For a newcomer to the game of poker some of the terminology and slang phrases used might sound somewhat daunting. With this handy guide however you too will be speaking like a pro in no time!

Action - Activity formally connected with the game. Bets, raises and checks are all actions and if it is your turn to play then it may be termed as "your action".

All Blue - A hand consisting of nothing but clubs and spades.

Aggressive Action - A bet or raise which is performed in order for a player to force the game to end without a final showdown.

All-In - When all your chips have been placed into the pot in a single game you are said to be "all-in". If a player is all-in whilst betting is still proceeding then he/she is only elligible to win that portion of the pot which was available during the period of betting where they went all-in.

All Pink - A hand consisting of all hearts or diamonds.

Ante - At the beginning of a poker game the ante is a small amount of cash placed into the pot by each player to ensure there is always something to play for. Hold'em games typically use "blinds" instead.

Back Door - A winning hand which requires the use of the last two common cards.

Bad Beat - A hand being beaten by a hand which theoretically should have had no chance at all of becoming a winning hand.

Bet - Placing money or chips into the pot during any given round.

Blank - A card with little or no value to the hand.

Blind - A mandatory bet put into the pot before play begins. Usually this is a full bet or partial bet put in by one or two players to the left of the dealer or "button". In the most common version of Hold 'em for example, the two players to the left of the dealer post blinds at the start of the game. The "small blind" is posted by the player closest to the dealer and is typically half the minimum stake and the "big blind" is the full stake posted by the player to that players left.

Bluff - Posting a bet or raise on a hand which has little chance of winning the game. A bluff is used to fool other players into folding their hands and taking the pot on a bad hand by clever deception.

Board - All the community cards together - the flop, turn and river cards all on the table.

Boat - A full house.

Board Card - One of the cards on the board.

Burn - The act of discarding the top card from the deck between betting rounds. The dealer performs this action in order to prevent players accidentally catching a sneak preview of the next card to be placed amongst the community cards.

Bust - Useless hand.

Button - A disc used to represent where the dealer would be. In casino gaming, the dealer does not play and so a pseudo-dealer is instead made of one of the players. This moves round one place each new game.

Buy In - The minimum amount of money or chips needed to enter into any game.

Buy The Pot - Bluff bet or raise hoping to make other players fold their hands.

Buy The Button - Aiming to get the player between you and the button (dealer) to fold their hand enabling you to have the last bet in subsequent rounds.

Call - A call is made during a bettind round where a bet equal to a previous hand is placed i.e. staying in the game without folding or raising the bet.

Calling Station - A non-aggressive player who tends to call all the time rather than folding or raising the stakes. Nice to have around.

Cap - In limit poker, the cap is the maximum number of raises allowed in a round.

Chase - The act of playing a hand which is more than likely to be worse than at least one other hand in the game.

Check - To act of staying in the game without making a bet. A check can only be performed if no other bets have been placed in the round so far.

Check Raise - The act of checking and then raising the bet when it becomes your turn to act.

Coffeehousing - Prohibited chat between players designed to mislead or influence play.

Cold Deck - A fixed deck of cards - cheating.

Community Cards - In Omaha and Hold 'em these are the five card dealt face up on the table for use by all players in combination with their own hand to make a winning poker hand.

Complete Hand - Any hand defined by all five cards, for example a straight flush or four of a kind.

Connector - A starting hand in which your two cards are just one apart in rank, for example Q,K or 2,3.

Crack - Beating a big hand.

Cut - Divide the deck before the deal in order to change the ordering of the cards.

Dead Card or Hand - Either a card or full hand which is not legally playable, usually due to some irregularity.

Deal - To allocate cards to players during the course of the game.

Dealer's Choice - Where the dealer chooses which variety of poker each hand will be.

Dealer Button - See "Button"

Deck - All the playing cards used in the game. This may be 52 or 53 cards (one joker) depending on the type of poker being played.

Deuce - A two.

Discard - Used in draw poker, these are the cards a player "throws away" to make room for more cards in their hand.

Draw - In "Draw Poker", the "draw" is the point where players are able to replace the cards they have discarded (see "discard") in order to improve their poker hand.

Draw Dead - The act of trying to make a poker hand which even if you manage it will still not win the pot. For example, you are aiming for three kings and someone has a royal flush, you are said to be "drawing dead".

Face Card - One of either King, Queen or Jack.

Fifth Street - The last third round in Texas Hold 'em Poker is termed fifth street as all players now have five cards to bet on.

Flop - The first three community cards dealt out in Texas Hold 'em or Omaha is the flop.

Flush - A hand in which all five cards are of the same suit.

Fold - A player is said to "fold" when they throw in their cards and relinquish any claim on the pot. In doing so, they also waive the necessity to make any further contribution to it. You fold on a hand you think you will not win with (no point playing on unless you either like losing money or are an expert in the art of bluffing).

Foul Hand - A hand which may not be played due to some error (like a card too many).

Fourth Street - The round of betting following the dealing of the fourth card aka the "turn card", in Texas Hold 'em.

Free Card - When all players check on a previous round the next card is termed a "free card" because it cost nothing in terms of betting to get there.

Free Roll - When you and an opponent are tied in terms of cards in your hands but you have chance of winning the whole pot whilst they can only win a share of it, you are said to be on a "free roll".

Guts - Draw poker with no opening requirement.

