Glossary of Poker Terms
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Terms starting with S
Sandbag
Sandbagging means concealing your strength for the purpose
of increasing your profit. In poker, this usually means
slowplaying in the early betting rounds in order to extract
more profit on the later rounds. Especially when called
"sandbagging," this practice sometimes has the negative
connotation -- usually among occasional or less serious
players -- of being a hostile or marginally unethical way to
play. Experienced players regard it as just another part of
the game, a vital strategic tool. The same is true for
check-raising, which bears some resemblance to slowplaying.
Scare Card
A card that when it appears makes a better hand more likely.
In hold'em, a third suited card on the river is a scare
card, because it makes a flush possible. If you're pretty
sure your opponent paired a king on the flop, an ace on the
turn is a scare card. Scare cards will often make it
difficult for the best hand to bet, and offer an opportunity
for bluffing. Obviously such cards are scarier in pot-limit
or no-limit games.
Scoop
To win an entire pot, especially in high-low split games.
When he failed to make his low, I scooped.
Scoot
Scooting is the practice of passing chips to another player
after winning a pot. Typically, scooting partners will agree
to "scoot" each other a predetermined number of chips after
winning each pot. This is at least technically illegal at
most table stakes games, but single chips can often be
scooted anyway.
Seat Charge
See time charge.
Seating List
In most card rooms, if there is no seat available for you
when you arrive, you can put your name on a list to be
seated when a seat opens up. Typically, games are listed
across the top of a board, and names are written below each
game so that players are seated for games in the order in
which they arrive. See also table change.
Second Pair
See middle pair.
See
To call a bet is sometimes referred to as seeing it. This
usage comes up often in the context of string bets, when
players more familiar with home poker say things like, "I'll
see your fifty and raise you a hundred."
Semi-bluff
A semi-bluff is similar to a bluff, except that the
semi-bluffer has some chance of making a winning hand. The
idea behind a semi-bluff is that while neither the bluff nor
the draw might be positive expectation, in combination they
could be. Betting a weak draw is often only correct as a
semi-bluff.
Serious Poker
Serious poker players like to distinguish the game they play
from the average weekly penny poker game. Although these
things tend to be relative (a 10-20 hold'em game might not
seem so serious to someone used to playing 150-300), some
particular features common to home games tend to make the
game less "serious." Most irksome to the serious player is
probably a proliferation of zany, poorly thought-out games,
often involving wild cards, and sometimes having little in
common with other poker games. While some serious players
like the challenge of having to develop a strategy on-line
for a game that was just invented, many feel it just
increases the luck factor. Less serious games also tend to
involve very low stakes, because they are played for fun,
and not out of either a deep interest in poker or in making
money at it.
Serious Poker is also the title of a book I wrote, that I
think has a lot to offer both novice and more experienced
players. Click here for more information.
Hey Bob, wanna play poker with the guys tomorrow?
Sorry, Ted, I only play serious poker. Also you irritate me.
Set
Three of a kind with two in the hole.
If I don't flop a set with 22, I almost always fold
immediately.
Seven Card Stud
Of the poker games most commonly played in public card
rooms, seven card stud is probably the most well known. In
seven card stud (sometimes "seven stud" or just "stud"),
each player is dealt seven cards of their own: two down,
then four up, and a final card down. There is a round of
betting after the first up card and after each subsequent
card dealt.
Stud is usually played with a small ante and a forced
bring-in on third street. In limit games, the bet size
typically increases on fifth street.
Shill
A shill is similar to a proposition player, except a shill
gambles with the cardroom's money instead of his/her own.
Shootout
A tournament format in which a single player ends up with
the entire prize money, or in which play continues at each
table until only one player remains.
Short Stack
A short stack is a stack that's too small to cover the
likely betting in a hand. A player who has such a stack is
said to be short-stacked. This has advantages (e.g., that
you cannot be pressured to fold) and disadvantages (e.g.,
that you cannot get maximum value from your winning hands).
Asking whether or not this is a good thing over all is a
good way to start an argument.
The phrase "short stack" can also refer to the players at a
table (especially in no-limit or pot-limit play, often in a
tournament) who have the least money in front of them.
After building up a big chip lead in the tourney, I
proceeded to beat up on the short stacks.
