Glossary

7-2 game

A home-game side bet that pays a bonus to a player who wins a pot holding a seven and a deuce, the worst starting hand in Hold'em. In the usual version every other player pays the winner an agreed amount. At MyHomeGame, it is a pool instead: when every player dealt in has switched it on, each puts in two big blinds, and the first of them to win with a 7-2 takes the pool. See 90.12, 90.13.

8-Game

A mixed game of eight games in a fixed order: the five HORSE games plus 2-7 Triple Draw, No-Limit Hold'em and Pot-Limit Omaha. See 70.7.

Ace-to-five

The way of ranking low hands in which the ace is always the lowest card and straights and flushes don't count, so the best hand is 5-4-3-2-A. Also called California lowball, it is used in Razz, A-5 Triple Draw and the low half of eight-or-better games. See 2.11, 2.12.

Action

The betting, and whose turn it is: "the action is on you" means it is your turn to act. Action goes clockwise, one player at a time. See 4.1.

Add-on

In a tournament, one extra purchase of chips offered to every player still in, usually at the break that ends the rebuy period; the event sets its price and size. At MyHomeGame, the add-on is sold once, at the first break after rebuys close, unless the director chooses to sell it at every break. See 80.10.

All-in

Having put every chip you have into the pot; going all in is betting your whole stack. An all-in player can't be bet out of the hand, and can win from each opponent only as much as they put in. See 4.10, 4.23, 8.1.

Angle shooting

An action that may not break a written rule but is meant to mislead other players about the action, the rules or the cards, such as acting out of turn on purpose to watch how others react. It is different from bluffing with your bets, which is part of the game. See 9.12, 9.13.

Ante

A small forced bet that every player puts in before the deal. Unlike a blind, it doesn't count toward a call; it is dead money in the pot. Stud games use antes, a bomb pot is built from one, and many tournaments collect it as a big blind ante. At MyHomeGame, a stud table may be set up with no ante, leaving the bring-in as the only forced bet. See 5.9, 50.5.

Badugi

Both a game and a hand. The game is four-card triple-draw lowball; the hand, a badugi, is four cards of four different suits and four different ranks, and it beats any hand that counts only three cards or fewer. Badeucy and Badacey are five-card games that split the pot between a lowball hand and a badugi. See 2.18, Badugi, 63.14.

Bank

In a home game, the person who sells the chips and pays them out at the end, and the written record of every buy-in. At MyHomeGame, the chip counts are a record the club keeps; MyHomeGame never holds or pays out anyone's money. See 90.22.

Bet

To put chips in when nobody has yet bet on the betting round; also the chips put in. In fixed limit, "one bet" is also the set size of a bet for that round. See 4.4(b), 3.11.

Betting round

One pass of betting in which every player still in acts in turn, until everyone has matched the bet, checked or folded. Each game says how many rounds it has and when they come. See 1.4, 4.3.

Betting structure

The rule for how much you may bet: no-limit, pot-limit, fixed limit or spread limit. The structure is part of a game's name. See 3.1, 1.9.

Big bet

In fixed limit, the larger of the two bet sizes, usually twice the small bet, used on the later betting rounds. "Big-bet games" is also a name for no-limit and pot-limit games together. See 3.10, 70.9.

Big blind

The larger of the two blinds, posted by the second player to the button's left. In no-limit and pot-limit it is also the smallest bet allowed on any round. See 5.4, 5.5, 4.7.

Big blind ante

A tournament ante paid by the player in the big blind for the whole table instead of by every player, usually equal to the big blind. At MyHomeGame, there is no big blind ante: where a table or level has an ante, every player dealt in posts their own. See 5.10, 80.7.

Big O

Omaha Hi-Lo with five hole cards instead of four, almost always played pot-limit. The name is sometimes used for five- and six-card Omaha in general. See 31.16.

Blind

A forced bet posted before the cards are dealt by the players on the button's left, usually a small blind and a big blind. A blind is live, counting toward the poster's bet, unless it is a dead blind, such as a missed small blind made up later. See 5.4, 5.5, 1.2.

Blinded off

Said of an absent tournament player's stack, which is still dealt in and posts its blinds and antes until the forced bets have used it up. At MyHomeGame, an absent player's hands are played for them, checked when a check is free and folded otherwise, rather than killed at the deal. See 80.16, 80.17.

