Poker Strategies

As an online or land based poker player there are quite a number of terms and saying that you will come across when playing or simply when you are a spectator of any poker game being played.


There are quite a number of them around and as such we have listed the top 10 poker terms and saying below and also given you an overview of what each of them actually mean!


Have a look through this guide as it is going to help you get to grips with many of the most commonly used poker terms and sayings!


All In - You will often here the Term All In when you are involved in a game of No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em, this is the stage in the game whereby one player has or is about to place all of his or her entire bankroll into the pot and as such will soon discover whether they have won the pot or will soon be leaving the game through lack of playing chips!


Bad Beat - A Bad Beat is one aspect of playing poker that no person will want to experience when they are playing, the term Bad Beat refers to that player having what they expect to be a totally unbeatable hand let us say Four Aces, only for them to be beaten by another player forming a Royal Flush hand at the latter stages of the game.
Many online poker sites actually now offer something known as a Bad Beat Jackpot, this is a progressive type of jackpot or a fixed amount jackpot that is awarded to players, and usually all other losing players playing in a game where such a hand as we have described above is beaten by a better hand!


Bluff – You are definitely going to hear the word Bluff when you are watching or playing in a game of poker. This refers to when one player, who has a poor hand, will play and bet in such a way that others players still in the game thinks that he or she has a very strong and high ranked hand based on the way they are laying, when in effect the opposite is true and that player is performing a Bluff, and in fact their hand is no way as strong as it could be!


Community Cards – Many poker game variants use something known as a set of Community Cards, and these are simply a set of cards that are always dealt face up into the middle of the poker table.


A set of Community Cards can be used by any player currently in that game to help them make and form their poker hand along with their Pocket Cards. Players can use any combination of the Community Cards to help form their final poker hand.
Be aware that when you are using the Community Cards they are dealt out, depending on which poker game variant you are playing at various stages of the game, and as such this is what makes playing poker a strategic game for you will never know what additional cards will be dealt out as Community Cards until they finally appear on the table!


Drawing Dead – You will often hear a poker game commentator saying that one of the players in the game is Drawing Dead, this means that no matter what cards that the player he or she is referring to is going to get dealt to him or here in the final stages of the game are, they will not help that players hand win and as such that player will ultimately lose that one game they are playing in.


Fifth Street - Fifth Street is the name given to the last card that is dealt out into the community cards on games such as Teas Hold ‘Em Poker, so at this stage in the game all the players left in that game will finally discover whether the last community card known as Fifth Street is going to help give them a better poker hand.
Free Roll – If you enjoy taking part in poker tournaments then you will know that most of them require entrants to pay a fee to actually take part in that poker tournament. However when you come across something that is known as a Free Roll then that is a poker tournament that is completely free to enter and as such requires no payment from players to take part in it!


Hole Cards - When playing poker games such as Texas Hold ‘Em Poker you and all of your fellow players are each going to be dealt two initial cards, each player gets a separate and unique pair of playing cards and these two cards dealt out to them are known as the Pocket Cards, and are the cards which every player is then going to base the betting decisions on throughout the game.


Kicker – You are going to hear the term Kicker quite a lot when you are playing poker either in the online or land based playing environment, and what it refers to is the card which is being used to determine which of two or even more than two hands is the winning one when players have an exact same hand. If for example two players have a pair of 4’s then the next highest ranked card in either hand is used to determine the winning hand.


WSOP – When you hear or see the word WSOP it is simply an abbreviation of the World Series of Poker, you will also other abbreviations of other famous poker tournaments and these include WPT which is World Poker Tournament along with EPT which if you didn’t know is an abbreviation of the European Poker Tournament!