Poker Glossary

Every term used in the explanations links back here. Terminology is what trips people up, so open anything you do not recognise as you go.

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44 terms

pot odds

The price you are being offered: what a call costs against what the pot pays if you win.

Example: A pot of 150 with a 50 call is 3:1 — you risk 50 to win 200.

break-even equity

Also called: required equity, equity needed

How often you must win for a call to be neither profitable nor losing. It is the call divided by the final pot. Win more often than this and calling makes money.

Example: Calling 50 into a pot of 150 means 50 / 200 = 25%.

equity

Also called: win rate

The share of the pot your hand is worth right now if the hand ran to the end. Ties count as splitting.

EV

Also called: expected value

Expected value: what a decision wins or loses on average if you faced the same spot many times. Positive means it makes money in the long run.

EV loss

How much your choice gives up against the best available one, measured in big blinds. Closer to zero is better.

BB

Also called: big blind

Big blind. Because blinds keep rising in a tournament, stacks are counted in big blinds rather than chips.

effective stack

The smaller of the two stacks involved. That is the most either player can actually lose, so it is the number that matters.

Example: You have 40BB, your opponent has 12BB: the effective stack is 12BB.

SPR

Also called: stack-to-pot ratio

Stack-to-pot ratio: how many pots you still have behind. Low SPR means the hand resolves quickly; high SPR leaves room to manoeuvre.

ICM

Also called: Independent Chip Model

Independent Chip Model: a way of turning chip stacks into expected prize money. Doubling your chips does not double your prize, which is why chips and money can point in opposite directions.

risk premium

The extra equity you need before calling once prize money is counted. It grows when busting out costs you a lot and the payout jumps are steep.

the bubble

Also called: bubble

The point where one more player must bust before everyone left is paid. Pressure peaks here, and so does the risk premium.

push/fold

Also called: shove or fold

Play so shallow that the only sensible choices are all-in or fold. A middling raise would commit you anyway.

blocker

A card in your hand that your opponent therefore cannot hold, which removes some of their strongest combinations.

Example: Holding the ace of spades means they cannot have the nut flush.

range

All the hands a player could hold in this spot, not just one guess. Decisions are made against the whole set.

range advantage

Whose set of possible hands does better on this board, averaged across all of them.

nut advantage

Also called: nuts advantage

Who can hold the very strongest hands here. You need this before betting big; without it, only better hands keep calling.

board texture

The shape of the community cards: high or low, connected or not, one suit or three. It decides who the board favours.

c-bet

Also called: continuation bet

A bet on the flop by the player who raised before it. It continues the story their preflop raise told.

MDF

Also called: minimum defence frequency

Minimum defence frequency: how often you must continue against a bet so that betting any two cards would not automatically profit.

outs

The cards still to come that would turn your hand into a winner.

Example: Four to a flush leaves nine outs.

See also: equity

ante

A forced payment from everyone each hand, on top of the blinds. Most tournaments have the big blind post it for the table. It makes the pot worth fighting for from the start.

position

Where you sit relative to the action. Acting later means deciding with more information, which is worth more than most cards.

BTN

Also called: button

The button: last to act after the flop, and the best seat at the table.

See also: position

SB

Also called: small blind

Small blind: posts half a big blind before the cards, and acts first after the flop.

See also: position

BB (seat)

Also called: big blind seat

The big blind seat: posts a full big blind and acts last before the flop. Already invested, so it defends wider than any other seat.

See also: position

UTG

Also called: under the gun

Under the gun: first to act before the flop, with everyone still to come behind. The tightest seat.

See also: position

CO

Also called: cutoff

Cutoff: one seat before the button, and the second-best seat.

See also: position

HJ

Also called: hijack

Hijack: two seats before the button.

See also: position

showdown

Turning the cards face up at the end to see who wins.

See also: equity

pot

Everything bet so far, which the winner of the hand takes.

board

Also called: community cards

The shared cards in the middle. Every player may use them.

all-in

Also called: shove, jam

Betting every chip you have. You cannot be made to fold after this.

mixed strategy

Playing the same hand differently some of the time, so an opponent cannot read your holding from your action.

equilibrium

Also called: Nash equilibrium, Nash chart

A state where neither player gains by changing strategy on their own. It is used as a baseline that cannot be exploited.

equity realisation

How much of your raw equity you actually collect once the hand is played out. Out of position you realise less than the numbers suggest.

polarised range

Also called: polarised, polarized

Raising only with strong hands and with bluffs, while hands in between just call. A middling hand gains little by raising: worse hands fold and better hands continue.

Example: Raise AA and A5s, call with AJo. AJo is the classic hand that does not want to raise.

bluff candidate

A hand suited to bluffing: little is lost when it folds out, and it removes some of the opponent’s strongest holdings.

Example: A5s blocks AA and AK, and still has a suited card to improve with.

unopened pot

Also called: unopened

Nobody has raised or called by the time it reaches you. Only the blinds and antes are in.

Example: It folds around to the button.

multiway

Also called: multiway pot

Three or more players still in the hand. The more opponents, the harder the same hand is to win with.

See also: equity

calling range

The hands you continue with against a bet or a shove. It is tighter than the range doing the betting.

opening range

The hands you raise with when nobody has entered the pot. It widens as fewer players remain behind you.

cold call

Calling a raise when you have nothing invested yet, rather than having already put chips in.

chip EV

Also called: cEV

Expected value counted in chips alone, ignoring prize money. In a tournament this can be positive while the play still costs you money.

Monte Carlo

Also called: simulation

Dealing the remaining cards at random many times and counting how often you win. More runs means less error, but never an exact answer.

Example: Win 1,500 of 4,000 runouts and the estimate is about 37.5%.

See also: equity