Holdem Terms
Pocket pair – When the hole cards are paired
Draw – When you have, counting the board, four suited cards and are hoping to ‘draw’ a fifth for a flush on the turn or river. Another example would be having four consecutive cards and hoping to draw a fifth for a straight on the turn or river.
Drawing hands – Players who are on a draw.
Made hands – This is a hand that is already completed and may win as is, such as a full house, three of a kind, two pair, etc. Many consider holdem to be a struggle between made hands and drawing hands.
Slow playing – This means that a player with a very good hand bets very small or simply checks in the hope others will bet for him and he can therefore deceive the others into thinking he has a mediocre hand. This play is very useful when there are aggressive bettors around the table.
Check/Raise – This is when a player checks his hand during betting and reraises after someone else bets. This usually is indicative of a very strong hand. Some experienced players claim that they have never seen a bluffer check/raise on the river. So be careful when you are check/raised on the river.
Back door or runner runner – This is when two cards are needed after the flop to complete your drawhand and they happen. An example would be having three hearts after the flop and the turn and river are hearts which complete your flush.
Early, middle and late position – This refers to seating with respect to betting. The first three to bet are early position bettors, the next three are considered middle and the last three are considered to be the late position. Unlike the others, prior to the flop, my card considers early to include the first 4 seats (or 5 in an eleven seat game), middle to be the next two seats and late to be the button and the player before the button.
Free card – This refers to the situation where someone has raised during a betting round in the hope that it will scare players into checking on the next round of betting resulting in the next card being dealt withno added money put into the pot – thus, a free look at the next card.
Heads up – When there are only two players remaining in the game.
Card odds, Pot odds and Implied odds – The holdem strategy card considers card odds to be theprobability of completing your hand with the remaining cards to come and making it a hand with a chance to win. Pot odds are the ratio of the total in the pot to the amount of the bet. Implied pot odds refer to pot odds that include any bets likely to be made and therefore, should be added to the total in the pot at the time you are to bet. For instance, a good rule of thumb is that if you have a 10% chance of completing your hand, you should have pot odds plus implied bets of at least 1-9 (one chance in ten (1+9) of winning the pot) in order to stay in the game. This is an extremely important concept.
Outs – This is the quantity of cards in the deck that will give you your needed made hand. For instance,a hand with an AA, wishing to improve to three of a kind has 2 outs (2 A’s). A hand with, say, 5, 6, 7, 8 of hearts has 9 more of the suit to make a flush and 8 more cards that make a straight. The total outs are 9 + 8 - 2= 15 outs. Two must be deducted because two of the hearts counted in the 9 were double counted (i.e. the 4 and 9 of hearts were counted both as flush outs and straight outs, a point often missed by novices).
Outside, inside straight draws – When a player has four consecutive cards, (such as 3, 4, 5, 6,) and needs a fifth to complete the straight and the fifth can be at the top or bottom of the four consecutive cards, this is an outside or “open ended” straight. If the four cards span a window of five positions, (such as where you have 3, 4, 6, 7, and a 5 is needed) then you need a card in the middle to complete the straight, this is an inside or “gut shot” straight draw. The difference is that an outside straight can be completed with 8 possible cards (called outs) whereas, a gut shot has only 4 outs.
Kicker – When you have an A (or other high card in your pocket), the other card is called the kicker. For instance, if you had K9 and someone else had a KJ, then his kicker to the K is the J, and is called a higher kicker and would win in a showdown. More money has been lost having a poor kicker since many players do not realize the importance of good kickers. This is why, on the holdem strategy card, an AX (where the X kicker = a nine or lower) is rated so low which seems to surprise many novices.
Limp – Players, who call the big blind without raising are called limpers.
Nuts – The best possible hand at that stage of the betting.
Overcard – A card that is higher in rank. For instance, if I had a pair of pocket K’s and the flop had A, 9, 3, then, the A is an Overcard to my K’s. Another example would be if my pocket cards were K9 and the flop is J, 9, 4, then the J is an overcard to my pair of 9’s.
Tell – This is when you observe some idiosyncrasy of another player which gives a suggestion as to thestrength of his hand. It may be visual, verbal or some other action.
Tilt – This is when a player has just won a good pot or was beaten by a lucky draw by an opponent causing him to change his normal betting strategy on the next hand or hands.
Under the gun – This is the player who is first to bet.
No foldem holdem – This is a table where no one seems to ever fold their pocket cards.
