In poker, a bad beat occurs when a hand, which was at one time a big favourite to win, loses. Typically the term is only applied in this way when the player holding the eventual winning hand misplayed it spectacularly.
Alternatively, the term is also applied when a particularly strong hand loses to an even stronger one. In some casinos there is a “bad beat jackpot” awarded whenever a player suffers a particular beat.
A typical example of the first type of bad beat, in No Limit Texas hold ‘em:
Alice (the hero) holds A♦ A♣ – pocket aces, the strongest possible starting hand.
Bob (the villain) holds Q♣ 8♥ – a weak hand.
The players have the same amount of chips. Before the flop, Alice raises to 15 times the big blind, placing a fifth of her stack in the pot, and only Bob calls. The flop comes A♥ 8♠ 7♠. Although Alice has the nuts at this point, making 3 aces, she is concerned about possible draws to a straight or flush, and goes all-in with a bet that is twice the size of the pot. Bizarrely, Bob, who has only middle-pair, calls.
At this point, Bob’s chances of winning are precisely 1 in 990. [1] He can only win if both the turn card and the river card are eights. Since this is a bad beat story, the turn and river naturally bring precisely that, and Bob scoops the pot, leaving Alice cursing Bob’s appalling play – he should not have called such a big bet before the flop, nor on the flop.
Reacting to bad beats
Bad beats can be infuriating, but mathematically “Alice” actually wants “Bob” to play in this manner. Bob took a gamble that should not have worked; his odds were 989-to-1 against. It worked this time, but if he continues to play in such a careless manner, he will almost certainly lose more than he wins. He is essentially giving away his money—and if Alice is careful, it will all go to her. Thus, the more stoic poker players accept bad beats as an unpleasant but necessary drawback to a tactic that works the vast majority of the time (989 of 990 instances, in this case). Nevertheless, a bad beat is often a profound psychological blow, and can easily lead to a player going on tilt. Professional player Phil Hellmuth, among others, is notorious for his pronounced reactions to bad beats.
In online poker rooms, bad beats often lead to accusations that the random number generator is “rigged”, even though such beats occur in offline games.
Bad beat jackpot
A bad beat jackpot is a prize that is paid when a sufficiently strong hand is shown down and loses to an even stronger hand held by another player. Not all poker games offer bad beat jackpots, and those that do have specific requirements for how strong a losing hand must be to qualify for the jackpot. For example, the losing hand may be required to be four-of-a-kind or better. There may be additional requirements as well. For example, in Texas hold ‘em there is usually a requirement that both hole cards play in both the losing and winning hands. These rules vary from one cardroom to the next.
Bad beat jackpots are usually progressive, often with a small rake being taken out of each pot to fund the jackpot (in addition to the regular rake). When the jackpot is won, it is usually split among all players sitting at the table at the time of the bad beat, including players that folded their hands (usually a 25% share), with the largest shares of the jackpot going to the players holding the winning (usually 25%) and losing hand (usually 50%). Because such bad beats are rare, jackpots can grow to be quite large, sometimes reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars.
To mix the deck by spreading the cards face down on the table and mixing them up. A dealer may wash the deck before shuffling.
weak ace
An ace with a low kicker (e.g. four). Also “small ace,” “soft ace,” “ace-rag.”
whipsaw
When a player is caught in the middle between two raisers and must call each bet because of the pot odds. Compare to “crossfire”.
window card
An upcard in stud poker. The first window card in stud is called the “door card”.
wired pair
A “pocket pair”.
wrap
In Omaha, the term for an open ended straight that consists of two board cards and three or four cards from a player’s hand. An example would be a player holding 345A with the board 67K is said to have a “wrap” as any 3, 4, or 5, or 8 will make a straight. A hand of 4589 would also be a wrap draw, but would often be refered to as a “big wrap” due to twenty cards making the straight as opposed to thirteen in the first example.
In the game of poker, opens and raises are considered aggressive plays, while calls and checks are considered passive (though a check-raise would be considered a very aggressive play). It is said that “aggression has its own value”, meaning that often aggressive plays can make money with weak hands because of bluff value. Aggressive plays also tend to give the opponents more opportunities to make mistakes.
While it is true that aggressive play is generally superior to passive play, using any play exclusively can lead to predictability, and being too predictable is far worse than being too passive. A player who is constantly aggressive and plays many inferior hands is called a “maniac”, and skilled players will take advantage of him by calling him more often, using isolation plays, and by other means.
If a player is not aggressive with his weaker hands, the opponents can safely fold whenever the player does bet or raise. The appropriate amount of aggression can be computed using game theory, and depends on the game being played and the tendencies of the opponents.
