Common Poker Words

All In
A player who runs out of chips during the course of a hand and can no longer bet further is said to be "all-in."

Betting Round
One round of betting. In Texas Hold'em there are four betting rounds in a given hand: before the flop, after the flop, after the turn, and after the river.

Blinds
The blinds are required bets made by the two people to the left of the dealer button before any cards are dealt, and serve to get money into the pot initially.

Big Blind
The big blind is made by the player immediately to the left of the small blind, and is equal to the minimum bet.

Small Blind
The small blind is made by the player immediately to the left of the dealer button and is equal to half of the minimum bet.

Burn Cards
It is required to deal one card off the top of the deck face down prior to dealing the flop, the turn card, and the river card. These are called "burn cards." This is a method of preventing cheating and is customary in all games.

Buy-in
When a player first sits down at the table and buys chips, it is called a "buy-in". After a player has bought his initial chips and wishes to buy more, he can then purchase any quantity of chips provided it is $10 or greater. However if a player goes all-in and runs out of chips, they must purchase a full minimum buy-in amount.

Call
Once a bet has been made in a given round, if a player matches the bet (i.e. does not raise or fold), it is a "call."

Check
If there has not been a bet made in a given hand, a player can "check" which means he is not betting and is letting his turn pass without increasing the amount in the pot.

Chips
Circular colour-coded discs used for betting, chips are available in denominations of $1, $3, $5, $25, $100, $500.

Fold
If a player elects to fold, he withdraws from the hand and forfeits all bets he has placed up to that point in the hand. Typically a player will fold when he does not want to call a bet in order to stay in the hand.

Hand
One complete game beginning with the posting of the blinds and concluding with one or more players winning the pot.

Muck
Cards All discarded cards lying face down in front of the dealer, consisting of all folded cards and all "burn cards."

Pot
The total number of chips that are bet in a given round and any prior rounds. Once betting in a round is complete, the total chips bet are moved into a pile near the centre of the table.

Raise
Once a bet has been made in a given round, any subsequent increases to the amount bet is called a raise. If the bet is increased after it has been raised, this is called a re-raise.

Split Pot
If two or more players have the same hand at the showdown, the pot is split equally between them. If the pot cannot be split equally, the odd dollar is paid to the player next in line for the Blinds

Here you can read more about the games: Omaha - Texas Holdem - Seven Card Stud

Back to Poker Articles Main