Poker terminology is a professional slang without which it is impossible to read strategic materials, discuss hands with other players, or understand stream commentary. Most terms are English, firmly rooted in the global poker space; some expressions have local-language analogues, but in actual usage the English originals dominate.
This glossary collects 70+ key terms of modern online poker, grouped by meaning: basic concepts, preflop, postflop, positions and stacks, software and analytics, slang and emotions. Each term comes with a brief definition and usage context.
Basic Terms
Fundamental concepts without which it is impossible to start playing or to understand any poker material.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Pot | The total sum of all players’ bets in the current hand, which goes to the winner. |
| Rake | The room’s commission from each pot or from a tournament buy-in. Usually 5% with a cap. |
| Blinds | Forced bets before the hand: the small blind (SB) and the big blind (BB). |
| Ante | A forced bet from every player before the hand. Standard in most tournaments. |
| Stack | The player’s chip amount at the table. In cash usually measured in dollars, in tournaments in chips or big blinds (BB). |
| Buy-in | The amount of entry to a cash table or the buy-in into a tournament. |
| Cap | The upper limit of rake from a single pot or the upper entry limit at a table. |
| Cash game | Poker with fixed blinds and no elimination. Unlike tournaments — you can stand up at any moment. |
| MTT (multi-table tournament) | A multi-table tournament with rising blinds and eliminations. |
| SnG (sit & go) | A single-table tournament that starts as soon as the required number of players is gathered. |
| Freeroll | A tournament without a buy-in but with a real prize pool. |
| All-in | A bet of the entire remaining stack. |
Preflop Terms
Terminology of actions before the first three community cards (the flop) are opened.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| RFI (raise first in) | Opening the pot with a raise from the first active player. The main characteristic of starting aggression. |
| Open | The first raise in the hand, usually 2–3 bb. |
| Limp | Calling the blind without raising. Often a sign of passive play. |
| Cold call | Calling a raise without prior investment in the pot. |
| 3-bet | A re-raise after the first raise. |
| 4-bet | A raise in response to a 3-bet. |
| 5-bet | A raise in response to a 4-bet, usually all-in. |
| Squeeze | A 3-bet against an open and one or more calls. Often a bluff. |
| Isolation | A raise against a limper aiming to play heads-up against him. |
| Open range | The set of hands with which a player opens the pot with a raise from a specific position. |
| Steal | An open raise from late positions (BTN, SB) aiming to take the blinds uncontested. |
| Blind defense | Defending the blind against a steal by calling or 3-betting. |
Postflop Terms
Terminology of actions after the community cards open — on the flop, turn, and river.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Flop | The first three community cards, opened simultaneously. |
| Turn | The fourth community card. |
| River | The fifth, final community card. |
| C-bet (continuation bet, Cbet) | A bet on the flop from the preflop aggressor, continuing his line. |
| Donk bet | A bet out of position (OOP) by a player who was not the preflop aggressor. |
| Check-raise | A check followed by a raise against the opponent’s bet. |
| Overbet | A bet sized larger than the pot. |
| Value bet | A bet with a strong hand, designed to be called by a worse hand. |
| Bluff | A bet with a weak hand, designed to make a better hand fold. |
| Semi-bluff | A bet with a draw-hand that has a chance to improve by the river. |
| Check-call | Passive defense: check, then call the opponent’s bet. |
| Check-fold | Check with the intention of folding to any bet. |
| Check-back | A check in position after the opponent’s check; the hand closes without a bet. |
| Delayed c-bet | A check on the flop, a bet on the turn from the preflop aggressor. |
| Probe bet | An attacking bet on the turn after a check-check on the flop. |
| Double barrel | Continuing aggression with a bet on the turn after a flop c-bet. |
| Triple barrel | Continuing aggression with a bet on the river after a double barrel. |
Positions and Stacks
Terminology of playing positions at the table and stack characteristics.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| UTG (under the gun) | The first position to the left of the big blind — the earliest. |
| MP (middle position) | Middle position. |
| LJ (lojack) | Three positions before the button. |
| HJ (hijack) | Two positions before the button. |
| CO (cutoff) | The position before the button. |
| BTN/BU (button) | The most profitable position — last to act on postflop streets. |
| SB (small blind) | The small blind. |
| BB (big blind) | The big blind. |
| IP (in position) | In position — the player acts last on postflop streets. |
