Start with the essential terms below, then use the A-Z table when unfamiliar lingo comes up in a hand history, stream, or strategy discussion. These definitions reflect common usage; a room's published rules still control the game.
Essential Poker Terms in Five Minutes
- Bet: put in the first wager on a street.
- Check: pass the action when no bet is facing you.
- Call: match the current wager.
- Raise: increase the current wager.
- Fold: give up the hand and your claim to the pot.
- All-in / jam / shove: commit the remaining stack.
- Blinds: forced bets posted before the deal.
- Button (BTN): the nominal dealer position, usually last to act postflop.
- Under the gun (UTG): first to act preflop at a table with three or more players.
- In position / out of position: acting after or before an opponent postflop.
- Preflop, flop, turn, river: the four Hold'em betting stages.
- Pot: chips being contested.
- Range: the set of hands a player can plausibly hold.
- Combo: one exact card combination inside a range.
- Equity: a hand or range's share of the pot under stated assumptions.
- Pot odds: the price of a call relative to the pot available.
- Value bet: a bet intended to be called by worse hands.
- Bluff: a bet intended to make better hands fold.
- Bluff-catch: call with a hand that mainly beats bluffs.
- Blocker: a held card that removes combinations from another range.
- The nuts: the strongest possible hand in the current situation.
- Cooler: a very strong hand losing to an even stronger one in a hard-to-avoid setup.
- Punt: a costly, avoidable mistake; informal and critical.
- In the tank: taking a long time over a decision.
- Get there: improve to the winning hand on a later card.
Watch PokerStars introduce common player types, position names, mental-game language, and cash-game and tournament terms in the verified segment below. The video is in English; captions are available.
Read the term in context
ActionsPositionsStreetsRangesDrawsOutcomes
How to Use This Glossary
Read the register column before copying a phrase. Neutral terms belong in rules and strategy. Player-register language sounds natural at the table or in analysis. Pejorative labels can describe language readers will encounter, but they should not be aimed at a person. Abbreviations such as BTN, BB, EV, GTO, and PLO should be defined on first use outside an expert context.
Poker language changes with the setting. A neutral rules term may sit next to table talk, solver shorthand, or a loaded player label, so the register column matters as much as the definition.
Betting and Action Terms
Actions form a legal sequence. You can check only when no bet is facing you. Once somebody bets, later players fold, call, or raise. A c-bet is a strategic label for a bet by the prior-street aggressor, not a different button. “Barrel the turn” means bet another street; “snap-call” describes speed, not a special action.
CheckBet
FoldCallRaise
Position and Table Terms
Seat names follow the dealer button. The cutoff sits right of the button, the hijack right of the cutoff, and under the gun acts first preflop. “IP” and “OOP” describe relative postflop order. A multiway pot has more than two players; heads-up can describe either a two-player table or a pot reduced to two active players.
Use the button as the reference point
BTNSBBBUTGHJCO
Hand, Board, and Draw Terms
A made hand already has showdown value; a draw can improve. A set and trips are both three of a kind, but a set normally uses a pocket pair plus one board card, while trips normally use one hole card on a paired board. A wet or dynamic board connects with many draws; a dry or static board changes less often.
Set / Trips
Pocket pair + one matching board cardOne hole card + a paired board
Made Hand / Draw
Already has showdown valueNeeds a later card to complete
Range, Math, and Solver Terms
Range language prevents analysis from locking an opponent onto one exact hand. EV, equity, pot odds, effective stack, SPR, frequencies, blockers, and node locks all depend on defined inputs. GTO is an equilibrium framework, not a synonym for any solver screenshot. See GTO poker explained for the full boundary.
AAPocket aces
A♠K♠Suited
A♠K♦Offsuit
EVExpected value
SPRStack-to-pot ratio
VPIP / PFRPreflop frequency statistics
Cash-Game and Tournament Terms
Cash games use money-equivalent chips and normally stable blinds. Tournaments use escalating levels and prize structures, so chip EV and dollar EV can diverge. The bubble, pay jumps, ICM, PKO bounties, re-entry, rebuy, and late registration describe different tournament conditions; do not treat them as interchangeable.
