Texas Hold’em Poker Glossary (A–Z)
Bilingual (Chinese/English) definitions of 121 standard Texas Hold'em poker terms, indexed A–Z: from action and all-in to wheel and wrap. Probability terms link to the matching calculators, where figures are computed deterministically.
A
B
- Backdoor
- A draw that needs both the turn and the river to complete (a runner-runner draw).
- Bad beat
- Losing a hand that was a strong favorite to win, usually to an unlikely card.
- Bankroll
- The total amount of money a player has set aside for playing poker.
- Big blind
- The larger of the two forced blind bets, posted by the player two seats left of the button.
- Big slick
- A nickname for Ace-King as hole cards.
- Blank
- A community card that does not help any likely hand or draw.
- Blind
- A forced bet posted before cards are seen; the small and big blinds rotate each hand.
- Bluff
- Betting or raising with a weak hand to make opponents fold better hands.
- Board
- The community cards dealt face up and shared by all players.
- Bottom pair
- A pair made with the lowest card on the board.
- Bubble
- The point in a tournament just before the paid places begin; the bubble player finishes just out of the money.
- Button
- The dealer position marker; the button acts last post-flop and has the best position.
- Buy-in
- The amount of money required to enter a cash game or tournament.
C
- Call
- Matching the current bet to stay in the hand.
- Calling station
- A passive player who calls too often and rarely raises or folds.
- Cap
- The maximum number of raises allowed in a betting round, or a maximum buy-in format.
- Cash game
- A poker game played with real-value chips where players can join or leave at any time.
- Check
- Declining to bet while keeping the option to act later, when no bet is owed.
- Check-raise
- Checking first and then raising after an opponent bets in the same round.
- Chip
- A token representing a value of money used for betting.
- Cold call
- Calling a raise without having already invested in the pot this round.
- Collusion
- Two or more players secretly cooperating to gain an unfair advantage; it is cheating.
- Community cards
- Shared face-up cards (flop, turn, river) that all players combine with their hole cards.
- Connector
- Two hole cards of consecutive rank, e.g. 8-9; suited connectors share a suit.
- Continuation bet (c-bet)
- A bet on the flop by the player who took the betting lead before the flop.
- Cooler
- A situation where a very strong hand loses to an even stronger one, with both hard to fold.
- Cutoff
- The position immediately to the right of the button; a strong late position.
D
- Dead money
- Chips in the pot contributed by players no longer contesting it.
- Dealer
- The person dealing the cards, or the player on the button in home games.
- Donk bet
- Leading out with a bet into the previous round's aggressor, out of position.
- Double up
- Winning an all-in to roughly double one's chip stack.
- Draw
- An incomplete hand that needs further cards to become strong, e.g. a flush or straight draw.
- Drawing dead
- Holding a hand that cannot win no matter which cards come.
E
- Equity
- A hand's share of the pot based on its probability of winning at showdown.
- Expected value (EV)
- The average long-run result of a decision, weighing each outcome by its probability.
F
- Family pot
- A pot in which most or all players at the table see the flop.
- Fish
- A weak or inexperienced player who tends to lose money.
- Flop
- The first three community cards dealt face up at once.
- Flush
- Five cards of the same suit; ranked above a straight and below a full house.
- Flush draw
- Having four cards of one suit and needing one more for a flush.
- Fold
- Discarding one's hand and forfeiting any claim to the pot.
- Fold equity
- The extra value of a bet that comes from the chance an opponent folds.
- Four of a kind
- Four cards of the same rank, also called quads.
- Free card
- Seeing the next community card without anyone betting on the current round.
- Freeroll
- A tournament with no entry fee, or a spot where one cannot lose but can win more.
- Full house
- Three of a kind plus a pair; ranked above a flush and below four of a kind.
G
- Gutshot
- An inside straight draw that can be completed by only one rank.
H
- Hand
- A player's cards, or a single deal from start to showdown.
- Heads-up
- Play between only two players.
- High card
- The weakest hand category, ranked only by its highest cards when no pair is made.
- Hijack
- The position two seats to the right of the button.