The playing position to the direct left of the blinds in Texas hold ‘em or Omaha . The player who is under the gun must act first on the first round of betting.
underfull
In a community card game, a full house that is one of the lowest full houses possible. For example: in Texas hold ‘em, a player holding a pair of deuces with a final board of 2A33Q holds an underfull (Deuces full of Treys). The highest possible full house is Aces full of Treys. Also “underboat”.
up
When used with a card rank to describe a poker hand, refers to two pair with the named card being the higher pair. For example, a hand of QQ885 might be called “queens up”.
upcard
See upcard.
up the ante
Increase the stake. Also commonly used outside the context of poker.
A player who gets up from his seat in a cash game, after two other players are already away from the table, is referred to as the “third man walking”. In a casino with a “third man walking rule”, this player may be required to return to his seat within 10 minutes, or one rotation of the deal around the table, or else his seat in the game will be forfeited if there is a waiting list for the game.
throwing a party
A player who is playing like a fool and gambling all of their money away is said to be throwing a party.
trey
A 3-spot card. Casino personnel refer to the 3♣ as the “trey of clubs”.
2-way straight draw
A hand in draw poker such as 6♥ 7♥(Joker) 9♣, in which any of twelve cards (4 fives, 4 eights, 4 tens) can fill a straight.
A tournament in which the prize is a free entrance to another (larger) tournament.
scare card
A card that comes that may have improved an opponent’s hand. The Jack of spades on the turn was a scare card because it put both flush and straight possibilities on the board.
scoop
In high-low split games, to win both the high and the low half of the pot.
set
Three of a kind, esp. the situation where two of the cards are concealed in the player’s hole cards.
set-up
A deck that has been ordered, usually King to Ace by suit (spades, hearts, clubs and diamonds). In casinos, it is customary to use a set-up deck when introducing a new deck to the table. The set-up is spread face up for the players to demonstrate that all of the cards are present before the first shuffle. Also called to “spade the deck”.
shootout
A poker tournament format where the last remaining player of a table goes on to play the remaining players of other tables. Each table plays independently of the others; that is, there is no balancing as players are eliminated. This format is particularly common in European televised poker programs, including Late Night Poker.
side pot
A separate pot created to deal with the situation of one player going “all in”.
-way straight draw
A hand in draw poker such as 6♥ 7♥8♠ (Joker), in which any of sixteen cards (4 fours, 4 fives, 4 nines, 4 tens) can fill a straight.
slow roll
To delay or avoid showing one’s hand at showdown, forcing other players to expose their hands first. When done while holding a good hand likely to be the winner, it is considered poor etiquette, because it often gives other players “false hope” that their hands might win before the slow-roller’s is exposed.
small blind special
A situation in which (assuming no raising) a player is dealt weak hole cards in the small blind, but ends up making the best hand because they got to see a relatively inexpensive flop.
smooth call
A “flat call”.
speeding
To play very loose with no identifiable pattern, or to bluff frequently. Also known as speeding around.
spike
When a flop is spread out, if the first card revealed is the card an underdog needs, they spike that card. More loosely, if any of the flop cards help you, then you spike it. I had Q9 to my opponent’s pocket jacks, but I spiked a queen on the flop to take the lead.
splash the pot
To throw one’s chips in the pot in a disorderly fashion. Not typically allowed, because the dealer can’t tell how much has been bet.
spread
The range between a table’s minimum and maximum bets.
stack
A collection of 20 poker chips of the same denomination, usually arranged in an orderly column.
stakes
The definition of the amount one buys in for and can bet. For example, a “low stakes” game might be a $10 buy-in with a $1 maximum raise.
stand pat
In draw poker, playing the original hand using no draws, either as a bluff or in the belief it is the best hand.
steam
Act of playing recklessly when one is frustrated.
stop ‘n go
When a player bets into another player who has previously raised or otherwise shown aggression. Example: On the flop, Bill bets into Tom, Tom raises, and Bill just calls. On the turn, Bill bets into Tom again. Bill has just pulled a stop ‘n go.
straight
Poker hand
When used with an amount, indicates that the speaker is referring to the total bet, versus the amount being raised. Alice bets twenty. Bob raises to fifty straight.
strategy card
A wallet sized card that is commonly used to help with poker strategies in online and casino games.
string bet
To call with one motion and raise with another, or to reach for more chips in the middle of laying a bet/raise without stating the intended amount. String bets are prohibited in public cardroom rules.
stuck
Having lost money. I’m stuck $300 right now.
stud
A variant of poker.
