Learn the terms poker and phrases you need to know to become a successful poker player for free with OnlineBestBets.com. Poker seems to be a complicated card game to play, especially with its terms poker. But a close look at poker terminology will unlock the simplicity of the game. Enjoy!

Dark
The term dark is an action declared by a player first to act after the better round closes but before the next card is revealed.

Datamining
Datamining is the process of collecting large amounts of data from online poker sites in order to analyze opponents’ statistics.

Dark Tunnel Bluff
A Dark Tunnel Bluff is a repeated continuation bet on multiple streets based on the belief you have to bet but do so without thinking why.

Dead Blind
A dead blind is posted when a player returns to a game after leaving the table while the game was still running.

Dead Card
Dead cards refer to cards that would be useful for making a poker hand but have already been exposed or discarded. Dead cards are critical for computing outs.

Dead Hand
A dead hand is one that has been disqualified from play typically due to a rules infraction.

Dead Man’s Hand
Dead Man’s Hand, aces and eights, so named for the cards that Wild Bill Hickock held while being gunned down in a poker game.

Dead Money
Dead money are players at the table who are of a lower skill. Also, it can refer to money contributed to a pot by players no longer in the hand.

Terms Poker – Online Dictionary

Dealer’s Choice
Dealer’s Choice is a poker game where whomever has the dealer button calls the poker game the table will play for that hand.

Dealt Rakeback Method
The dealt rakeback method is a way of calculating the amount of rake a player accumulates by counting every time that player is dealt a hand in a raked pot.

Deck
A deck is 52 cards consisting of card values ranking from deuce to ace in four different suits.

Terms Poker – Poker Dictionary

Deep
Deep, in poker parlance, does not refer to someone’s philosophical disposition, but rather to how many chips the person has in relation to the blinds.

Defend
The term ‘defend’ is used to describe the act of calling when someone raises and the player in the big blind calls the bet.

Degenerous
When you are generous with your money despite being broke or having bad bankroll management, you are classified ‘degenerous.’

Terms Poker – Basic Terms

Deuce
Deuce is the preferred, if not unanimously used, term for a ‘two’ in poker. If you say you have a ‘pair of twos’ it is likely that you will be mocked.

DIAGF
DIAGF is a poker acronym that stands for ‘die in a grease fire.’ Although not meant to be taken literally, it is a harsh thing to say.

Dime
The term ‘dime’ is a classic example of gambler lingo, as it reduces the substantial amount of one thousand dollars to a metaphorical unit of one small coin.

Dinner Break
Dinner break is simply the longest break that punctuates a day of play during a poker tournament. It has minor strategic and symbolic significance.

Dirty Outs
A dirty out is when a player has a given amount of outs but when several of those outs actually might give an opponent a better hand.

Dirty Stack
A dirty stack is a stack of chips that has mixed denominations within it.

Disconnect Protection
Disconnect Protection is a tool that protects players in the event their internet connection is lost while involved in a pot.

Dog
A dog refers to a player who is behind statistically in a hand. It’s common poker slang for an underdog and requires a player to suck out in order to win.

Dolly Parton
The hand 95 (any suit) is referred to as the Dolly Parton because of her role in the famous 1980s movie 9 to 5.

Dominated
Dominated is a term used when one hand is a significant underdog to another hand.

DoN
DoN stands for ‘double or nothing’ and refers to a particular type of SNG poker tournament in which half the players double their buyin and the rest lose it.

Donator
The title of donator is given to someone who routinely spews his money at the poker tables or generally plays losing poker.

Donk
A donk is short for donkey, an inexperienced player who often plays very loosely and passively. Donks are also known as newbies and fish.

Donkament
A donkament is a poker tournament in which many of the players involved are inexperienced, or donkeys.

Donkey
A donkey is an unskilled player, or fish, who often plays extremely poorly, loosely, or passively. A donkament is a tournament full of donkeys.

Doomswitch
A oft-used expression on poker forums, the term doomswitched refers to a player running bad. In other words, they’ve been getting unlucky.

