Poker Terms

Listing out all of the poker terms is on one hand an interesting exercise and at the same time an incomplete one. The reason for it being incomplete is that new terms are getting added to poker glossaries even as one reads this. Poker is for everyone and as soon as someone finds a new way of playing poker, or a new variant, it gets a new name and eventually evolves terms that would best suit it.

Here is a list of some of the most well known and commonly used terms. A brief description about each of them has also been included to help you understand their meaning. Knowledge of these terms will help give you a basic understanding of the language of poker.

Bank – Refers to the casino house or person responsible for distribution of the chips, paying the winners at the end of the game, keeping record of the buy-ins and so on.

Bankroll – Refers to the money a player has to wager at the casino.

Blind – This refers to a forced bet.

Board – The set of cards that are part of a community card game.

Busted – To lose all the chips one had.

Button – The marker that is placed before a player acting as the dealer.

Buy-in – The minimum amount that a player will have to spend on buying chips to participate in a game, tournament.

Chip – The casino equivalent of money.

Cow – The player with whom another is sharing the buy-in with the intent of sharing the earnings.

Deal – Distribution of cards to players.

Dealers – The person who distributes the card to the players.

Stack – The total amount of chips or money that a player has in play.

Pot – In poker terms this means the total amount of money in a game that is raised on wagers from the players.

Stakes – The amount of money that one uses for a buy-in or places as bet.

Sit and go – In poker terms this refers to a tournament which starts when the required number of players have joined the table. There is no scheduled time for the start of such games.

Straight flush – A poker hand consisting of five cards in a sequence.

Stud – A poker game variant.

Satellite – A tournament from which the winner can go on to another bigger tournament with no cost incurred.

Scoop – To win the high and low half of the pot in a high-low split game.

Shark – Refers to a professional player.

Spread – The difference between the maximum and minimum bets at a table.

Wild card – A card that can be designated as any card. All players have to agree on which card can be made a wild card.

Value bet – A bet called by a player who wants it to be called.

Up the ante – To increase the stake.

Walk – A situation where all the players fold.

Rake – The amount that is taken by the casino house or operator from the pot.

Rathole – To partially remove ones chips from the table even as the game continues.

Rack – 5 stacks of 100 chips of the same denomination.

Poker face – The expression on a player’s face that does not give away anything.