Poker Phrases In Common Use

Texas Holdem Glossary. Newcomers to Texas holdem often get confused by some of the colorful slang and jargon used at the tables. We’ve put together this lengthy and (hopefully) comprehensive Texas holdem terms page to provide definitions for some of the words and phrases you might not be familiar with. The game of poker has its own slang or “poker talk.” If you are new to poker, learning the poker slang will greatly improve your knowledge of the game. From the small blind to the straight flush, here is a poker glossary of the important poker terms to know. Act: check, bet, raise, or fold. Action: whose turn it is, as in “Action is on.

Poker has more terms and phrases than any other casino game. The reason why is because poker includes a broad range of card games that have been played for decades or even centuries.

The poker glossary has only continued growing ever since the game’s popularity boom in the mid 2000s.

This gives poker a fun language that makes regular players feel like they’re part of an exclusive club. But it can just as easily make beginners feel alienated when they don’t understand the more uncommon words and phrases.

Let’s look at some of these terms that are uncommon throughout casino gaming so you can gain a better understanding of poker.

1 – 3 Bet

A 3 bet refers to the third bet in a given poker round. Here’s an example of how a pre flop 3 bet works:

1 – Player A puts out a $10 big blind pre flop.

2- Player B Raises to $20.

3 – Player C re-raises to $60 (this is the 3 bet).

Here’s an example of a post flop 3 bet:

1 – Player A bets $10.

2 – Player B raises to $30.

3 – Player C 3 bets to $100.

The difference between the pre flop and post flop 3 bets is that the big blind counts as the first wager in a pre flop 3 bet.

A 3 bet shows hand strength because you’re raising the original raiser.

Of course, aggressive players will 3 bet with a wider range of hands. This can be a great way to bluff or semi bluff a tight opponent into folding.

But it’s important to know your opponents and what range of hands they play before you make aggressive re raises.

Another way to use 3 bets is to extract more value out of a strong hand. In these cases, 3 betting works best against loose players who call and raise with marginal hands.

I recommend waiting until you’ve played poker for a while before regularly using 3 bets. After all, this is a skilled play that requires good analysis of opponents.

Also note that skilled players commonly make 4 bets and 5 bets pre flop.

These require even more skill to use on a consistent basis. You should master the 3 bet first before putting 4 and 5 bets into your arsenal.

2 – Bad Beat & Bad Beat Jackpot Tables

A bad beat refers to when you have a strong hand and lose to a player who’s holding a weaker hand. The hand winner often makes one or more misreads and still wins because the board helps them.

In some cases, it’s unclear whether or not your losing hand qualifies as a bad beat. Debatable examples include a higher vs. smaller full house, quads over quads, and quads over a full house.

Other times it’s clear when you have the stronger hand early on, then lose the lead after community cards are dealt. Here’s an example:

You have pocket aces.
Your opponent has Ks Qs.
You raise pre flop and the opponent calls.
The flop is As 9h 8s, giving you three aces.
You raise, and they call.
The turn is 3d.
You shove, and they call.
The river is 5s.
They win the hand with a flush.

Skilled players will recognize early on that you have a strong hand and fold. This is why it’s usually unskilled players that deliver bad beats.

Of course, even good players can deliver bad beats if they misread an opponent’s tendencies.

Sometimes both players will play their hands well and a bad beat still occurs. One example comes from the movie Casino Royale, where James Bond beats Le Chiffre with a straight flush over a full house.

Online poker rooms have turned these unfortunate hands into promotions called bad beat jackpots. These promos deliver a progressive jackpot whenever a player loses with a qualifying bad beat.

Here’s an example of bad beat jackpot rules:

Qualifying hand must reach the showdown.
Losing hand must be a 4 of a kind or better.
Both hole cards in the winning and losing hands must be used.
A small percentage is taken from each pot to fund the bad beat jackpot.
The jackpot is split among the hand loser, winner, and anybody else dealt into the hand.
The loser receives the largest share, the winner receives the second biggest share

The biggest bad beat jackpot ever was a €1.25 million prize paid by Boss Media in 2011. The hand loser received the largest share at €443,000 after losing with quad kings vs. quad aces.

