Poker Terminology

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I

Ignorant End: The low end straight.

Implied Odds: The amount of money you expect to win if you make your hand versus the amount of money it will cost you to continue playing.

In: A player is "in" if he or she has called all bets.

In the Air: When the tournament director instructs the dealers to get the cards in the air, it means to start dealing.

In The Dark: To check or bet blind, without looking at your cards.

Inside Straight: Four cards requiring one in the middle to fill a straight.

Insurance: Selling the actual outcome of the hand for its mathematical equity.

Isolate: To raise with the intention of reaching a heads up between yourself and a single other player.

J

Jackpot Poker: A form of poker in which the cardroom offers a jackpot for particularly bad beats. Typically you must have aces full or better.

Jacks Or Better: A form of draw poker in which a player needs at least a pair of Jacks to start the betting.

Jam: To bet or raise the maximum.

Jammed Pot: The pot has been raised the maximum number of times, and may also be multi-way.

Joker: The fifty-third card in the deck, used as a wild card or a bug.

K

Kansas City Lowball: A form of lowball poker played for a deuce to seven low.

Keep Honest: To call an opponent on the river, even though you believe he has a better hand than you do.

Key Card: The one card that will make your hand.

Key Hand: In a tournament, the hand that proves to be a turning point, for better or worse.

Kibitzer: A non-playing spectator; a railbird.

Kick It: To raise.

Kicker: The highest unpaired side card.

Kill: A kill game is one in which a player may place an extra bet, causing the betting limits to go up for just that hand. The player posting the bet is the "killer," and the hand is considered a "kill pot." The player is said to have "killed the pot" for the amount of the kill.

Knave: A Jack.

L

Late Position: A position on a round of betting in which you act after most of the other players have acted.

Lay Down: To reveal one's hand in a showdown.

Lay Down Your Hand: To fold.

Lay The Odds: To wager more money on a proposition than you hope to win.

Lead: To be the first to enter the pot after the blind.

Leak: To lose back part or all of one's winnings through other gambling habits.

Legitimate Hand: A strong hand that is not a bluff.

Limit Poker: A game with fixed minimum and maximum betting intervals.

Limp In: To enter the round by calling a bet rather than raising.

Limper: A player who enters the pot for the minimum bet.

Live Blind: When the player is allowed to raise even if no one else raises first; straddle.

Live Card: In stud games, a card that has not yet been seen in an opponent's hand and is presumed likely to be still in play.

Live Hand: A hand that is still eligible to win the pot.

Live One: An inexperienced, bad or loose player who apparently has plenty of money to lose; a rich sucker.

Lock: A hand that cannot lose; a cinch hand.

Long Odds: The odds for an event that has a relatively small chance of occurring.

Look: To call the final bet (before the showdown).

Loose: Playing more hands than the norm.

Loose Game: A game with a lot of players in most pots.

Lowball: A form of poker in which the lowest hand wins.

M

Main Pot: When a player goes all-in, that player is only eligible to win the main pot - the pot consisting of the bets they were able to match. Additional bets are placed in a side pot and are contested among the remaining players.

Make: To make the deck is to shuffle.

Make A Move: To try a bluff.

Maniac: A very aggressive player who plays hands that more conservative players would probably not consider.

Mark: A sucker.

Marker: An IOU.

Mechanic: A cheat who manipulates the deck.

Meet: To call.

Middle Pair: In flop games, a middle pair is made by pairing with the middle card on the flop.

Middle Position: A position on a round of betting somewhere in the middle.

Miss: To be unable to make your drawing hand when the final cards are dealt.

Monster: A hand that is almost certain to win.

Move In: To go all-in.

Muck: To discard a hand; also the discard pile in which all cards are dead.