Door Card
Door card, also know as the window card, is the first card visible in a stud hand, or the first card revealed by the dealer as he spreads the flop.

Double Barrel
Double Barrel refers to the act of following up a continuation bet with another bet on the turn typically to make a bluff seem more believable.

Double Belly Buster
A Double Belly Buster is a hand with 2 gut-shot straight draws.

Double Gutter
A double gutter is a draw to eight outs for a straight, It is equivalent to an open-ended, or ‘up-and-down’ straight draw, but looks different.

Double Suited
Double suited cards are found in Omaha. The poker term refers to a starting hand with two sets of suited cards, each containing two cards of the suit.

Downcard
A downcard is a card that is dealt to a player face down, as is typically done in stud games.

Downswing
Downswings in poker are a series of negative long term results. One losing session does not constitute a downswing, but a net losing result does.
Draw
A draw in poker is a card combination that requires other cards to become strong

Drawing Dead
Drawing dead in a poker hand means that no card can come that will win the pot for you. This can occur during eliminations or in regular pots.

Drawing Thin
Drawing Thin is a term used to describe when a player is drawing to very few outs.

Dream Table
Dream table is a phrase poker players employ to describe a table draw in a poker tournament in which they are facing off against especially weak players.

Dream Team Poker
Dream Team Poker is the name for a uniquely structured poker tournament, the second annual event for which was held at Caesars Palace in March of 2009.

Drunk Monopoly
For whatever reason when a poker player runs bad at the tables, they invariably decide to get drunk and challenge their forum friends at online monopoly.

Dry Board
A dry board in poker refers to a flop that is not a coordinated (and and most likely safe) grouping of cards.

Dry Pot
A dry pot is an empty sidepot create when one player is all in but at least two are left in the hand.

Dual Monitors
Dual monitors are often used by online poker players in order to properly multitable online poker games while browswing the internet.

Dub
Dub is a slang term for ‘twenty dollars,’ like when you slip the valet attendant a ‘dub’ in order to get a spot at a ’sold-out’ lot in a Las Vegas casiino.

Ducks
The hand 22 in Hold’em is referred to as Ducks since the number 2 resembles the profile of a swimming duck.

Dust Off
The term ‘dust off’ referes to the act of losing money in a poker game or gambling situation in a frivolous or unthinking manner.

Learn the meaning of the some of the most frequently used terms poker. Terms and phrases used at the poker table, including examples and definitions. There are several terms poker that you may not be familiar with. The following poker glossary should help you to speak poker as well as you play it.

Cage

The cage is the area of a casino or poker room where chips and currency get exchanged and where other related pieces of business take place.

Call

A poker call is when a player matches the bet of a player who has already bet. Terms Poker.

Calling Clock

Calling Clock is a request by an opponent to start a countdown clock to be started to force a player to make an action.

Calling Station

A calling station is a player you can’t bluff against in poker. He will call every bet you have and is someone to avoid unless you hold a big hand. Online Poker Play Online

Canine

The term Canine is slang for a specific hand for a hand in holdem when someone is dealt any combination of K9.

Card Dead

Card dead is a way for a poker player to state that he is ‘running bad’ by noticing that he has not recently received manyplayable poker hands.

Cards in the Air

‘Cards in the air’ is an expression used to indicate that dealing has or will begun in a poker tournament, i.e. ‘cards in the air at noon.

Cards Speak

Cards speak is a regulation in poker games that outlines the fact that an exposed hand will always ‘play’ or be considered ‘live.’

Catch

Catch is referenced in poker as when you hit a card you need on a draw or when you call someone and expose their failed bluff attempt. Online Poker Play Online

Center Pot

The center pot is the same thing as the main pot in poker. In a hand, a main pot and side pot can occur, meaning two pots must be awarded at the end of a hand. Terms Poker.

Chasing

The act of staying in a hand against a bet with an unmade hand with the hope of hitting.

Check

Passing on the opportunity to bet while retaining the right to raise if a bet is placed

Check in the Dark

To check in the dark is to check before seeing what the next card is dealt on the board. Terms Poker.

