at once that all players share. This is called The Flop. The next card dealt is called the turn and is also a common card. Finally, The last common card is dealt and this is called The River.

Hole Cards:
Same pocket cards.

Hollywood:
Someone over acting how good or bad there hand is to try to mislead you.

Limp In:
Calling a bet at the lowest level without a raise.

Looking Out The Window:
If you loose your concentration because of external circumstances, such as a pretty girl, this is what it is often called.

No Limit Betting:
You can bet anywhere from the minimum bet to all your chips when it is your turn to bet.

Married To A Hand:
If you have the loosing hand, but stay with it anyway, you are married to the hand. This is just very bad poker. Heck even the song says 'you gotta know when to foldem'.

Monster Pot:
An extremely large pot.

Muck:
You can 'muck' your cards instead of showing them. To do this throw your card into the middle of the table. Be careful not to accidentally muck the winning hand because once card are thrown in they are totally out of play.

Nuts/The Nutz:
The highest possible hand given the board. If no pair is on board and you have an ace of clubs in your hand with four other clubs on board, then you have the nut flush. Of course there cannot be a straight flush draw on board sine that would become the nutz.

Your Nut:
This is the total amount of your savings. Some people spend their nut and then drive a Taxi until they get enough money to play again.

On Tilt:
There are times players just have a breakdown in their discipline and start to make all sorts of costly mistakes. He is called on tilt, like a pinball machine that has tilted and is out of order.

Outs:
All the cards that can come on the draw to make a player's existing hand a winning hand.

Over Cards:
You may get into position where you have two higher cards than the person you are playing against. Say the opponent has a pair of eights and you have A K. Therefore you hold two over cards It is about a 50/50 when this happens.

Position Play:
The object of Poker is to make the most money. Position around the table is a major factor in how much you can win. The best position is when you are on the button, second best is one to the left of the button and so on. Early positions are the first to bet. That is because they don't get to see what the other plays are doing first. You are also at a bluffing disadvantage in and early position.

Provider:
Same as 'fish' (I.e. sucker) but usually used by older professional players.

Rainbow Flop:
Three different suits appear on the flop. This reduces the chance of a flush being drawn.

River:
Texas hold'em starts with two down cards being dealt to you, these are called The Pocket Cards. The next are three cards are dealt all at once that all players share. This is called The Flop. The next card dealt is called the turn and is also a common card. Finally, The last common card is dealt and this is called The River.

Runner, Runner:
After the flop if you need two specific cards to fall on the turn and on the river to give you a winning hand it is called runner, runner. This is a longshot but does happen every once in a while.

Scare Card:
Usually a high card such as an ace which falls in the community cards. This is a good chance to raise high to try to convince an apparently weak hand to fold.

Semi-Bluff:
This is actually a bluff by someone who has a draw hand such as four hearts but who bets high to try to get the remaining players out, while still having a chance to get draw the fifth heart.

Set:
If you have a pocket pair and a third fall giving you three of a kind it is called a set. Do not confuse this with Trips, which is when you have one card in your pocket and two more fall on the flop. You can usually win more money with a set than trips, since it is harder for opponents to put you on a hand.

Short Stack:
Smallest number chips owned by a player at the table.

Table Stakes:
You cannot be forced to fold if someone bets more money than you have on the table. You can go all in for that amount and if there is additional betting, side pots are made which you will not be included in.
Tell: A physical or verbal action, posture, move or look, which can let a observant player know how strong or weak your hand is. It could even let some very good tell readers know exactly what cards you have.

Top Pair:
If you match the highest card of all five common cards with one in your hand, you have top pair.

Trips/Quads:
Three of a kind and four of a kind respectively.

Turn:
Texas hold'em starts with two down cards being dealt to you, these are called The Pocket Cards. The next are three cards are dealt all at once that all players share. This is called The Flop. The next card dealt is called the turn and is also a common card. Finally, The last common card is dealt and this is called The River.