Poker Phrases

Action: The time a player is to do something.  A player could say to the dealer “Who has the action” should they have forgotten whose turn it is.

Ante: A little portion of a wager put down by all players to create a pot at the start of every poker hand.

Burn: This describes the process of issuing the topmost card from the deck, face down.  This is done between each wagering round before handing out the next community playing card(s).  This acts as a security against a player recognizing or glimpsing the next card to be employed on the poker table.

Complete Hand: A full five card hand for instance a full house, flush, straight or straight flush.

House: The establishment that runs the poker game

Inside Straight: A hand containing four playing cards required to fill a straight except one in the centre.

Kicker: A playing card in a player’s hand that is used as a tiebreaker when two competitors have poker hands that are of identical ranking.

Muck: The playing cards before the dealer that have been folded or burned during the hand.

Open-ended straight: A poker hand consisting of four sequential playing cards that with the addition of one card at either end will complete a straight.

Pocket: The cards that only you can see.

Protect: Placing a chip on your cards to signify that you are still playing the game to make certain that your set of cards is not accidentally fouled by a discarded hand or mucked by the dealer.

Quads: Four of the same ranking.

Rank: The numerical worth assigned to a card (not the suit).

Tell: Some indication that a player (without realizing it) gives off suggesting something about their poker hand to other players.

Toke: A small quantity of cash given by the player who wins a pot to the dealer.

Trips: Three of the same value.

Variance: The changes in your bankroll, when the changes in your bankroll are large your variance is larger.