Poker Glossary - E to S

DRAW OUT

A drawing hand is a poker hand that is not yet a made hand. It is a poker hand that can still improve, however, and when you draw out you improve to beat an opponent who held a superior poker hand prior to the draw-out. Typical drawing hands are flush draws and straight draws, and when you draw out you are said to hit your hand.

EARLY POSITION

The early positions in a ten-handed poker game are the first four players to act in a round of betting. The small blind is first to act after the flop, and the big blind is second to act, so both seats are said to be in early position after the flop. The hand that is first to act before the flop is said to be under the gun. This seat remains in poor position for the duration of a poker hand, as that hand must act third after the flop. As a general rule the earlier your position in a poker game the less advantageous it is to you. The later you can act on a hand the more information you have upon which to base your betting decisions.

FIFTH STREET

This is also known as the river in hold'em and Omaha because it is the last community card that is dealt out. In stud games fifth street refers to the third up-card dealt out to the players, or the fifth card overall. James McManus wrote an excellent poker book entitled "Positively Fifth Street" describing his miraculous run in the 2002 World Series Of Poker.

FLAT CALL

When you call a bet without raising. Different from a cold call, where you are calling a bet and a raise (so in essence calling two bets). A flat call sometimes indicates weakness, but it can also be an ominous sign. When a player quickly flat calls a bet it can show that he is not about to be moved off his hand in a hurry. The online poker equivalent of the flat call is the pre-select button "call any" where you intend to call any bet regardless of the size.

FLOPPING A SET

In hold'em or Omaha when you are able to form three-of-a-kind by using one or possibly two of the flop (community) cards. In these poker games the term set is used instead of "trips" or three-of-a-kind. When you flop a set in hold'em it is generally a very strong hand, but in Omaha flopping a set is not nearly as powerful, but many rookie Omaha players treat it as such because they are used to it winning a lot of hold?em pots.

FREEROLL

The term freeroll used to have two specific poker meanings, but with the advent of online poker a third meaning is now far more common than the other two combined. 1. In high-low split games where one player has already won one-half of the pot but is still competing for the other half, that player is said to be on a freeroll. 2. In hold'em and Omaha, where two players have identical value hands but one player has a draw to a possible flush. The third meaning of freeroll describes an online poker tournament where players can enter at no charge.

GETTING A HAND CRACKED

When you start out with the best hand but you are ultimately beaten by an opponent who started out with an inferior hand, your hand has been cracked. It is also known as poker, as wags are quick to inform you while you try to hide the pain you?re feeling at sustaining yet another bad beat.

IGNORANT END OF A STRAIGHT

Also known in less polite circles as the ass-end of a straight or more simply the wrong end of a straight. This is the lowest possible straight for that particular board. For example if the flop came 9-T-J and you held 7-8 you would have the ignorant end of a straight. This is a very dangerous spot, and a case where ignorance is often the furthest thing from bliss, as the low end of a straight often gets beaten by an opponent holding the high end.

KICKER TROUBLE

If both players make the same primary hand (one pair, two-pair, a set) their highest remaining card is compared and the winner of the hand is the player who has the highest ranking card. This side card is known as a kicker, and you?re in kicker trouble when your side card is low. So, when you play with A-6 you have a weak kicker if an A hits because you will frequently face an opponent who is also playing with an A and chances are his other card is higher than a 6. You will hear dealers announce that a kicker plays when two opponents show the same primary hand and the pot is only awarded to one of them.

LIMIT POKER

The most typical form of poker that is played, especially for hold'em, is limit. This describes a poker game where the minimum and maximum amounts that any player may bet or raise on any given betting round are fixed and predetermined. Limit poker usually takes the form of two different limits, referring either to the minimum and maximum bets ($1/$4 Stud) or to the maximum bet size, which changes once the turn has been dealt ($4/$8 Hold'em).