3 – Bubble

The “bubble” is the point in a poker tournament when the remaining field has almost qualified for a payout. This is called the bubble because there are still a few more players remaining than there are available prizes.

When the last unpaid player busts out of a tourney, this is referred to as the bubble “bursting.”

Here’s an example of a bubble:

A poker tournament offers a $100,000 prize pool, with 200 paying positions.
The tourney is down to 205 remaining players.
Only five more players need to bust out before everybody is guaranteed a payout.

A tournament bubble generally requires different strategy than other stages of a tourney. After all, many inexperienced players use a more conservative strategy so that they avoid busting out during the bubble.

This creates a good opportunity for skilled players to be more aggressive and steal smaller hands and blinds. The goal is to build your chip stack and focus on the bigger prizes, rather than worrying about earning a small payout.

Of course, the exact strategy you use depends upon the situation and your opponents.

Once the bubble bursts, many players relax and start using their regular strategy again.

4 – Suited Connectors

Connectors are poker hands that are connected in rank. Examples include A K, J T, 9 8, and 8 7.

These hands have extra value due to their potential to form a straight. These cards gain even more value when they’re suited since you also have more flush potential.

Let’s look at an example of how suited connectors can help you:

1 – You’re dealt Qh Jh.

2 – The flop is As 5h Th.

3 – You now have inside straight and flush draws.

While suited connectors can help you form good hands, the key is to avoid overvaluing them. This is a common mistake among beginners because they see too many flops with marginal connectors like a suited 6 7, 7 8, or 9 T.

While these aren’t bad hands, they’re not ranked high enough to win as pairs. Additionally, you can also lose to higher straights and flushes even when you do make your hand.

This is why it’s so important to understand when it’s a good time to play suited connectors. One major consideration is whether you’re in a cash game or tournament.

You should always play suited connectors in cash games when the value is correct (see pot odds later). It’s worth taking a risk here with the right value because you can replenish your chip stack if things don’t work out.

But in tournaments, your stack size will determine whether it’s smart to play suited connectors. It’s not always worth chasing a draw with marginal expected value because you can’t replace your chip stack (except in rebuy events).

It’s also important to consider your table position. Suited connectors work best when you have late position and can see how other players are betting.

Advanced players also think about their table image with regard to suited connectors. If you only play high pairs pre flop, then you’ll become predictable.

But raising with solid suited connectors such as K Q and Q J can help mix up your hand range. Plus if you flop a straight or flush on a marginal board (e.g. 9 8 7), the opponent may think you raised with a high pair and missed the board.

5 – Drawing Dead

Drawing dead is when you’re drawing for a better hand, yet have no chance of winning. You can see an example of drawing dead below:

1 – You’re dealt 8 7 suited in late position.

2 – Everybody folds to you.

3 – You call the big blind.

4 – The small blind folds, and the big blind checks.

5 – The flop is T 9 3, giving you a straight draw.

6 – The big blind bets, and you call.

7 – The turn is a J.

8 – The big blind bets, and you raise; they shove, and you call.

9 – The big blind flips over K Q for the highest possible straight in this situation.

You’re now “drawing dead” because there’s no way you can beat the opponent’s higher straight. This makes the river card arbitrary.

Obviously, nobody wants to draw dead. This is why it’s good to think about any possible hands that your opponent could have before calling, raising, or re-raising.

It also helps greatly to study your opponents and what hand ranges they play. This gives you an indication of how strong their hand is so that you don’t lose more money by drawing dead.

6 – Pot Odds

Pot odds involve finding what percentage you must contribute to the pot in a calling situation. You then use this information to determine whether or not it’s profitable to call with a drawing hand.

