F-N Poker Glossary

Complete online poker glossary from A to Z. The current page (F-N) describing poker terms like Flop, House, Implied Odds, Kicker, Jackpot, Out, Overcall.

Browsing: Gamble / Poker Glossary / F-N Poker Glossary

A-E F-N P-R S-Z

POKER GLOSSARY F-N

• Family Pot: A pot in which all (or almost all) of the players call before the flop.
• Fast: As in "play fast." To play a hand aggressively, betting and raising as much as possible. Example: "When you flop a set but there's a flush draw possible, you have to play it fast."
• Flop: The first three community cards, put out face up, all together.
• Foul: A hand which may not be played for one reason or another. A player with a foul hand may not make any claim on any portion of the pot. Example: "He ended up with three cards after the flop, so the dealer declared his hand foul."
• Free Card: A turn or river card on which you don't have to call a bet because of play earlier in the hand (or a reputation which you have with your opponents). For instance, if you are on the button and raise when you flop a flush draw, your opponents may check to you on the turn. If you make your flush on the turn, you can bet. However, if you don't get it on the turn, you can check as well - seeing the river card for "free."
• Free Roll: For one player to have a shot at winning an entire pot when he is currently tied with another player. For instance, suppose you have Ac-Qc and your opponent has Ad-Qh. The flop is Qs-5c-Tc. You are tied with your opponent right now, but are free rolling on him, because you can win the whole pot and he can't. If no club comes, you split the pot with him - if it does come, you win the whole thing.
• Gutshot Straight: An straight filled "inside". If you have 9s-8s, the flop comes 7c-5h-2d, and the turn is the 6c, you've made your gutshot straight.
• Heads Up: A pot that is being contested by only two players - "It was heads up by the turn."
• Hit: As in "the flop hit me." It means the flop contained cards that help your hand. If you have AK, and the flop comes K-7-2, it hit you.
• House: The establishment running the game. Example: "The $2 you put on the button goes to the house."
• Implied Odds: Pot odds that do not exist at the moment, but may be included in your calculations because of bets you expect to win if you hit your hand. For instance, you might call with a flush draw on the turn even though the pot isn't offering you quite 4:1 odds (your chance of making the flush) because you're sure you can win a bet from your opponent on the river if you make your flush.
• Jackpot: A special bonus paid to the loser of a hand if he gets a very good hand beaten. In Hold'em, the "loser" must typically get aces full or better beaten. In some of the large southern California card clubs, the jackpots have gotten over $50,000. Of course, the jackpot is funded with money removed from the game as part of the rake.
• Kicker: An unpaired card used to determine the better of two near-equivalent hands. For instance, suppose you have AK and your opponent has AQ. If the flop has an ace in it, you both have a pair of aces, but you have a king kicker. Kickers can be vitally important in Hold'em.
• Live Blind: A forced bet put in by one or more players before any cards are dealt. The "live" means those players still have the option of raising when the action gets back around to them.
• Maniac: A player who does a lot of hyper-aggressive raising, betting, and bluffing. A true maniac is not a good player, but is simply doing a lot of gambling. However, a player who occasionally acts like a maniac and confuses his opponents is quite dangerous.
• Muck: The pile of folded and burned cards in front of the dealer. Example: "His hand hit the muck so the dealer ruled it folded even though the guy wanted to get his cards back." Also used as a verb - "He didn't have any outs so he mucked his hand."
• No-Limit: A version of poker in which a player may bet any amount of chips (up to the number in front of him) whenever it is his turn to act. It is a very different game than limit poker. The best treatise on no-limit poker is in Doyle Brunson's Super/System.
• Nuts: The best possible hand given the board. If the board is Ks-Jd-Ts-4s-2h, then As-Xs is the nuts. You will occasionally hear the term applied to the best possible hand of a certain category, even though it isn't the overall nuts. For the above example, somebody with Ah-Qc in the above hand might say they had the "nut straight".
• Offsuit: A Hold'em starting hand in which the two cards are of different suits.
• One-Gap: A Hold'em starting hand in which the two cards are two apart in rank. Examples: J9s, 64.
• Out: A card that will make your hand win. Normally heard in the plural. Example: "Any spade will make my flush, so I have nine outs."
• Outrun: To beat. Example: "Susie outran my set when her flush card hit on the river."
• Overcall: To call a bet after one or more others players have already called.
• Overcard: A card higher than any card on the board. For instance, if you have AQ and the flop comes J-7-3, you don't have a pair, but you have two overcards.
• Overpair: A pocket pair higher than any card on the flop. If you have QQ and the flop comes J-8-3, you have an overpair.