58 terms, one or two plain sentences each. When a term has a drill,
the link takes you straight to practice.
Action Any bet, call, raise or fold — or simply whose turn it is ("the action is on you").
All-in Betting every chip you have. You can win at most what you cover from each caller.
Ante A small forced bet from every player before the deal, common in tournaments.
Backdoor draw A draw needing both the turn and the river to complete — worth little on its own. Bad beat Losing after getting the money in as a big favorite. It happens; equity is never 100%.
Big blind The larger forced bet, two seats left of the button. Table stakes are measured in big blinds.
Bluff Betting a hand with no showdown value so better hands fold. Board The shared community cards. If the board is the best five-card hand, the pot splits.
Broadway The ace-high straight (10-J-Q-K-A), or any of the big cards 10 through ace.
Buy-in The amount you bring to a cash game table or pay to enter a tournament.
Call Matching the current bet to stay in the hand.
Check Passing the action for free when nobody has bet.
Check-raise Checking with the plan to raise after an opponent bets — a power move out of position. Coin flip A near 50/50 all-in, classically a pair against two overcards. See the equity trainer.
Connectors Consecutive cards like 8-7. Suited connectors make straights and flushes.
Continuation bet (c-bet) A bet on the flop from the preflop raiser, continuing the story of strength.
Cooler A huge hand losing to an even bigger one — set over set, aces into a flush. Unavoidable. Cutoff The seat one before the button; the second-best position.
Dominated Sharing a card with a better kicker — AQ against AK wins only ~27%.
Draw An unmade hand that can improve into a strong one — flush draws, straight draws. Equity Your share of the pot if the hand ran many times — your win probability. Train the feel.
Flop The first three community cards, dealt together after the preflop betting round.
Fold Giving up the hand, losing only what you already put in. The most profitable button in poker. Gutshot An inside straight draw needing exactly one rank — 4 outs.
Heads-up A pot or game contested by only two players.
Hole cards Your two private cards in Texas Hold'em.
Implied odds Money you expect to win on later streets when your draw hits — improves a bad price. Kicker The highest side card that breaks ties between equal hands — the quiet decider of countless pots at showdown. Limp Just calling the big blind preflop instead of raising. As a default: don't.
Muck To fold without showing, or the pile of dead cards.
Nuts The best possible hand given the board. Nut flush = the ace-high flush.
Offsuit Two hole cards of different suits — written AKo. Open raise The first raise into an unopened pot. Which hands? The charts. Outs Unseen cards that improve you to a likely winner. A flush draw has 9. Count them fast.
Overcards Cards higher than anything on the board (or than your opponent's pair).
Overpair A pocket pair higher than every board card — queens on J-8-3.
Pocket pair A pair dealt in your hole cards, from 22 up to AA. Position Acting after your opponents — the closer to the button, the more you know. Learn the seats. Pot odds The price of a call versus the pot — sets the equity you need. Calculator and drill.
Preflop Everything before the flop: hole cards dealt, first betting round. Quads Four of a kind. Beaten only by a straight flush — see what beats what.
Rainbow A flop of three different suits — no flush draw possible yet.
Range The whole set of hands a player can hold in a spot, not one exact hand. Thinking in ranges is the real skill.
River The fifth and final community card, followed by the last betting round.
Semi-bluff Betting a draw: you can win now with a fold or later by hitting.
Set Trips made with a pocket pair plus one board card — hidden and powerful.
Small blind The smaller forced bet, immediately left of the button — first to act postflop.
Split pot Identical best hands share the pot. Suits never break ties.
Suited Two hole cards of the same suit — written AKs; adds about 2-3% of equity.
Tilt Emotional play after losses — the most expensive habit in poker.
Trips Three of a kind using one hole card and a board pair (compare: set).
Turn The fourth community card, dealt after the flop betting round. Under the gun (UTG) First seat to act preflop, right after the big blind — opens the tightest range.
Value bet A bet made to get called by worse hands — where the money actually comes from.