Understanding the Language at the Poker Table
The language of poker can seem like a foreign one, an English dialect unheard anywhere else but at a poker table. To the uninitiated, it seems totally undecipherable, but listen carefully and learn a few of the terms set out here, and you will begin to understand the jargon.
In every street the player can make either of the following decisions: to fold; to respond to a bet – to call (responding to an obligatory bet on the preflop is also called a limp or limp in, and the player is called the limper; if a player calls a raise without having bet himself, that player has made a cold call).
Next we will explore the cheek. This is to make no bet if no bets were placed before yours; the first to be placed is simply “to bet.” Of course this can vary by game. In no-limit poker, there are specialized terms that reference different kinds of bets: continuation bet, which is a standard bet about the size of the bank; pot bet, one around the size of the bank, and of course, the overbet – a bet of a significant magnitude greater than the size of the bank. If one raises another player’s bet (however, if the bet was raised previously, than your raise might be noted as a re-raise or a 3-bet. Now, suppose your raise was preceded by a re-raise, then the fourth legal bet placed is referred to as a cap and the player is referred to as the one to cap the betting. All clear?
The bank or pot are chips which have been placed by the players and which comprise the main prize of the game. The chips of each player at the table are the stack. A bankroll is the overall sum of money available to the player for any given game. If a player bets his entire stack he is said to be all-in. Going all-in, a player is usually seen pushing a stack of chips towards the center of the table. The term “push” implies an all-in bet. If the game continues after a player’s all-in, the bank is split into the main pot and the side pot.
If at the conclusion of the game (i.e., the river) two or more players make equal bets, a showdown occurs. Whichever player has the strongest 5-card combination, or hand, wins. A hand is rated thusly, from highest to lowest: royal flush, straight flush, quad (four of a kind), full-house, flush, straight, three of a kind (aka a set should a third card be added to your pocket pair), two pairs, aka a doper, the basic pair (an overpair refers to a pair being stronger than the strongest single card on the table); in a flop, the cards are considered top, middle, and small pairs and are rated accordingly; and lastly (and most lowly) comes the high card. If this high card is higher than any card on the table it is referred to as an overcard. Bear with me, it’s almost over….
A monster is a strong hand, usually from full-house and upwards. The strongest current hand is the nuts. A player with the strongest current hand is said to have the nuts.
In the case of even hands, what makes the difference is the highest card of the five best cards, but one which is not part of any of the above combinations. This card is called the kicker. A split bank occurs when players have similar combinations.
The author of this article plays online poker and gets Rakeback at Red Star Poker where they offer the highest Red Star Rakeback.