LIVE ONE

If you are ever called a live one by a poker player you have been well and truly insulted. A live one is a sucker, a big fish, who is generally loose, always weak, and always has a lot of money to donate to better players. Live ones tend to be wealthy, and poker pros will be very friendly towards them. There was once a poker game in California that paused when one of the players dropped dead from a heart attack. The player who was sitting next to him shouted out to the floor manager of the poker room: "Hey Jim, make sure you bring us a live one."

OVERCARD

A hole card in a poker player's hand that is higher than any card showing, either on a communal board or up-cards in stud. When the board in hold?em shows 7-3-2 and you hold J-Q you are said to have two overcards in your hand. An overcard is often used as a reason for staying in a hand, and tends to be a costly rationalization for action at the best of times.

OVERPAIR

When you are dealt a pocket pair in hold?em or Omaha and the flop features only cards lower than your pair you have an overpair. Players will say that they have "wired" Kings, meaning that they have two Kings in the hole, and these wired cards can also be overpairs.

POST OAK BLUFF

An advanced betting concept that can only be made against a very good player. A weak player will have no idea of the strategic subtleties of the post oak bluff, and will always ruin this bluff. At the end of a hand where there is a huge pot a player makes a relatively small bet into that pot. His opposition feel that they are being suckered in to donating a little extra cash, and reason that he must have a huge hand in order to make this play. So they fold, and the post oak bluff is successful, because the player making the small bet really has no hand. Weaker players feel obligated to call because so much money is already invested in the pot.

PREMIUM HANDS

The top starting hands in a poker game. In hold?em the premium hands would be: AA, also known as bullets, pocket rockets, American Airlines, and a pain in the neck, depending on whom you ask; KK, also known as Cowboys; QQ, also known as Ladies; AK suited, also known as Big Slick.

RAZZ

Razz is similar to seven-card stud except the lowest possible hand wins the pot. It is seven-card lowball with A-2-3-4-5 the best possible hand. Straights and flushes are ignored in Razz and the Ace counts as low. The cards are dealt out in the same way as seven-card stud and the betting rounds are identical as well. The highest up-card has to bring in the first bet, exactly the reverse of what would happen in seven-card stud.

RAILBIRD

Anyone who watches a poker game is said to be a railbird. The typical railbird is brimming over with advice, guidance, and is cheerful, especially if he is hoping for a stake from one of the seated players. Railbirds who cheer on a specific player are said to "sweat cards", a term that connotes the empathy felt by the railbird as he lives vicariously through a real poker player.

RING GAME

A game where there is a player in every available seat, that is to say a full game. The opposite of a ring game is a shorthanded game where there are some empty seats. Online poker has made these terms a lot more confusing because most online card rooms designate certain tables for shorthanded play, limiting the size of the table to five or six seats. Those games are said to be shorthanded even though every seat is taken. Ring game is also used to describe a cash table (known by the pros as a side game) as opposed to a tournament table.

SMOOTH CALL

When a poker player slow-plays a hand he calls a bet with the intention of making a big bet later in the action. He slow-plays to try and induce other players to build up the pot, believing that his hand is so strong it will win out in the end. This type of call would qualify as a smooth call, but a smooth call also describes a difficult call that a player makes, say in the face of a very large bet. A player may also be said to smooth call when he anticipates a raise by a player still to act in the hand.

TRIPLE DRAW

This is a form of draw poker played for the lowest possible hand (like Razz) with the unique feature that each player receives three separate draws where they can discard unwanted cards for fresh cards. There are a total of four betting rounds in all. The game is typically played as deuce-to-seven with the deuce being the lowest possible card, aces count as high cards, and straights and flushes count against the low hands.

STEAL THE BLINDS

When a player raises pre-flop and everyone folds he has stolen the blinds. This action usually occurs from a player in very late position, who bets out because only the blinds are left to act. Stealing the pot in poker is a term used to describe a successful bluff, and players derisively accuse late-position players of stealing blinds when they consistently raise before the flop. This is an essential tactic in all forms of poker.