Action – A player’s turn to act, or betting activity in general.
All-In – Betting all of your remaining chips.
Ante – A small forced bet each player contributes before the hand begins.
Backdoor – Completing a hand using both the turn and river cards (e.g., backdoor flush).
Bad Beat – Losing with a strong hand to an even stronger one in an unlikely spot.
Bankroll – The total money a player sets aside for poker.
Big Blind (BB) – A mandatory bet posted by the player two seats left of the dealer.
Blind – A forced bet (small blind and big blind) to start the action.
Bluff – Betting or raising with a weak hand to make opponents fold.
Board – The community cards dealt face-up in flop games.
Boat – Slang for a full house.
Burn Card – A card discarded face down before dealing community cards, to prevent cheating.
Button – The dealer position; acts last after the flop.
Call – Matching the current bet.
Check – Declining to bet, while keeping the option to call or raise later in the round.
Check-Raise – Checking with the intention to raise when someone bets.
Chop – Splitting a pot between players with tied hands.
Community Cards – Shared face-up cards in flop games (Texas Hold’em, Omaha).
Connector – Consecutive cards like 7-8, 10-J.
Cut-Off (CO) – The seat to the right of the button.
Diesel – When you are not drawing any cards in Draw Poker (diesel do / these will do)
Drawing Hand – A hand that needs more cards to improve (e.g., four to a flush).
Drawing Dead – When no future cards can make your hand win.
Donkey (“Donk”) – A bad player who plays poorly (famous insult in Rounders).
Flop – The first three community cards dealt at once.
Fold – Surrendering your hand and forfeiting the pot.
Freeroll – A tournament with no entry fee but a real prize.
Good Die – Folding early and realising you would have lost anyway so you saved money.
Grind – Playing poker steadily over time, usually for modest profits (like the characters in Rounders).
Gutshot – A straight draw needing one specific card in the middle (e.g., 5-6-8-9 needs a 7).
Heads-Up – A pot or game between two players only.
High Society – Slang for the highest denomination chips (Rounders).
Hole Cards – The private cards dealt face-down to a player.
Kicker – An extra card that decides a tie when players share part of a hand.
Limp – To just call the big blind pre-flop instead of raising.
Muck – To fold a hand without showing it.
Nuts – The best possible hand at a given moment.
Outs – The cards remaining in the deck that can improve your hand.
Overpair – A pocket pair higher than any card on the board (e.g., QQ on a 7-5-2 board).
Paint – Any face card (J, Q, K); used often in Rounders.
Pot – The total chips wagered in a hand.
Pot Odds – The ratio between the current pot and the cost to call.
Quads – Four of a kind.
Ragged – A flop or board with low, unconnected cards.
Rainbow – A flop with three different suits (no flush draw possible).
Raise – To increase the current bet.
Ratholing – Illegally pocketing chips from the table to protect winnings (Rounders touches on this shady move).
River – The fifth and final community card.
Sandbagging – Another word for slow playing: checking or calling with a monster hand to trap opponents (Rounders scene with KGB).
Set – Three of a kind.
Shove – Going all-in.
Showdown – The reveal of hands at the end of betting.
Slow Play – Playing a strong hand passively to induce action.
Small Blind (SB) – A mandatory bet by the player immediately left of the dealer.
Soft Play – Not betting when you have a good hand to go easy on another player (not permitted).
Split Pot – A pot divided evenly between players with equal winning hands.
Stack – A player’s total chips.
Straight – Five consecutive cards of any suit.
String Bet – An illegal bet made in multiple motions without declaring intent.
Tanking – Thinking with action on them. Going into the "think-tank" or just "tank".
Tell – A physical or behavioral clue that gives away information (Rounders famously: “Teddy KGB’s Oreo tell”).
Tilt – Playing recklessly due to emotions (Rounders: Worm puts Mike on tilt).
Trips – Three of a kind.
Turn – The fourth community card.
Under the Gun (UTG) – The position immediately left of the big blind, first to act pre-flop.
Value Bet – A bet made to get called by a worse hand.