- Hole cards
- The private cards dealt face down to each player.
I
- ICM (Independent Chip Model)
- A model that converts tournament chip stacks into their cash equity based on payouts.
- Implied odds
- Pot odds that also account for additional chips you expect to win on later streets.
- Isolation (iso) raise
- Raising to play a pot heads-up against a single weak opponent.
K
- Kicker
- A side card used to break ties between hands of the same rank.
L
M
O
- Offsuit
- Two hole cards of different suits.
- Omaha
- A community-card variant where players get four hole cards and must use exactly two.
- One pair
- Two cards of the same rank plus three unrelated cards.
- Open
- To make the first voluntary raise of a betting round preflop.
- Outs
- The remaining cards that will improve a hand to a likely winner.
- Overbet
- Betting more than the size of the current pot.
- Overcard
- A hole card higher than any card on the board.
- Overpair
- A pocket pair higher than every card on the board.
P
- Pair
- Two cards of the same rank.
- Passive
- A style that checks and calls more than it bets and raises.
- Position
- Where a player sits relative to the button, determining acting order; later is stronger.
- Pot
- The total of all chips wagered in a hand, won by the best hand or last player standing.
- Pot odds
- The ratio of the current pot to the cost of a call, used to judge whether a call is profitable.
- Pot-limit
- A betting structure where the maximum bet equals the current pot size.
- Preflop
- The betting round after hole cards are dealt but before the flop.
R
- Rag
- A low, useless card.
- Rainbow
- A flop of three different suits, making a flush draw impossible on the flop.
- Raise
- Increasing the current bet, forcing others to match the new amount.
- Rake
- The fee taken by the house from each pot or tournament entry.
- Range
- The full set of hands a player could hold in a given situation.
- River
- The fifth and final community card.
- Rock
- A very tight player who only plays premium hands.
- Royal flush
- A-K-Q-J-10 all of the same suit; the strongest possible hand.
- Runner-runner
- Completing a draw using both the turn and the river.
S
- Satellite
- A qualifying tournament whose prize is entry into a larger event.
- Semi-bluff
- Betting with a drawing hand that can also improve to the best hand.
- Set
- Three of a kind made with a pocket pair and one matching board card.
- Short stack
- A chip stack much smaller than the average at the table.
- Showdown
- Revealing hands after the final betting round to determine the winner.
- Side pot
- A separate pot created when one player is all-in and others keep betting.
- Slow play
- Playing a strong hand weakly to disguise its strength and induce bets.
- Small blind
- The smaller forced blind, posted by the player to the left of the button.
- Snap call
- Calling instantly without hesitation.
- Split pot
- When two or more players tie and share the pot equally.
- Stack
- The amount of chips a player has in front of them.
- Steal
- Raising from late position to try to win the blinds uncontested.
- Straddle
- An optional blind raise posted before the deal, usually twice the big blind.
- Straight
- Five cards of consecutive rank of mixed suits.
- Straight flush
- Five consecutive cards of the same suit; ranked just below the royal flush.
- String bet
- An illegal bet made in multiple motions without a single declaration.
- Suited
- Two hole cards of the same suit.
T
- Tell
- A physical or behavioral clue that reveals information about a player's hand.
- The nuts
- The best possible hand given the current board.
- Three of a kind
- Three cards of the same rank.
- Tight
- A style that plays relatively few, strong hands.
- Tilt
- Playing emotionally and poorly, usually after a loss or bad beat.
- Time bank
- Extra reserve time a player can use for difficult decisions, mainly online.
- Top pair
- A pair made with the highest card on the board.
- Trips
- Three of a kind made with one hole card and a pair on the board.
- Turn
- The fourth community card, dealt after the flop betting round.
- Two pair
- Two separate pairs plus one unrelated card.
U
- Under the gun (UTG)
- The first seat to act preflop, immediately left of the big blind; the worst position.
- Underdog
- A hand less likely to win than its opponent.
V
W
An educational glossary of standard terminology; specific probability and odds figures appear on the hand-rankings page and calculators (computed exactly by lib/poker-math.ts).