Check Raising the Devil

Check Raising the Devil is the autobiography of famous poker pro Mike Matusow

Check-Raise

Check-raising an opponent in poker means raising over the top of a bet. It’s a strategy to be aggressive at the poker table. Online Poker Play Online

Chess

Chess is a game that relies more heavily on pure skill than poker, but, like Magic the Gathering, was the game that several notables played before poker.

Chino

Chino is a verb that describes the fine art of borrowing money from poker players with no specific way of repaying the loan.

Chip and a Chair

Chip and a chair is an expression that is somewhat similar to ‘it’s not over until it’s over:’ You can come back to win a poker tournament even with one chip. Terms Poker.

Chirp

Chirping is what happens after someone wins a pot and suddenly becomes talkative. It is a representation of the mood swings that exist in a poker game. Online Poker Play Online

Clear The Rail

Clear the Rail is an expression used as a command by poker players to floor management to remove spectators from the area around a poker table.

Coffeehousing

Coffeehousing refers to the act of talking during a poker, hand, usually in an effort to gain information, sometimes in the form of needling. Terms Poker.

Coinflipping Scam

Coinflipping scams involve one bettor offering another bettor favorable odds on the flip of a coin, an even money proposition. It is a scam.

Cold Call

When a player makes a cold call, it is when they are faced with a raise and have no money in the pot already and make a call.

Cold Deck

A cold deck in poker is equivalent to a ‘cooler.’ It refers to a situation in which two hands are forced into an unavoidable clash due to their strength. Terms Poker.

Come

When you are ‘on the come’ in poker, it refers to the fact that you are drawing; it is also one of the most common bets in a game of craps. Online Poker Play Online

Community Cards

Community cards, also known as board cards or shared cards, can be used by all players in a poker game and give partial information about an opponent’s hand. Online Poker Play Online

Countdown to Busto

The term Countdown to Busto refers to when a player always breaks bankroll management and his or her friends begin a countdown to when they are broke. Terms Poker.

Court Card

A court card is one that has a member of royalty on it, meaning one of the twelve face cards in a deck.

Crabs

The slang term Crabs is a nickname for the starting hand of 33 in Hold’em, a reference to how a 3 looks like a sideways crab.

Crack

Cracking cards means overcoming a strong hand with a weaker one. It’s often used in conjunction with cracking aces or a pocket pair. Online Poker Play Online

Cranberry

A cranberry is gambler parlance for a poker chip that is worth twenty-five thousand dollars. It is called a cranberry because of its reddish hue.
Cut

Cut refers to the act of slicing a deck of cards into two parts, usually the last component of a dealing procedure, or for the purpose of drawing a high card. Terms Poker.

Cut Card

The cut card is usually a solid color, typically yellow, that is placed on the bottom of a deck so players cannot see what is that last card in the deck.

Learn the meaning of the some of the most frequently used terms poker. Find commonly used poker terminology and poker acronyms used in poker on this poker glossary page. If you want to understand the terms poker used by players, learn the definitions and improve your poker playing skills. Online poker play online.

Back Raise
The term back raise refers to when a player first makes a flat call, faces a raise from a player in a later position, and then re-raise that player.

Backdoor

When a player caches a hand with help from both the turn and the river. Someone who holds As Qs on a board showing Js 9h 7h has a backdoor flush draw. Online poker play online.

Bad Beat

An unfortunate loss when the odds were strongly in your favor. These situations create bad-beat stories, something no one likes to hear.

Bankroll

It means how much money players have to spend in a game of poker.

Bankroll Hunting

Bankroll hunting is often practiced by top online poker players who specialize in finding out the size of their opponent’s bankroll — then they take it.

Barreling

The term barreling refers to the action of firing bets into a pot on multiple streets.

BBV

BBV is a common thread type on many popular poker themed message boards and typically attract the biggest winners online. Online poker play online.

Bee Stinger

Bee stinger is a Haligonian term for the act of geting owned in a poker situation, getting sucked out on, or simply losing a poker hand.

Behind

Behind refers to the situation when the given hand is not currently best.

Bet

To wager an initial amount of money in a game of poker.

