The following is a list of frequently used poker terms essential to know for anyone wishing to talk about and play poker:

Ante
A forced bet in which each player places an equal amount of money or chips into the pot before the deal begins. Most hold'em games do not have an ante; they use "blinds" to get initial money into the pot.

Blind
A forced bet placed instead of an ante. The player that occupies the next seat to the left of the dealer pays in the small blind and the next player pays in the big blind.

Board Cards
Community cards dealt face up in the middle of the table. These cards are shared by all players at the table to form their hands.

Draw
When you hope to make your hand better with board (community) cards dealt in the middle of the table. You say “you are on a draw”, when you want to see the rest of the cards in order to complete your hand. For instance, if you have 10 9 , while the flop is Q J 2 , then you shall want to try to get an eight or a kind during the turn or the river.

Flop
When the first three board (community) cards are dealt.

Implied Odds
Similar to the term “pot odds” (see below), but refers to the accounting of future bets. For instance you call a bet during the flop, but you have implied odds to make larger bets during the following rounds in case, if you hit your draw (form a good hand to play). Therefore, if your pocket cards are A and K and during flop Q 7 and 6 have been dealt, then the implied odds are what you have to call at the flop in comparison with size of the pot at the end of your hand.

Limit Poker
A variation of poker with fixed size of bets. For example, in a limit game, which bets are fixed to $2-$4, the bets and raised are $2 during preflop and flop (first two rounds of the game) and $4 in turn and river (last two rounds of the game).

Longhand
A term that marks any poker game involving seven players or more.

Outs
Cards which can improve your hand. For example, if your pocket cards are 10 and 9 and the flop is Q J 2 , then you shall want a K, or 8 to complete a Straight. Considering the fact that there are four 8 and four K in the deck – you have eight total outs in this case.

Position
A term that marks your position at the table. Dealer’s seat is the best position at the table, because he makes last bet, therefore having a deeper understanding of other players’ hands. And the worst position at the table is the small blind, because this player bets first without any idea of other players’ hands.

Pot Odds
The the odds you get when drawing. For instance, if your pocket cards are A 2 and the board (community) cards are K 7 and 6 , then you can be sure that one of players has a king and there are 9 more diamonds over the table (considering that there are thirteen diamonds in the deck, you have 2 diamonds in the pocket and there are 2 diamonds on the board). Proceeding from these calculations, you roughly have an 18% chance to hit a flush, when the next card will come out on the board. Say, the pot is $100, the bet is $10, thus even though you are losing, you have odds with a flush draw. However, if the pot is $100 at the turn (only 1 card is left to go on the board) and your opponent player bets $300 (the pot is now $400), then you must put $300 in order to see the river (the last card). In this case your pot odds are 4:3, which is too low, because the odds are roughly 4:1 (12:3) against getting a flush. In other words, you only have a 1 out of 5 chance to get your flush, but you have to put 3 of 7 bucks in total pot.

Preflop
The round of betting, when you get your pocket cards, but don’t see the board (community) cards yet.

River
The final (fifth) betting round, when the final board (community) card is dealt on the board. In Texas Holdem this betting round goes after the Turn (see below).

Shorthand
A term that marks any poker game played by six players, or less.

Turn
The fourth betting round, when the fourth board (community) card is dealt on the board. In Texas Holdem this betting round goes after the Flop.

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Paul