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Poker Terms

Check out the following poker terms below to better familiarize yourself with the game of online poker. Poker terms may seem overwhelming at first, but given some time, learning poker terms is a piece of cake!

Click here to download Affiliates poker terms

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
Aces Full A full house with three aces and any pair.
Ace-High A five card hand that contains one Ace, with no straight or flush.
Ace-Up A hand that contains two pairs, one of which is Aces.
Action (1) Opportunity to act. If a player appears not to realize it's his turn, the dealer will say "Your action, sir." (2) Bets and raises. "If a third heart hits the board and there's a lot of action, you have to assume that somebody has made the flush."
Active Player Any player who is still in the pot.
All-In To run out of chips while betting or calling. In table stakes games, a player may not go into his pocket for more money during a hand. If he runs out, a side pot is created in which he has no interest. However, he can still win the pot for which he had the chips. Example: "Poor Bob - he made quads against the big full house, but he was all-in on the second bet."
American Airlines Two Aces.
Ante A small portion of a bet contributed by each player to seed the pot at the beginning of a poker hand. Most hold'em games do not have an ante; they use "blinds" to get initial money into the pot.
B
Backdoor Catching both the turn and river card to make a drawing hand. For instance, suppose you have As- 7s. The flop comes Ad-6c-4s. You bet and are called. The turn is the Ts, which everybody checks, and then the river is the Js. You've made a "backdoor" nut flush. See also "runner."
Bad Beat To have a hand that is a large underdog beat a heavily favored hand. It is generally used to imply that the winner of the pot had no business being in the pot at all, and it was the wildest of luck that he managed to catch the one card in the deck that would win the pot. We won't give any examples, you will hear plenty of them during your poker career.
Belly Buster A draw and/or catch to an Inside Straight.
Bet To place chips into the pot.
Bicycle A straight that is A-2-3-4-5
Big Blind A designated amount that is placed by the player sitting in the second position, clockwise from the dealer, before any cards are dealt.
Big Slick A hand that contains an A-K.
Blank A board card that doesn't seem to affect the standings in the hand. If the flop is As-Jd-Ts, then a turn card of 2h would be considered a blank. On the other hand, the 2s would not be.
Blind A forced bet (or partial bet) put in by one or more players before any cards are dealt. Typically, blinds are put in by players immediately to the left of the button. See also "Live blind."
Blind Raise When a player raises without looking at his hand.
Bluff To make other players believe that one has a better hand than he/she might otherwise have by betting or raising when they do not have the best hand.
Board All the community cards in a hold'em game - the flop, turn, and river cards together. Example: "There wasn't a single heart on the board."
Board cards The cards that are dealt face-up in a poker game for all players to see. In flop games, five cards are dealt face-up in the center of the table. In Seven Card Stud, four cards are dealt face-up in front of each player.
Bottom Pair A pair with the lowest card on the flop. If you have As-6s, and the flop comes Kd-Th-6c, you have flopped bottom pair.
Broadway An Ace high straight (A-K-Q-J-10).
Bring-In The forced bet made on the first round of betting by the player who is dealt the lowest card showing in Seven Card Stud and Stud 8 or Better. In Razz (Lowball) it is the highest card showing
Bring-It-In To start the betting on the first round.
Bullets A pair of Aces.
Bump To raise.
Burn To discard the top card from the deck, face down. This is done between each betting round before putting out the next community card(s). It is security against any player recognizing or glimpsing the next card to be used on the board.
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Button A white acrylic disk to indicate who is the (nominal) dealer. Also used to refer to the player on the button. Example: "Oh, the button raised."
Buy (1) As in "buy the pot." To bluff, hoping to "buy" the pot without being called.
(2) As in "buy the button." To bet or raise, hoping to make players between you and the button fold, thus allowing you to act last on subsequent betting rounds.
C
Call When a player chooses to match the previous bet.
Calling Station A weak-passive player who calls a lot, but doesn't raise or fold much. This is the kind of player you like to have in your game.
Cap To put in the last raise permitted on a betting round. This is typically the third or fourth raise. Dealers in California are fond of saying "Capitola" or "Cappuccino".
Case The last card of a certain rank in the deck. Example: "The flop came J-8-3; I've got pocket jacks, he's got pocket 8's, and then the case eight falls on the river and he beats my full house."
Cash Out To leave a game and convert your chips to cash.
Chop To return the blinds to the players who posted them and move on to the next hand if no other players call. It also means to "split the pot".
