What are big blinds, anyway? Here's a complete glossary of all the terms you may hear being thrown around the poker table.

Ace-High

A hand containing an ace that doesn’t make a completed hand (such as a pair or straight). “I can’t believe he bluffed me with just ace-high.”

Aces Up

A hand with two pairs when one pair is aces. “She had two pair, but I had aces up.”

Action

Any of the available options chosen by a player during their turn. If the action is on a player, it’s their turn to act. “Steve, it’s your action.”

Active Player(s)

Any player who hasn’t yet folded is therefore still in the hand. “There are three active players left in the hand.”

All In

The act of risking all of your chips on one single hand. “He pushed All In with aces.”

Ante

An ante is a forced bet, typically smaller than the blinds, that each player must pay before the hand begins. “We’re waiting on Steve to put in his ante before we deal.”

Backdoor

When a player needs the turn and river cards to make their hand. “I got lucky and hit a backdoor flush.”

Bad Beat

A term for bad luck, typically when a player has a good hand and loses to someone who gets lucky. “What a bad beat. She flopped trip aces and lost to a backdoor flush.”

Betting Rounds

The opportunities to bet in a poker hand. There are four chances for betting: pre-flop, then after the flop, turn, and river. Another term for these rounds is “Street,” the turn being Fourth Street and the river being Fifth Street. “She raised every betting round.”

Blank

A card or cards that don’t connect with anything in your hand. “I was hoping to make a flush, but the river turned up blank.”

Blinds

Forced bets posted by the players to the left of the dealer button in flop-style poker games. The number of blinds is usually two—the small blind and the big blind—the small blind typically being half the big. “Blinds are about to go up next hand.”

Bluff

A bet made with a weak hand in the hopes of getting an opponent to fold a better hand. “I’m pretty sure that’s a bluff, so I’ll call.”

Board

All of the community cards that players can use to complete their hand. “With all of those face cards, it's a scary board.”

Bubble

The last unpaid place before players start to win prize money in a tournament. “I can’t believe I finished on the bubble and just missed making the money.”

Bust

A player busts when they run out of chips. “I lost to trips and went bust.”

Button

The button is a dealer marker. The button moves clockwise to the next player each hand and determines the order of play. The player left of the button always acts first and is small blind. “It’s good to get aggressive when you’re on the button since you have the advantage of acting last.”

Buy-In

In a tournament-style game, the buy-in is the cost to play. In a cash game, the amount you choose to start with is your buy-in. “The tournament has a $20 Buy-In.”

Call

Matching the amount of the bet or raise made prior. “You raised five? I call.”

Cash Game

Unlike a tournament-style game, chips in a cash game are worth the actual cash amount. The amount of chips you win is the amount of cash you win. “I love the shorter time commitment of a cash game.”

Check

To decline the option to bet. A player cannot check once someone else has bet. “Check to me? I check, too.”

Check-Raise

When a player checks, indicating weakness, then raises on top of another player’s bet. “I’m scared of what she has after that check-raise.”

Community Cards

The cards in the center of the table that are shared by all players. “What’s with all of the suited community cards?”

Connectors

A starting hand that has two sequential, or connected, numbers. For example: 65o and T9s are connectors. “I love taking more risks with connectors.”

Dominated

A hand that is far inferior to another hand. The dominated hand doesn’t have a good chance of winning, however, it’s not impossible if they get lucky. “My King-Jack is dominated by his King-Queen.”

Draw

Playing with a hand that is not yet made but has the potential to become a made hand if it hits a card. “I have a straight draw.”

Drawing Dead

A hand that cannot win even though the entire board is not yet on the table. “He can’t win. He’s drawing dead.”

Early Position

Typically refers to the players in the blinds and the first player after the blinds if it is a 6-10 handed game. Players in early position are the first ones to act. “It’s a disadvantage being in early position because you don’t know how people will act after you.”

