A hero call is a call made with a very weak hand on the final betting round, especially when facing a lot of action. On the surface it appears that the call being made could never be profitable since the hero calling hand is weak enough that winning seems highly unlikely. A hero call would usually be made in a situation where a player has a strong read or “tell” on his opponent. For example, if we are very confident our opponent is bluffing we might be able to call big river bets with high card type hands.

The term heads up refers to two handed poker. This would occur either because there are only two players dealt into a hand or because all other players at the table folded, leaving just two remaining. In a tournament the action becomes heads up when all other players have been knocked out of the tournament. The winner of the heads up match will win first prize in the tournament.

Hand ranking simply refers to the order of poker hands based on their strength. For example, a flush beats a straight but loses to a full house. While many variants of poker use the same hand rankings, some variants use different hand rankings. “Lowball” games such as Razz and 2-7 triple Draw make use of a low hand ranking system. The easiest way of explaining low hand rankings is “worst hand wins” although hand ranking rules are not the same across all lowball variants. Whichever variant of poker we look to play, it makes sense to be very familiar with the exact hand rankings of that variant before sitting down at the table.

Hand for Hand is a stage in poker tournaments where every table must finish their current hand before the tournament moves on to the next hand.

Gutshot is the nickname for an inside straight draw. For example, we hold 5679 and are waiting on an 8 in order to complete our straight. The nickname gutshot is so popular that the term ‘inside straight draw’ has almost entirely faded from use. Gutshotis essentially the new official name for this type of draw.

Grinding refers to playing long hours at the poker table, often in the hopes of making a living. It’s not a term that originated with poker – the dictionary definition of grind is “hard dull work”. It conveys the idea of doing something repetitive and boring – in exchange for a monetary reward in the case of poker. However, poker players often just use the term grinding interchangeably with “playing poker” – it no longer necessarily implies long hours or a dull experience.