You’ll find yourself using pot odds quite often on the flop when you need one more card to complete your hand.

The two methods for calculating pot odds include either using ratios or percentages. I prefer converting pot odds into a percentage.

The first step to calculating pot odds is finding out how much you must contribute to stay in the hand. Here’s an example:

1 – The pot is worth $50.

2 – Your opponent bets $20.

3 – This makes the total pot worth $70.

4 – You must call $20 to stay in the hand.

5 – Now we divide 20 by 70 to get the percentage you must contribute.

6 – Your pot odds are 28.6% (approx. 6:14 odds).

Pot odds alone won’t help you figure out if a call is worth making. You also need to determine your hand equity.

This begins with finding the number of outs, or remaining cards that will make your hand. Let’s check out an example:

You have 9 10, and the flop is J Q 4.
Four 8s and four kings will help you complete a straight.
This means that you have 8 outs.

The next step is to convert this into a hand equity percentage. And the formula for doing so involves doubling your outs and adding one:

8 outs x 2 = 16
16 + 1 = 17% chance of making your hand on the turn.
Your hand equity is 17% vs. your pot odds being 28.6%.

You should only call if hand equity is greater than pot odds. Therefore, you should fold in this situation because the hand equity is much smaller.

More advanced concepts like implied odds and reverse implied odds should also be studied. But pot odds is an important term that you need to learn right away.

7 – Pot Committed

Pot committed is one of the most misunderstood terms in poker. Some players think this means they should stay in a hand just because they’ve invested lots of chips.

But pot committed also involves using pot odds to determine if folding is no longer an option. Here’s a simple example:

You put 50% of your chip stack into the pot pre flop.
Another player shoves their stack and has you covered.
Your pot odds are now 25% (3:1 odds) to make the call.
This means that you only need to win the hand a quarter of the time to break even.

The key is that you must believe you have better than a 25% chance to win for this call to be profitable.

Some players mistakenly call every time under the illusion that being pot committed is all about money. Your hand equity – perceived or based on actual math – must still be higher.

8 – Satellite

A satellite is a poker tournament where the prizes are seats into larger tourneys. Both online and land based poker rooms offer satellite tournaments.

Here’s how a satellite works:

1 – A poker room is holding a $110 buy in satellite.

2 – The satellite guarantees five $10,000 WSOP seats.

3 – This means that you must finish within the top five to win a seat.

Satellites were a big part of the poker boom. Many sites offered satellites to major events like the World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour stops.

Online poker sites still run satellites, but not in the same volume as before. The Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino offers more WSOP satellites than anybody these days.

Satellites are a great way for players to compete in bigger tournaments when they don’t have a large bankroll. But the downside is that you must spend time grinding in non money events to win tournament seats.

9 – Sit and Go

Sit and Go’s are single table poker tournaments that usually involve 6, 9, or 10 players. The top 2 3 players are normally paid in an SNG.

A sit and go (SNG) starts as soon as the table fills up. For example, a 9 player SNG would require nine seats being filled before it begins.

Let’s look at a sit and go example below:

The buy in is $1.10
This is a 9 player SNG.
The prize pool is $9.
First place wins $4.50
Second place wins $3
Third place wins $1.50

The big advantage to sit and go’s is that they’re quick and easy to play. This makes them great for beginning tournament players who are learning the ropes.

SNGs are also good for multi tabling, where you play multiple tables simultaneously.

The downside to SNGs is that they don’t offer big prize pools in relation to the buy in. You’ll have to play multi table tournaments to enjoy this benefit.

Conclusion

Poker is filled with terms that can help you understand how to play the game better and/or improve your strategy. This is why I encourage you to learn as many important poker terms as possible when starting out.

But the uncommon words and phrases that we covered above will be enough to get you going in the beginning. This is especially the case with 3 betting, suited connectors, pot odds, and pot committed.