All in: When a player has their entire chip stack in the pot.
Ante: A predetermined forced bet amount which every player at the table must pay prior to receiving cards.
Action: When a player must make a decision as to what to do with their hand.
Bet: Chips or cash put into a pot as a first action during a betting round.
Big Blind: The larger amount of the forced bets known as “blinds”.
Blinds: Forced bets of a predetermined amount to induce action.
Board: The community cards which are shown to all players on the table.
Bring-in: In Stud Poker, the player with the worst value card showing must begin the action with a forced bet.
Bubble: Usually refers to the point where the prize money starts in a tournament.
Burn card: The card which the dealer deals face down before dealing any community cards.
Buy-in: The initial outlay of money to receive chips in a cash game or to enter a tournament.
Call: Matching a bet amount made by a player.
Cap: A predetermined limit to how many bets are made. In fixed limit games, the betting can be “capped” for a round.
Cap game: A game of either No-Limit or Pot-Limit poker which have a limit of how much money can be bet per hand.
Cash game: A game of poker where players can buy-in and rebuy as they wish.
Check: A player who chooses not to bet and sends their action to the next player in line.
Chip: A token used in place of cash to represent real money or a tournament cash value.
Community card: A card dealt faced up on the table which can be used by any and all players.
Completion: Usually in Stud Poker, a completion is where an incomplete bet is completed by a player yet to act.
Deal: Where each player receives cards.
Dealer: Either the person physically dealing the cards or the player with the “dealer button”
Dealer Button: A small disk or token which represents where to begin the deal.
Deuce: A two (2).
Deuce-to-Seven: A form of lowball poker in which straights and flushes are high hands and the ace is always high.
Discard: Cards which players must throw away before receiving replacements.
Door card: The first card which is shown face up in stud games.
Down card: A card which is dealt face down to players.
Eight-or-Better: A qualification rule in the lowball poker half of a high-low split game. In these games a low hand must not feature any cards with a higher value than eight.
Felt: The playing surface on a poker table.
Fifth Street: The fifth card dealt in a community card game (also known as the river) or the fifth card dealt in a stud game.
Final Table: The last table to play in a poker tournament before a winner is decided.
Fixed-Limit: A betting structure in which betting and raising amounts are predetermined.
Flop: The first three cards dealt face-up in a community based poker game.
Fold: Throwing away your poker hand and ending your involvement in that specific hand.
Forced bet: A bet which a player or all players are required to make such as a blind or ante.
Fourth Street: The fourth card dealt in a community card game (also known as the turn) or the fourth card dealt in a stud game.
Full Ring: A poker game which features a full table of 9 or 10 players.
Hand: 1. The cards which players are dealt; 2. Everything that occurs between one deal and the next.
Heads-Up: When only two players are playing against each other.
Hi-Lo (or High-Low): A poker game which features split pots, with one pot awarded to the best high hand and one pot awarded to the best low hand.
Hole Cards: The player’s cards which are face down.
Home game: A poker game run out of a home as opposed to a card room or casino.
Kicker: The highest-ranked card in a players hand not used in pair or trips. A Kicker is used to determine the winner in hand where two or more players hold the same hand.
Level: In a poker tournament, a level is the current size of the blinds and/or antes.
Limit: The minimum and/or maximum bet amount allowed.
Low: The worst possible poker hand.
Lowball: A form of poker in which the best ranked poker hands are determined by low cards.
No-Limit: A betting structure of poker which allows players to bet any amount up to the entirety of their stack.
Open: The first player to make an action during a hand.
Option: When the action is on a player.
Pocket cards: The cards which a player holds face down in their hand.
Position: Where the player is located at the table in comparison to the betting player or the button.
Post: To pay a required amount in order for the hand to begin.
Pot-Limit: A betting structure where the maximum possible bet is determined by how much is currently in the pot.
Pre-Flop: All actions which happen prior to a flop being dealt.
Qualifier: The requirements for a hand to be eligible to win a hand. Usually refers to eligibility to win half the pot in a High-Low split game.
Raise: The bet of a player who increased the total amount of a previous bet.
Rake: Money taken from each pot by the operator of a game.
Rebuy: To buy more chips after buying an initial amount. Some tournaments also allow rebuys.
Ring game: See “cash game” above.
River: The fifth card in a community card game and the seventh card dealt in a stud game – The final card dealt.
Scoop: Winning both halves of the pot in a High-Low split poker game.
Side Pot: A separate pot which is present when one or more players are all in and there are still players with chips and cards remaining in the hand.
Small Blind: The smaller amount of the forced bets known as “blinds”.
Stack: 1. The total amount of chips a player has; 2. A collection of usually exactly 20 chips of the same denomination.
Stand pat: Drawing zero cards in a draw poker game. Keeping all five cards and skipping the next draw round.
Straddle: An extra blind bet made before any cards are dealt by the player to the left of the big blind.
Turn: The fourth card dealt face up in a community poker game (also known as Fourth Street).
Upcard: Any cards dealt face up – usually in stud games.
Window card: The first card which can be seen when dealing the flop in a community game.