At the table
Seats, stacks and the names for the situations you will face.
- PositionWhere you sit relative to the button, which decides the order you act in.
- Stack depthHow many big blinds a player has, which decides what strategies are available.
- RFIEveryone before you folded; do you raise or fold?
- OpenThe first raise before the flop, made after everyone before you has folded.
- Facing OpenSomeone raised before you; do you fold, call or re-raise?
- Facing 3-BetYou raised and someone re-raised; do you fold, call or raise again?
- 3-betA re-raise preflop: the third bet, after the blinds and an opening raise.
- Single-raised potA pot where there was one raise and one or more calls before the flop.
- LimpCalling the big blind preflop instead of raising, when nobody has raised yet.
- Iso-raiseA raise over one or more limpers, sized to play the hand heads-up against a weak range.
- Over-limpLimping behind one or more players who have already limped.
- Board textureHow connected and suited the community cards are, and so how much they favor each range.
- Dry boardA board with few draws, where the best hand now is likely to still be best on the river.
- Wet boardA connected or suited board where straights, flushes or strong draws to them are possible.
- Paired boardA board with two or more cards of the same rank, which makes full houses and quads possible.
- Monotone boardA board where every card is the same suit, so any two cards of that suit already make a flush.
- The nutsThe best hand possible on the current board, given the cards any opponent could hold.
- VPIPVoluntarily put money in pot: the share of hands a player calls or raises before the flop.
- PFRPreflop raise: the share of hands a player raises before the flop.
- Aggression factorHow often a player bets or raises compared with how often they call.
- TellA change in how a player acts or bets that hints at the strength of their hand.
- BaselineHow a player normally behaves, which a possible tell has to be measured against.
- False tellA tell acted out on purpose to mislead you.
- Hand notation (A6s, KTo, 77)How a starting hand is written: two ranks, then s for suited or o for offsuit, and a pair is just the rank twice.
- Card notation (As, Td)A single card written as its rank then its suit letter: s spades, h hearts, d diamonds, c clubs.
- bb (big blinds)Big blinds, the unit the app counts every stack, bet and pot in so spots at any stakes compare directly.
- UTG (under the gun)The first seat to act before the flop, just left of the big blind, so it opens the tightest range.
- LJ (lojack)The seat two to the right of the cutoff, the first seat of a 6-max table in push/fold charts.
- HJ (hijack)The seat just right of the cutoff, two seats before the button.
- MP (middle position)The second seat to act at a 6-max table, between UTG and the cutoff; the same seat as the hijack.
- CO (cutoff)The seat just right of the button, the second-best seat at the table.
- BTN (button)The dealer seat, which acts last on every street after the flop, the best seat at the table.
- SB (small blind)The seat left of the button that posts half a big blind before the cards, and acts first after the flop.
- BB (big blind)The seat two left of the button that posts a full big blind before the cards, and acts last before the flop.
- Streets: preflop, flop, turn and riverThe four betting rounds of a hand, each after more cards are dealt: preflop, flop, turn and river.
- CheckPassing the action without betting, allowed only when nobody has bet on this street yet.
- CallMatching the current bet to stay in the hand.
- Bet and raisePutting in chips when nobody has yet is a bet; putting in more than an earlier bet is a raise.
- FoldGiving up your hand and any chips you have already put in the pot.
- All-inBetting, raising or calling with every chip you have left.
- Hand rankingsThe order of five-card poker hands, from a straight flush at the top down to high card.
- KickerThe highest card outside your pair, trips or two pair, which settles ties between equal hands.
- Cash gameA game where chips are money and the blinds never rise, so you can play as many hands as you like and leave.
- bb/100Big blinds won or lost per 100 hands: a cash player's win rate.
- Top upBuying more chips between hands to bring your stack back to the starting depth.
- Session resultWhat you won or lost at the table: your stack now, less everything you bought in with, in big blinds.
- Omaha (PLO)A flop game like Hold'em where each player holds four or more cards and must use exactly two of them.
- Hi-lo (eight or better)A split-pot game: half the pot goes to the best high hand and half to the best low hand of five cards eight or lower.
- ScoopWinning both the high and the low half of a split pot, or the high when no low is made.
- Two-tone boardA flop with exactly two cards of one suit, so a flush draw is possible but no flush yet.
- Rainbow boardA flop whose three cards are all different suits, so no flush draw is possible yet.
- Connected boardA flop whose three ranks fit inside five in a row, so some two-card hands already make a straight.
- High cardThe highest rank on the flop, from ace down to two.
- VillainYour opponent in a hand: the player whose range you are playing against.
- ShoveTo bet all of your chips at once; the same thing as going all in.
- SetThree of a kind made with a pocket pair and one matching card on the board.
- BroadwayAny card from ten to ace, or a starting hand made of two of them.
- Suited connectorTwo cards of the same suit next to each other in rank, such as 8♠ 7♠.
- Flat callTo just call a raise when you could have re-raised; also called flatting.
- Effective stackThe smaller of two players' stacks: the most either can win from or lose to the other.
- ShowdownThe end of a hand, when the players still in turn their cards over and the best hand wins.
- FeltedOut of chips: a player who has lost their whole stack is felted, with only the table felt in front of them.
- MisclickClicking the wrong button in an online game, such as folding when you meant to call.
- StraddleAn optional blind bet, usually twice the big blind, posted before the cards are dealt.
- Stand patIn draw poker, keeping all your cards and drawing none.
- RatholingTaking chips off the table in a cash game while you keep playing, which most cardrooms forbid.
- GapperA starting hand with one or more ranks missing between its two cards, such as 8♠ 6♠.
- Side potA second pot for chips an all-in player cannot match, which only the players still covering can win.
- Pocket rockets (pocket aces)A pair of aces as your two hole cards, the best starting hand in Texas hold'em.
- Cold deckA deck stacked in advance and swapped into a game to cheat, or slang for a run of brutal cards.
- Aggression frequency (AFq)The percentage of a player's flop, turn and river actions that are bets or raises.
- Splash the potThrowing chips into the middle of the pile instead of placing them in front of you, which makes a bet hard to count.
- No-limitA betting structure where you may bet or raise any amount up to every chip in front of you.
- Seven-deuce gameA home-game side bet: win a pot holding 7-2, the worst starting hand, and every other player pays you a bounty.