Player Lingo and Slang
Words such as reg, nit, calling station, fish, whale, maniac, punt, spew, bink, and cooler carry attitude. Use them to explain authentic poker speech, not to mock a reader or opponent. “Fish” and “whale” are pejorative; neutral copy can say recreational player or unusually loose, high-spending player when that is the actual meaning.
bet · call · range
cooler · hero call
Define when necessary; do not use as brand voice
Poker Hand Notation
- AA means a specific pocket pair by rank.
- AKs means ace-king suited; AKo means ace-king offsuit.
- Ax means an ace with an unspecified second card. The same pattern works for Jx or 8x.
- 3-bet pot means the pot was re-raised preflop; it does not mean a bet of three big blinds.
- bb usually means big blinds; bb/100 is a cash-game rate normalized per 100 hands.
- NLHE means No-Limit Texas Hold'em; PLO means Pot-Limit Omaha.
A-Z Poker Glossary
Scroll horizontally to view the full table.
| Term | Meaning and usage | Register |
|---|---|---|
| 6-max | A table with up to six seats. Also seen as: six-max. | neutral |
| aggression factor | A postflop aggression statistic based on aggressive actions relative to calls. Also seen as: AF. | technical |
| all-in | Commit the entire remaining stack. Also seen as: all in. | neutral |
| angle shoot | Exploit ambiguity or procedure without necessarily making a formally illegal move; use cautiously and describe the conduct. Also seen as: angle shooting, angle shooter. | player |
| Ax | x means any second card; preserve notation and explain once for broad audiences. Also seen as: Kx, Qx, Jx. | technical |
| backdoor draw | A draw requiring favorable cards on both remaining streets. Also seen as: backdoor. | neutral |
| bad beat | A strong favorite loses after the money goes in; zh-CN wording varies, so describe the scenario when precision matters. | player |
| bankroll | Money specifically allocated to poker; do not conflate with personal savings. | neutral |
| bb/100 | Cash-game win rate measured in big blinds per 100 hands. Also seen as: big blinds per 100. | technical |
| bet | Put chips into the pot as the first wager on a street. Also seen as: betting. | neutral |
| big blind | The larger forced blind and its seat; lowercase bb can also be a stack unit. Also seen as: BB. | neutral |
| bink | Hit a key card or win a tournament; highly informal, use only in player-facing narrative. Also seen as: binked. | player |
| blank turn | A board card that changes few relevant hand relationships. Also seen as: blank river, blank. | player |
| blocker | A held card that removes relevant opposing combinations. Also seen as: blockers. | technical |
| board | The community cards or their texture; avoid translating it as a physical board. | neutral |
| board texture | How community cards interact with plausible hands and draws. | technical |
| bomb pot | A special hand in which players make a preset contribution and usually see a flop without normal preflop action; rules vary. Also seen as: double-board bomb pot. | player |
| bounty | A prize attached to eliminating a player or the format using those prizes. Also seen as: knockout tournament. | neutral |
| brick | A card that misses the relevant draw or changes little; context must identify what bricked. Also seen as: bricked. | player |
| broadway cards | Ten through ace ranks; explain on first use for beginners. Also seen as: broadway. | player |
| bubble | The stage just before payouts or another qualification threshold. Also seen as: on the bubble. | neutral |
| button | The dealer-button seat, normally last to act postflop. Also seen as: BTN. | neutral |
| buy-in | The amount paid to enter a game or tournament. Also seen as: buyin. | neutral |
| call | Match the current wager. Also seen as: calling. | neutral |
| calling station | A player who calls too often and raises too little. | player |
| capped range | A range unlikely to contain its strongest possible hands. Also seen as: range is capped, capped. | technical |
| check | Pass the action without betting when no bet is facing you. Also seen as: checking. | neutral |
| clean out | An out expected to make the winning hand without commonly improving an opponent more. Also seen as: clean outs. | technical |
| combo | A distinct card combination of a hand class. Also seen as: combos, combination. | technical |
| combo draw | A hand with multiple substantial draw types. Also seen as: combination draw. | neutral |
| community cards | Shared face-up board cards. Also seen as: community card. | neutral |
| condensed range | A range concentrated around medium strength after stronger and weaker hands take other actions. Also seen as: condensed. | technical |
| connected board | A board whose ranks create many straight draws and made-straight possibilities. Also seen as: connected flop, connected texture. | neutral |
Scroll horizontally to view the full table.
