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 hand-made 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.
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.
Call: To call is match the current bet.
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.
Coffeehouse: To talk about a hand one is involved in, usually with the intent of misleading or manipulating other players, is coffeehousing.
Cowboys: Kings.
Cut: After the cards are shuffled but before they are dealt, usually the deck is split in the middle and the halves are reversed.
Door card: The first card dealt face up to each player in seven card stud is the door card.
Drop: To fold. Also, to lose a particular amount of money.
Down to the felt: Totally out of money, broke.
Eight ball: $800.00
Fast: To play fast is to play aggressively.
Fast company: Seasoned veterans who know what's going on in the gambling world. The opposite of Georges.
Finger up your spine: A signal that you've been recognized as a cheater and had better leave.
Fifth Street: The fifth card dealt in a hand of stud poker.
Fish: A poor player. A sucker.
Fishhook: A nickname for a Jacks, more often heard in the plural.
Flop: The first three community cards dealt in Hold 'Em.
Fold: To abandon your hand, usually because someone else has made a larger bet than you are willing to call.
Four Flush: A hand with four cards of the same suit.
Four of a kind: Four cards of the same rank.
Fourth Street: The fourth card dealt in a hand of stud poker.
Full House: A hand consisting of three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank.
George: A poor player. A rube
Give the office: To give a warning regarding cheating.
Glimmer: Money.
Goulash joint: A restaurant or bar that runs a regular card game hidden in a back room.
Greek dealer: A player who cheats when dealing. A mechanic.
Grinder: An un-ambitious player who only hopes to win a little money each day. Also known as a 'leather ass.'
Gutshot: An inside straight draw.
Hanger: A card that juts out conspicuously when a cheater is dealing.
Heads Up: A play between only two players.
High: The high hand is simply the best hand.
High Society: The highest denomination of chips in a card room.
Hold 'Em : A popular form of poker in which each player is dealt two cards face down, called hole cards. The player may then use none, one, or both of his hole cards, in combination with five community cards dealt face up, to make the best possible five card hand.
It: Refers to the largest amount anyone has yet played in a round.
Kansas City: Kansas City lowball is a low game played for a deuce to seven low.
Ladies: Queens.
Live card: A card that has not been seen.
Live game: A game with lots of betting action. A 'loose' game.
Lock: A hand that is guaranteed to win at least part of the pot.
Make: To (non-specifically) make a hand means to get a decent hand that has a shot at winning the pot.
Maniac: A player who plays extremely loose and aggressive, often raising with just about anything.
Mechanic: A cheater who manipulates the cards to his benefit when dealing.
Mechanic's grip: The way a cheater holds the deck to facilitate his manipulations.
Mitt joint: A club where the house cheats the players, or one that turns a blind eye to cheating in general.
No-limit: A betting structure in poker that allows for the player to wager any amount he has in front of him.
Nuts, the: The top hand.
Nut straight: The highest possible straight in a given hand.
Omaha: Omaha is a flop game similar to hold ' em.
On the finger: Money given on credit.
On tilt: An unbalanced emotional state that results in erratic play and the loss of money.
Outs: Live cards remaining in the deck that will improve one's hand.
Paint: A Jack, King or Queen (i.e. a card with a picture on it).
Pasadena: Fold.
Passive: A style of play that is characterized by reluctance to bet and raise.
Pineapple: Any of a number of variants of hold 'em in which each player gets three cards and must discard one at some point.
Play on your belly: To play straight up without cheating.
Pushka: An arrangement between two or more of the players to share part of the pots win, or more precisely, the container into which the shared chips are played.
Quads: Four of a kind.
Rabbits: Weak players. Similar to Georges.
Rag: A card, usually a low card, that, when it appears, has no apparent impact on the hand.
Railbirds: Spectators.
Railroad bible: Deck of cards.
Rainbow: Three or four cards of different suits, for example on a flop.
Raise: After someone has opened betting in a round, to increase the amount of the bet os to raise.
Rake: The percentage of a pot that the house keeps.
River: The final (seventh) card dealt in a poker hand.
Road gang: A confederacy of cheaters.
Rock Garden: A game of extremely tight players.
Rolled Up: In Seven Card Stud, three of a kind on the first three cards are called rolled up X's, where X is the rank of the cards.
Round: A round can refer either to a round of betting or a round of hands.
Rounder: A player who knows all the angles and earns his living at the poker table. The absolute opposite of a 'sucker.'
Royal Straight Flush: An ace high straight flush is a royal straight flush, or a royal flush, or just a royal.
Seconds: A style of cheating in which the dealer gives out the second card from the top of the deck, holding the top card for himself.
Semi-bluff: A semi-bluff is similar to a bluff, except that the semi-bluff has some chance of making a winning hand.
Seven Card Stud: Of the poker games most commonly played in public cardrooms, seven card stud is probably the most well known. In this game, each player is dealt seven cards of their own: two down, then four up, and a final card down.
Sign on your back: Idenitrified as a cheater.
Sir: One of those confusing terms that can have a completely different meaning at the poker table than elsewhere. If someone says "nice hand, sir," after you win a big pot, what they're really saying is "congratulations on winning money through your own stupi
Slow rolling: An antagonistic way of revealing that you have the winning hand a little at a time.
Snap Off: To beat someone, often a bluffer, and usually with a not especially powerful hand, is to snap them off.
Soft: Easy
South: Fold.
Speed: Speed refers to the level of aggressiveness with which you play.
Spikes: A pair of aces.
Splash the pot: To throw, instead of place, ones chips while betting. This is frowned upon because it may obscure the amount of money actually wagered.
Straighten Out: To introduce an acquaintance to an underground poker club.
Straight Flush: A hand consisting of five cards of consecutive ranks of the same suit.
Suit: You know, clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.
Tap: To bet the amount of an opponent's entire stack, forcing him to go 'all in' if he calls the bet.
Tapioca: Out of money.
Tell: An unconscious gesture that reveals information about your hand.
Texas Hold'em: Texas Hold'em (or just Hold'em) is a poker game in which each player gets two pocket cards, while five community cards are dealt face up on the table.
Tight: Conservative.
Turn: The second to last, (sixth), card dealt in Hold 'Em
Underdog: When two hands face off, the underdog is the one that's less likely to win than the other.
White meat: Profit.

Back to top

© 1998 Miramax Films. All Rights Reserved