| OOP (out of position) | Out of position — the player acts first. |
| Short stack | A small stack, usually 20–40 bb. |
| Deep stack | A deep stack, usually 150+ bb. |
| M-zone / ICM | The tournament characteristic of the stack relative to blinds and the remaining players. |
| Push-fold | Play on a short stack: either all-in or fold. |
| SPR (stack-to-pot ratio) | The ratio of the effective stack to the pot size on the flop. |
Software, Analytics, Stats
The terminology of the software and statistical indicators on which modern online poker is built.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| HUD (heads-up display) | An overlay of opponent statistics on top of the poker client. |
| Tracker | A program for collecting and analyzing hands (HM3, PT4, Hand2Note). |
| VPIP (voluntarily put money in pot) | % of hands in which the player voluntarily puts money in the pot preflop. |
| PFR (preflop raise) | % of hands in which the player raises preflop. |
| 3Bet% | Frequency of 3-bets in general. |
| Fold to 3Bet% | Frequency of folds in response to a 3-bet. |
| WTSD (went to showdown) | % of hands in which the player reached the showdown. |
| W$SD (won money at showdown) | % of winnings at showdown. |
| AF (aggression factor) | The ratio of aggressive actions (bet, raise) to passive ones (check, call). |
| EV (expected value) | The mathematical expectation of profit or loss. |
| Equity | The player’s share in the pot by equity (probability of winning the current hand). |
| MDF (minimum defense frequency) | The minimum frequency of defense against a bluff based on bet size. |
| GTO (game theory optimal) | Play at Nash equilibrium — a strategy that cannot be exploited. |
| Solver | A program that calculates the optimal strategy in a specific game situation (PioSolver, GTO+, Monker). |
| Pool stats | Averaged statistics across the entire pool of players at a stake. |
| Mining | Mass collection of hands from a poker room to fill a statistics database. |
| Hand history (HH) | A text file with the history of all your hands, kept by the poker client. |
Slang and Emotional Terminology
Everyday vocabulary describing results, player types, and emotional states. Without understanding these terms, communication with the poker community is impossible.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Reg (regular) | A regular player who comes out profitable thanks to systematic play. |
| Fish | A weak player, the main source of profit for regulars. |
| Shark | A predator, an experienced high-winrate regular. |
| Nit | An ultra-tight player with minimal VPIP. |
| LAG (loose aggressive) | A loose-aggressive style with a wide range and high aggression. |
| TAG (tight aggressive) | A tight-aggressive style — narrow range, high aggression. |
| Calling station | A player prone to calls with marginal hands. |
| Bad beat | A loss with a strong hand against an obviously weaker hand of the opponent. |
| Cooler | A hand in which both hands are strong, and a loss is inevitable. |
| Tilt | An emotional state in which a player makes poor decisions due to stress. |
| Runner-runner | Improving a hand consecutively on the turn and river (backdoor). |
| Bubble | The line of cashing in a tournament — the position at which the next elimination pays nothing. |
| ITM (in the money) | In the tournament’s prize zone. |
| FT (final table) | The tournament’s final table. |
| ROI (return on investment) | Return on investment — the main metric for a tournament player. |
| Winrate | Profit speed: bb/100 in cash, ROI% in tournaments, $/hour in live. |
| Standard deviation (σ) | A measure of winrate variance over a stretch of play. |
| Shottaking | An attempt to play above one’s main stake. |
| Backing | Financing a player by another party in exchange for a share of the profit. |
| Staking | The same thing — financial sponsorship in exchange for a share of the result. |
Vocabulary Evolution
The modern poker lexicon expands every year: new formats (Spin & Gold, Mystery Bounty, Flip & Go), new programs (Fish Buffet, Stars Rewards), new types of stats (anonymous pool stats, real-time HUD overrides) bring their own terms. If you encounter an unfamiliar word while reading poker materials — add it to your own glossary with a usage example. A personal vocabulary built up over 2–3 years covers 95% of the lexicon actually used by a professional player.
Many terms intersect with applied terminology — strategies, programs, formats. For a deeper understanding of each topic, refer to the corresponding materials: the guide to poker networks, the guide to bonuses, the guide to anonymous poker and to mining databases.
Understanding terminology is the first step to reading professional materials and working with poker analytics. The next step is practical application: using a HUD on your own hand database plus mining data from an external service lets you see specific values of VPIP, PFR, WTSD, and other terms in the context of your pool, turning abstract definitions into a decision-making tool at the table.