Center Pot The first pot created during a poker hand. This is as opposed to one or more "side" pots that are created if one or more players goes all-in. Also "main pot."
Check Raise To check and then raise when a player behind you bets. Occasionally you will hear people say this is not fair or ethical poker. Piffle. Almost all casinos permit check-raising, and it is an important poker tactic. It is particularly useful in low-limit hold'em where you need extra strength to narrow the field when you have the best hand.
Check (1) To not bet, with the option to call or raise later in the betting round. Equivalent to betting zero dollars.
(2) Another word for "chip", as in poker chip.
Collusion When two or more players conspire to cheat in a poker game.
Cold Call To call more than one bet in a single action. For instance, suppose the first player to act after the big blind raises. Now any player acting after him must call two bets "cold." This is different from calling a single bet and then calling a subsequent raise.
Come Hand A drawing hand (probably from the craps term).
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Complete Hand A hand that is defined by all five cards - a straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, or straight flush.
Community Cards that are face-up and used by all players.
Connector A hold'em starting hand in which the two cards are one apart in rank. Examples: KQs, 76.
Counterfeit To make your hand less valuable because of board cards that duplicate it. Example: you have 87 and the flop comes 9-T-J, so you have a straight. Now an 8 comes on the turn. This has counterfeited your hand and made it almost worthless.
Cowboys Two Kings.
Crack To beat a hand - typically a big hand. You hear this most often used to apply to pocket aces: "Third time tonight I've had pocket aces cracked."
Cripple As in to cripple the deck. Meaning that you have most or all of the cards that somebody would want to have with the current board. If you have pocket kings, and the other two kings flop, you have crippled the deck.
D
Dead Man's Hand Two pair - Aces and Eights.
Dog Shortened form of "Underdog".
Dominated Hand A hand that will almost always lose to a better hand that people usually play. For instance, K3 is "dominated" by KQ. With the exception of strange flops (e.g. 3-3-x, K-3-x), it will always lose to KQ.
Door Card This is the first exposed card, or "up" card, in a player's hand in Stud games.
Down Card Hole cards. Cards that are dealt face down.
Draw Dead Try to make a hand that, even if made, will not win the pot. If you're drawing to make a flush, and your opponent already has a full house, you are "drawing dead". Of course, this is a bad condition to be in.
Drop Fold.
Ducks A pair of Twos.
Deuces A pair of Twos.
E
Early Position Position on a round of betting where the player must act before most of the other players at the table.
Equity Your "rightful" share of a pot. If the pot contains $80, and you have a 50% chance of winning it, you have $40 equity in the pot. This term is somewhat fanciful since you will either win $80 or $0, but it gives you an idea of how much you can "expect" to win.
Expectation (1) A term referring to the amount of you expect to gain on average if you make a certain play. For instance, suppose you put $10 into a $50 pot to draw at a hand that you will make 25% of the time, and it will win every time you make it. Three out of four times, you do not make your draw, and lose $10 each time for a total of $30. The fourth time, you will make your draw, winning $50. Your total gain over those four average hands is $50-$30 = $20, an average of $5 per hand. Thus calling the $10 has a positive expectation of $5.
(2) The amount you expect to make at the poker table in a specific time period. Perhaps in 100 hours play, you have won $527. Then your expectation is $5.27/hr. Of course, you won't make that exact amount each hour (and some hours you will lose), but it's one measure of your anticipated earnings.
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F
Family Pot A pot in which all (or almost all) of the players call before the flop.
Fast As in "play fast." To play a hand aggressively, betting and raising as much as possible. Example: "When you flop a set but there's a flush draw possible, you have to play it fast."
Fifth Street Also known as the "river" card. In flop games, this represents the fifth community card on the table and the final round of betting. In Stud games, this is the fifth card dealt to each player and represents the third round of betting.
Five Card Draw A poker game in which the player is dealt five cards down. They have one draw to replace them and the best high hand wins the pot.
Flop The first three community cards, put out face up, all together.
Five Card Stud A poker game in which each player is dealt five cards, one down and four up, with betting after 2, 3, 4, & 5 cards.
Flat Call Calling a bet without raising.
Flop In Hold'em and Omaha, the first three community cards that are dealt face-up in the center of the table all at one time. The "flop" also indicates the second round of betting.
Flop Games Poker games (Hold 'em and Omaha) that are played using community cards that are dealt face up in the center of the table.
Floor Man employee of the cardroom who makes rulings and decisions.
Flush Any five cards of the same suit.
