In poker, a made hand is one that does not need improvement to win, in contrast to a drawing hand. For example in Draw poker, if you have two pair, and your opponent is drawing for a straight or flush, you are said to have a made hand because even though you will be drawing a card [...]

 In poker, a drawing hand is a hand that is not yet “complete”; that is, one which does not yet rank highly, but which may later, depending on what cards a player receives. This contrasts with a made hand - a hand which is already somewhat strong.An illustrative example from Texas Hold ‘em: if Alice holds A♣ [...]

In poker, a dominating hand is one with an overwhelming statistical advantage over another specific hand. For example, in Seven-card stud, while a Starting hand of K♠ K♥ Q♦ has the lead over A♦ K♦ 10♥, the latter has many outs (ways to improve) to beat the former (catching an ace, [...]

In poker, the dead man’s hand is a two-pair hand, namely “aces and eights.” The origin of the name is the five-card-draw hand held by Wild Bill Hickok at the time of his murder, which is accepted to have included the aces and eights of both of the black suits (sometimes considered [...]

In poker, players may often use slang terms for particular types of hands. Though most are recent neologisms, others date to poker’s antiquity. All such slang terms typically connect a common concept (from life experience or storytelling) to the hand, in order to more easily characterize its general status relative to [...]

The blinds is a term used to describe the two forced bets posted by players to the left of the dealer in flop-style poker games.
The blinds exist because Omaha and Texas hold ‘em are generally played without antes, allowing a player to fold his hand without placing a bet. The blind bets [...]

In a fixed-limit poker game, a big bet (BB) is the larger of two fixed bet amounts. A big bet is used in the final rounds of a game to increase the pot amount and thereby enable the possibility of a bluff. Big bets are generally double the wager of the initial [...]

Betting limits apply to the amount a player may open or raise, and come in four common forms: no limit, pot limit (the two collectively called big bet poker), fixed limit, and spread limit.
All such games have a minimum bet as well as the stated maximums, and also commonly a betting unit, [...]

All poker games require some forced bets in order to create an initial stake for the players to contest. The requirements for forced bets, and the betting limits of the game (see below) are collectively called the game’s betting structure.
Ante
An ante is a forced bet in which each player places an equal [...]

Players in a poker game act in turn, in clockwise rotation (acting out of turn is a breach of etiquette and can negatively affect other players). When it is a player’s turn to act, the first verbal declaration or action he takes binds him to his choice of action; this is [...]

garbage

The “muck”.
A worthless hand.

going south
To sneak a portion of your chips from the table while the game is underway. Normally prohibited in public card rooms.

grinder
A player who earns a living by making small profits over a long period of consistent, conservative play.

guts, guts to open

A game with [...]

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 [...]

family pot
A deal in which every (or almost every) seated player called the first opening bet.
fast
Aggressive play. I was afraid of too many chasers, so I played my trips fast.
feeder
In a casino setting, a second or third table playing the same game as a “main” table, and [...]

equity
One’s mathematical expected value from the current deal, calculated by multiplying the amount of money in the pot by one’s probability of winning. For example, if the pot currently contains $100, and you estimate that you have a one in four chance of winning it, then your equity in the pot [...]

dark
Describing an action taken before receiving information to which the player would normally be entitled. I’m drawing three, and I check in the dark. Compare to “blind”.
dead blind
A blind that is not “live”, in that the player posting it does not have the option to raise if other players [...]

calling station
A weak player who frequently checks and calls, but rarely raises.

cap
A limit on the number of raises allowed in a betting round. Typically three or four (in addition the opening bet). In most casinos, the cap is removed if there are only two players remaining either (1) at the [...]

baby
A low-ranked card, usually used in lowball games. Also “spoke” when between ace and five.
backdoor

A draw requiring two or more rounds to fill. For example, catching two consecutive cards in two rounds of seven-card stud or Texas hold ‘em to fill a straight or flush.
A hand made other than [...]

A-B-C, A-B-C-D

A sequence of the lowest cards in a lowball game. For example, the hand 8-6-3-2-A might be called an eight-six-a-b-c.
Uncreative or predictable play. He’s an a-b-c player.

ace-to-five, ace-to-six
Methods of evaluating low hands.

act
To make a play (bet, call, raise, or fold) at the required time. It is Ted’s turn [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]