Big Bet

The big bet is twice the small bet and is the exact same thing as a blind. Paying the big bet means you already have money invested in a pot pre-flop.

Big Blind

The big blind is usually twice the small blind in poker.

Big Lick

The term Big Lick is a reference to a specific hand in Hold’em, 69 as a play on words from Big Slick and a reference to the sexual act of 69.

Big Slick

Big slick is equivalent to ace-king. It’s one of the best starting hands in poker behind pocket aces, pocket kings, and pocket queens.

Blank

A blank is a card that hits no player in a hand. It is the same thing as a blank or air and means that a player’s hand has not improved.

Blind

A blind is a forced bet meant to ensure action in a game of poker. There are two blinds in each hand: the small blind and the big blind. Terms poker.

Blind Off

Blinding someone off occurs when a player is either not seated at a table or is reluctant to act as the blinds increase, but must still pay them.

Blocker

In Hold’em and Omaha having a card that turns one if your opponent’s outs as one of your own is referred to as a blocker.

Blocking Bet

A bet from out of position that attempts to block the player in position from making a bigger bet.

Bloodbath

The term bloodbath is clearly meant to evoke a gory, ruinous, disastrous event, like what you might see in a gladiator movie and similar to a bad day in poker. Online poker play online

Bluff

Knowing when to bluff your opponent is critical to finding success in poker. Target players for a big bluff or try to pick someone else off. (read more)

Bluff Catcher

Bluff Catchers are hands whose only value is the ability to beat bluffs. These are usually medium strength hands or hands whose strength has been neutralized.

Bluffcall

The term bluffcall is more of an insult aimed at a player that makes a call with a hand that is usually considered just a bluff.

Board

A board consists of the five community cards used to make a player’s final poker hand. The board is made up of the flop, turn, and river.

Boat

The word ‘boat’ or the term ‘full boat’ is a slang term for a ‘full house,’ one of the highest ranking hands in most poker games. Online poker play online.

Boomswitch

The boomswitch is a mythical switch that is referred to when a player goes through a sudden burst of running hot while playing poker.

Bot

A bot is a tool that plays for a person in poker. It makes decisions such as whether to fold, call, or raise and is not allowed on most poker rooms. Poker glossary.

Bottom End

When you have the bottom end of something in poker, that means you have the worst version, typically referenced to a straight.

Box

Box refers to the are occupied by a poker dealer. It is a cleared space in the middle of the table where the dealer’s chair, and chip tray are setup. Poker glossary.

Boxed Card

A boxed card is a face up card in the deck that was somehow already face up in the dealer’s palm.

Brick

A brick is a card that does not help any player. It means the same as blank or air. Bricking out means that further cards do not help a player’s hand.

Brush

A brush is a casino employee who greets players and maintains the waiting lists for games. Terms poker.

Bubble

Being on the bubble in a tournament means that a player is finishing just out of the money. No one wants to be the bubble boy in poker.

Buddy List Player

Poker players use the term buddy list player when they find someone who gives away a lot of money. Thus, they want to add the player to their buddy list.

Bullet

Bullet describes a bet or a buyin in poker. It is one of many combat-related terms, like ammunition and trigger, that arise in poker slang terms.

Bullets

Bullets is a poker slang term used to describe pocket aces. It is the strongest starting hand in poker. Also called American Airlines and rockets. Terms poker.

Bully

Bully describes a poker player who is aggressive, controlling and often intimidating in various ways at the poker table. Terms poker.

Bumhunter

Bumhunter refers to the type of player who will not take on any winning players, but instead spend his time feretting out weak players.

Bump

The slang term Bump refers to a player that wishes to raise a bet.

Buried

The term ‘buried’ follows aloing the lines of ’stuck’ as a more severe way of describing being at a deficit in a poker game or gambling session.

Bust

Busting a player in poker involves eliminating them from a tournament. Also known as busto, players on the short-stack are often forced to go all in. Poker glossary.

But How Much Did You Lose

But How Much Did You Lose is a classically annoying question asked of poker players by outsiders to the game in the context of a discussion about winning.

