Poker Jargon to Use At the Poker Table

In my ongoing learning of being a better poker player, I recently read the "Little Blue Book" by Poker Professional Phil Gordon.  He discusses several different hands and pots that he's been part of and his thinking behind his actions for each hand.  It's a very good book to help develop your Texas Hold'em strategies and it is available on our web site http://www.morethanpokertables.com/.

The part of the book that I want to share with you is the section at the end of the book called "A Short Guide to Poker Jargon".  When you're at the poker table, whether it be playing in a league, home tournament or at a card room or casino, these are terms you may hear and wonder what they mean.  I'm going to share a few with you so that you not only know what they mean, you can also use them yourselves.

For example, the term "board texture" means the general "feel" of the community cards, which allows an observant player to get a sense of what hands his or her opponents might be holding.  You may know that a "calling station" is a player who is easily exploited for his or her exaggerated tendency to call too many hands.

The "cut off" is the seat just to the right of the button.   "Fold equity" is the chance that a bet or raise will get an opponent to fold a better hand than yours.  And when poker players say they're playing their position, this refers to where you sit in relation to the dealer, which determines how early or late you will act on each round  of betting.

If you're at the poker table and you're "under the gun", this means you are the player who has to act first before the flop.  A "value bet" is a bet with what you think is the best hand, sized to encourage your opponents to call.  An "underbet" is the act of betting too little with a made hand, giving opponents the correct pot odds to draw for their outs.

This should give you a good beginning of poker jargon to make you sound like you know what you're talking about and help you improve your play.  A special thanks to Phil for his eloquent description of these poker terms.  Enjoy and try out the new terminology!