Foul A hand which may not be played for one reason or another. A player with a foul hand may not make any claim on any portion of the pot. Example: "He ended up with three cards after the flop, so the dealer declared his hand foul."
Flush Draw When a player has four cards in his hand of the same suit and is hoping to draw a fifth to make a flush.
Fold To throw your hand away when it's your turn to act.
Forced Bet A required bet that starts the action on the first round of a poker hand.
Four of a Kind Four cards of the same number or face value ("quads").
Fourth Street In flop games, it is the fourth community card dealt (also known as "the turn") and represents the third round of betting. In Stud games, it is the fourth card dealt to each player and represents the second round of betting.
Free Card A turn or river card on which you don't have to call a bet because of play earlier in the hand (or a reputation which you have with your opponents). For instance, if you are on the button and raise when you flop a flush draw, your opponents may check to you on the turn. If you make your flush on the turn, you can bet. However, if you don't get it on the turn, you can check as well - seeing the river card for "free."
Free Roll For one player to have a shot at winning an entire pot when he is currently tied with another player. For instance, suppose you have Ac-Qc and your opponent has Ad-Qh. The flop is Qs-5c-Tc. You are tied with your opponent right now, but are free rolling on him, because you can win the whole pot and he can't. If no club comes, you split the pot with him - if it does come, you win the whole thing.
Full House Any three cards of the same number or face value, plus any other two cards of the same number or face value.
G
Gutshot Straight An straight filled "inside". If you have 9s-8s, the flop comes 7c-5h-2d, and the turn is the 6c, you've made your gutshot straight.
H
Hand A player's best five cards.
Heads Up A pot that is being contested by only two players - "It was heads up by the turn."
High-Low Split pot games.
Hit As in "the flop hit me." It means the flop contained cards that help your hand. If you have AK, and the flop comes K-7-2, it hit you.
Hold 'em known as Texas Hold 'em, where the players get two down cards and five community cards.
Hole Cards These are the Down Cards in front of the players.
House The establishment running the game. Example: "The $2 you put on the button goes to the house."
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I
Implied Odds Pot odds that do not exist at the moment, but may be included in your calculations because of bets you expect to win if you hit your hand. For instance, you might call with a flush draw on the turn even though the pot isn't offering you quite 4:1 odds (your chance of making the flush) because you're sure you can win a bet from your opponent on the river if you make your flush.
Inside Straight Four cards which require another between the top and the bottom card to complete a straight.
J
Jackpot A special bonus paid to the loser of a hand if he gets a very good hand beaten. In hold'em, the "loser" must typically get aces full or better beaten. In some of the large southern California card clubs, the jackpots have gotten over $50,000. Of course, the jackpot is funded with money removed from the game as part of the rake.
K
Keep Them Honest To call at the end of a hand to prevent someone from bluffing.
Key Card A card that gives you a big draw or makes your hand
Key Hand In a session or tournament, the one hand that ends up being a turning point for the player, either for better or worse.
Kicker An unpaired card used to determine the better of two near-equivalent hands. For instance, suppose you have AK and your opponent has AQ. If the flop has an ace in it, you both have a pair of aces, but you have a king kicker. Kickers can be vitally important in hold'em.
Kick It Raise.
Kill Pot A method to stimulate action. It is a forced bet by someone who has just won a pot.
Knock Check
L
Ladies Two Queens.
Late Position Position on a round of betting where the player must act after most of the other players have acted (usually considered to be the two positions next to the button).
Lay Down Your Hand When a player folds.
Lead The first player to bet into a pot.
Limit Poker A game that has fixed minimum and maximum betting intervals along with a prescribed number of raises.
Limper The first player who calls a Blind.
Limp In To enter the pot by calling rather than raising. (The usual concept of "Limp In" is when the first person to speak just calls the Big Blind.)
Live Blind A forced bet put in by one or more players before any cards are dealt. The "live" means those players still have the option of raising when the action gets back around to them.
Live Card(s) In Stud Games, cards that have not yet been seen and are presumed to still be in play.
Live Hand A hand that could still win the pot.
Live One A not so knowledgeable player who plays a lot of hands.
Loose When a player calls the final bet before the showdown.
Lowball A player who plays a lot of hands.
M
Main Pot The center pot. Any other bets are placed in a side pot(s) and are contested among the remaining players. This occurs when a player(s) goes all-in.
Make To make the deck is to shuffle the deck.
