During a poker game, poker professional use game and table jargons often. This makes it difficult for the newbie on the table to grasp what is happening. This tutorial is dedicated for newbie or poker players who wish to play poker professionally or poker leisurely anywhere.
In this page, we will discuss poker table jargons. These are terms used by professionals and poker experts when they play on the poker table. By knowing these jargons, you can advertise a reputable of being cardsharp or a shark, possibly.
A reputation on the table is important to be respected by other players on the table.
Because these terms are numerous, this page is Part I, Part II follows.
Here they are –
Action
Actions of poker players during the game are –
• Check – player is not betting but is not withdrawing from the game. This is only possible when no players have placed a bet in the betting round.
• Call/See – player bets the same amount with the previous player
• Raise – player increases the betting as opposed to the previous player before he acts.
• Fold – player withdraws from the game. This will make him forfeit his claim on the pot. This is the action when you feel that you may not improve your hand in the following rounds.
All-in
To bet your entire stack making you run out of chips. The possibility of being busted is great but if you have a good and winnable hand, you may opt to do it all-in.
Backdoor
This is a hand made by drawing two cards in a row. In Hold’em games, this is a hand that improved in both the turn and the river. This is also called runner-runner.
Backdoor is also the nickname for a hand made which is not what the player intends to make. It was an accidental luck or an accidental winner.
Bad Beat
This is situation where a favored hand looses from a player who backdoored. You have a made hand and is waiting for your turn to claim the pot but because of the two successive cards that improved the hand of your opponent, you lost the game.
Board
The community cards dealt in the center of the poker table. All players can use these cards in completing their hands. The board is composed of the flop, the turn and the river.
Counterfeit
This is used to describe a hand that becomes less valuable because of the board cards. This happens when the board cards duplicates your hand.
Gunshot straight
Gunshot straight is a straight made by drawing cards in the middle of the straight. Gunshot straight because it was hit in the middle of the straight rather that in the edges like A, 2, 4, 5, and the draw card completes it with 3, making a wheel (A, 2, 3, 4, 5).
Maniac
A player who makes lots of betting, raising, re-raising and bluffing, he is not considered a good poker player. This is because if other players will consider his reputation and players calls on him, he usually losses. On the other hand, if a player acts as a maniac only for the purpose of confusing other players, he is not a maniac but a dangerous opponent.
Muck
Muck are the discarded cards on the poker table. This is where the burn cards and the folded hands go to.
Nuts
Nuts are the cards that completed a hand with the board cards. Sample would be if the board cards are K, J, T, 4, 2, then the nuts would be A, Q making a nut straight.
Open-ended Straight Draw
This is also called the up and down draw because the straight is to be completed on both ends. This is the counterpart of gunshot straight where the straight is to be filled in the middle. Sample of open-ended straight draw is when you have in your hand 5, 6, 7, 8, Q. You draw with either a 4 or a 9. You will end up with a straight completing your hand with the cards that are drawn.
In the next pages, we will discuss Poker Table Jargons Part II.
