Online poker school

Here we teach you some poker term:

Action - Opportunity to act. If a player appears not to realize it's his turn, the dealer will say "Your action, sir."

Ante - A small portion of a bet contributed by each player to seed the pot at the beginning of a poker hand. Most hold'em games do not have an ante; they use "blinds" to get initial money into the pot.

All-In - To run out of chips while betting or calling. In table stakes games, a player may not go into his pocket for more money during a hand. If he runs out, a side pot is created in which he has no interest.

Backdoor - Catching both the turn and river card to make a drawing hand. For instance, suppose you have As-7s. The flop comes Ad-6c-4s. You bet and are called. The turn is the Ts, which everybody checks, and then the river is the Js.

Bad Beat - To have a hand that is a large underdog beat a heavily favored hand. It is generally used to imply that the winner of the pot had no business being in the pot at all, and it was the wildest of luck that he managed to catch the one card in the deck that would win the pot.

Big Blind - The largest regular blind in a game.

Big Slick - A nickname for AK (suited or not). Its origins are unknown (to me, anyway).

Blank - A board card that doesn't seem to affect the standings in the hand. If the flop is As-Jd-Ts, then a turn card of 2h would be considered a blank. On the other hand, the 2s would not be.

Blank - A card that has little value to the hand.

Blind - A required bet made before any cards are dealt.

Board - The board on which a waiting list is kept for players wanting seats in specific games.

Boardcard - A community card in the center of the table, as in hold’em or Omaha.

Bottom Pair - Pairing the lowest card on the board.

Boxed Card - A card that appears faceup in the deck where all other cards are facedown.

Collection - The fee charged in a game (taken either out of the pot or from each player).

Color change - A request to change the chips from one denomination to another.

Common card - A card dealt faceup to be used by all players at the showdown in the games of stud poker whenever there are insufficient cards left in the deck to deal each player a card individually.

Community Cards - The cards dealt faceup in the center of the table that can be used by all players to form their best hand in the games of hold"em and Omaha.

Chase - To play a hand that is most likely worse than at least one other player.

Check - To pass without betting.

Cut - To divide the deck into two sections in such a manner as to change the order of the cards.

Dead Money - Money contributed to a pot by a player no longer in the pot. (2) A player in a tournament who has no realistic chance of winning.

Dominated Hand - A hand that will almost always lose to a better hand that people usually play.

Draw - To play a hand that is not yet good, but could become so if the right cards come.

Equity - Your "rightful" share of a pot.

Family Pot - A pot in which all (or almost all) of the players call before the flop.

Fast Play - To play a hand aggressively, betting and raising as much as possible.

Fish - A poor player.

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

Foul - A hand that may not be played for one reason or another.

Free Card - A turn or river card on which you don't have to call a bet.

Free Roll - One player has a shot at winning an entire pot when he is currently tied with another player.

Gutshot Straight - A straight filled "inside."

Heads-Up - A pot that is being contested by only two players.

Hit - As in "the flop hit me," meaning the flop contains cards that help your hand.

Implied Odds - Pot odds that do not exist at the moment, but may be included in your calculations because of bets you expect to win if you hit your hand.

Jackpot - A special bonus paid to the loser of a hand if he gets a very good hand beaten.

Jam - To move all-in in a no-limit (or pot-limit) game.

Live Blind - A blind that counts towards any bet you call or raise.

Main Pot - The initial pot of money. When one or more players go all-in, a side pot is created for each all-in player.

Muck - As a noun, this refers to the pile of folded cards and discarded cards. As a verb, at showdown time, the act of returning a losing hand to the dealer facedown.

Multi-Table Tournament - A tournament where players at more than one table compete, starting with equal numbers of chips, until one player has won all the chips. Prize payouts are a function of the number of entrants, and are posted on the tournaments page. Multi-table tournaments have a posted start time, and require registration in advance.

