Poker Glossary

In poker, back door is used to describe a situation where we need catch an addition two cards in order to make our hand. For example, a flush is made with five cards. If we hold four of the five flush cards it is referred to as a flush draw. If we hold three of the five flush cards it is referred to as a back doorflush draw. In Hold’em, we hold a back doordrawon the flop if running cards on the turn and river would make us a strong 5-card holding. The term back door equityis also used to describe the same scenario.

An ante is an amount of chips that every player must place into the pot before any cards are dealt. Posting antes is quite similar to posting blinds, but everyone has to post them, not just certain seats at the table. We find antes in both cash games and tournaments, but they are generally more common in tournaments during the later stages. The exception is that some variants such as Studuse antes as part of the basic rules rather than using a small-blind/big-blind system like Hold’em Omaha.

In poker, the word angle is used to describe a way of gaining an unfair advantage at the tables. The act of deliberately trying find and use angles is referred to as angle-shooting. Not all forms of angle-shooting are directly against the rules of poker, but almost all of them are unfair and run the risk of getting you kicked out of the game. Once common example of angle-shooting is to deliberately act out of turn at the table in an attempt to influence the action.

To go all-in in poker means to bet all of our chips on a single hand.This would happen either because we decided to bet all-in ourselves or because we are calling an all-in bet (or raise) from our opponents. Once we are all-in we are guaranteed to reach showdown and have a chance at winning the pot. There are variety of different words that players use to describe getting all-in such as jamming or shoving.

An alias is another name by which a poker player is known. It’s common for poker players to be known by two names, their actual (real life) name and their alias. The alias a player uses is generally the most common screenname they have selected when playing poker online. For example, the American professional poker player Tom Dwanplayed online using the alias (or screenname) “Durrrr”. He would therefore often be referred to as “Tom ‘Durrrr’ Dwan”. Note the formula here, first name, then alias, then last name. Other examples in include Daniel ‘Kidpoker’ Negreanu and Isaac ‘luvtheWNBA’ Haxton.

To play our A-Game means to play our best possible game of poker. We feel that we are making excellent decisions and able to apply everything we know about poker correctly. To play our A-Game also refers to our mental state when playing. We don’t find ourselves affected emotionally by losing hands or going on downswings. Other letters may also be used to describe the quality of our game, B-Game, C-Game, D-Game, etc. The further down the alphabet we go, the worse our game gets.

The term add-on describes extra chips we are allowed to add to our tournament stack in exchange for a fee. Add-ons are usually only available at one specific point during a tournament, typically after the ‘rebuy’ period is over. Add-ons are hence different from rebuys, since players may rebuy as many times as they want during the rebuy stage of a tournament. Add-ons however,can only be purchased once and only after the rebuy period has ended. (Of course, the precise rules could vary depending on the tournament.)

Action refers to playing the game of poker or any other activity involving making bets, such as prop bets and side bets. Action can also be used to describe any of the different betting options that take place during a hand of poker. Bet, Raise, Call and Fold, are all examples of different actions that happen in poker.