Maniac A player who does a lot of hyper-aggressive raising, betting, and bluffing. A true maniac is not a good player, but is simply doing a lot of gambling. However, a player who occasionally acts like a maniac and confuses his opponents is quite dangerous.
Meet To meet is to call.
Muck To discard or throw away your hand.
Minimum Buy-In The least amount you can start a game with.
Monster A very big hand. In a tournament, a player who begins to accumulate chipps after having a small stack is considered to be a monster
N
No-Limit The best possible hand given the board. If the board is Ks-Jd-Ts-4s-2h, then As-Xs is the nuts. You will occasionally hear the term applied to the best possible hand of a certain category, even though it isn't the overall nuts. For the above example, somebody with Ah-Qc in the above hand might say they had the "nut straight".
Nuts The best possible hand at any point of the game. A hand that cannot be beat.
O
Odds The probability of making a hand vs. the probability of not making a hand.
Offsuit A hold'em starting hand in which the two cards are of different suits.
Omaha A game in which each player is dealt four down cards with five community cards. To make your hand, you must play two cards from your hand and three from the board.
One-Gap A hold'em starting hand in which the two cards are two apart in rank. Examples: J9s, 64.
Open To make the first bet.
Open Ended Straight Four consecutive cards whereby one additional (consecutive) card is needed at either end to make a straight.
Open Card A card that is dealt face-up.
Open Pair A pair that has been dealt face-up.
Option An option is a Live Blind made in the dark before the cards are dealt. If no one raises, the "option" player may raise the pot.
Out A card that will make your hand win. Normally heard in the plural. Example: "Any spade will make my flush, so I have nine outs."
Out Button A disc placed in front of a player who wishes to sit out a hand but remain in the game.
Outrun To beat. Example: "Susie outran my set when her flush card hit on the river."
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Overcall To call a bet after one or more others players have already called.
Overcard A card higher than any card on the board. For instance, if you have AQ and the flop comes J-7-3, you don't have a pair, but you have two overcards.
Overpair A pocket pair higher than any card on the flop. If you have QQ and the flop comes J-8-3, you have an overpair.
P
Paints Face or picture cards (Jack, Queen and King).
Pair Two cards of the same face or number value.
Pass To fold
Pay Off To call a bet where the bettor is representing a hand that you can't beat, but the pot is sufficiently large to justify a call anyway. Example: "He played it exactly like he made the flush, but I had top set so I paid him off."
Picture Cards Face cards (Jack, Queen and King).
Play Back To raise or re-raise another player's bet
Play the Board To show down a hand in hold'em when your cards don't make a hand any better than is shown on the board. For instance, if you have 22, and the board is 4-4-9-9-A (no flush possible), then you must "play the board" - the best possible hand you can make doesn't use any of your cards. Note that if you play the board, the best you can do is to split the pot with all remaining players.
Pocket Your unique cards that only you can see. For instance, "He had pocket sixes" (a pair of sixes), or "I had ace-king in the pocket."
Pocket Rockets A pair of Aces in the pocket or hole.
Position Where a player is seated in relation to the dealer, therefore establishing that player's place in the betting order.
Post To put in a blind bet, generally required when you first sit down in a cardroom game. You may also be required to post a blind if you change seats at the table in a way that moves you away from the blinds.
Post To put in a blind bet, generally required when you first sit down in a cardroom game. You may also be required to post a blind if you change seats at the table in a way that moves you away from the blinds.
Pot The money or chips in the center of a table that players try to win.
Pot Limit A version of poker in which a player may bet up to the amount of money in the pot whenever it is his turn to act. Like no-limit, this is a very different game from limit poker.
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Pot Odds The amount of money in the pot compared to the amount you must put in the pot to continue playing. For example, suppose there is $60 in the pot. Somebody bets $6, so the pot now contains $66. It costs you $6 to call, so your pot odds are 11:1. If your chance of having the best hand is at least one out of twelve, you should call. Pot odds also apply to draws. For instance, suppose you have a draw to the nut flush with one card left to come. In this case, you are about a 4:1 underdog to make your flush. If it costs you $8 to call the bet, then there must be about $32 in the pot (including the most recent bet) to make your call correct.
Price The pot odds you are getting for a draw or call. Example: "The pot was laying me a high enough price, so I stayed in with my gutshot straight draw.
Protect (1) To keep your hand or a chip on your cards. This prevents them from being fouled by a discarded hand, or accidentally mucked by the dealer.
(2) To invest more money in a pot so blind money that you've already put in isn't "wasted." Example: "He'll always protect his blinds, no matter how bad his cards are."