Bluff

To bet or raise with a hand you don't expect to win at a showdown, so that the others fold. It is part of the game, unlike angle shooting. See 1.1, 9.12.

Board

The face-up cards in the middle of the table that every player shares in Hold'em, Omaha and the other flop games; also called the community cards. In stud, the board means the up cards in front of the players. See 20.3, 52.13.

Bomb pot

A hand in which every player puts in the same agreed ante, there is no betting before the flop, and the first betting round is on the flop. It is often dealt as pot-limit Omaha, sometimes on two boards. At MyHomeGame, a table that deals bomb pots deals one every so many hands, a number fixed when the table is made. See 8.16, 90.2.

Bounty

A prize on a tournament player's head, set aside from their buy-in and paid to whoever knocks them out. See 80.31.

Boxed card

A card found face up in a deck of face-down cards. A single one is set aside and replaced; two or more in the starting deal make a misdeal. See 6.8.

Breaking a table

Closing a tournament table as the field shrinks and moving its players to open seats at the others. Balancing is the related job of moving players from full tables to short ones. See 80.13, 80.12.

Bring-in

In stud, the forced bet that starts the first betting round, posted by the player showing the lowest card (the highest in Razz). It is smaller than a full bet, and the next players may complete it. At MyHomeGame, the bring-in is always half the small bet, rounded up, rather than a table setting. See 5.12, 5.13, 50.6.

Bubble

The last finishing place before the prize money in a tournament. The player who finishes there "bursts the bubble" and wins nothing. See 80.19.

Bug

A joker used as a limited wild card, and what it may stand for depends on the game. In draw high it counts only as an ace or to complete a straight or flush; in ace-to-five lowball it becomes the lowest card not already in the hand. At MyHomeGame, no game uses a joker. See 60.18(a), 62.9(a).

Burn card

A card the dealer takes off the top of the deck face down and sets aside, unseen, before dealing each later round, so that a marked or glimpsed top card never plays. At MyHomeGame, no card is ever burned, since nobody can see the deck. See 6.5, 6.6.

Button

The disk that marks which player is the dealer for the hand. It moves one seat clockwise after every hand and decides who posts the blinds and who acts last; stud games have no button. Some customs use other buttons, for calling a bomb pot, holding the dealer's choice or playing the nit game. See 5.1, 5.3, 90.3(b).

Buy-in

The chips you buy to sit in a cash game, between the table's minimum and maximum; in a tournament, the price of an entry. See 3.16, 80.8.

Call

To match the current bet. See 4.4(c).

Cap

In fixed limit, the most raises allowed on one betting round, such as a bet and three raises; once it is reached the round is capped. At MyHomeGame, the cap is a bet and three raises in every fixed-limit game, and it doesn't apply while only two players can still bet, tournaments included. See 4.15.

Cards speak

The rule that a hand at showdown is worth what its cards make, whatever its owner says. See 7.6, 7.7.

Cash game

A game played with chips that are money, which you may join and leave when you like; also called a ring game or a live game. See 1.10.

Check

To pass without betting, allowed only when nobody has bet on the round. Tapping the table means check. See 4.4(a), 4.17.

Check down

To check every remaining round instead of betting. Two players agreeing to check down while a third is all-in, to improve the chance of knocking that player out, is collusion. See 9.11, 80.27.

Check-raise

To check and then raise after another player bets on the same round. Most rooms allow it; some home games ban it as "sandbagging", and so does limit California lowball by tradition. See 4.6, 62.7.

Chip chop

A way to price a tournament deal that pays each player left the same share of the remaining prize money as their share of the chips. An even chop pays everyone the same. At MyHomeGame, neither is offered; the only deal is an ICM deal. See 80.26(a).

Chip dumping

Losing chips to another player on purpose, a form of collusion. See 9.10, 80.27.

Chop

Two different things. In a cash game, chopping the blinds is the two blinds taking back their bets when everyone else folds to them. In a tournament, a chop is a deal: the players left agree to share the prize money in some other way than the payout list. See 9.16, 90.17, 80.24.

Clock

A time limit on a player who is slow to act, which another player may ask the floor to put on. At MyHomeGame, every turn has its own visible clock and a reserve of extra time, so nobody needs to ask for one. See 4.29.

