Poker guides
Poker glossary
Poker has its own language. These are the words you will hear (and see in the table log) at Gufo Club, each explained in a sentence or two.
Updated 2026-10-05- All-in
- Betting every chip you have in front of you. You can only win as much from each player as you put in yourself.
- Ante
- A small forced bet everyone puts in before the deal, used in Stud and in later tournament levels.
- Big blind (BB)
- The larger of the two forced bets posted before the cards are dealt, by the second player to the left of the button.
- Bluff
- Betting or raising with a weak hand so that better hands fold.
- Board
- The shared cards in the middle of the table that every player can use.
- Button (dealer)
- The disc marking the dealer’s seat. It moves one seat to the left each hand; the button acts last after the flop — the best position.
- Call
- Matching the current bet to stay in the hand.
- Check
- Passing the action without betting, possible only when nobody has bet in this round.
- Check-raise
- Checking first and then raising after an opponent bets — a way to build a bigger pot with a strong hand.
- Community cards
- Another name for the board: the flop, turn and river shared by everyone.
- Draw
- A hand that is not made yet but can become strong with the right card, like four cards to a flush.
- Flop
- The first three community cards, dealt face up at once.
- Fold
- Giving up the hand and the chips you have already put in.
- Freeroll
- A tournament that costs nothing to enter but pays real prizes — at Gufo Club every evening.
- Heads-up
- A hand or a game with only two players left.
- Hole cards
- Your own face-down cards that only you can see.
- Kicker
- The highest side card that breaks a tie between two equal pairs, trips or quads.
- Limp
- Just calling the big blind before the flop instead of raising.
- Muck
- Throwing your cards away without showing them, usually at showdown when you can’t win.
- Nuts
- The best possible hand on the current board.
- Outs
- The cards left in the deck that would make your hand the winner. A flush draw usually has nine.
- Position
- Where you sit relative to the button. Acting later means seeing what others do first — a big advantage.
- Pot
- All the chips bet in a hand, won by the best hand or the last player left.
- Pot odds
- The price of a call compared with the pot. Calling 10 into a pot of 30 means paying 10 for a share of 40 — you need to win more than a quarter of the time (10 ÷ 40).
- Raise
- Increasing the current bet; others must call the new amount, raise again or fold.
- River
- The fifth and last community card.
- Showdown
- When the last betting round is over and the remaining players show their cards to decide the pot.
- Small blind (SB)
- The smaller forced bet, posted by the player directly to the left of the button.
- Stack
- The chips a player has in front of them.
- Tilt
- Playing worse because of frustration after a bad beat. The best cure is a short break.
- Turn
- The fourth community card, dealt after the flop betting.