Gutshot Straight - Filling a straight from the inside. Say you have K,Q in your hand and 4,10,9 on the board. The river card is a Jack which has now given you your gutshot stright.

Hand - The cards each player is holding

Heads-Up - A game being played out between two players (the others having folded).

Hole Card - Also known as a "closed card" or "down card" this is a card which the player has been dealt which no one else can see - converse to the community cards which all can see and use.

House - Whoever is running the game - typically a casino.

House Take - Fixed portion of the winnings taken by the casino.

Kicker - The highest unpaired card in a hand. A kicker can be a vitally important part of a game of Texas Hold 'em, for example two players have AAQ and AAK respectively. Both have a pair of aces but the second player wins on the kicker, the king being ranked higher than the queen.

Loose - As in the phrase "playing fast and loose" - non-conservative play.

Live Blinds - Bets put in before the cards are dealt. A "live" blind is where those players still have the option of raising the stakes when the action reaches them again.

Made Hand - A hand which is not thought to have any chance of improvement.

Maniac - Aggressive player utilising a lot of wild betting, raising and bluffing. A maniac need not be a bad player but someone playing to confuse his opponents.

Misdeal - A problem with the deal which causes all cards to be recalled, reshuffled and redealt.

Muck - The pile of discarded or folded cards in the middle of the table.

Nuts - A nut is the best possible hand (or at least a very nice one) for example a "nut flush" or a "nut hand".

No Limit - A game of poker where there are no limits on the number or level of bets in a particular round. Bring your checkbook...

Opener - The player who made the first voluntary bet in a round is the "opener" who is said to "open" the betting.

Off Suit - The term applied to an opening set of cards in Hold'em where they are of different suits.

One Gap - In Hold'em where the opening paid of cards are two apart eg 4,6 or 8,10.

Out - A poker term applied to the card which will make you hand a winner. For example, if you have 2,3,4,6 then you have 4 outs for a straight (any 5).

Overcard - An overcard is a card in the hole which is bigger than any on the board. For example if you have a king in your hand and there are 2,3,6,8 on the board, you are holding an over card.

Overpair - A pair of cards in your hand higher than any on the board. For example a pair of queens in your hand is higher than the 3,7,8 on the board - you are holding an over pair.

Passive Play - A player who checks and calls rather than raising the bet is a passive player engaged in passive poker play.

Pat - Not drawing any cards at all in a game of draw poker.

Playing The Board - If the cards in your hand do not make a better poker hand than the five community cards then you must play the board. The best you can achieve here is a pot split with the other players in the game.

Pocket Cards - The cards in your hand that only you can see. eg. "pocket fives".

Pot - The amount bet so far in the game which will be awarded to the winning player.

Pot-Limit - A form of poker different to Limit and No-Limit Poker in that a player is allowed to bet up to the amount in the pot during his turn to bet.

Pot-Odds - A means of working out whether you should bet, raise or call based on the value of your hand compared to the amount in the pot.

Protect - A protected hand is one which you are guarding with your hand or covering with a poker chip to prevent them being accidentally mucked by the dealer or seen by other players.

Push - When one dealer replaces another at a casino.

Rags - Cards not worth playing

Ragged - A board of bad cards.

Rainbow - A flop or board full of different suits.

Raise - To increase the bet by a set stake amount when it is your turn to bet.

Rake - A fixed amount taken out of each pot by the house.

River - The final community card laid on the table in Teas Hold'em.

Ring - A regular game of poker as opposed to a poker tournament.

Rock - A predictable player. Plays only on the very strong hands.

Runner - A hand which was only made by catching the last two community cards dealt. A hand made on the runner is something like 2,3,4 and the turn and river cards are drawn as 5,6 to give the straight.

Side Pot - A separate bet on the side between players which has nothing to do with the pot being played for.

Stack - The number of poker chips in front of you. Playing on what is termed a "short stack" is playing with substantially less chips than anyone else in the game.

Small Blind - See "Blinds".

Stake - The amount a player enters the game with.

Showdown - The point in the game where the remaining players show their cards to determine who has won.

Slow Play - The act of playing a strong hand as if it were a weak one to keep players in the game and building the pot up.

Split - A pot may be split when two or more players have the same or equivalent poker hands.

String Bet - An unethical means of raising a bet. A player may put in enough chips to call, watch for the reaction of other players and then continue to put more chips in for the raise. It is usual for the raise to be refused and just enough for the call to be accepted in such cases. Also terms a "string raise".

Steal - Causing a player to fold when your hand is not the best.

Straight - 5 cards in consequetive number/rank order.

Stub - The undealt portion of the deck.

Suited - Suit cards are cards of the same suit eg. all diamonds, all spades etc.

Table Stakes - A rule whereby a player can only play the money on the table during a game. i.e. can not go fishing around his pockets or his friends pockets for more cash and chips.

Tight Game - Fewer hands than normal. The converse is a loose game.

Tell - A big hint as to what kind of hand the player has by his actions.

Tilt - To play recklessly.

Toke - A tip given to the dealer by the winner of the pot. Is quite often a significant portion of the dealer's income.

Trips - A hand consisting of three of a kind.

Turn - The fourth community card dealt in Omaha or Texas Hold'em poker.

Under the gun - The first player who must act first after the deal is said to be "under the gun".

Underdog - Also termed "dog" this is the player who is least likely to win the pot judging by their hand so far.

Upcards - Cards dealt face upwards.