Collusion

Two or more players working together against the others: sharing what they hold, signaling, trapping a third player between their raises or passing chips to each other. It is cheating. See 9.10, 9.11.

Color-up

Taking the smallest chips out of play at a tournament break once the blinds no longer need them; leftover small chips are given out by a chip race. At MyHomeGame, there are no physical chips to color up. See 80.6.

Common card

In stud, a single card turned face up in the middle when the deck can't give every player one of their own; it counts in every player's hand. At MyHomeGame, with no burn cards to reshuffle, a street the deck can't deal to everyone is dealt as a common card straight away. See 6.24, 50.4.

Complete

A word with more than one meaning. In stud, to complete is to raise the bring-in to a full small bet, which counts as the round's first bet rather than a raise. In fixed limit, a player facing an all-in of less than half a bet may complete it to a full bet. In the deal, a button that is a card short may be completed with its missing card. See 5.13, 50.8, 4.14, 6.18.

Counterfeit

In a game with a low half, a low card in your hand is counterfeited when the board pairs it, so the board now gives that rank to everyone and your card stops helping your low against theirs. See 31.9.

Courchevel

Five-card Omaha in which the first card of the flop is turned face up before the first betting round. See Courchevel.

Cut

Lifting part of the shuffled deck and putting it underneath, done in a home game by the player on the dealer's right. At MyHomeGame, there is no cut: the server shuffles a new deck for every hand. See 6.1.

Dead blind

A blind that goes into the pot without counting toward the poster's bet, such as a missed small blind made up on a player's return. See 5.22, 5.5.

Dead button

A way of moving the button in which the big blind always goes to the next player due for it, so the button sometimes sits in front of an empty seat. Tournaments require it. At MyHomeGame, every table, cash and tournament, uses a dead button. See 5.3(a), 80.15.

Dead hand

A hand that can no longer win any part of the pot, because it was folded, lost in the muck, fouled, or its player wasn't at the seat in time. See 7.12, 80.17.

Deal

Two different things. The deal is giving out the cards, one at a time and clockwise from the button's left. In a tournament, a deal is an agreement among all the players left to share the prize money differently. See 6.4, 80.24.

Dealer

The person who deals, runs the hand and pushes the pot: a house dealer in a card room, or the player with the button in most home games. See 9.23, 90.19.

Dealer's choice

A mixed game in which the player whose turn it is to choose names the game: for the next deal at home, for a full orbit in a card room. At MyHomeGame, a choice lasts a set number of hands, 8 unless the table sets another, and then passes one seat clockwise. See 70.10, 90.18.

Declaration

In a home-game hi-lo variant, each player announcing before the showdown whether they are playing for high, low or both, often by hiding chips in a closed fist. Card rooms don't declare; the cards speak. At MyHomeGame, declaration games aren't offered. See 31.17, 51.14.

Deuce-to-seven

The way of ranking low hands in which the ace is always high and straights and flushes count against you, so the best hand is 7-5-4-3-2 of more than one suit. Also called Kansas City lowball, it is the ranking of 2-7 Single Draw and 2-7 Triple Draw. See 2.13, 2.14, 2-7 Single and Triple Draw.

Discard

To throw away a card you don't want; also the cards thrown away. In draw games discards are replaced from the deck, and in Pineapple and Irish the discard is compulsory. See 60.6, 21.10, 23.4, 6.25.

Door card

In stud, each player's first face-up card, dealt on third street; the lowest door card brings it in. In Courchevel, the name is sometimes given to the board card turned up before the first betting round. See 50.3, 50.6, 32.3.

Double ante

In Short Deck, the extra ante the button posts on top of everyone's single ante, in place of blinds. At MyHomeGame, the button's extra ante works like a big blind: it counts as the button's bet, and the button keeps the option to raise. See 22.6, 22.7.

Double board

Dealing two separate boards in a flop game, each with its own flop, turn and river, with half the pot going to the best hand on each. See 8.14, 30.14, 90.6.

Down card

In stud, a card dealt face down that only its owner sees; a seven-card stud hand has three. The others are up cards. See 50.3, 6.12.

Dramaha

Five-card Omaha with a draw after the flop, the pot split between the best Omaha hand and the best hand made from your five cards alone. See Dramaha.

Draw

To throw away cards and be dealt the same number of new ones; also the round in which every player does so, in turn. The draw games, such as 5-Card Draw and Badugi, are the family played this way. See 60.6, 1.8.