Buy the Button

Buying the button describes two completely different things in poker – a procedure that involves posting both of the antes. Second, a limit hold ‘em move. Poker glossary.

Buy-In

Buying into a poker tournament means posting a buy-in. This fee consists of the tournament entry plus a fee, or rake, paid to the house.

Started playing Hold ‘Em? We have a great Hold ‘Em tutorial covering the basics and explaining strategy at the various stages of the Texas Hold ‘Em game.

Texas Hold ‘Em is the most popular poker game in the world, and playing Hold ‘Em online is as exciting as playing Hold ‘Em live. It’s amazing how the game which was first introduced to Las Vegas in 1967 gained so much popularity over the next few decades. The game’s popularity increased even more in the 2000s due to exposure on TV and on the Web. The no-limit betting form is used in the widely televised main event of the World Series of Poker (WSOP) and the World Poker Tour (WPT).

Playing Hold ‘Em

When playing Hold ‘Em you get two hole cards. Other players cannot see those cards. Then five community cards are dealt face up on the board. All players can use them to put together a five card poker hand. To form the best possible hand, you can use either both your hole cards together with three of the community cards on the board, or one hole card with four community cards, or simply all five community cards. If you put together the highest poker hand, you win the pot.

Dealer Button
When playing Hold ‘Em online, in order to designate which player is the theoretical dealer in hold’em games, a round disk is used. This disk is called the dealer button or simply “the button”. After each hand is completed, the button moves clockwise to the next active player and this player will be considered to be the dealer, and will act on his/her hand last on each betting round. This is also termed playing the button for that game.

Playing Hold ‘Em: The Blinds
After the dealer is set, the hand starts with posting the blinds. The two blinds are called the SB (small blind) and the BB (big blind). So player 1 and Player 2 have to post the two blinds.

Playing Hold ‘Em: The Pocket Cards
After the blinds are paid, each player is dealt two cars, face down, you can see only your cards. These cards are called hole cards or pocket cards. Then the first round of betting follows.

Playing Hold ‘Em: The Call
Play proceeds clockwise from the blinds where players are free to either fold, call the blind bet or raise. It’s your turn to act. You can either Call, Fold, or Raise. You have an Ace and a Queen, which is a good staring hand, so let’s Call and see what happens.

Hold ‘Em Tutorial: 1st Betting Round
The first betting round is over, all the chips are being collected in the middle of the table, we are going to the next phase called Community Cards opening.

Hold ‘Em Tutorial: 2nd Betting Round
The second betting round starts. 3 cards are being dealt on the table, face up. These are the so-called community cards. They are open for all the players to use, along with their pocket cards, making the best possible hand. This is called Flop.

Now it’s your turn to act. To continue, you need to pay 100 chips bet made before you. In your situation, you hold a with a strong hand, we suggest that you should Call the bet.

Hold ‘Em Tutorial: The Turn
The fourth community card is being dealt. This round is know as the Turn. From this point the betting doubles. The 4th betting round begins. Since the both blonds have folded, there are only 2 players left – you and the 3rd player. This is called a Heads Up situation.

Hold ‘Em Tutorial: The Showdown
After the 5th community card is open, bets placed, we are ready for the showdown. All chips are being collected in the main pot, and both players show their cards to determine the winner. Your Full House beats Player 3’s high Flush of Clubs. You win the pot.

Hold ‘Em Tutorial: Top 20 best starting hands when playing hold’em
01. AA
02. KK KK
03. QQ
04. JJ
05. AKs
06. TT TT
07. AQs
08. AJs
09. AK K
10. KQs
11. ATs
12. KJs
13. AQ
14. 99
15. QJs
16. KT s
17. 88
18. QTs
19. A9s
20. AJ

Hold ‘Em Tutorial: Online Poker Chat Abbreviations
nh Nice Hand
vnh Very Nice Hand
gg Good Going
wp Well Played

Interactive Hold’Em Tutorial
Ready to get a quick feel of the action from playing Hold ‘Em? Make your first steps in the world of poker with this Interactive Texas Hold ‘Em Tutorial!