Glossary, All Things Poker

[RiverCascade]

In an effort to keep this glossary on point, concise, and readable, the terms have been listed in alphabetical order, deleting posts as the terms in them have been entered. Please continue to post terms, definitions, and questions about terms, following this initial post. The definitions have come from our members. If you see any errors, please let me know. Thank you for your help, and your contributions.

B&M, Brick and Mortar: Refers to an actual building (casino, card room) as opposed to an on-line site.

Bad beat: Losing a hand that is an overwhelming favorite to win.

BB: 1. Big blind, the larger of the 2 forced bets in a hand. It is the size of the small bet. These 2 forced bets take the place of "ante" in poker games other than Hold'em. In a $1/2 game, $1 is the price of the Big Blind.

2. Big Bet. Used in talking about the amount you wager, or how much is in the pot. If there is $20 in the pot of a $1/2 game, there are 10 bb's in the pot. If you typically earn 2 bb's an hour in a $1/2 game, you earn $4 an hour, on average.

Blank: A card having no value to a player's hand. I.e., You hold KQ. The flop is AJ6. The turn is a 3. The 3 is a blank.

Brick: See Blank.

Bubble: In a tournament, the bubble is the person who busts out right before the money (prize pool) kicks in. For instance, if the top 40 finishers get paid, the bubble is the 41st player out.

Button: The position on the table of the dealer, marked by a "button" on the table.

Case: This refers to the 'last' of a rank, like "I caught the case Ace on the river," when there was just 1 more Ace left in the deck, or if 3 of a card are showing, and you have one in the hole, you have the 'case' card.

Counterfeited: A card that improves your hand but gives an opponent an even better hand. (Internet Texas Hold'em, M.Hilger, 2003). An example might be where the board is AT4 and you hold JJ. When the Jack comes on the turn, you have improved to a set but your Jack could be counterfitted by someone holding KQ who now has the straight.

Covered: This refers to having a bettor "covered" in chips. If you go all-in with $1000, and I have $3000 chips remaining, I have you covered.

Crushing [a game or level]: The act of being an overwhelming winner at a table, or consistently winning heavily at a particular limit.

Cutoff: The position of a player who is one before the button (to the right of the button).

Dead money: Money put into the pot by a player who subsequently folded, or money put in by a player holding a hand which is already beaten and has no chance of improving to the nuts. Dead money is also used to descibe people who enter a tournament who have no chance to win it.

Dominated: When one player has the same high card and a better kicker. For instance the player with AK has the player with AQ dominated. This is the source of much of your profit in hold-em.

Donk Bet: Generally used to refer an out of position bet against an agressor in later position. For example, everyone folds to the Button who raises and the BB calls. The BB checks and calls the flop and bets the turn. The turn bet is a "donk bet." If the BB had check-raised the flop, a bet on the turn would no longer be called a donk bet. It implies that the out of position better did not have the initiative in the hand

Donkey: Donkey or donk is a term of derision to refer to a bad player or a bad play. Sometimes you will hear someone say "I donked off all my chips with second pair" to indicate that they made an unwise bet or call.

Dry side of a pot: It is a dry, "side pot"-- the situation of a player having gone all-in, more than one player has called, but none of them have raised. There are at least 2 players live (having chips to continue further action on the remainder of the streets.

In tourney play, especially when it gets to the bubble and placing in the money, many consider it is bad ettiquette to bluff at the dry, side pot, because you lose the chance of eliminating the all-in player.

Folding equity: Refers to your ability to cause other players to fold their hands. We sometimes say you don't want to get too short in chips in a tournament, because you will have no folding equity. This means that if you have very few chips, no one will fold when you raise.

Freeroll: 1. Used for tournaments with a free entry. Freeroll tournaments have no buy-in fee. They typically have a small cash prize pool, or other prize gifts in lieu of cash.

2. Also used in something where you cannot lose. E.g., you have QhTh and your opponent has QsTc. Flop is, 9h2hKd. This is a hand you cannot lose (your opponent cannot make a flush to beat you). You're on a 'freeroll'.

Juicy game: See soft game.

Kill game: A game where the blinds double if the same person wins 2 hands in a row. The person who won the 2 hands must post the new amount of the big blind, in addition to the the players who would normally be the blinds.

A normal $1/$2 game with a full kill. The normal blinds of this are $0.50 and $1.00. If a player wins two pots it becomes a 'kill' game. The game is played as if it is $2/$4. There is this caveat: The blinds are posted as the normal game ($0.50 and $1.00) and the winner posts what's known as a kill blind (or a big blind + kill) in the amount of $2.00 (the new big blind for this hand). If the regular blind positions want to play the hand, they must add the additional money required.

Juice: The additional amount a casino or site charges for entry to a tournament that is not part of the prize. E.g., Entry fee, $25+$2, $2 is the juice.

Limp: To enter the game by calling the big blind pre-flop, as opposed to raising.

M: M is from Dan Harrington's tournament books. It refers, essentially, to how many orbits you have before you are blinded out. Take the pot before the cards are dealt (the two blinds plus all antes), and figure the ratio of that to your chip stack.

If blinds are 200-400 and antes are 50 at a 10-player table, there is 1100 in the pot before the cards are dealt. If you have 5000 chips, your M is just under 5.

The point is that your folding equity -- the chance of everyone folding when you go all-in -- is closely related to the ratio of your stack to the pot. For example, if you wait until you only have 1500 chips with the above situation, you have almost no chance of winning the blinds and antes, unchallenged. The big blind would only have to call 900 more for a pot of 2600, so he's getting almost 3 to 1 odds.