Eight or better

The low qualifier in hi-lo games: to win the low half, a hand needs five cards of different ranks, all eight or lower, with the ace counting low. See 2.15, 31.5.

Exposed card

A card turned face up or flashed by mistake during the deal. What happens to it depends on whether the dealer or the player exposed it, when, and in which game. See 6.10, 6.11, 6.13.

Five-card draw

The draw game with five cards each, a betting round, one draw and a second betting round. See 5-Card Draw.

Five-card stud

The oldest stud game: one card face down and four face up, with four betting rounds. See 5-Card Stud.

Fixed limit

A betting structure in which every bet and raise is one set amount for the round: the small bet on the early rounds and the big bet on the later ones. Often called just "limit". See 3.10, 3.11.

Floor

The person in charge who settles disputes: the floor supervisor in a card room, the tournament director in a tournament, or the host in a home game. See 9.20, 80.23.

Flop

The first three board cards, dealt face up together in Hold'em and Omaha. The flop games are the family that share board cards. See 20.3(a), 1.8.

Flush

Five cards of one suit, not in sequence. It ranks below a full house except in Short Deck, where it ranks above. See 2.5, 2.21.

Fold

To give up your hand and every chip you have put in the pot. See 4.4(e), 4.5.

Forward motion

Moving chips toward the pot. Rooms differ on whether a forward motion commits you to the bet. See 4.28.

Fouled deck

A deck holding a duplicate card or a card that doesn't belong, such as a joker, or a four in Short Deck. It voids the hand. See 6.26, 22.2.

Fouled hand

A hand that can't win because it is wrong in itself, such as a draw hand with more or fewer than five cards after the draw. See 60.16, 21.10, 41.17.

Four of a kind

Four cards of one rank, the third-best high hand. See 2.5.

Full house

Three cards of one rank and two of another. See 2.5, 2.21.

Going south

Taking part of your stack off the table while staying in a cash game, which table stakes forbids; also called ratholing. At MyHomeGame, a player who leaves a table and comes back to it within 60 minutes, by default, must bring at least what they left with, and the rule covers only that table. See 3.18, 9.15, 90.21.

Hand

Your cards, or the best five-card combination they make at the showdown; also one deal, from the shuffle to the pot. See 2.1, 6.2.

Hand-for-hand

Tournament play near the money in which every table plays one hand and then waits for all the others to finish theirs, so each hand counts the same everywhere. At MyHomeGame, hand-for-hand is an event setting that starts one knockout from the money, and can also be set to start one knockout from the final table. See 80.20, 80.22.

Heads-up

Two players only, in a hand or at a table. Heads-up, the button posts the small blind. See 5.6, 5.7.

High card

A hand with no pair, straight or flush, ranked by its highest card; the lowest high hand. See 2.5.

Hi-lo

A game whose pot is split between the best high hand and the best qualifying low hand, such as Omaha Hi-Lo and Stud Hi-Lo. See 8.11, 2.15, 2.16.

Hold'em

Texas Hold'em: two hole cards each and five shared board cards, the best five of the seven making the hand. It is the model for the other flop games. See Texas Hold'em.

Hole cards

A player's private cards, dealt face down. See 20.2, 53.3.

HORSE

A mixed game of five fixed-limit games in a set order: Hold'em, Omaha hi-lo, Razz, Seven-Card Stud and Stud hi-lo, eight or better. See 70.3.

House rules

The rules a card room or home game sets for itself, which fill the gaps in the published rulebooks and win where they differ. See 1.13, Writing your house rules.

ICM

The Independent Chip Model, a way to price a tournament deal from each player's chance of finishing in each place, which moves money toward the short stacks compared with a chip chop. At MyHomeGame, an ICM deal is the only deal on offer. See 80.26(b).

Irish

A Hold'em game with four hole cards. You bet the pre-flop and flop rounds holding all four, throw two away before the turn, and play the rest of the hand as Hold'em. Some sources put the discard before the flop instead. See Irish, 23.4, 23.5.

Jackpot drop

Money taken from qualifying cash-game pots to fund a jackpot, such as a bad-beat jackpot. At MyHomeGame, a jackpot drop is the only thing that ever comes out of a cash pot, and only where the club has turned the jackpot on. See 8.18.

