Here's a list of the most frequently used poker terms and abbreviations. These expressions could be fun to know and nice to show off to your friends when playing a game of poker.
Advertise - Making a move intended at falsely exposing oneself as a weak or bluffing player.
Ante - A small forced bet sometimes placed by all players before each hand. Common in big tournaments to make the play more aggressive.
Back door - Making a hand other than the one hand you intended, for example drawing for a straight and hitting a runner-runner flush.
Bad beat - A hand that is a huge favourite to win, but end up losing.
Bounty - A tournament where more prize money than the regular is rewarded to players who eliminate certain target players with bounties on them.
Bubble - First loser place. Placing just outside the money in a tournament not winning anything.
Bust - Losing your entire table stack or your entire bank roll. Not a very good feeling.
Calling station - A player who passively calls with a lot of hands and doesn't fold or raise very often.
Cap - To maximize the number of allowed raises, usually four, in a fixed limit poker game.
Coffee-housing - Discussing a hand currently being played with the intent of providing misleading information to your opponents.
Coin Flip - An all-in situation where both players have a close to equal chance of winning.
Connectors - Pocket cards that connect in rank, for example 5-6 or 10-Jack.
Cracked - To have the best Holdem starting hand there is, two aces, beaten.
Crap Shoot - A table where all players are aggressive and the action is wild and crazy.
Crying Call - A call made by a player despite declaring that he is very certain he will lose.
Dealer's choice - A game variation where the seated players take turns deciding what game to play. Choices often include Texas Hold'em, Omaha and 7-Card Stud.
Drawing dead - A draw hand that will lose even if it hits its draw.
Draw hand - A hand that needs to improve on the turn or the river in order to win.
Edge - In the long run luck evens out and only skill remains as a deciding factor between players. Edge is the slight advantage one player has over another through more skill, larger stack or better position.
Freeroll - A multi-table tournament that is free to enter but still has a real money prize pool.
Grinder - A player that consistently plays for hours on low limits with the intent of slowly and carefully building a larger bank roll.
Kicker - If a player makes a pair with one of his hole cards, the other is called the kicker. If another players holds the same pair, the highest kicker wins the pot.
Hand Nicknames
AA Pocket Rockets, Bullets, American Airlines, Weapon of Mass Destruction
KK Cowboys, King Kong
QQ Double date, Siegfried and Roy
JJ Fish hooks
99 Gretzky
88 Snowmen
77 Sunset strip
66 Route 66
55 Speed limit
44 Magnum, Mid Life Crisis
33 Crabs
22 Ducks
Komodo Dragoned - Losing a pot because another player catches a straight or a flush on the river.
Nuts - The best possible hand a player can have at any given time of the game.
Outs - The total number of possibilities a player has to win a pot based on the current situation. If he holds 99 and needs another 9 to win, then he would have a total of two outs.
On the Button - Being in the dealer's position and thus acting last, this is the best position one can have.
Over cards - Pocket cards that have a value higher than the highest card currently on the board. An ace and a king are two over cards to a 239 flop.
Over the top - Re-raising another player's raise with a substantial amount.
Pot odds - A strategic comparison between the amount of money needed to call a bet, the total amount in the pot and the chance of actually winning the hand.
Rags - Low community cards that probably have no effect on the outcome of a hand.
Railbird - An active spectator of an ongoing poker game waiting to get a seat or happy just to watch and comment the game.
Read - The art of identifying another player's tells and analysing his play in order to determine his pocket cards.
Re-buy - A tournament feature that, for a limited time only, allows players who bust out of a tournament to buy their way back in again.
Runner-Runner - Improving your hand by hitting on both the turn card and the river card and thus winning the pot.
Sandbagging - Playing a very strong hand passively in the hope of inducing more action and provoke costly bluffs.
Scoop - To win both the high and the low pot in a hi/lo game.
Shootout - A tournament format where players face each other in parallel ten-player tournaments and the winners of each then face off in another round of ten-player tournaments. Until only one winner remains.
Steam - To lose your temper and start playing badly.
Streak - To be "in the zone" and win with whatever cards you are dealt.
Suited - Starting hand in matching suit - hearts, clubs, spades or diamonds.
Tell - A clue, or hint that reveals the true strength of a player's hand. In live games often detected through body language. Online, clues are discovered by observing a player's betting patterns.
Tilt - Playing recklessly and badly due to frustration from having lost a previous hand.
Trap - To play a very strong hand weakly in order to induce costly raises from other players.
Under the Gun - The position to the immediate left of the big blind. This person is always acting first.
AK Big slick, Anna Kournikova
AQ Big chick
AJ Black Jack, Jack-ass
KQ Royalty, Marriage
KJ Kojak
J5 Jackson five
Q3 Gay waiter
95 Dolly Parton
A8 Dead man’s hand (A player named Wild Bill Hickok was shot in 1876 after winning with this hand!)
K9 Canine
J4 Flat tyre