Monkey: Probably used to refer to a poor player, in the same vein as donkey

Out of position: Meaning you are first to act, or have to act before a bettor or raiser. You are at a disadvantage in knowing what someone who initiated prior action will do, or what other opponents may do after you act.

Overcall: An overcall is when someone is the second (or third or more) person to call a bet made by another player. We usually talk about overcalls on the river. It is said that a good player needs a stronger hand to call than to bet and should need an even stronger one to overcall. When you are second to act in a big field, you might just call with a very strong hand where raising might knock people out and calling might encourage overcalls.

Overlay: Overlay is generally used in tourney settings. It refers to the amount of money in the prize pool above and beyond what the players have put up. If there are 100 players in a $10 tourney, they have put up collectively $1,000. If the prize pool is $5,000, the tourney would be said to have a $4,000 overlay.

Pineapple: A variation of Hold'em where players are dealt three cards instead of two, and are given the option to discard one card before the flop (in regular Pineapple), or after the flop (in Crazy Pineapple).

Post (Posted Blind/Bet): When first entering a table, posting the big blind from a position other than the big blind so you can play the hand. Otherwise, the player must wait for the big blind position to come around to them before they could play in the hand, resulting in waiting for their entry into the game to come in rotation.

Pot equity: Pot equity refers to your "share" of the pot. If the pot contains 700 chips and you are 50% to win, your pot equity would be 350 chips. This helps to understand the value of big draws. If you have a straight flush draw with two overcards, you could be behind but have enormous pot equity.

Prop player: A prop gets paid an hourly rate by the casino, card room, or on-line site, to help start games or to keep them going. They do wager with their own money, but receive an hourly rate from the casino or site, as well. Their job is to keep the tables full and the action going.

Push: In a No-Limit or Pot-Limit game, pushing refers to act of betting all of your remaining chips. When you have a short stack in a NL tourney, it is usually correct to push or fold.

Rabbit hunting: When a player folds, rabbit hunting refers to seeing the next card that would have come from the dealer, had they stayed in the hand. On television, a "rabbit cam (camera)" will sometimes show the table what the next card to come would have been.

Razz: 7 card stud, but played for a low hand as opposed to a high hand. A2345 is the best hand.

Reverse Dominated: When a player with a better kicker is actually going to be beat if they hit their high card because another player already has paired their kicker. For instance, if you have AK on a board of T62, your Ace could be dead to someone playing A6s. Your Ace would be reverse dominated.

RGP: rec.gambling.poker, the main usenet newsgroup for all poker-related games.

Ring game: Any cash game, as opposed to tourneys or sng's. A game where you win as you go.

ROI: Return on Investment. Used in connection with sng's and mtt's. Takes into account the money you've spent (buy-ins + fees), the amount you've earned by finishing in the money, and gives your percentage of win or loss.

Sandbag: Sometimes used to refer to a check/raise. Also, slowplaying.

SB: 1. Small blind, the smaller of the 2 forced bets in a hand. It is usually one-half the size of the big blind. These 2 forced bets take the place of "ante" in poker games other than Hold'em. In a $1/2 game, $1 is the price of the BB, the small blind is half that, $0.50. There are some exceptions. In a $3/6 game, it is not unusual for the sb to be $1 and the bb to be $3.

2. Small Bet. Used in talking about the amount you wager, or how much is in the pot up to the time of the Turn, when the bets are wagered according to the small blind. If there is $20 in the pot of a $1/2 game during the flop or preflop, there are 20 sb's in the pot.

Shill: Similar to a prop, but differs in that a shill is like any employee going to a job. The poker room tells him where to sit, and gives him the money or chips that he wil use at the table. Presumably they get paid more than they think they will win normally, and the house is confident they won't lose all the house money.

Smooth Call (smooth calling): Usually "smooth call" refers to a situation where you would normally raise because there's a good chance that you have the best hand (or a strong draw), but choose to call instead for whatever reason. So if the situation is a choice between calling and folding it's called a call. If the choice is between calling and raising, it's sometimes referred to as a smooth-call. It's the same as the term, "limping," is actually just calling the big blind, preflop. The term call is still correct in both situations, but the additional terms are more descriptive of the specific situation.

Soft game: A game that is easy to beat. Generally this is because the other players are making mistakes that imrpove your expectation. A game where one or more other players are making significant mistakes which result in the game being more profitable than usual for you.

Spike: To spike a card is when one of the very few cards that can help your hand comes on the turn or river.

Steel Wheel: The lowest straight flush, A2345, all in the same suit. See "Wheel." Also used in lowball.

Suck out: To win a hand on the river when you had a weak draw, typically with poor pot odds for drawing.

Value Bet (or betting): A value bet is made purely for profit-- most commonly on the river when you are no longer betting, at least in part, to protect your hand as you would be on flop and turn. Another example of a value bet might be betting into a large field (four or more players) on the turn when you're on a flush draw. You really want to be more than fifty percent sure that your hand will be good, if called, to bet for value on river.

Wheel: The lowest straight, Ace-2-3-4-5; also known as a bicycle. This term is also used in low ball. See "steel wheel."

[darvon]

2 questions

Define Bet out.

What is the term to mean in NL a bet approx 3xBB which is a standard bet for a raising hand pre-flop?

[RiverCascade]

Bet out? I thought that just meant lead the betting for that round. If someone has a different understanding, please say.

As to the action you describe in opening a nl round, I've never heard a term for it.

I'm a great help, aren't I? Anything else?

[Stew21]

How about Straddle bet.

I've seen it a couple of times, but never with an explanation.

[Mister Al]

I think it's when the player UTG (on the left of the big blind) puts in a bet equivilant to a big blind into the pot before the flop.

If I'm wrong someoene will correct me, no doubt.

[taz115]