Jacks back

A 5-Card Draw variant: if nobody can open with jacks or better, the same hands are played as ace-to-five lowball. See 60.18(b).

Jacks or better

The 5-Card Draw rule that a player needs a pair of jacks or better to open the betting. See 60.17.

Kicker

A card that isn't part of what makes a hand's category but is compared when two hands of the same category tie on their matched cards. Only cards within the best five count. See 2.8, 20.17.

Last aggressor

The last player to bet or raise on the final betting round, who shows first at the showdown. See 7.2, 7.18.

Late registration

Entering a tournament after it has started, up to a level the event names. See 80.8.

Level

One step of a tournament's blind schedule, played for a set time at set blinds and antes. See 80.4, 5.26.

Lowball

Any game in which the lowest hand wins. "Lowball" alone can mean either ace-to-five or deuce-to-seven ranking, which differ on the ace, straights and flushes, so a game should say which it means. See 2.10, 2-7 Single and Triple Draw, A-5 Triple Draw.

Main pot

The pot every player still in the hand can win, made up to the amount of the smallest all-in. Chips beyond that go into side pots. See 8.1, 8.3.

Minimum raise

The smallest raise allowed in no-limit and pot-limit: it must add at least as much as the last full bet or raise on the round. See 4.8, 4.13.

Miscall

Announcing a hand at the showdown as something it isn't. The cards still speak, but a deliberate miscall can cost the pot, and lowball is stricter. See 7.7, 61.15.

Misdeal

A deal that must be stopped and dealt again as the same hand. It cannot be called once there has been substantial action. See 6.14, 6.15, 6.16.

Missed blind

A blind a cash-game player owes after sitting out while it passed their seat; they post it on return or wait for the big blind. At MyHomeGame, a returning player waits for the big blind unless they choose to post, and never owes more than one big blind and one small blind. See 5.21, 5.22.

Mixed game

A table that deals more than one kind of poker, in a fixed rotation such as HORSE or by dealer's choice. Each hand follows its own game's rules. See 70.1.

Muck

The pile of folded and discarded cards; also, to throw a hand away without showing it. A hand that reaches the muck is usually dead. At MyHomeGame, losing hands at the showdown are shown unless their player has turned on "Auto muck". See 7.12, 7.13, 7.15.

Nit game

A home-game side game in which every player starts with a button and gets rid of it by winning a pot; the last player still holding one pays everyone else. At MyHomeGame, the site says who owes what to whom but moves no chips. See 90.15.

No-limit

A betting structure in which a bet or raise may be anything from the minimum up to every chip you have on the table. See 3.3.

Odd chip

The chip left over when a pot can't be split evenly. In button games it goes to the first tied player left of the button, in stud by suit, and between high and low to the high half. See 8.7, 8.8, 8.9, 8.10.

Omaha

A flop game with four hole cards in which a hand must use exactly two of them with exactly three board cards. Usually played pot-limit, as PLO. See Omaha.

Omaha Hi-Lo

Omaha with the pot split between the best high hand and the best eight-or-better low; also called Omaha eight or better, or O8. See Omaha Hi-Lo and Big O.

Open

To make the first bet of a betting round. In 5-Card Draw played jacks or better, you need a qualifying hand to open, and an opener who wins must prove it. See 60.17, 60.5.

Open pair

A pair showing among a stud player's up cards. In Seven-Card Stud an open pair on fourth street lets players bet the big bet. See 50.14, 53.7.

Option

The big blind's right to raise when the action comes back unraised; a straddler has the same right. See 5.5, 5.15.

Orbit

One full round of the table, in which every player has the button once. See 70.4(a), 70.12.

Out of turn

Acting before it is your turn. Whether the action binds you depends on what changes before your turn comes. At MyHomeGame, an action sent out of turn is refused. See 4.24, 4.26.

Pair

Two cards of the same rank. In ace-to-five and deuce-to-seven a pair counts against a low hand. See 2.5, 2.12.

Pat hand

A draw hand whose player keeps all of their cards and draws none. See 61.11.

Pineapple

Hold'em with three hole cards. In Pineapple you throw one away before the flop and in Crazy Pineapple after it; in Lazy Pineapple, also called Tahoe, you keep all three, but at most two of them may play. Irish, a relative with four hole cards, is Irish. See Pineapple, 21.5, 21.6.