Push When the dealer pushes the chips to the winning player at the end of a hand. It's also when dealers rotate to other tables.
Put Down To fold a hand.
Q
Quads Four of a kind.
Qualifier In High-Low games, it is a requirement the Low hand must meet to win the pot.
R
Ragged A flop (or board) that doesn't appear to help anybody very much. A flop that came down Jd-6h-2c would look ragged.
Rack A tray that holds 100 poker chips in five stacks of twenty chips each.
Raise To increase the previous bet.
Rainbow A flop that contains three different suits, thus no flush can be made on the turn. Can also mean a complete five card board that has no more than two of any suit, thus no flush is possible.
Rake An amount of money taken out of every pot by the dealer - this is the cardroom's income.
Rank The numerical value of a card (as opposed to its suit). Example: "jack," "seven."
Rap When a player knocks on the table indicating that he/she has checked.
Re-buy The amount of money a player pays to add a fixed number of chips to his/her stack in a tournament.
Re Raise To raise a raise.
Represent To play as if you hold a certain hand. For instance, if you raised before the flop, and then raised again when the flop came ace high, you would be representing at least an ace with a good kicker.
Ring Game A regular poker game as opposed to a tournament. Also referred to as a "live" game since actual money is in play instead of tournament chips.
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River Game The fifth and final community card, put out face up, by itself. Also known as "fifth street". Metaphors involving the river are some of poker's most treasured cliches - e.g. "He drowned in the river."
Rock A player who plays very tight, not very creatively. He raises only with the best hands. A real rock is fairly predictable - if he raises you on the end, you can throw away just about anything but the nuts.
Round of Betting This is when players have the opportunity to bet, check or raise. Each round of betting ends when the last bet or raise has been called.
Rounders Poker plays who hustle for a living.
Royal Flush This is an Ace high straight (A-K-Q-J-10) of the same suit. It is the best possible hand in poker.
Runner Typically said "runner-runner" to describe a hand which was made only by catching the correct cards on both the turn and the river - "He made a runner-runner flush to beat my trips." See also "Backdoor."
S
Scare Card A card which may well turn the best hand into trash. If you have Tc-8c and the flop comes Qd- Jd-9s, you almost assuredly have the best hand. However, a turn card of Td would be very scary because it would almost guarantee that you are now beaten.
Second Pair A pair with the second highest card on the flop. If you have As-Ts, and the flop comes Kd-Th-6c, you have flopped second pair.
Sell As in "sell a hand". In a spread limit game, this means to bet less than the maximum when you have a very strong hand, hoping players will call whereas they would not have called a maximum bet.
Semi-bluff A powerful concept first discussed by David Sklansky. It is a bet or raise that you hope will not be called, but you have some outs if it is. A semi-bluff may be correct when betting for value is not correct, a pure bluff is not correct, but the combination of the two may be a positive expectation play.
Set Three of a kind when you have two of the rank in your hand, and there is one on the board.
Satellite It is a mini-tournament to gain an entry into a larger tournament.
Seating List A waiting list. A player would put his or her name on this list if there were no seats at the table at which they wish to play.
Second Pair In flop games, when you pair the second highest card on the board. See - To call.
Seven Card Stud A well-known poker game in which players get three down cards and four up cards.You play the best five of those seven cards. Click here for information on Seven Card Stud.
Seventh Street This is the final round of betting in Seven Card Stud and Stud 8 or Better.
Shills Shills are paid props who help start and maintain poker games.
Short Stack A number of chips that is not very many compared to the other players at the table. If you have $10 in front of you, and everybody else at the table has over $100, you are playing on a short stack.
Showdown The point at which all players remaining in the hand turn their cards over and determine who has the best hand - i.e. after the fourth round of betting is completed. Of course, if a final bet or raise is not called, there is no showdown.
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Side Pot A pot created in which a player has no interest because he has run out of chips. Example: Al bets $6, Beth calls the $6, and Carl calls, but he has only $2 left. An $8 side pot is created that either Al or Beth can win, but not Carl. Furthermore, any more bets that Al and Beth make go into that side pot. Carl, however, can still win all the money in the original or "center" pot.
Sixth Street In Seven Card Stud, this is the fourth "up" card dealt to the player (their 6th card). It is also the 4th round of betting.
Solid A fairly tight player (and reasonably good).
Slow Play To play a strong hand weakly so more players will stay in the pot.
Small Blind The amount put in the pot by the person immediately to the left of the dealer "button" prior to the cards being dealt.
