Poker Terms

Action: To give action is to put money into the pot when someone else should be expected to win the hand. To receive action is to have someone else put money into the pot when you expect to win the hand. It’s better to receive than to give.
Advertise: Advertising usually means showing down a mediocre hand, to give the impression that you play overly loose or that you play a generally weakgame. The idea is that other players will then give you more action when you make a legitimate hand.
All In: Betting everything that you have in front of you.
Alligator Blood: A compliment given to an outstanding player who proves himself unflappable under great pressure.
Ante: A small, forced bet that everyone at the table is required to pay before each hand (in games with an ante).
Apple, the: The biggest game in the house.
Bankroll: The money a player uses to play poker with as opposed to the money he lives on Back Door: A handmade back door is one made using both of the last two cards, as in seven card stud or Texas hold ’em.
Base Deal: Cheating by dealing from the bottom of the deck.
Blind Bet: A blind bet, or blind, is a forced bet that must be posted before you see any cards.
Belly buster: An inside straight draw.
Berry Patch: An extremely easy game.
Blinds: A forced bet in Hold ‘Em.
Bluff: A bet with a weak hand (typically a busted hand), usually intended to get other players to fold.
Boat: Another name for a full house.
Brass Brazilians: The top hand, also known as “the nuts.”
Broadway: An Ace high straight.
Bullets: A pair of aces in the hole.
Bump: To raise.
Burn: In order to reduce the chances of players getting advance information about cards to come, in many games the top card on the deck is discarded at certain predetermined points in the dealing process. These cards are the burn cards. In general, any time a card is discarded from the top of the deck it’s called a burn card.
Bust: To run out of money, especially in a tournament.
Buy: To buy a pot is to make a bet large enough that other players would be unlikely to call.
Buy-in The amount of money with which you enter a game is your buy-in.
Call: To call is match the current bet.
Cards Speak: Cards speak is simply the rule that the value of your hand is determined solely by your cards. You don’t have to declare your hand properly in order to claim the part of the pot you deserve.
Carpet joint: An upscale card room characterized by carpet on the floor. The opposite of a sawdust joint.
Case money: Emergency money.
Catch: When the cards are treating you well, you are said to be catching cards.
Check: If there has been no betting before you in a betting round, you may check, which is like calling a bet of $0, or passing your turn.
Checks: Poker chips.
Chip: Poker chips are small round discs used instead of money at the poker table. The ones used at casinos are typically made of clay. Using chips instead of cash has a number of advantages, mostly just that they’re easier to count and manipulate. Color designations for chips are arbitrary, but many casinos use white for $1 chips, red for $5 chips, green for $25 chips, and black for $100 chips. If someone asks for a rack of white, they’d like $100 in $1 chips.