A card dealt face up in Stud poker.
suck out
To draw a winning hand despite poor odds.
sucker straight
In community card poker variants, a straight completed on the low end of the possible straight on the board.
suited
Having the same suit. See card suits.
super satellite
A multi-table poker tournament in which the prize is a free entrance to a satellite tournament or a tournament in which all the top finishers gain entrance to a larger tournament.
After a hand is over, a rabbit hunt means to reveal the last card that would have come up in a community card game with a fixed number of cards. Such activity is usually prohibited in casinos.
rack
. A collection of 100 chips of the same denomination, usually arranged in 5 stacks in a plastic tray.
. A plastic tray used for storing a rack of chips.
rags
Worthless (or apparently worthless) cards. Most often refers to small cards in high-hand games, while high cards in low games are more often called “bricks” or “bombs”. Also “blank”.
rail
The rail is the sideline at a poker table – the (often imaginary) rail separating spectators from the field of play. Watching from the rail means watching a poker game as a spectator. People on the rail are sometimes called railbirds.
rainbow
Three or four cards of different suits, especially said of a flop.
rakeback
Rebate/repayment to a player of a portion the rake paid by the player, normally from a non-cardroom, third-party source such as an affiliate. Applies only to online poker.
ram and jam
To aggressively bet, raise, and reraise.
ratholing
To “go south”.
rebuy
An amount of chips purchased after the buy-in.
redeal
To deal a hand again, possibly after a misdeal.
redraw
To make one hand and have a draw for a better hand. Ted made a straight on the turn with a redraw for a flush on the river..
Second or later draws in a draw game with multiple draws.
reraise
Raise after one has been raised. Also coming “over the top”.
river rat
A player whose hand was dominated from the start, but improves his hand on the river to win the pot.
rock
A very tight player (plays very few hands and only continues with strong hands).
A bundle of chips held together with a rubber band, or other token signifying an obligatory live straddle. If the player under the gun has the rock, he must use it to post a live straddle. The winner of the pot collects the rock and is obligated to use it in turn.
rolled-up trips
In seven-card stud, three of a kind dealt in the first three cards.
runner
A tournament entrant, a contestant.
runner-runner
A hand made by hitting two consecutive cards on the turn and river. Also “backdoor”.
rush
Winning streak. A player who has won several big pots recently is said to be on a rush.
The face cards, Jacks, Queens, and Kings, in a deck. In Texas hold’em, a flop can be said to be “all paint” if it consists of only these cards.
passive
A style of play characterized by checking and calling.
pat
Already complete. A hand is a pat hand when, say, a straight comes on the first five cards in Texas hold’em.
pick-up
When the house picks up cash from the dealer after a player buys chips.
pigeon
A bad player. Also “donkey”, “fish”.
play twice
See “deal twice”.
pocket pair
In community card poker or stud poker, when two of a player’s private cards make a pair. Also “wired pair”.
poker face
A blank face that does not reveal anything about the cards being held. Often used metaphorically outside the world of poker.
position bet
A bet that is made more due to the strength of the bettor’s position than the strength of the bettor’s cards.
post
To make the required small or big blind bet in Texas Hold ‘em or other games played with blinds rather than antes
post dead
To post a bet amount equal to the small and the big blind combined (the amount of the large blind playing as a live blind, and the amount of the small blind as dead money). In games played with blinds, a player who steps away from the table and misses his turn for the blinds must either post dead or wait for the big blind to re-enter the game. Compare to “dead blind”.
probe bet
A bet after the flop by a player who did not take the lead in betting before the flop (and when the player that did take the lead in betting before the flop declined to act). Compare to “continuation bet”.
proposition player, prop
A player that gets paid an hourly rate to start poker games or to help them stay active. Prop players play with their own money, which distinguishes them from shills, who play with the casino’s money.
Cards that are not of the same suit. The ace of clubs and the king of spades are called ace-king offsuit
open
To bet first.
open ended, open ended straight draw
An outside straight draw. Also “two-way straight draw”.
openers
The cards held by a player in a game of “jackpots” entitling him to open the pot. “Splitting openers” refers to holding onto one of your openers after discarding it to prove you had the necessary cards to open should you win the pot.
option
An optional bet or draw, such as getting an extra card facedown for 50 cents or raising on the big blind when checked all the way around.
The right to raise possessed by the big blind if there have been no raises.
out of pocket
A game which gives the players the ability to add more money to their stack in the middle of a hand.
outside straight, outside straight draw
“Two-way straight draw”.
overcall
To call a bet after others have called, esp. big bets. Jim bet, Alice called, then Ted overcalled.
overcard
A community card with a higher rank than a player’s pocket pair.