| Term | Meaning and usage | Register |
|---|---|---|
| cooler | An unavoidable collision of very strong hands; distinct from a punt or ordinary bad beat. Also seen as: coolered. | player |
| counterfeit | A board card reduces or erases the practical value of a hole-card pair/two-pair component. Also seen as: counterfeited. | technical |
| cutoff | The seat immediately right of the button. Also seen as: cut-off, CO. | neutral |
| depolarized range | A range that is not split primarily into very strong hands and bluffs. Also seen as: depolarised range, depolarized. | technical |
| dirty out | An apparent out that may not actually produce the best hand. Also seen as: dirty outs. | technical |
| disconnected board | A board with relatively little rank connectivity. Also seen as: disconnected flop, disconnected texture. | neutral |
| double gutter | A straight draw with two distinct interior ranks that can complete a straight. Also seen as: double-gutshot, double belly buster. | technical |
| downswing | An extended losing stretch that can include both variance and mistakes. | neutral |
| drag the pot | Win and pull in the pot; natural live-poker narration. Also seen as: dragged the pot. | player |
| dry board | A board with few immediate straight or flush draws. Also seen as: dry flop. | player |
| dynamic board | A texture on which many later cards can change equities and the nut distribution. Also seen as: dynamic texture. | technical |
| effective stack | The most the relevant players can put at risk against one another. Also seen as: effective stacks. | technical |
| equilibrium | Name the equilibrium model and assumptions when the distinction matters. Also seen as: Nash equilibrium. | technical |
| equity | Share of the pot a hand or range expects from future outcomes; do not reduce every equity context to raw win percentage. | technical |
| equity realization | How much theoretical equity a hand actually converts into pot share given future action. Also seen as: realize equity. | technical |
| expected value | Probability-weighted average result; preserve EV notation. Also seen as: EV, +EV, -EV. | technical |
| exploitative | Deliberately deviate from a baseline to capitalize on observed mistakes. Also seen as: exploit, exploiting. | technical |
| felted | Lose an entire stack; use only where the live-table metaphor reads naturally. Also seen as: felt. | player |
| fish | Pejorative label for a weak player; prefer recreational player in published instruction unless quoting community language. | pejorative |
| flat-call | Call rather than raise; make the object clear when flat is used alone. Also seen as: flat call, flat. | player |
| flop | The first three community cards and the betting round around them. | neutral |
| flush | Five cards of one suit. | neutral |
| flush draw | A draw needing one more card of a suit to make a flush. | neutral |
| fold | Give up the hand and any claim to the pot. Also seen as: folding. | neutral |
| fold equity | Value gained from the chance that opponents fold. | technical |
| freezeout | A tournament with no re-entry after elimination. Also seen as: freeze-out. | neutral |
| frequency | How often an action is selected; mixing means varying actions at prescribed frequencies. Also seen as: frequencies, mixing. | technical |
| full house | Three of a kind plus a pair; boat is player slang. Also seen as: boat. | neutral |
| full ring | A standard larger table, commonly nine-handed. Also seen as: full-ring. | neutral |
| geometric sizing | A sizing plan designed to grow the pot by a similar proportion across remaining streets. Also seen as: geometric bet sizing, geometric size. | technical |
| get there | Informal verb for completing a draw or improving by the river. Also seen as: got there, gets there. | player |
| grinder | A volume-focused regular or the act of playing sustained volume. Also seen as: grind, grinding. | player |
| GTO | Game-theory-optimal strategy; avoid implying a solver output is universally exact without inputs. Also seen as: game theory optimal. | technical |
Scroll horizontally to view the full table.