Shorthanded
A game is said to be shorthanded when it falls below a
certain number of players. Most poker tables accommodate
nine or ten players. Five players is clearly shorthanded,
nine players is clearly not. Since many people are
uncomfortable playing shorthanded, some card rooms make
special provisions for shorthanded tables - reducing the
blinds or the rake, or providing shills or props. Since the
number of players at a table has a significant impact on
strategy, learning to play well shorthanded is an important
skill. This is especially true in tournaments, where
shorthanded play is much more common (if you last long
enough).
Showdown
When all the betting's done, if more than one player is
still in the pot, showdown is the process of figuring out
who wins. Usually the last player to open or raise is
required to show their cards first, and anyone else can try
to muck their cards if they decide they've lost. However, in
most card rooms any player who reaches showdown (or calls
the final bet) can be asked to show their cards. When used
to describe the process, showdown is one word. When used to
describe what each player does at that point, it's usually
two words.
Only one hand made it to showdown in the entire hour.
I was embarrassed to show down such ugly cards.
Show One Show All
Most card rooms have a rule, generally referred to as "show
one show all," that if a player shows their cards to anyone
at the table they can be asked to show everyone else (even
if they would ordinarily not be required to show their
hand). This usually comes up at the end of a hand that did
not reach showdown (e.g., if a player shows a friend a
successful bluff). Obviously showing one's hand to someone
else who has cards is illegal for more reasons.
Shuffle
Before each hand, the dealer shuffles the cards - mixes them
up in order to make their order as unpredictable as
possible. Most card rooms have fairly specific requirements
for how the cards are to be shuffled.
Side Pot
See main pot and all-in. If you still don't know what a side
pot is, we can't help you.
Sir
"Sir" is one of those confusing terms that can have a
completely different meaning at the poker table than
elsewhere. If someone says "nice hand, sir," after you win a
big pot, what they are really saying is, "congratulations on
winning money through your own stupidity, you clueless
moron." The word "sir," when uttered in this context,
somehow absorbs all the venomous thoughts the person is
feeling, although if you listen carefully you can often hear
them rattling around in there. Note that people at the poker
table do sometimes use the word in its less colloquial
sense, simply as a polite expression of mild respect. It's
up to you to figure out who means what.
To the best of my recollection, I've never heard "ma'am"
used in this way, although I'm sure it can be.
Slow
When you play passively, you are playing slow. See speed.
Slowplay
To slowplay is to under bet a very strong hand (i.e., to
play it slow, except that when used in this way it's made
into one word). The purpose of slowplaying a hand is to give
other players the chance to make stronger second-best hands,
and also to conceal the strength of your hand. Instead of
betting early and risking the loss of future action,
slowplay means checking and calling. It's of course best to
slowplay when you have a hand that no one is likely to
actually catch (e.g., four of a kind). Slowplay is not the
same thing as check-raising, but the two strategic options
are similar in that both are often intended to trap more
money in the pot in situations where you are fairly sure you
will win.
I tried to slowplay my quad nines and walked right into a
straight flush.
Slowroll
To reveal one's hand slowly at showdown, one card at a time,
is to slowroll anyone else who thinks the pot might be
theirs. This is usually only done with a winning hand, for
the purpose of irritating other players (well, some people
do it innocently).
Small Bet
See big bet.
Small Blind
See blind bet.
Smooth
The best possible low hand with a particular high card.
8432A is a smooth 8. See also rough.
Smooth Call
To call one or more bets with a hand that's strong enough
for a raise, with the intention of trapping more money in
the pot. Smooth call is like flat call, although it more
strongly connotes a powerful hand that one is trying to
slowplay.
Snap Off
To beat someone, often a bluffer, and usually with a not
especially powerful hand, is to snap them off.
I snapped off his pair of eights with my small two pair.
Speed
Speed refers to the level of aggressiveness with which you
play. Fast play is more aggressive, slow play is more
passive. Good players may change speeds so that their play
will not be so predictable.
Speeding
Someone who is caught bluffing is sometimes said to be
caught speeding. See speed and table cop for more of this
metaphor.
Splash (the pot)
To throw your chips into the pot, instead of placing them in
front of you, is to splash the pot. Doing so can make it
difficult for the dealer to determine if you've bet the
correct amount, or to keep track of the action.
Split Pot
In a game that isn't high-low split, a hand in which two
players show down the same hand (especially in games with
community cards) results in a pot split between those two
players. In a high-low split game, of course, many hands
result in split pots.
Spread
When a cardroom starts a table for a particular game, it is
said to spread that game. If you want to know what games are
played in a particular place, you can ask what they spread.
We don't spread high only stud.
