Poker Glossary

An open ended straight draw or OESD for short, refers to a straight draw that can be completed at either end. For example, if we hold 6789, we can catch either a Ten or a Five to complete our straight. There are usually 8 cards left in the deck that can complete our open ended straight, but it does depend on which cards have already dealt (especially in the case of Stud games).

One-gap means that there is a gap of exactly one rank between two cards. For example, if we are dealt 79s (Seven Nine suited) in Hold’em, it is referred to as a “suited one-gapper”. Although the term is primarily used to describe starting hands, it can technically be used to describe any scenario where two cards have a gap of exactly one rank.

Offsuit means that the suits of our cards don’t match. It is typically used to describe preflop holdings in Hold’em and Omaha. For example in Hold’em, when we get dealt 78o preflop (both of different suits) we refer to it as “Seven Eight offsuit” (as indicated by the ‘o’ next to 78). However, if we get dealt 78s (both of the same suit) we refer to it as “Seven Eight suited” (as indicated by the ‘s’ next to 78).

The Nuts in poker means the best possible hand. It is often referred to as the stone cold nuts for emphasis. While the nuts in Hold’em is technically the royal flush, the term nuts is used to describe the strongest possible holding given the situation. For example in Hold’em, on a QT8 rainbow texture, J9 in the hole is the nuts because it makes the nut straight.

Nut low means the best possible low hand in games with a low hand ranking system. For example in Razz, the nut low is A,2,3,4,5 while in 2-7 Triple Draw the nut low is 2,3,4,5,7. The hand which constitutes the nut low will change depending on the board texture. For example, if the flop comes 247 in Omaha Hi/lo, the current nut low is A,2,3,4,7 made by any player with A3 in the hole.

No Limit is a term used to describe the betting structure of a poker game. No limit means there is not restriction on how large a player can bet or raise at any given moment (although they can’t ever bet more than what is in their stack). The other types of betting structure are pot-limit (maximum bet or raise is the size of the pot) and fixed-limit (bets and raises occur in fixed increments). The most popular poker game currently is no limit Hold’em.

A nit is an exceptionally tight poker player who only enters the pot with top tier premium holdings. Nits spend most of their life folding on the first betting round (preflop in Hold’em), but if they do start betting and raising, they nearly always have the nuts (or close to it).

Muck means to return our hole cards to the dealer, usually without showing. Primarily this happens at showdown; our hand has lost and we slide our cards back to the dealer without showing the table. However, the term muck can also be used to describe a fold at any point in a hand (since we perform the same action of sliding our cards back to the dealer). The word muck is also used as a noun to describe the pile of cards that have been sent back to the dealer i.e. “he tossed his cards into the muck”.

Monster is a nickname for an extremely strong hand in poker. It usually implies that a holding is either the stone cold nuts or very close to it. The fear of constantly running into strong holdings made by our opponent is nicknamed monster under the bed syndrome.

A maniac is an extremely loose aggressive poker player. The majority of maniacs are losing players although occasionally a winning maniac will appear for example Patrick ‘Isildur1’ Blom. Most maniacs are losing because playing such a wide range of hands profitably requires a large amount of skill. It’s generally accepted that the way to counter a maniac is to use their own aggression against them.

Limp means to just call in an unraised pot on the first betting round. It’s typically considered a weak play. It’s generally accepted that players should mostly either raise or fold preflop when the action is folded around to them in an unopened pot. If we are the first player to limp into the pot it’s referred to as an open limp. If a player has already limped before us a limp is referred to as an over limp or limp behind.

Limit or fixed-limit is a type of betting structure that can be used when playing poker. Fixed-limit means that all betting and raising occurs in fixed betting increments (known as the big bet and small bet). Nearly all poker variants used to be played with a fixed-limit betting structure until more recent times when games with a no-limit betting structure surged in popularity to take the lead (largely thanks to no limit Hold’em). The term limit is also used frequently to describe the specific stakes used in a cash game.

LAG stands for “loose aggressive” and describes a style of playing poker. LAG players like to play lots of hands on the first betting round (hence ‘loose’) and follow up with lots of aggression on the later streets (hence ‘aggressive’). Good LAGs often make more money than tighter players, but it is generally accepted that there is more skill involved in playing a LAG style.

A kicker is one of the side cards included as part of a 5 card hand in poker. For example, two pair hands in poker have one kicker. One pair hands in poker have three kickers. Although the kickers are not the main component of a hand’s strength, they help determine the winner in situations where two players hole the same hand. AAKKQ beats AAKKJ because of the Queen kicker.

The term hole cards refers to any cards that players must keep secret from the rest of the table. Almost all poker variants make use of hole cards. The most common example is in the game of Hold’em. Players are each dealt 2 hole cards on the first betting round which they used in conjunction with ‘community cards’ to make a hand.