| Term | Meaning and usage | Register |
|---|---|---|
| GTO deviation | A difference from the selected equilibrium benchmark, not automatically a mistake. Also seen as: deviation from GTO, deviate from GTO. | technical |
| gutshot | A straight draw needing one internal rank. Also seen as: inside straight draw. | neutral |
| hand | Use hand for a dealt deal or a holding; context determines the Chinese form. | neutral |
| hand history | A structured record of cards, actions, sizes, and result. Also seen as: hand histories, HH. | neutral |
| heads-up | A two-player pot, table, or match. Also seen as: heads up, HU. | neutral |
| heater | An unusually strong winning run. Also seen as: on a heater. | player |
| Hero | Hand-history placeholders for the analyzed player and opponent; use real roles in polished prose when clearer. Also seen as: Villain. | technical |
| hijack | The seat immediately right of the cutoff in common full-ring naming. Also seen as: HJ. | neutral |
| hole cards | Private cards dealt to a player. Also seen as: hole card. | neutral |
| ICM | A model converting tournament chip stacks into prize-value estimates. Also seen as: Independent Chip Model. | technical |
| implied odds | Potential future winnings considered in addition to the current pot. | technical |
| in position | Act after the relevant opponent postflop. Also seen as: IP. | technical |
| in the money | Reach a paid finishing position. Also seen as: ITM. | neutral |
| indifference | A game-theory condition in which available actions have equal EV for the relevant hand or response. Also seen as: indifferent between. | technical |
| jam | Informal all-in verb, especially in tournament and solver discussion. Also seen as: jamming. | player |
| kicker | A side card used to break ties between otherwise equal made hands. | neutral |
| LAG | Loose-aggressive player or style. Also seen as: loose-aggressive. | technical |
| leak | A systematic strategy or execution weakness that costs value over time. Also seen as: leaks. | player |
| limp | Enter an unopened pot by calling the big blind. Also seen as: limping. | neutral |
| linear range | A range built continuously from strongest hands downward. Also seen as: linear. | technical |
| maniac | An extremely loose-aggressive player. | player |
| merged range | A range containing strong and medium-strength hands without a clean value/bluff split; define on first use. Also seen as: merged betting range, merged. | technical |
| min-cash | The smallest or near-smallest payout tier. Also seen as: mincash. | player |
| minimum defense frequency | A simplified threshold for preventing an opponent's bluffs from profiting automatically under stated assumptions. Also seen as: MDF. | technical |
| mixed strategy | Use more than one action at specified frequencies in the same information set. Also seen as: mixing frequencies, mixed frequency. | technical |
| monotone board | A flop or board whose exposed cards are all the same suit. Also seen as: monotone flop, monotone. | technical |
| MTT | A tournament played across multiple tables. Also seen as: multi-table tournament. | neutral |
| multiway | A pot with three or more players. Also seen as: multi-way. | neutral |
| nit | An excessively tight player or style. Also seen as: nitty. | player |
| NLHE | No-Limit Texas Hold'em. Also seen as: No-Limit Hold'em, No Limit Holdem. | neutral |
| node lock | Constrain a solver node to a modeled strategy so later responses can be recalculated; record the lock assumptions. Also seen as: node-lock, nodelock, node locking. | technical |
| nut advantage | An advantage in how many of the strongest possible hands a range can contain. | technical |
| nut flush draw | A flush draw that would make the highest possible flush on the current board. Also seen as: NFD. | neutral |
| offsuit | Different-suit holding; lowercase o in notation means offsuit. Also seen as: off-suit, AKo. | technical |
| open-ended straight draw | A straight draw that can complete at either end. Also seen as: open-ended, OESD. | neutral |
| open-raise | Make the first voluntary raise preflop. Also seen as: open raise, open. | neutral |
Scroll horizontally to view the full table.
