Action - (1) Opportunity to act. If a player appears not to realize it's his turn, the dealer will say "Your action, sir." (2) Bets and raises. "If a third heart hits the board and there's a lot of action, you have to assume that somebody has made the flush."
Ante - A small portion of a bet contributed by each player to seed the pot at the beginning of a poker hand. Most hold'em games do not have an ante; they use "blinds" to get initial money into the pot.
All-In - To run out of chips while betting or calling. In table stakes games, a player -may not go into his pocket for more money during a hand. If he runs out, a side pot is created in which he has no interest. However, he can still win the pot for which he had the chips. Example: "Poor Bob. He made quads against the big full house, but he was all-in on the second bet."
Backdoor - Catching both the turn and river card to make a drawing hand. For instance, suppose you have A -7 The flop comes A -6  -4. You bet and are called. The turn is the T, which everybody checks, and then the river is the J . You've made a "backdoor" nut flush. See also "runner."
Bad Beat - To have a hand that is a large underdog beat a heavily favored hand. It is generally used to imply that the winner of the pot had no business being in the pot at all, and it was the wildest of luck that he managed to catch the one card in the deck that would win the pot. We won't give any examples; you will hear plenty of them during your poker career.
Big Blind - The larger of the two blinds typically used in a hold'em game. The big blind is normally a full first round bet. See also "blind" and "small blind."
Blank - A board card that doesn't seem to affect the standings in the hand. If the flop is A-J-T , then a turn card of 2 would be considered a blank. On the other hand, the 2 would not be.
Blind - A forced bet (or partial bet) put in by one or more players before any cards are dealt. Typically, blinds are put in by players immediately to the left of the button. See also "live blind."
Board - All the community cards in a hold'em game - the flop, turn, and river cards together. Example: "There wasn't a single heart on the board."
Bottom Pair - A pair with the lowest card on the flop. If you have A -6, and the flop comes K-T-6 , you have flopped bottom pair.
Burn - To discard the top card from the deck, face down. This is done between each betting round before putting out the next community card(s). It is security against any player recognizing or glimpsing the next card to be used on the board.
Button - A white acrylic disk that indicates the (nominal) dealer. Also used to refer to the player on the button. Example: "Oh, the button raised."
Buy - (1) As in "buy the pot." To bluff, hoping to "buy" the pot without being called. (2) As in "buy the button." To bet or raise, hoping to make players between you and the button fold, thus allowing you to act last on subsequent betting rounds. |
