A Beginners Guide To Poker Jargon
Poker has its own distinctive language just like so many other activities, from surfing the net to surfing the perfect wave. But do not be dismayed, it is not a plot against you, the newcomer to the game, it is simply an outgrowth of the popularity and longevity of the game of poker in its infinite variety. The following is a guide for those of you who are new to the game in online play and need more understanding of the communication both while engaged in the game and in the poker rooms and forums.
The first step for you to take is to learn the lingo in the most popular of the online games – Texas hold’em. Whether you are playing a limit, pot-limit, or no-limit game, there will from two to ten folks playing with you. The person handing out the cards to the players is the dealer. The dealer’s location at the table is demarcated by a special “button,” thus he may be termed “the button.” The button or dealer in online games is not to be thought of as the same as the dealer in a casino. The casino dealer is being paid for his work by the casino and in no way is a participant in the game.
In back of the dealer are two players who make bets blindly. Only the table limit keeps the lid on their bets. They cannot bet over the particular table’s limit. The first blind bet is for half of the table limit and is termed the small blind, the second player places a bet for the full table limit, the big blind. So, if the table limit $2/$4, the small blind will be for $2 and the big blind for $4. You often see abbreviations which designate the player’s position. SB stands for small blind and BB denotes the big blind. Of course this seems too easy and it is. SB can also mean small bet and BB big bet, having nothing to do with blind. Be aware of this and distinguish between them while engaged in play.
The small blind player is always the first to make the move. His position is therefore counted as the first position, while the button (the dealer’s) position is the last. The third player, the one immediately after the big blind, is in the early position and is said to be “under the gun” or UTG. The next two positions are likewise “early positions” and are abbreviated as UTG + 1 and UTG + 2.
The next three players represent the middle position: MP1, MP2, and MP3. The next “late” position includes the player immediately before the button – referred to as the cutoff or CO – and finally the button player him or her self.
Those positions listed above exist for a Texas hold’em game of ten players. Less players than ten and an appropriate number of positions are eliminated.
The game begins with the preflop wherein each player gets two pocket cards. Three “streets” come after this preflop: the flop, the turn, which is the fourth street and the river or fifth street. While these rounds are being dealt, community cards are laid face up on the table (AKA the “board”) and are designated after their pertinent streets, i.e. first three flop cards, then one turn and then on river card. The flop cards of different suits are known as a rainbow. Whew!
This is a bare beginning in the argot of online poker, but it should whet your appetite to learn more terms and gain more understanding of the games in the online poker rooms. So, good luck and enjoy the game and the education you are giving yourself.
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