| Term | Meaning and usage | Register |
|---|---|---|
| out of position | Act before the relevant opponent postflop. Also seen as: OOP. | technical |
| outs | Unseen cards believed to improve a hand sufficiently. | neutral |
| overbluff | Bluff more frequently than the comparison strategy supports. Also seen as: over-bluff, overbluffing. | technical |
| overcard | A card higher than a paired or reference rank; make the comparison clear. Also seen as: overcards. | neutral |
| overfold | Fold more often than the selected benchmark or exploit requires; name the comparison when possible. Also seen as: over-fold, overfolding. | technical |
| overpair | A pocket pair higher than every board card. | neutral |
| paired board | A board containing at least two cards of the same rank. Also seen as: paired flop. | neutral |
| PFR | Share of hands where a player raises preflop. Also seen as: preflop raise. | technical |
| PKO | A knockout format where part of a won bounty increases the winner's own bounty. Also seen as: progressive knockout. | technical |
| PLO | Pot-Limit Omaha. Also seen as: Pot-Limit Omaha. | neutral |
| pocket pair | Two hole cards of the same rank. Also seen as: pocket pairs. | neutral |
| polarized range | A range concentrated around strong value and bluffs, with fewer medium hands. Also seen as: polarised range, polarized. | technical |
| pot | The chips or money contested in the hand. | neutral |
| pot odds | The price of a call relative to the pot after calling. | technical |
| preflop | Before the flop is dealt. Also seen as: pre-flop. | neutral |
| punt | A large avoidable mistake that gives away chips; never treat a cooler as a punt. Also seen as: punting, punted. | player |
| pure strategy | Use one action at effectively the full prescribed frequency in the stated model. Also seen as: pure action. | technical |
| quads | Four cards of one rank. Also seen as: four of a kind. | player |
| rabbit hunt | Reveal undealt community cards after a hand has ended; it has no effect on the completed result. Also seen as: rabbit hunting. | player |
| rainbow board | A flop with three suits, or by context a board with no flush possible. Also seen as: rainbow flop, rainbow. | neutral |
| raise | Increase the current wager. Also seen as: raising. | neutral |
| range | The set of holdings a player can plausibly have. Also seen as: ranges. | neutral |
| range advantage | An overall equity or strength advantage across the competing ranges. | technical |
| range construction | Build the set and weighting of hands assigned to an action. Also seen as: construct a range. | technical |
| re-entry | Enter again as a new entry after busting during the allowed period. Also seen as: reentry. | neutral |
| re-raise | Raise after another player has raised. Also seen as: reraise. | neutral |
| rebuy | Purchase more chips under a rebuy structure without necessarily entering as a new field entry. Also seen as: re-buy. | neutral |
| rec | A recreational rather than professional or regular player. Also seen as: recreational player. | player |
| redraw | Additional outs to improve again after a currently strong or made hand is overtaken or tied. Also seen as: re-draw. | technical |
| reg | A regular, usually experienced player in a game or pool. Also seen as: regular. | player |
| reverse implied odds | Potential future losses after improving to a second-best hand. | technical |
| river | The fifth community card and final betting round. | neutral |
| rock | A very tight, predictable player. | player |
| runout | The later board cards or the way they arrive. Also seen as: run-out. | player |
| satellite | A qualifier awarding seats or entries to a target event. Also seen as: satellite tournament. | neutral |
| set | Three of a kind made with a pocket pair and one board card; distinct from trips. | neutral |
| shove | Player-language verb for moving all-in; avoid a literal pushing metaphor outside poker context. Also seen as: shoving. | player |
| showdown | The point where remaining players reveal hands to determine the winner. | neutral |
Scroll horizontally to view the full table.
| Term | Meaning and usage | Register |
|---|---|---|
| slow roll | Delay revealing or calling with an obviously winning hand to needle an opponent; distinct from slow-playing during live action. Also seen as: slow-roll, slowrolling. | player |
| small blind | The smaller forced blind and its seat. Also seen as: SB. | neutral |
| SNG | A tournament that begins when the required seats fill. Also seen as: Sit & Go, Sit-and-Go. | neutral |
| solver | Software that solves a defined game tree under specified inputs. Also seen as: solvers. | technical |
| spew | Repeated or undisciplined chip-giving play; usually broader than one punt. Also seen as: spewing, spewy. | player |
| spot | A recurring decision situation, not merely a physical location. Also seen as: spots. | player |
| stack off | Commit an entire stack, often implying willingness to do so with a given hand. Also seen as: stacking off. | player |
| stack-to-pot ratio | Effective stack divided by the pot at a given point, commonly the flop. Also seen as: SPR. | technical |
| stakes | The blind level or money level being played; not a financial ownership stake unless context says so. | neutral |
| static board | A texture on which later cards are less likely to change relative hand strength substantially. Also seen as: static texture. | technical |
| steaming | Visibly angry or tilted after losses. Also seen as: on steam. | player |
