Uncommon Poker Terms

New to poker? Yes. Learnt the rules of poker? Yes. Are you aware of texas holdem poker term and phrases used in this popular card game? No. In the list below, get to know the terms needed to play poker online and the meaning behind them.

  • Back Door—Any draw you hit that requires a card on the turn and the river of a hand to complete; when you pick up a draw on the turn, then complete it on the river. For example, if you have A♥T♥, the board is K♠-5♥3-♦, and you hit a 6♥on the turn and a Q♥ on the river to make a flush, you’ve back-doored the flush.
  • Call for a Clock—In a tournament, when another player is taking an inordinate amount of time to make a decision, you can call for a clock. When the clock is put on the player, he then usually has one minute and 10 seconds to make a decision about his hand.
  • Cap or Cap It—To put in the last raise. Most poker games have a 4- to 5-bet limit on any given betting round. “To cap it” means to make the last available raise.
  • Dead Straddle—A straddle bet that’s not allowed action after placing the bet in the pot when no one has raised the straddle bet. For example, if the blinds are 100/200 in a tournament and a player under the gun straddles for 400 chips (in other words, he places a 400-chip bet in the pot before the cards are dealt) and a player calls the 400 and the big blind checks, the player who straddles would not have an option to raise if he wants. He must just see the flop for the straddle amount if no one raises his bet. Generally, straddles in tournament games are always dead.
  • Double Belly Buster— Also known as ‘double gutshot’, a straight draw where you have two ranks that you can draw to the inside to complete your hand; the hand has eight cards that help, instead of four cards, as in a regular belly-buster straight draw. For example, on a flop of Q-8-6, if your hand is T9, you can hit a J in the middle for a Q-high straight or a 7 in the middle for a T-high straight. Even though you don’t have four consecutive cards in rank, you still have the same number of ways to win as an open-ended straight draw.
  • Dry Side Pot—A side pot that has no money/chips in it. This happens when one or more players go all-in and the rest of the betting is on the side, but no extra money is in that side pot yet.
  • Gin Your Outs—To play a hand in a way that knocks players out of the pot in order to increase the cards you can hit to win. For example, you have AK against one player with QQ and another with A4. The flop is T-8-4. You can now “gin your ace” by raising A4 out of the hand. Now, if you hit an ace, you’ll have the best hand, after forcing A4 to fold.
  • Juice—The rake taken on a bet. The percentage the house takes on a bet. In poker, usually refers to the fee that the house takes on a tournament entry, or the rake in a cash game.
  • Kill Game—In split-pot forms of poker, when a player scoops the pot in a kill game, he gets a kill button, which means that 1) the limit is raised for the next hand; and 2) the player with the kill button must post a blind.
  • Live Straddle—A straddle bet that is allowed action after placing the bet in the pot, even if no one has raised his straddle bet, in the same way that the big blind has an option. For example, if the blinds are $5/$10 and a player under the gun straddles for $20 (places a $20 bet in the pot before the cards are dealt) and a player calls the $20 and the big blind checks, the player who straddles still has an option to raise if he wants. Generally, straddles in cash games are always live.
  • Open-Ended Straight Draw—A straight draw that’s not a “gut-shot,” where the four cards in your hand are all consecutive in rank, so you can hit a card at either end of the draw to complete a straight. Eight cards help you in an up-and-down straight draw; four cards complete the straight at the bottom end and four cards complete the straight at the top end. For example, if you have J♥T♥and the board is 2♠-9♣-Q♦, you have an open ended straight draw, because you can hit either a K or an 8 to complete the straight.
  • Par—The average chip-stack size in a tournament.
  • Parlay—When you have to hit two or more events in order to win; e.g., you can only win if you hit the turn and the river.
  • Pay Off—To call a bet with the worst hand.
  • Pick Off—To call a bluff
  • Rabbit Hunt—To ask to see the next card after a hand is already over. When a player folds a hand before all the cards are dealt and wants to see if he would have made the hand if he’d continued instead of folding.
  • Shootout—A multi-table tournament in which you must win all the chips at your table in order to advance to the next round. In each round, you must win your table to advance.
  • Upside—The money that’s implied to come your way if you hit your hand. Also known as “positive implied odds.”
  • Vig—The juice or rake taken on a bet. The percentage the house takes on a bet. In poker, usually refers to the fee that the house takes on a tournament entry or the rake in a cash game.
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