Glossary of Poker Terms

Back to main poker terminology page

Terms starting with R

Rabbit Hunting
Rabbit hunting is the act of asking to see what cards would have come up if a hand had continued. For example, if a hold'em player folds a flush draw, but would like to know if the flush would have come in, he or she might ask the dealer to deal out the next few cards. Some card rooms prohibit it.

Rack
Poker chips can get a bit unwieldy in large quantities, so card rooms usually supply plastic racks that hold 100 chips in 5 stacks of 20. A rack of red means a rack of red chips, typically worth $500. If someone asks for a rack, it usually means they're about to leave the table. If someone asks to buy a rack of red, it means they'd like to buy $500 in chips.
Someone is said to be "racking up" a game if they're winning a lot of money at the table.


Rag
A card, usually a low card, that, when it appears, has no apparent impact on the hand. A flop of 7 4 2 is a rag flop - few playable hands match the flop well. If the table shows QJT9, all of spades, a 2h on the river is a rag.
I didn't think anyone could've hit the flop when it came all rags.


Rail
The rail is the sideline at a poker table - the (often imaginary) rail separating spectators from the field of play. Watching from the rail means watching a poker game as a spectator. People on the rail are sometimes called railbirds.

Railbird
Someone watching a game from the rail.

Ragged
See rough.

Rainbow
Three or four cards of different suits, for example on a flop. (Two cards of different suits are unsuited and five is impossible.)
I figured my rockets were going to win when the flop came queen seven two, rainbow.


Raise
After someone has opened betting in a round, to increase the amount of the bet is to raise. For example, if the betting limit is $5 and player A bets $5, player B can fold, call the $5, or raise it to $10. Knowledgeable poker players sometimes get irritated when someone says raise to indicate an opening bet. But they usually know what you mean.

Rake
The money removed from each pot by the house. Medium and high-limit games typically have a time charge rather than a rake. A typical Atlantic City low-limit rake is 10% of the pot up to a $4 maximum. The same table in California may rake just the big blind, with the small blind going towards a jackpot.
Despite all the bad players, the high rake made it hard to turn a profit at the game.


Rank
Each card has a suit and a rank. The eight of diamonds and the eight of hearts have the same rank. A pair is two cards of the same rank. Come on, you know this.

Razz
Seven card stud played for low (ace to five) only.

Read
To read someone is to have a good idea from their play (or through tells) what their cards might be. To have a read on someone is to have a good understanding of how they play. Reading players is an important skill in poker, because... well, if you can't figure out why, it's going to be hard to explain here.

Re-buy
When you first sit down at a game, you buy in with a certain amount of money. Re-buying is what you do when you buy more chips before you leave.
Re-buys are also allowed in some tournaments to players who fall below a certain point - usually only up until a certain point and often limited to a fixed number of re-buys. The time during which one may re-buy, usually lasting from the start through the early stages of the tournament, is called the re-buy period. Tournaments with re-buys are called, generically, re-buy tournaments. See also add-on.

I had to re-buy after the second hand when I had quads shot down.


Red
Red is the most common color for $5 chips. If someone bets a stack of red, it means they're betting a bunch of $5 chips, probably 20 of them. See also white, black, and green.

Redraw
A way to further improve your hand after hitting a draw is a redraw. For example, if you hold 9s2s (on the big blind of course) and the flop comes JsTs3c, you have a flush draw. If the turn is the 8s, you have made your flush and picked up a straight flush redraw.

Represent
To bet in such a way as to indicate that you have a certain hand. For instance, when you check-raise after the third suited card hits the board in hold'em, you are representing a flush, even if you don't actually have one.

Re-raise
Any raise after the first raise in a round. Player A bets, player B raises, player C (or A) re-raises. See also cap and check-raise.

Ring Game
A bunch of people playing poker for money at a table in a cardroom. The term ring game is used to differentiate such games from tournaments.
Tournaments are fun, but I much prefer ring games.


River
The last of five community cards in flop games (e.g. hold'em and omaha). Sometimes called fifth street. Sometimes "river" is used to refer to the last card in non-flop games, such as seven card stud.

Rock
A player who plays an extremely tight, patient game is a rock. Rocks don't create a lot of action, and when they enter a pot, more often than not they're in as a favorite. This is a decent strategy at some tables (especially at a table full of maniacs). But good players with more varied strategies will eventually get the best of a real rock.

Rock Garden
A table populated with rocks.
I never play there anymore, it's a real rock garden.


Rockets
Or "pocket rockets" - a pair of aces in the hole.

Roll
Short for bankroll.

Rolled Up
In seven card stud, three of a kind on the first three cards are called rolled up X's, where X is the rank of the cards. The hand and the player can both be said to be rolled up.
I didn't outdraw you, I was rolled up.

I haven't had a rolled up hand in weeks.

Root Canal
A really unpleasant form of dental surgery.

Rough
A hand of a particular type that will not beat many other hands of that type. Often used in low games to indicate non-nut low hands with a particular high card. A rough 8 in ace to five lowball could be any eight high hand other than 8432A, although 8532A isn't too rough. Rough is the opposite of smooth.

Round
A round can refer either to a round of betting or a round of hands. A betting round usually begins after a card or several cards are dealt. Each player is given a chance to act, and the round ends when everyone has either folded to or called the last bet or raise. (See it.) Each round of betting is followed either by further dealing or by a showdown.
A round of hands consists of one hand dealt by each player at the table (or, when there's a house dealer, one hand with the dealer button at each position). In a round of hold'em you're in each position once, and you expect on average to hold the best hand once (although you will fold it pre-flop and kick yourself for the rest of the evening).

One more round and I'm outta here. (round of hands)

After I missed the check-raise I made sure to open the next round. (round of betting)

Royal Straight Flush
An ace high straight flush is a royal straight flush, or a royal flush, or just a royal. Some traditionalists dislike the phrase "royal flush" (preferring "ace high straight flush"), but no one dislikes the hand. It's the most powerful hand in casino poker.

Runner-runner
A hand made on the last two cards. A player holding 55, with a board of AA455, in that order, makes runner-runner quads. See also backdoor.

Running
Two needed cards that come as the last two cards dealt are said to be running.
I had nothing when I called his re-raise, but I caught running 7's to lay that bad beat on him.

Rush
A player who wins a large number of pots in a short period of time is said to be on a rush. Some players feel superstitiously that a rush is an independent entity, and will "play their rush" or "bet their rush" after winning a few pots - play looser and more aggressively, or just be certain to play out each hand until the rush ends. Sometimes this isn't such a bad idea if the other players at the table are superstitious as well and will fold.
I was down about $500 after two hours of bad beats, but then I went on a monster rush and made it all back in three hands.

Back to main poker terminology page