| sticky player | A player who continues too widely; prefer the descriptive local form over a literal adjective when needed. Also seen as: sticky, call too wide. | player |
| straddle | A voluntary or room-defined blind raise posted before cards or action; rules vary, so state the room format. Also seen as: straddled pot. | neutral |
| straight | Five sequential ranks. | neutral |
| street | A betting round; in zh-CN use exact street names when clarity matters. Also seen as: streets. | player |
| string bet | An improperly announced or multi-motion wager under live-room procedure; defer to the room rule and floor decision. Also seen as: string raise. | neutral |
| suckout | A behind hand draws out on a favorite; informal and sometimes accusatory. Also seen as: suck out. | player |
| suited | Same-suit holding; lowercase s in notation means suited. Also seen as: AKs. | technical |
| suited connectors | Consecutive hole-card ranks of one suit. Also seen as: suited connector. | neutral |
| TAG | Tight-aggressive player or style. Also seen as: tight-aggressive. | technical |
| take a line | A sequence of decisions through the hand; line alone must be contextually clear. Also seen as: the line, line taken. | player |
| take a shot | Try a higher stake under a defined bankroll/risk plan. Also seen as: shot-taking, move up. | player |
| the nuts | The best possible hand in the current situation. Also seen as: nuts. | player |
| tilt | Emotion-driven decision-making that pushes a player away from their normal strategy. Also seen as: tilting. | player |
| top pair | A pair using the highest board rank. | neutral |
| trips | Three of a kind using one hole card with a paired board; distinct from a set. | neutral |
| turn | The fourth community card and its betting round. | neutral |
| two pair | Two distinct pairs. | neutral |
| two-tone board | A flop containing two cards of one suit and one of another. Also seen as: two-tone flop, two tone. | technical |
| uncapped range | A range that can still contain the strongest relevant hands. Also seen as: uncapped. | technical |
| under the gun | The first preflop seat to act in a standard blind structure. Also seen as: UTG. | neutral |
| underbluff | Bluff less frequently than the comparison strategy supports. Also seen as: under-bluff, underbluffing. | technical |
| underfold | Fold less often than the selected benchmark or exploit requires. Also seen as: under-fold, underfolding. | technical |
| upswing | An extended winning stretch. | neutral |
| variance | The spread of short-term results around the expected outcome. | technical |
| VPIP | Share of hands where a player voluntarily invests preflop. Also seen as: voluntarily put money in pot. | technical |
Scroll horizontally to view the full table.
| Term | Meaning and usage | Register |
|---|---|---|
| wet board | A connected board with several plausible straight or flush draws. Also seen as: wet flop. | player |
| whale | Pejorative label for an unusually large losing player; use sparingly and only when necessary. | pejorative |
| wheel draw | A draw involving the ace-to-five straight; explain wheel once for general readers. Also seen as: wheel gutshot, wheel cards. | player |
| WTSD | How often a player reaches showdown after seeing the flop under the tracker definition. Also seen as: went to showdown. | technical |
Poker-Eye Product Terms
Action cue: the colored text Poker-Eye displays over a supported poker-room interface, such as Raise, Bet, Call, Check, or Fold with a value where applicable.
Guidance mode: the user performs the displayed action manually.
Automatic mode: Poker-Eye clicks the corresponding supported game action. It is a mode of the same product, not a separate application.
Agent Code: the code a user receives from an agent or seller and enters at first launch.
Fuel: the product's internal currency, purchased with real money and used by hand or round at a rate that depends on the room and game type. Current rates come from the official support channel.
These definitions do not make Poker-Eye a solver or hand-history tracker, and they do not imply universal room compatibility. Read How It Works for the workflow and Poker Bot for the current supported scope.
Guidance Mode
Poker-Eye displays the supported action cue; you use the poker-room controls manually.
Automatic Mode
Poker-Eye executes the corresponding supported in-game action.
Opening the poker room and joining a table remain manual in either mode.
Terms to Learn Next
New players can put the vocabulary into context with how to play poker and poker hand rankings. For decision terms such as range, blocker, and bluff-catch, the hand-review process shows how the language is used away from the table.
Continue With the Product GuideSee how Poker-Eye uses current table and opponent context
Explore Poker AI Sources
- PokerNews Poker Terms for broad definitions, table language, and common abbreviations.
- Poker.org Poker Glossary for beginner-friendly explanations and frequently heard poker phrases.
- PokerStars Learn: Poker Terms for official poker-room learning terminology and action names.
- GTO Wizard Glossary for solver, range, frequency, and expected-value terminology.
Poker involves financial risk. No tool or strategy guarantees a result. Follow local requirements and the current rules of the poker room you use.
About the Editorial Team
The Poker-Eye Editorial Team researches, checks, and maintains product and educational content. Sources and product boundaries are reviewed before publication.