| If you’re
truly determined to become a professional or at the very least, a
commendable poker player, you should then start with familiarizing
yourself with poker lingo. It is never to your advantage if other
players are already speaking plainly around you yet you understand
nary a word you’re saying.
A number of terms, ranging from the bizarre to the imperative,
have been listed here to help you in your quest to improve your
poker vocabulary.
Alligator Blood – When this happens, bloodshed is almost
shed but is thankfully averted. It refers to a player who 1) plays
daringly and wins despite being short stacked or 2) plays for a
long time short stacked and barely surviving to keep them in the
game.
Anna Kournikova – Somewhat a detrimental term to the tennis
player. This refers to a poker hand or player who looks good but
never wins.
Blinds – A very important term; it refers to forced bets
that substitute for an ante (poker stake put up before a deal to
put up the pot).
Candy Canes – Another term used to describe pocket sevens.
Cold Cards – A situation that’s similar to a writer
experiencing writer’s block or a mathematical genius experiencing
a mental blackout during a quiz bee and..okay, will stop with the
analogies, I’m sure you got the point already.
Dead Money – This refers to the money of a poker player
who’s obviously out of his league and has practically nil
chances of winning a tournament. Definitely not someone you’d
bet on.
Expected Value – Another all-important term to learn in
poker; this indicates how much you expect to win in the long run.
You calculate this by multiplying the percentage chance of winning
with the pot size. The result is in currency and not in percentage.
Fourth Street – the fourth board card to appear in a hold’em
game; it is also known as The Turn.
Gutshot – An inside straight draw. For example, your hand
contains 9, 10, Q and K. The card you’re waiting for is J.
It is also referred as the bellybuster.
High Society – A colloquial term that refers to ten thousand
dollars in chips.
Hourly Rate – how much you win or lose in poker per hour.
Johnny Moss – This is named after a famous poker player
and refers to the hold’em starting hand of Ace-Ten.
Leak – It’s exactly what a leaking faucet implies:
a consistent flaw or strategic mistake in play. Not exactly you’d
want to have when playing poker.
That’s it for now. Watch out for the second part of the
poker lexicon!
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