Split Pot A pot which is shared by two or more players because they have equivalent hands.
Split Two Pair A two pair hand in which one of each of your cards' ranks appears on the board as well. Example: you have T9, the flop is T-9-5, you have a split two pair. This is in comparison to two pair where there is a pair on the board. Example: you have T9, the flop is 9-5-5.
Spread Limit A betting structure in which a player may bet any amount in a range on every betting round. A typical spread limit structure is $2-$6, where a player may bet as little as $2 or as much as $6 on every betting round.
Stack A pile of chips.
Stay When a player remains in the game by calling rather than raising.
Straddle An optional extra blind bet, typically made by the player one to the left of the big blind, equal to twice the big blind. This is effectively a raise, and forces any player who wants to play to pay two bets. Furthermore, the straddler acts last before the flop, and may "re-raise."
Straight Five consecutive cards of any suit.
Straight Flush Five consecutive cards of the same suit.
String Bete A bet (more typically a raise) in which a player doesn't get all the chips required for the raise into the pot in one motion. Unless he verbally declared the raise, he can be forced to withdraw it and just call. This prevents the unethical play of putting out enough chips to call, seeing what effect that had, and then possibly raising.
Structured Used to apply to a certain betting structure in "flop" games such as hold'em. The typical definition of a structured game is a fixed amount for bets and raises before the flop and on the flop, and then twice that amount on the turn and river. Example: a $2-$4 structured hold'em game - bets and raises of $2 before the flop and on the flop; $4 bets and raises on the turn and river.
Stud Games Games in which players get down cards and up cards.
Stuck A hold'em starting hand in which the two cards are the same suit. Example: "I had to play J-3 - it was suited."
Suited A player who is losing in a game.
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T
Table Stakes A rule in a poker game meaning that a player may not go into his pocket for money during a hand. He may only invest the amount of money in front of him into the current pot. If he runs out of chips during the hand, a side pot is created in which he has no interest. All casino poker is played table stakes. The definition sometimes also includes the rule that a player may not remove chips from the table during a game. While this rule might not be referred to as "table stakes", it is enforced almost universally in public poker games.
Tell A clue or hint that a player unknowingly gives about the strength of his hand, his next action, etc. May originally be from "telegraph" or the obvious use that he "tells" you what he's going to do before he does it.
Texas Hold'em This is also the name for Hold'em, the most popular form of poker.
Tilt To play wildly or recklessly. A player is said to be "on tilt" if he is not playing his best, playing too many hands, trying wild bluffs, raising with bad hands, etc.
Time 1) A request by a player to suspend play while he decides what he's going to do. Simply, "Time please!" If a player doesn't request time and there is a substantial amount of action behind him, the dealer may rule that the player has folded.
(2) An amount of money collected either on the button or every half hour by the cardroom. This is another way for the house to make its money (see "rake").
Third Street In Seven Card Stud and Seven Card Stud 8 or Better, this is the first betting round on the first three cards.
Thirty Miles Three tens.
Three of a Kind Three cards of the same number or face value. Also knowns as "Trips"
Tight A player who doesn't play many pots. A tight game is one that doesn't have much action.
Toke A small amount of money (typically $.50 or $1.00) given to the dealer by the winner of a pot. Quite often, tokes represent the great majority of a dealer's income.
Top Pair A pair with the highest card on the flop. If you have As-Qs, and the flop comes Qd-Th-6c, you have flopped top pair.
Treys A pair of threes.
Trips Three of a kind.
Turn The fourth community card. Put out face up, by itself. Also known as "fourth street."
Two Pair A hand consisting of two different pairs.
U
Under the gun The position of the player who acts first on a betting round. For instance, if you are one to the left of the big blind, you are under the gun before the flop.
Underdog A person or hand who is not mathematically favored to win a pot. For instance, if you flop four cards to your flush, you are not quite a 2:1 underdog to make your flush by the river (that is, you will make your flush about one in three times). See also "dog."
Up Card A card that is dealt face-up.
V
Value As in "bet for value." This means that you would actually like your opponents to call your bet (as opposed to a bluff). Generally it's because you have the best hand. However, it can also be a draw which, given enough callers, has a positive expectation.
Variance A measure of the up and down swings your bankroll goes through. Variance is not necessarily a measure of how well you play. However, the higher your variance, the wider swings you'll see in your bankroll.
W
Walking Sticks A pair of sevens.
Wild Card A card that can be played as any value.
Worst Hand A losing hand.
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