No Limit - A variation of the betting rules in which each bet is unlimited up to the number of chips a player has on the table (NL).

Omaha - A game in which each player receives 4 facedown cards and shares 5 community cards. The winning hand must use exactly 2 down cards and 3 community cards. This game also has a High/Low variant.

Omaha High/Low - This game allows players to compete for a pot split between the highest and the lowest hands using 2 down cards and 3 community cards. A player may use different sets of cards to make up the best high and the best low hands.

On the button -This term means you are in the dealer position in Texas Hold'em and Omaha games.A "button" marks the dealer position with a "D" in the center.

One on One - See head to head.

Pair -This is a hand where the player's best hand is made up of 2 cards of the same rank.

Pass - Can be used in place of either check or fold depending on the context.

Play Chips - The chips used for play money games. Play chips have no monetary value.

Playing the Board - Using all the community cards in Hold'em as your best hand.

Pocket Cards - The term for the two down cards at the start of the hand.

Pot - The chips available to be won in any given hand.

Profile - A term describing the information a player may enter about himself/herself that may be available, at the player's option, to other players in the poker room.

Raise - The act of increasing the amount bet by a prior bettor.

Rake - The amount of money, in chips, taken by the house as the service fee.

Raked Hand - A Raked Hand is where any player is dealt cards in ring game play, in a hand which generates rake.

Rank - The value of a card. The rank of the 2 of Spades is 2. The rank of the Queen of Hearts is Queen.

Re-buy - To get more chips during a game but not during a hand that you are in. This applies to real money and tournament play.

Reducing - The act of removing chips from a table and returning immediately with fewer chips. Reducing is considered poor etiquette.

River - The fifth and final community card. This card is also known as Fifth Street.

Round - This refers to the dealing of a set of cards and associated betting. For example, the dealing of the river and the bets that follow are a round.

Royal Flush - The best possible high hand. This is a straight flush from 10 through to Ace of the same suit.

Screen Name - The identity you select by which you are known in the poker room. We only allow one player per screen name so please understand if the one you have selected is already taken.

Self-install - The term used to describe how the file you download from our web site is automatically installed and configured on your computer when you double-click on the file.

Server - The computer, or set of computers, providing a service to client computers. In this case the service is the poker room.

Showdown - After the final bet, when all players show their hands or muck, is known as the showdown.

Side Pot - This is a pot created when a player goes all-in. The side pot is the pot available to those players not all-in at that point. There can, on occasion, be more than one side pot.

Single Table Tournament - A poker table at which you may buy-in to a seat. All buy-in money goes to the prize pool.

Sit Out - We permit you to hold your seat at a table while not participating in some hands. Under most conditions, we limit the time you may sit out.

Small Blind - In Hold'em and Omaha, this is the mandatory bet required of the player to the left of the dealer.

Stakes - See buy-in.

Straight - A hand in which the player has five cards in rank order. Suit does not matter. For example, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen.

Straight Flush - A straight all of the same suit.

Stud - The generic term for poker games where players receive the first card(s) down followed by some up cards where those up cards are exclusively for the use of that player. There may be a further down card as in 7 Card Stud.

Suit - Any of the four sets (Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, and Spades) in a deck of cards.

Texas Hold'em - The poker game where each player gets two down cards followed by five community cards face-up.

Three of a kind - A hand consisting three cards of the same rank.

Tournament Buy-In - The cost to enter a tournament. All buy-in money is returned to the players via the prize pool.

Tournament Entry-Fee - A small fee the house charges to enter a tournament.

Trips - A nickname for three of a kind.

Turn - The nickname for the fourth community card in Hold'em and Omaha.

Two Pair - A hand in which the player has two pairs of cards.

Under-raise - This occurs when a player raises a prior bet but has to go all-in to do so with an amount less than the full raise.

Up Card - A card dealt face up, so that all players may see it.

Wheel - A nickname for the best low hand 5, 4, 3, 2, A.

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