Poker is the name of the game, but that doesn’t say anything about the veritable avalanche of poker terms that are going to come crashing down on you while you’re in the thick of it. Poker, like blackjack, baccarat, and craps is laden with its very own lingo. For those who aren’t au fait with poker nomenclature, there’s a lot to learn. Time is a wasting, let’s get started!
‘Holding the Nuts’ is what You Want in Poker
If you have the strongest hand in poker at a given point in time, you’re holding the nuts. There is nothing lewd about this – it’s simply poker speak for a player who is positioned well with their cards. Let’s say you’re holding a pair of Pocket Rockets (Aces) and the Flop is magical with Ace-9-6. At this point in time, you’re basically ‘Holding the Nuts’ with Trip-Aces, making this the strongest possible starting hand at this point. Of course, if another player at the table had 9-9-9, it’s a glorious 4-of-a-kind.
Shining Like A Rainbow at a Ring Game
Rainbows in poker have nothing to do with red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet; and they certainly have nothing to do with My Little Pony and Friends either. But if you’ve got a Rainbow in flop games, it means that none of the cards are of the same suit. Consider a flop of 6, 10, King, all of different suits – that means it was a 6-10-King Rainbow.
Ring Games are typical poker games where players at the table bet during each hand. Players are seated in a ring, with the dealer, the big blind, the small blind, and all other players participating in the hand. While in a ring game, you will bet, call, raise, re-raise, fold, or go all in. There are plenty of different moves you can make in poker games, bringing many tactical and strategic actions into play.
The Flop, Turn, and River Cards
Whether you’re a rock (a tight player) or a loose player, you invariably know everything there is to know about the Flop, Turn, and River. These are the community cards in a game of poker. Everybody in on the action is welcome to use the Flop, Turn, and River Cards to help them form the strongest 5 card hand possible in a game of Texas Hold’em.
According to the rules of the game, you don’t even need to use any of your cards in Texas Hold’em to form your strongest hand – you can simply play the board. The first Three Community Cards to drop are known as The Flop. Everything that takes place before the flop is known as the pre-Flop stage. The fourth community card is The Turn – it’s a big’un because it’s the penultimate card before The River Card – the fifth and final community card at the table.
You are Allowed to Straddle at the Poker Table
Usually, straddling is discouraged outside of poker, but it’s perfectly legit in the pre-deal period of play. This early bet is usually made by the player left of the BB (Big Blind). The value of this bet is 2X the BB – the legal limit for this type of raise. This option is gifted to the straddler by the BB. Be advised that you typically won’t be allowed to straddle in tournament-style poker games.
Connectors, Counterfeits, and Bubbles
Poker is a fascinating game with all sorts of nuanced gameplay. Connectors, as the namesake suggests, are cards that connect to one another in a sequential fashion. If you have 7 and 8, they are connectors, and if they are suited as in 7 of hearts and 8 of hearts, they are known as suited connectors.
Now, when it comes to counterfeits – you get outdone by the cards that are displayed on the board. So, if you’re holding a pair of deuces a.k.a. 2’s, and the Flop turns out to be 7-8-8, you’ve been outdone by the 8s, so you have been counterfeited. Any other poker player in the game with cards greater than 2 automatically beats your hand with the board.
Bubbles are nothing like their stock market equivalent. If the top 10 finishers in a tournament get paid, then the 11th finisher is known as the bubble.
There you have it – a fraction of the poker lingo you will learn at the tables. There are plenty of other poker terms, poker jargon, and poker expressions used by the best of them, but to get there you will need lots of time spent out in the middle. Time to get off the rail, and into the game!
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