Spread Limit
Betting limits in which there is a fixed minimum and maximum
bet for each betting round, and any amount in between these
limits may be bet. See structure.
Stack
The amount of money you have in front of you on the poker
table (i.e., stack of chips). Often used in the plural. See
also short stack.
A stack can also refer to a particular number of chips. Most
chip racks take stacks of 20 chips. Many players like to
keep their chips in stacks of particular numbers of chips. I
favor 10-chip stacks, but most players seem to opt for 20 to
30.
I was doing well earlier, but my stacks have been dwindling.
Steal
To (attempt to) steal a pot is to make a bet when it appears
no one else has anything. A player who raises from the small
blind when everyone else has folded (and who is therefore
competing only against the big blind) is likely to be on a
steal. Similarly with a player who opens from late position
when it's checked around on the flop.
Steam
A player who is on tilt is sometimes said to be steaming. A
steam raise is a raise made more out of frustration than out
of strategic concerns.
Steel Wheel
A straight flush, five high. That is, A2345 of the same
suit. A pretty nice hand to have in a high-low split game.
Straddle
In a game played with blinds, the player under the gun may
raise before looking at their cards, effectively posting an
additional blind bet. This is called a straddle. House rules
often make these bets live, so that the player who posts a
live straddle has the option of raising when it's their turn
again, even if no one has re-raised. It's hard to imagine a
good reason to do this in limit poker, although some players
like to do it to liven up a tight table, or for advertising
value.
Straight
A hand composed of five cards of consecutive ranks (aces
count as high or low). A2345 is a five high straight, or a
straight to the five. 789TJ is a jack high straight, or a
straight to the jack. TJQKA is an exercise for the reader
(but see broadway). In comparing straights, the straight to
the higher card wins.
Straight Flush
A hand consisting of five cards of consecutive ranks of the
same suit. A straight flush is the strongest possible hand.
Of two straight flushes, the one with the highest high card
is better. An ace high straight flush is often called a
royal flush or a royal straight flush, or just a royal.
Street
The cards that come out one at a time in a card game are
sometimes referred to as different numbered streets. The
door card in seven card stud is third street, and subsequent
cards are numbered consecutively. In hold'em and other flop
games, players sometimes refer to the turn and river as
fourth and fifth street.
String Bet
Most card rooms (and serious home games) require you to make
your entire bet at once. In other words, you can't raise by
putting out enough to call and then reaching back to your
stack for your raise. As well, since verbal statements are
considered binding at most poker games, if you say "I call
your bet and raise you ten more," you have called, since the
raise was added afterwards. To be on the safe side, when you
want to raise it's best to say "raise" so that your bet
won't be mistaken. The reason for the string bet rule is to
prevent players from strategically misleading other players
about the size of their bet (see angle). Note that movie and
television depictions of poker games are filled with
egregious examples of string bets.
Structure
The structure of a game refers to the details about the
betting, including antes, blinds, and the amount that may be
bet on any round. In card rooms, games are typically posted
along with shorthand for the limits. For example, 5-10
hold'em is usually a fixed limit game, played with $5 bets
and raises pre-flop and on the flop, and $10 bets and raises
on the turn and the river. This usually generalizes to any
game where the structure is X-2X. Games with more
complicated structures sometimes spell it out like this:
5-10-10-15. Spread limit games are ones in which the betting
in a given round is constrained to a particular range. So a
1-4 spread limit game would allow a bet from $1 to $4 on any
round (often constrained that a bet or raise must be at
least the size of the previous action). Many different
structures are possible, and the sizes of antes and blinds
vary from game to game. The structure of a game has a
substantial impact on appropriate strategy.
In connection with tournaments, structure can also mean
anything having to do with the amount of money in tournament
chips players can get, the rebuy and add-on rules, and the
way in which the blinds increase.
I was reluctant to dive right in because of the unfamiliar
structure.
Stuck
Losing money, usually enough so you'd notice.
I was stuck about $200 after that hand, but I couldn't quit.
Even the best players in the world get stuck sometimes.
Stud
Usually short for seven card stud. Also refers to stud games
in general, including five card stud, in which each player
is dealt a number of non-shared cards and must use only
those cards. May be contrasted with flop games and draw
games.
Suck Out
To win a hand by virtue of hitting a very weak draw, often
with poor pot odds.
Suit
You know, clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.
Suited
Of the same suit.
I almost never play 98 unless it's suited.
Sweat
To sweat someone is to watch them play from the rail, in
order to lend your support.
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