Learn to speak Texas Hold’em as well as you play it! Some of the terms and slang used are self-explanatory, some humorous, others startlingly apt, but all very relevant to the game and your knowledge of it.
The terms are a discovery in themselves!
You will discover things such as why “Angle Shooting” is a “no-no”, being on the end of a “Gutshot” is not a good place to be, but certainly is when you produce one, and why being the “Nuts” is definitely what you want time and again!
To help you along we have put together a comprehensive list of terms. Read them, memorise the ones you find worthy of repeat, and begin to speak Hold’em as well as you play it!
This is part 1 covering terms beginning with the letter A. The remainder of the alphabet will be gradually introduced to allow meanings to soak in.
Have fun reading!
A is for:
Ace ariations include
• Aces Full: A Full-House with 3 aces and any pair
• Ace-High: A 5 card hand containing just one Ace with no Straight or Flush or a hand with no pair in it
• Ace in the Hole: This is when a player has an ace as 1 of their 2-hole cards
• Aces Up: A hand containing 2 pairs, one of which is a pair of Aces
Action (various meanings including):
• A player’s turn to act during a round
• Bet or Raise
• Description of a game that involves lots of betting and raises
Active Player:
• This term is used to refer to any player who is still in the current hand
Add-On:
• Some tournaments allow players to choose whether they wish to “add on”. This means the player(s) concerned can pay extra to get more chips. The add-on usually occurs during and at the end of the rebuy period
Air:
• Not what you want. This basically means a player has a hand that is of no value
American Airlines:
• Mentioned when a player has 2 Aces
Angle shooting:
• Don’t do it! This is when a player makes an illegal play in an attempt to get extra information or to cheat
Ante:
• A small wager each of the players must make before the hand is dealt. The combined sum of each players ante gives immediate pot value
All-In:
• A wager that puts all of a player’s chips in the pot
That’s it for the letter ‘A’ in our 1st installment of “Texas Hold’em – The A-Z of Poker speak”. There is little doubt you will be familiar with some of the terms above, but hopefully you have added to your Texas Hold’em vocabulary with ones previously unheard of.
There’s lots more to come
Do keep a close eye out as we build this extensive compendium on the A-Z of Hold’em jargon. It will add to your knowledge of common terms as well as the more obscure ones. What is more, you will be able to impart your knowledge to friends as well as foes!
Our next article covers the letter ‘B’ from ‘Backdoor’ to ‘Buy-In’ and also mentions why we hope you do not have too many ‘Bad Beat’ Stories to consistently repeat!