Making Sense Out Of The Poker Jargon Heard Around The 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.

No matter what the street (how many cards have been dealt = street) a player makes any one of the following decisions: to fold, to answer a bet, and to call. If a player responds to an obligatory bet on a preflop, that bet is known as a limp or limp in, the player himself is referred to as the limper. A player who calls a raise having placed no bet himself, that bet is referred to as 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....

Strong hands are monsters, generally ranging from full-house up. The nuts is the strongest current hand. So he who holds the strongest current hand has the nuts.

Finally, in the event of even hands, the difference is distinguished by the highest rated card of the five best cards, but not one that is part of any of the above rated combinations. And that card is referred to as the kicker. When players have the same combinations, you have what is known as a split bank.

The author of this article plays online poker and gets Rakeback at Power Poker where they offer the highest Power Poker Rakeback.

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