Glossary of Poker Terms
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Terms starting with C
Call
To call is to match the current bet. If there has been a bet
of $10 and a raise of $10 then it costs $20 to call. Calling
is the cheapest (and the most passive) way to remain in a
hand. See also cold call, flat call, and it.
Calling Station
A player who calls much too often is called a calling
station. Such a player will pay you off when you make hands,
and will often fail to press their advantage when they have
relatively strong hands (see passive). On the other hand,
calling stations will hit more backdoor and other unlikely
draws than other players, making it occasionally frustrating
to play against them, especially in large numbers.
Most of the players at the table were tough, but it was
worth playing there because of the two calling stations.
Cap
In limit games, the cap is the limit on the number of raises
in a round of betting. In many places it's 3, for 4 bets
total, but you can get into very irritating arguments about
the maximum number of raises that's appropriate. A cap on
the betting makes it more difficult for players to collude.
Some dealers have cutesy expressions they like to use when a
pot is capped (e.g., "cappuccino"). To make the final
allowed raise is to cap the betting, or to "cap it."
After I made the loose call in early position, much to my
dismay the pot was raised, re-raised, and capped.
Cardroom
Card rooms are the rooms in which poker is played, or the
organizations that run those rooms. Most casinos that offer
poker have a separate room, or at least a roped-off area,
designated as the cardroom. In some places where poker is
legal, you will also find separate card rooms (not part of a
larger casino) dedicated mostly to poker. Key things to look
for in a cardroom include tables, floor people, the brush,
chips, etc.
Cards Speak
Cards speak is simply the rule that the value of your hand
is determined solely by your cards. You don't have to
declare your hand properly in order to claim the part of the
pot you deserve. The alternative to this is mainly declare
games, usually played in home games for low stakes.
Case
The fourth card of a particular rank.
I knew he was bluffing because I had folded the case 7.
Catch
When the cards are treating you well, you are said to be
catching cards. The word often carries a mild connotation of
improbable luck. Someone who says "nice catch" may mean
anything from "okay, take the pot, you clueless moron," to
"guess you outdrew me, no problem."
Chase
When you're behind, you can either choose not to contend the
pot (i.e., check and fold as appropriate), try to steal it,
or stick around, hoping you'll improve enough to win. To
stay in a pot, with the sole hope of making a particular
hand (e.g., chasing a flush). Usually chasing implies poor
pot odds.
Check
If there has been no betting before you in a betting round,
you may check, which is like calling a bet of $0, or passing
your turn. If all the players at a table check in turn in
the same round, it is said to be checked around, resulting
in a free card.
Poker chips are also sometimes called checks. This is mostly
European (esp. British) usage.
I checked with the intention of folding on the turn and the
river, but no one ever bet.
Check-Raise
A check-raise is just what it sounds like -- a raise after
you have already checked within a betting round.
Check-raises can be used to trap a player who (for example)
would have folded to a single bet, but who will open if it
is checked to them.
While check-raising is legal virtually everywhere serious
poker is played, there are apparently a few public card
rooms which prohibit it at the lowest limits. Home poker
games, which may be more or less serious, vary more widely.
I noticed he liked to position bet a lot, so whenever I had
a good hand I check-raised him.
Chip
Poker chips are small round discs used instead of money at
the poker table. The ones used at casinos are typically made
of clay, while home poker games often substitute cheaper
plastic chips. Using chips instead of cash has a number of
advantages, mostly just that they're easier to count and
manipulate. Color designations for chips are arbitrary, but
many casinos use white for $1 chips, red for $5 chips, green
for $25 chips, and black for $100 chips. If someone asks for
a rack of white, they'd like $100 in $1 chips.
Chip Race
In tournaments, as the limits go up, lower denomination
chips are taken out of circulation (see color up). Often,
odd chips, rather than simply being rounded up or down for
each player, are randomly given to one player at each table.
Typically, each player is dealt a card for each odd chip,
and the player with the highest card dealt is given all the
odd chips (which are then colored up).
Chop
To return the blinds to the players who posted them and move
on to the next hand. This may happen in hold'em when nobody
calls the blind. By agreeing to chop rather than play the
hand, the two blinds sometimes avoid paying the rake, since
many card rooms only collect on those hands when there is a
flop. At a table which ordinarily sees more action, players
will often agree to chop so as to get on to a "real" hand
more quickly.
Wanna chop?
Okay.
Coffeehouse
To talk about a hand one is involved in, usually with the
intent of misleading or manipulating other players, is
coffeehousing. It's usually considered just barely on one
side of ethical. Which side that is depends on who you ask.
See also table talk.
Cold Call
Cold calling is calling more than one bet at once. If one
player bets, another player raises, and a third player calls
the two bets, this is a cold call. This is contrasted with
the situation in which a player calls one bet before the
raise, and then calls the raise.
I knew he had at least trips when he called two bets cold.
Color Up
To exchange one's chips for ones of higher value, usually in
order to reduce the number of chips one has on the table. In
tournaments, players are forced to color up periodically as
the tourney money becomes divided among fewer and fewer
players and the sizes of the forced bets go up (it makes no
sense to play with $25 chips when the blinds are $10000).
See also chip race.
Come Hand
A hand which must improve in order to have a realistic shot
is a come hand. See also draw and drawing hand.
Community (Cards)
Face-up cards that are shared by all the players in a hand.
Flop games have five community cards.
Connector
Cards of consecutive ranks, especially pocket cards, are
connectors. If they're also of the same suit, they're suited
connectors.
Counterfeit
In flop games, when your great hand is subsequently made
less powerful because of board cards that duplicate the
strength of your hand, your hand is said to be
counterfeited. For example, if you hold J9 and the flop is
T87, you hold the nuts. If the turn is a 9, suddenly anyone
with a J has a straight, and QJ has a better straight. If
the river is a J, you're counterfeited even further - you're
playing the board and anyone with a Q beats you.
Counterfeiting is especially common in high-low split omaha.
If you hold A2JQ and the flop is 678, you have the nut low.
However, if the turn card is an A or a 2, your nut low has
been counterfeited. It's no longer the nut low, and is
probably not even a winner.
Cowboy
A nickname for Kings, more often heard in the plural.
I had cowboys six times last night and didn't win a pot with
them.
Crack
When a powerful hand (especially powerful pocket cards) is
beat, it's said to be cracked.
I've had rockets cracked twelve consecutive times.
Crying Call
A call by someone who is virtually certain they will not win
the pot, and probably knows it.
Cut
After the cards are shuffled but before they are dealt,
usually the deck is split in the middle and the halves
reversed. This is known as cutting the cards. In cardroom
games with house dealers, this is done by the dealer. In
home games, it's usually done by the player next to the
dealer.
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