wash
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 [...]

vig, vigorish
The rake.

vnh

Abbreviation for “very nice hand”, used in online poker chat.

under the gun
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 [...]

third man walking
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 [...]

satellite
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 [...]

rabbit hunt
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
1. A collection of 100 chips of the same denomination, usually arranged [...]

paint
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 [...]

offsuit
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 [...]

natural card
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.

M-ratio
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 [...]

laydown
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
1.Still raisable. A live bet is one which a player can raise even if they’ve already bet and [...]

keep (a bettor) honest
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.

Need an [...]

jack it up
To raise.

jackpot

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 [...]

idiot end, ignorant end
The bottom end of a straight.

immortal
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 [...]

half bet rule
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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]