Poker Terminology

Question 1

Active Players

Answer 1

The players involved in the hand often referred to as the Hero and the Villain(s).

Question 2

Hero

Answer 2

The player from who perspective the hand is played.

Question 3

Villains

Answer 3

Any of Hero’s opponents involved in the hand.

Question 4

Pre-flop

Answer 4

Any action that occurs before the flop is dealt.

Question 5

Post-flop

Answer 5

Any action that occurs and the flop is dealt.

Question 6

In position (IP)

Answer 6

The player who acts last due to their relation to the dealer/button.

Question 7

Out of position (OOP)

Answer 7

The player (or players) who does(do) not act last due to their relation to the dealer/button.

Question 8

Relative position

Answer 8

A player has a positional advantage over another player when he gets to act after him throughout the hand. For example, in the common situation of BB vs BN, BN gets to act last on each street for the rest of the hand, so BN is IP and conversely BB is OOP.

Question 9

First In

Answer 9

Refers to the situation when the action gets to a player and no other player has previously voluntarily entered the pot. For example, if He is on the BN and everyone folds around to him, he has the option to be the first in by either calling or raising.

Question 10

Stack size and stack depth

Answer 10

Displayed in terms of big blinds. If a player has 1,000 chips, and the big blind is 100, he only has 10 big blinds.

Question 11

Effective stack

Answer 11

The smallest stack size among the active players. In heads-up, the effective stack size determined the maximum either player can win.

Question 12

Bet-Size

Answer 12

Displayed either in big blinds (ex: Hero bets 5 bb) or as a fraction of the pot (ex: Hero best 1/4 the pot).

Question 13

The nuts

Answer 13

The strongest possible hand at a specific moment. Ex: AA is the nuts preflop
JsTc is the nuts on a 9h8h7d flop, but no longer if the turn is another heart as stronger hands than a straight are possible.

Question 14

Speculative hand

Answer 14

A hand that is unlikely to be best at the moment but can improve to a powerful holding later.

Question 15

Air

Answer 15

A hand with no showdown value or drawing potential that can only win by bluffing.

Question 16

Bluff catcher

Answer 16

A hand that can only beat a bluff.

Question 17

Pure bluff

Answer 17

A bet or raise made with a hand that has little or no chance of improving on a later betting round with the intent of making a better hand fold.

Question 18

Semi-bluff

Answer 18

A bet or raise made with a hand that has a decent chance of improving on a later betting round with the intent of making a better hand fold.

Question 19

Showdown Value

Answer 19

A hand that can realistically win at showdown.

Question 20

Nut advantage or Nut threshold

Answer 20

A hand that makes up a larger portion of his range than the villain’s range.

Question 21

Passive player

Answer 21

A player who tends to play his stong made hands and bluffs in a more passive manner than he should.

Question 22

Aggressive player

Answer 22

A player who tends to take the betting initiative when given the opportunity.

Question 23

Regular

Answer 23

A player who regularly shows up in games and is assumed to play well and be experienced.

Question 24

Pocket pair

Answer 24

A starting hand with two cards of the same rank. Ex: AcAd.

Question 25

Draw

Answer 25

A player is drawing or on a draw if he has an incomplete hand and needs to improve with an additional card to have significant showdown value.

Question 26

Gutshot or inside straight draw

Answer 26

A draw with four outs to make a straight

Ex: 9-7 on Q-10-6 flop

Question 27

Open-ended straight draw (OESD)

Answer 27

A draw with 8 outs to make a straight

ex: J9 on QT6 flop.

Question 28

Broadway

Answer 28

the nut straight, A-T.

KQJT are referred to as broadway cards.

Question 29

Any two cards (ATC)

Answer 29

Refers to a range containing all possible holdings, often used for aggressive actions that can be taken regardless of a player’s holding.

Question 30

Coin flip / Race

Answer 30

A situation where both players are all-in and both players have roughly 50% chance to win.

Question 31

Cooler

Answer 31

A situation where two strong hands clash and there is no way for the player with the weaker hand to fold.

Question 32

Versus

Answer 32

Another word for “against”.

Question 33

Toy game

Answer 33

A simplified game used to model specific aspects of a real game.

Question 34

Game abstraction

Answer 34

A game where there are restrictions placed on the player’s strategies intended to reduce the size and complexity of the game.

Question 35

What are the main types of game abstraction

Answer 35

Information abstraction

Action abstraction

Question 36

Information abstraction

Answer 36

A situation where some of the information states are bunded together. Ex: on the flop AcKcQc, the hands 3h2h, 2s2s, and 3d2d can be considered the same hand for strategic purposes.

Question 37

Action abstraction

Answer 37

A situation where some of the actions in the real game are assumed to not be usable. Ex: removing a player’s strategic option of calling or betting certain amounts, such as 1 BB into a 100 BB, or 100BB into a 1 BB pot.

Question 38

Rake

Answer 38

The commission, or fee, taken by a cardroom that hosts the poker game.

Question 39

Calling station

Answer 39

A player who never folds a made hand regardless of the action.