Novice players, while learn poker, should also acquaint themselves with the language used in poker circuit. There exist a variety of slangs in the industry and some lingos became popular as they were used by poker pros. And one such example is : ‘PWN’. This word became popular after a rant from Phil Hellmuth, in which he was trying to tell his opponent that he would ‘own’ him, but he kept misspelling “own” as “pwn.” Here is the lingo used by expert players in the card game of Indian poker.
- Blank—A card hitting the board that’s unlikely to change who has the best hand or to help a player’s hand improve. For example, on a board like A♣-K♣-9♥-8♥, if a 2♠ hits the river, it would be called a blank; it’s unlikely to improve anyone’s hand.
- Blocking Bet—A bet made on the river in first position with a hand that’s marginal. The bettor bets an amount less than he thinks his opponent would bet in order to reduce the amount lost on the last betting round. Only done when the player is sure he’d call his opponent’s bet if he checks and the opponent bets.
- Brick—A card dealt that doesn’t help your hand. Used when a player has a very big draw, with many outs, and misses. For example, you have Q♥T♥ vs. 66 and the board is J♥-K♥-2♣. A 2♦ on the turn would be called a brick, as in, “I hit a brick” or “I bricked on the turn” or “The board bricked.”
- Cooler—A hand that involves a cold deck. As in, “I lost with a set of kings to a set of aces. It was a cooler.”
- Dark Bet—A bet made without looking at your hole cards or the next card(s) to come; e.g., if you raise before the flop, having looked at your hand, but then bet before the dealer puts the flop down, you’re “betting in the dark.”
- Drawing Slim—To draw to a hand that has very few outs.
- Dry—When cards on the board are unrelated to one another, as in a board with no draws. Also called “untextured” or “uncoordinated.”
- Hijack—The position at the table two seats to the right of the player on the button. The player who gets to act third to last.
- Isolate—To raise in order to knock all other players out of the hand and get heads-up with the original bettor. Used as, “I raised to isolate.”
- Joint—A huge hand. For example, if the board is K♥-J♥-T♦ and you have A♥Q♥, you’d say, “I flopped the joint.” It can be interchangeable with “the nuts.”
- Jump the Fence—To call a re-raise when one player raises and another player re-raises. For example, player A raises, player B re-raises, and player C calls; C is “jumping the fence.”
- Juicy—An extra good game or a super-soft situation. A tournament full of bad players or a game filled with fish.
- Live One—A losing or bad poker player.
- Lock—When you’re guaranteed a win, you’re a lock. Also, used as “locked up,” as in, “I had the win locked up.”
- Mortal Nuts—Holding a hand that’s not only the very best hand possible, “the nuts,” but also can’t be drawn out on; e.g., you have QQ and the flop is Q-Q-4.
- Nit—A player who only plays the nuts, never wants to gamble, only takes the best of it, doesn’t give any action.
- Open Shove—When a player is first to act, everyone has folded to him, and he has enough chips to call or raise, but pushes all-in instead as his first action.
- Rags—Cards low in rank or that don’t make anything.
- Rail—The spectators of a game. Also used as a verb, as in “to rail a game” or “come rail me at this table.”
- Railbird—A spectator, who’s “railing” a game. Sometimes used as a derogatory term for someone who’s out of action, broke, and can only watch the games, because he has no money to play.
- Rainbow—A flop when all three cards are of different suits
- The One Hole—The player under the gun, in first position. You also hear people talk about the two hole, three hole, etc., to refer to the positions to the left of the one hole.
- Toke—Tip.
- Wet—When cards on the board are related to one another. Also called “coordinated” or “textured.”
- Wheel—The lowest possible straight. A straight from the ace to the 5: A-2-3-4-5. Also, 7-5-4-3-2 in deuce to seven lowball games.