Play the board

To use all five board cards as your hand in Hold'em. You still show your hole cards to share the pot, and in Omaha the board can never play on its own. See 20.11, 7.10, 30.9.

Post

To put in a forced bet such as a blind, an ante or a missed blind. See 5.19, 5.21.

Pot

The chips in the middle that the hand is played for. See 1.1.

Pot-limit

A betting structure in which a bet may not be bigger than the pot, counting every bet in front of the players and, when you raise, your own call. See 3.4, 3.5.

Qualifier

A minimum a hand must reach to win a share of the pot, most often the eight-or-better low in hi-lo games. Some low games have none: in Razz and A-5 Triple Draw the lowest hand always wins. See 2.15, 51.7, 62.5.

Quartered

Winning only a quarter of a hi-lo pot, by tying for one half while another player wins the other. See 8.12, 31.12.

Rabbit hunt

Turning over the cards that would have come after a hand ended early, just to see them. Most card rooms ban it. At MyHomeGame, the rabbit hunt is private: the cards appear only in your own hand history, and only if your club and you both have it switched on. See 9.17, 90.11.

Raise

To match the current bet and add more on top. See 4.4(d), 4.8.

Rake

The share a card room takes from each pot, usually a percentage up to a cap; some rooms charge a time collection instead. At MyHomeGame, no rake or time charge is taken from any cash pot. See 8.18.

Ratholing

Another name for going south. Some home games use it more narrowly, for leaving with a big stack and coming back soon after with a small one. See 90.21, 3.18.

Razz

Seven-Card Stud played for low, ranked ace-to-five, with no qualifier. See Razz.

Rebuy

In a tournament, buying more chips after busting, or in some events while at or below the starting stack, usually only in the early levels; in a home cash game, buying back in after losing your stack. At MyHomeGame, a tournament rebuy is open only to a player with no chips left. See 80.10, 90.20.

Re-entry

In a tournament, buying in again after being knocked out, as a new entry with a fresh stack and a new seat. See 80.9.

Reopen

A raise reopens the betting when it gives players who have already acted the right to raise again. An all-in for less than a full raise doesn't, unless several of them add up to one. See 4.11, 4.12, 4.14.

River

The fifth and last board card in Hold'em and Omaha. In stud, seventh street is also called the river. See 20.3(c), 50.3.

Robert's Rules of Poker

Bob Ciaffone's free card-room rulebook, last revised as Version 11, one of the two rulebooks this book cites most. See 1.12.

Royal flush

A-K-Q-J-10 of one suit, the highest straight flush and the best high hand. See 2.5.

Run it twice

To deal the rest of the board two separate times when the betting is over and someone is all-in, with half the pot going to each run; Robert's Rules calls it dealing twice. Every player in the pot must agree. At MyHomeGame, it is offered only at cash tables in Hold'em and Omaha games, when every player still in has switched it on, and never more than twice. See 8.15, 90.8, 90.9.

Satellite

A tournament whose prizes are entries into a bigger tournament, every seat won being worth the same. At MyHomeGame, there are no satellites. See 80.30.

Scoop

To win the whole of a split pot: both halves of a hi-lo pot, both boards of a double-board pot, or both halves in SOHE or Dramaha. See 8.11, 30.15, 31.11.

Seven-card stud

The classic stud game: two cards down and one up, three more up and the last one down, with five betting rounds and no board. See 7-Card Stud.

Short all-in

An all-in that raises by less than a full raise. It doesn't reopen the betting to players who have already acted. See 4.11, 4.13.

Short deck

Hold'em played with a 36-card deck, the twos through fives removed; also called Six-Plus Hold'em. A flush beats a full house, and rooms differ on whether a straight beats three of a kind. At MyHomeGame, a straight always beats three of a kind. See Short Deck (Six-Plus Hold'em), 2.21, 2.22.

Show one, show all

The rule that cards shown to one player may be seen by every player at the table. See 9.7.

Showdown

The comparing of hands after the last betting round, when two or more players are still in. See 7.1, 1.5.

Side pot

A separate pot holding the chips an all-in player couldn't match, which only the players who put them in can win. See 8.1, 8.3, 8.4.

Small bet

In fixed limit, the smaller of the two bet sizes, used on the early betting rounds. See 3.10.