Equity

The portion of the pot that is theoretically yours based on the percentage of the time you’ll win the hand. If you have an 80% chance of winning the pot, 80% of the pot is your equity. “When you have high equity, consider getting as much money in the pot as possible.”

Flop

The first three community cards turned up as one group. “The flop came, and I was happy to see an ace.”

Flush

Five cards of the same suit. “I hit a fifth diamond on the river to make my flush.”

Flush Draw

Four cards to a flush, needing a fifth to complete it. When there are four cards to a flush, and a fifth card is needed to complete it. “I called with a flush draw.”

Fold

A player gives up on the hand when it’s their turn to act. The player lays down their cards and can no longer win the pot. “I’ve got nothing. I fold.”

Four of a Kind

Four cards that are all the same number or face value. “I hit a fourth king on the river for four of a kind.”

Full House

Three of a kind, as well as a pair, in the same hand. For example, three fives and two sevens. “I beat his straight with a full house.”

Grinder

A consistent and patient player who plays often in order to accumulate winnings over time. “She plays lower limits and tends to make a small profit every session. She’s a grinder.”

Heads Up

A pot being contested by only two players, one on one. “Everyone else is out, it’s just the two of them heads up.”

Hole Cards

The cards in a player’s starting hand. “Pocket Aces are the strongest hole cards one can receive.”

House

The establishment running the game. “I love playing poker because you’re not playing against the house.”

Implied Odds

The amount of money or chips you expect to win on later betting rounds if you hit one of your needed cards. “I called because the implied odds were good.”

Inside Straight Draw

Also known as a “gutshot,” an inside straight draw is when four cards are missing a middle card to complete a straight. For example, 2, 3, 5, 6 needs to hit a 4 to complete the straight. “I got lucky and hit my inside straight draw.”

Junk

A hand with little expected value. “I keep getting dealt junk today.”

Key Hand

Refers to the hand (from any player) that proves to be the turning point in the tournament, for better or worse. “When she bluffed and won with ace-high, that was definitely the key hand of the day.”

Kicker

An unpaired card used to determine the better of two near-equivalent hands. “We both had three of a kind, but I had the better kicker.”

Late Position

The last position(s) to act in a hand. Late position is typically the button (or dealer), and/or the player to act right before the dealer. Late position is considered advantageous because a player gets to see how other players bet before them. “Late position, to many, is the easiest position to play because you'll get to see the other players' action first before making your decision.”

Limping

Calling the big blind pre-flop without raising. “He’s always limping in pre-flop.”

Live Hand

A hand not yet folded, and therefore still eligible to win the pot. “He’s behind, but he still has a live hand.”

MTT

A Multi Table Tournament. A MTT has a large number of participants, needing multiple tables to accommodate everyone. “I love playing MTTs because they have big payouts.”

Muck

The pile of folded and burned cards during a hand. Also the act of not showing your cards at showdown. “She mucked after he showed pocket aces.”

No Limit

A poker game with no limit to the amount you can bet. A player can bet as many chips as they have. “I totally get why no limit Texas hold’em is the most popular version of poker.”

Nuts

The best possible hand for a given board. “She flopped the nuts and raised him All In.”

Odds

The likelihood a player will make a hand or win a hand. “With both an open-ended straight and flush draw, he liked his odds of hitting something.”

Offsuit

Hole Cards that are not the same suit. “She was dealt a terrible two-seven offsuit.”

Open-Ended Straight Draw

Four cards of a straight that can be completed on either end. For example, 5-6-7-8 can become a straight with either a 4 or 9. “The odds are way better of hitting an open-ended straight draw than a gutshot.”

Outs

The total number of possible cards a player can hit to win the pot. For instance, if a player is losing with a pair of fives and can only win if they hit a third five, they have two outs (the two remaining fives in the deck). “He’s behind, but he has a lot of outs.”

Overcard

A card higher than any card showing on the board. “She didn’t hit anything on the flop, but at least she has two overcards.”

Pocket Pair

Hole Cards that are the same value. “I never know what to do with a low pocket pair like threes.”

