Basic Poker Terms

How long have you been playing poker?






Online casinos like SkyVegas host literally hundreds of different types of games, most of which rely on a lot of luck – that is, of course, part of the appeal of a casino. As an increasing number of casinos offer sports betting, they're attracting masses of people who like football, rugby, horse racing and loads of other sports, these people then often stay and have a look around the site.

More often than not, people who come to casinos from betting on sports are attracted to poker. The glamour is of course one appeal, but also the skill factor, which means that like sports betting, whilst there remains an element of luck, there's also a significant amount of knowledge involved too.

So, if you're one of the many people about to start playing poker, you'll need to know a few simple words to make sense of even the simplest 'how to play' guides:

Small Blind – the small blind is a set number of chips put in by the person immediately to the dealer's left, you don't have any choice, you have to play the small blind when it's your turn.

Big Blind – the big blind is double the size of the small blind and is mandatory for the player to the left of whoever is playing the small blind.

Buy-In – the set sum charged to join a tournament of game, usually, the lower the buy in, the lower the payout.

Call – to match the amount of money put down on the board, usually with the aim of turning another card over before any further bets are made.

Check – a call when there's no other money on the table.

Flop – in Texas Hold'em, the flop is the first three cards flipped over on the table. Generally speaking, most betting happens after the flop, but if you're very confident you can bet before the flop.

Turn – the fourth card flipped over.

River – the fifth and usually last card flipped over on the board, accordingly, “riding the river” means waiting until the last card in the hope that something will come out for you.

Kicker – When two hands are equal, it's the left over cards in the hand that determine who wins.

And finally:
All-In – the one that everyone knows. Going all in is a high drama move, but in reality, you probably don't want to get to the stage where you're forced to go all in unless you're playing at a very high level. It's better to go for a lot of small wins, than one huge one.

If you keen to know more and curious about special terms used by pro players visit our Advanced Poker Glossary.

Featured Poker Site

You can play poker online and get a lot of information about poker: poker rules, poker bluffing, strategies, famous players at PokerJunkie.


red_cubes

Useful sites about poker

Read famous poker blog and you'll know many cash poker tips.

Upcoming events in Oklahoma poker, poker news, articles and forums.