A higher card. Ted held two overcards to Jill’s pair with two cards to come.
overpair
In community card games such as Texas Hold’em and Omaha, a pocket pair with a higher rank than any community card.
over the top
To reraise. Ted raised $20, then Alice came over the top for $60 more.
A card that isn’t wild or otherwise modified by the game rules. In some houses, a natural hand beats an equivalent hand that uses wild cards, though this is not generally the case.
In no-limit or pot limit games the ratio of stack to the blinds and/or antes. For example 8-way in a no limit game hold’em game with blinds of $50/$100 and an ante of $10 a stack of $23,000 has an M-ratio of 100. To further clarify, M = $23,000 / [$100 + $50 + ($10 * 8)] = 100.
maniac
A loose and aggressive player. A player who bets constantly and plays many inferior hands.
match the pot
To put in an amount equal to all the chips in the pot.
misdeal
A deal which is ruined for some reason and must be redealt.
move in
In a no-limit game, to “move in” or to “go all in” means to bet one’s entire stake on the hand in play.
muck
To fold.
To discard one’s hand without revealing the cards. Often done after winning without a showdown or at a showdown when a better hand has already been revealed.
A tough choice to fold a good hand in anticipation of superior opposition.
limit
The minimum or maximum amount of a bet.
limp, limp in
To enter a pot by simply calling instead of raising.
live
.Still raisable. A live bet is one which a player can raise even if they’ve already bet and everyone else has made a call, typically because the player posted a blind or straddle.
. A game full of unskilled or bad players.
lock up
To “lock up” a seat in a cash game means to place a poker chip, player’s card, or other personal effect on the table in front of the seat, to signify that the seat is occupied even though the player may not be present.
loose cannon
A player who is not afraid to put money in the pot; one who is “gambling” a lot and liable to lose all his money at any given time.
To call a final bet while not expecting to win, for the primary purpose of discouraging future bluffs.
kitty
A pool of money built by collecting small amounts from certain pots, often used to buy refreshments, cards, and so on. The home-game equivalent of a rake.
A game of “jackpot poker” or “jackpots”, which is a variant of five-card draw with an ante from each player, no blinds, and an opening requirement of a pair of jacks or better.
A large pool of money collected by the house and awarded for some rare occurrence, typically a bad beat.
jam
To open or raise the maximum amount allowed.
juice
Money collected by the house. Also “vig”, “vigorish”.
Unbeatable; often said of a hand that a player knows cannot be beaten under the circumstances of play. Also “lock”, “nuts”.
improve
To achieve a better hand than one currently holds by adding or exchanging cards as provided in the rules of the game being played. I didn’t think Paula was bluffing, so I decided not to call unless I improved on the draw.
insurance
A “business” deal in which players agree to split or reduce a pot (roughly in proportion to the chances of each of them winning) with more cards to come rather than playing out the hand, or else a deal where one player makes a side bet against himself with a third party to hedge against a large loss.
in the bushes, in the weeds
A player slow playing is said to be “in the bushes” during the time he is quietly checking and calling while others bet aggressively. He will eventually “decloak”.
in the middle
In a game with multiple blinds, an incoming player may sometimes be allowed to post the blinds “in the middle” (that is, out of their normal order) rather than having to wait for them to pass.
A player being whipsawed is said to be “in the middle”.
in the money
To place high enough in a poker tournament to get prize money.
in turn
A player, or an action, is said to be in turn if that player is expected to act next under the rules. Jerry said “check” while he was in turn, so he’s not allowed to raise.
irregular declaration
An action taken by a player in turn that is not a straightforward declaration of intent, but that is reasonably interpreted as an action by other players, such as pointing a thumb up to signify “raise”. House rules or dealer discretion may determine when such actions are meaningful and/or binding.
irregularity
Any of a number of abnormal conditions in play, such as unexpectedly exposed cards, that may call for corrective action.
In some casinos, the rule that placing chips equal to or greater than half the normal bet amount beyond the amount required to call constitutes a commitment to raise the normal amount. For example, in a game with a $4 fixed limit, a player facing a $4 opening bet who places $6 in the pot is deemed to have raised, and must complete his bet to $8.
hammer
To bet and raise aggressively. Nora kept hammering, so I folded.
“Having the hammer” is being in last position, especially head up. You’ve got the hammer; I check to you.
A “hammer lock” refers to a player with an almost 100% chance of winning the pot.
In Texas Hold’em, The Hammer refers to a starting hand consisting of a 7-2 offsuit.
hard
Aggressive and uncompromising, said of one’s play. Jim played me hard all night; I could never get a break.