Position

Position is determined by the dealer button. Early positions are the first seats after the button. Late positions include the button itself and positions just right of it. “It’s important to take your position into account when determining how aggressively to play.”

Pot

The pot in poker refers to the sum of money that players wager during a single hand or game. “That’s a massive pot you just won.”

Pot Odds

The odds of winning the hand compared to the size of the pot and the size of the necessary bet to call. Even if your hand has mediocre odds, it may be worth calling because you’re getting good pot odds. “She called with a flush draw because she was getting good pot odds.”

Post

To put in a mandatory bet like an ante or blinds. “We’re waiting on Jim to post.”

Pre-Flop

Betting action before the flop. “He went All In pre-flop.”

Quads

Another term for four of a kind. “I hit quads on the river.”

Second Pair

A pair made with the second-highest card on the board. “I flopped second pair but I’m worried he has the top pair.”

Set

Three of a kind made with a pocket pair plus a matching card on the board. “It’s hard to suspect someone flopped a set.”

Short-Stacked

When a player’s chip stack is quite low compared to other players at the table. “I had to make a move because I was short-stacked.”

Showdown

The point at which all players remaining in the hand turn their cards over and determine who has the best hand. “When the showdown came, I saw that my aces were good.”

Side Pot

When one or more players are All In, a side pot comes into play to separate what an All In player can win versus players with more chips. “He won the side pot and she won the main pot.”

Slow Play

To play a strong hand as if your hand was weaker than it was. “I slow-played my aces to hopefully get more action.”

Small Blind

A forced bet, usually half the size of the big blind. The player who pays the small blind is the first to the left of the dealer. “The small blind went up to $200.”

Straight

Five consecutive cards make a straight. They can be of any suit. “I caught a king-high straight on the river.”

Straight Flush

Five consecutive cards that are all of the same suit. “I can’t believe my full house lost to a straight flush.”

Suited

Cards of the same suit. “I was dealt ace-king suited.”

Three-Betting

A three-bet is the second raise (or third bet) in a single betting round. Pre-flop, the big blind is considered the first bet. “He’s representing a strong hand by three-betting.”

Tilt

To play wild or recklessly, usually after a few bad losses. "Avoid playing on tilt." Learn how to play responsibly.

Time Bank

The amount of additional time a player can use to make tough decisions. Time banks are commonly found in online poker. “It was a tough call, so she activated her time bank.”

Top Set

The highest possible trips, involving a pocket pair. For instance, if you have pocket queens, and the flop comes queen, jack, 9, you have flopped top set. “I flopped top set.”

Top Two

Two pair, with a player’s two hole cards pairing the two highest cards on the board. “I had two pair but lost to top two.”

Top and Bottom

Two pair, with a player’s two hole cards pairing the highest and lowest cards on the board. “She flopped top and bottom but eventually lost to a straight.”

Trap

To play as if your hand is weak, hoping to trick other players into staying in or raising. “She’s setting a nice trap with a top set.”

Trips

Three of a kind. “Two kings came on the board, giving me trips.”

Turn

The fourth community card to be dealt. “He didn’t hit his straight on the turn but hoped to catch it on the river.”

Underdog

A person or hand not mathematically favored to win a pot but still has a chance. “She’s definitely an underdog with queens versus kings.”

Under The Gun

The first person to act pre-flop, or the person in the earliest position who is still in the hand. “I'm under the gun this hand.”

Value

As in "value bet." This means that you would like your opponents to call your bet so you can acquire as much value out of your win as possible. “He got a lot of value out of that, considering his opponent didn’t have a strong hand.”

Variance

A measure of the up and down swings your bankroll goes through. “Players will experience variance when playing poker.”

Wake Up

To wake up means to discover a strong starting hand. “Margaret looks down at her cards and wakes up to pocket aces.”

Wheel

A straight including an ace as the lowest card (ace to 5). “She caught a wheel on the turn.”