Small blind

The smaller of the two blinds, posted by the first player to the button's left, or by the button itself heads-up. See 5.4, 5.6, 3.7.

Soft play

Going easy on a friend or partner by not betting or bluffing against them. It is a form of collusion. See 9.9, 80.27.

SOHE

Simultaneous Omaha and Hold'em: six cards each, split into a two-card Hold'em hand and a four-card Omaha hand, with the pot shared between the best of each. See SOHE (Simultaneous Omaha and Hold'em).

Splash

To throw chips into the pot instead of stacking them in front of you, "splashing the pot", so nobody can tell how much you bet. See 9.14.

Split pot

A pot shared between tied hands, or divided between high and low, between two boards or between two runs. See 8.7, 8.11.

Spread limit

A betting structure in which a bet may be any amount between a set minimum and maximum. At MyHomeGame, spread limit isn't offered. See 3.12.

Stack

The chips a player has on the table. In a tournament every entry starts with the same stack. See 3.14, 80.2.

Stand pat

To keep all your cards at a draw and take none: all five in 5-Card Draw and the lowball draw games, all four in Badugi. You say "pat" or rap the table. See 60.8, 61.11, 63.6.

Straddle

An optional extra blind, usually twice the big blind, posted before the deal by the player under the gun; the straddler acts last before the flop. Button, Mississippi and sleeper straddles come from other seats by house rule. At MyHomeGame, only the under-the-gun straddle of exactly twice the big blind is offered, at no-limit and pot-limit cash tables. See 5.15, 5.16, 5.17.

Straight

Five cards in sequence of mixed suits. The ace may be the top card or, in 5-4-3-2-A, the bottom one, but a straight can't wrap around from king to two. See 2.5, 2.7.

Straight flush

Five cards in sequence, all of one suit. See 2.5.

Street

A betting round, or the cards dealt for it. In stud the streets are named for how many cards each player holds, third street to seventh street; in flop games they are the pre-flop round, the flop, the turn and the river. See 50.3, 53.3.

String bet

Putting chips out and then reaching back for more to make the same bet bigger, without having said the amount first. It isn't allowed. See 4.18.

Stud

The family of games in which each player gets their own cards, some face down and some face up, with no shared board and no button or blinds. See 1.8, 7-Card Stud.

Stud hi-lo

Seven-Card Stud with the pot split between the best high hand and the best eight-or-better low; also called Stud/8. See 7-Card Stud Hi-Lo (8 or better).

Substantial action

The TDA's test for when a mistake can no longer be undone: two actions in turn, at least one of which puts chips in, or any three actions in turn. Posted blinds don't count. See 4.25, 6.15.

Table stakes

The rule that you may bet only the chips in front of you when the hand began, so you can lose no more than those in any one hand. See 3.14, 3.15.

Table talk

Talking about a hand while it is still being played. The rules on it are stricter in tournaments than in cash games. See 9.3, 9.4.

Tabled hand

A hand whose cards are all turned face up on the table where they can be read. Only a tabled hand can win at the showdown. See 7.9, 7.11.

TDA

The Poker Tournament Directors Association, whose rules most major tournaments use; this book cites its 2026 edition. See 1.12, Tournaments.

Three of a kind

Three cards of one rank; also called trips. In Short Deck, rooms differ on whether it beats a straight. See 2.5, 22.12.

Triple draw

A draw game with three draws and four betting rounds, such as 2-7 Triple Draw, A-5 Triple Draw and Badugi. See 61.6, 62.1.

Turn

The fourth board card in Hold'em and Omaha, dealt on its own. See 20.3(b).

Two pair

Two cards of one rank, two of another, and a fifth card. See 2.5, 2.8.

Under the gun

The seat on the big blind's left, first to act before the flop. See 5.15.

Up card

In stud, a card dealt face up for the whole table to see; the first one is the door card. From fourth street on, the best hand showing among the up cards acts first. See 50.3, 50.11.

Wheel

5-4-3-2-A. In high hands it is the lowest straight, counting as five high; in ace-to-five low and eight-or-better it is the best low, and in a hi-lo game it can win both halves. In deuce-to-seven the ace is high, so the same cards are an ace-high hand, not a straight. In Badugi the name is sometimes given to A-2-3-4. See 2.4, 2.14, 31.8, 63.11.