Poker Lingo

Action: The time a participant is to do something.  A participant might say to the dealer “Who has the action” should they have lost track of whose turn it is.

Ante: A small quantity of money deposited into the pot by all of the players at the beginning of each poker hand.

Burn: The act performed when the dealer puts the top playing card from the deck, face down, on the discard pile.  This act is repeated after each betting round prior to dealing the next community card(s).  It is done to eliminate the possibility of a player having seen the next card to be dealt and therefore gaining an unfair advantage.

Complete Hand: A poker hand that’s made up out of all five playing cards – a flush, straight, full house or a straight flush

House: The casino or other dwelling that hosts the game.

Inside Straight: A poker hand containing four playing cards required to fill a straight except one in the middle.

Kicker:
A card in a player’s hand that is used as a tiebreaker whenever two players have hands that are of identical value.

Muck: The cards in front of the dealer that have been folded or burned during the hand.

Open-ended straight: A poker hand of four sequential playing cards that needs one more playing card at either end to complete a straight.

Pocket: The cards in a players possession that only he/she can observe.

Protect: Putting a chip on your cards to signify that you are still playing the game to ensure that your hand is not accidentally fouled by a discarded hand or mucked by the dealer.

Quads: Four cards of the same value.

Rank: The numerical value assigned to a playing card (not the suit).

Tell: Some clue that a player (without realizing it) gives off indicating a little concerning their hand to others.

Toke: A small portion of the pot that a winning player may give to the dealer (a sort of of tip).

Trips: Three cards of the same ranking.

Variance: The up and down value of a players funds, wider swings in your bankroll means your variance is higher.