Chips, as opposed to paper money. I gave the floorman $100 for $50 hard and $50 soft.
head up, heads up
Playing against a single opponent. After Lori folded, Frank and I were heads up for the rest of the hand.
here kitty kitty
A conspicuously small bet made with a very powerful hand in the hope of getting a call from one or more opponents who would otherwise fold to a normal-sized bet.
high, high hand
The best hand using traditional poker hand values, as opposed to lowball. Used especially in high-low split games.
high card
A no pair hand, ranked according to its highest-ranking cards.
To defeat another player by virtue of high-ranking cards, especially kickers.
To randomly select a player for some purpose by having each draw one card, the highest of which is selected (for example, to decide who deals first). When all the players get here, we’ll high card for the button. Often high card by suit is used for this purpose.
high society
Large-denomination chips. Also “society”.
hit and run
To play for a short time, make money, and leave. Also called “chopping” a game.
hog, hogger
To win all of the pot in a split-pot game, for example, by having both the best high hand and best low hand simultaneously. Also called “scooping” the pot.
hole, hole cards
Face-down cards. Also “pocket cards”. I think Willy has two more queens in the hole.
A seat, often preceded by a number relative to the button. Sara opened from the 2-hole.
hole cam
a camera that displays a player’s face-down cards (“hole cards”) to television viewers.
Hollywood
Overt acting to deceive other players. Karl had a big smile when he bet, but it seemed too Hollywood to me, so I called anyway.
home game
A game played at a private venue (usually the home of one of the players), as opposed to a casino or public cardroom.
hop the fence
The enter the pot with a cold call.
horse
A player financially backed by someone else. I lost today, but Larry was my horse in the stud game, and he won big.
hunt
Looking further into the deck after the hand is over to see what cards would have come next. Also “fox hunt”, “rabbit hunt”.
In poker, the starting hand is the initial set of cards dealt to each player before any voluntary betting takes place. For example, in Seven-card stud this is two downcards and one upcard; in Texas hold’em it is two downcards; in Five-card draw it is five cards.The one decision made by every poker player on every deal of every game is whether to continue playing that hand after seeing that first set of cards. Since making this decision correctly will lead to the most long-run profit for a skilled player, players often put considerable study into what the appropriate starting hand “standards” are for the game being played.
Optimal starting hand standards can be very sensitive to factors such as the betting structure of a game, position, and the character of the other players, as well as the rules of the game being played.
Pocket Aces refers to a starting poker hand that contains two Aces. The most common context is a game of Texas Hold’em.Other names for Ace-Ace include American Airlines, bullets, and rockets.
In a conventional game of hold’em, Ace-Ace is the best possible starting hand. It is the best hand before the flop, is the hand most likely to form the best hand after the flop, and in the long run shows the most earning potential of any starting hand. The second-best starting hand is King-King.
It is also possible to have pocket aces in a game of seven-card stud, if the two hole cards are aces.
The odds against being dealt pocket aces are 220:1.
In poker, the nut hand, or just the nuts, is the strongest hand possible in any particular situation. The term applies mostly to community card poker games to mean the individual holding that makes the strongest hand possible with the given board of community cards. By extension, the term is used more loosely to refer to any very strong hand.For example in Texas hold ‘em, if the board is ♠ 6♠ A♣ 9♠ 5♥, a player holding
♠ 8♠ has the nuts (a -high straight flush in spades), and cannot lose. Sometimes it is useful to know that your hand is the second or third best possible. On this same board, the hand ♣ 5♦ would be the second-nut hand, four fives; and the third-nut hand would be any pair of the remaining three aces, making a full house A-A-A-5-5.
In high-low split games one often speaks of “nut low” and “nut high” hands separately. With an Omaha board identical to the one above, any hand with
-3 makes the nut low -5-3-2-A, while -4 is the second-nut low (the nut high hands remain the same).
Finally, one also hears terms such as “nut flush” or “nut full house” to mean the highest hand possible in that particular category in the circumstances, even though that may not be strictly the nut hand. For example, a pair of aces with the above board could be called the “nut full house”, even though there are two higher (but very unlikely) hands possible.
The phrase originates from the historical poker games in the colonial west of America. If one bet to the sum of everything he possessed, he would place the “nuts” of his wagon wheels on the table. Most likely, this was to ensure that, should the wagerer lose the hand, he would be unable to flee and would have to make good on the bet. Obviously, to make such a bet one would need to be sure that he has the best possible hand.
There is also a possibility of having a nut losing hand (a hand that will lose to anything). For example, this occurs when the board has four of a kind and a deuce. In this situation, if you hold pocket 2′s, there is no possibility of this hand winning a showdown with any other hand, as any opponent must have a better kicker than you.
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