Poker Glossary

Backdoor
1. A drawing hand that needs two or more cards to complete. For example, catching two consecutive cards on the turn and the river to complete a straight or flush.
2. A hand that you make when you are trying to make a completely different hand.- “I was trying to hit another spade on the turn to complete my flush, but I ended up getting dealt another two tens to give me trip tens.

Bad Beat
When you are ahead in a hand with the best cards and your opponent manages to catch a lucky card that makes his hand and beats your – “I was in the lead up until the turn with my trip aces, but my opponent managed to get another six on the river and turn his two pair into a full house”

Bankroll
A bankroll is the money that a poker player has put aside to gamble with – I had built my bankroll up to over two thousand dollars over the last month, but lost it all on one bad hand”

Behind
When you are involved in a hand, but don’t have the best hand – “his pair of nines were behind the obvious flush draw on the board”

Bet
A bet is the money wagered during a hand – “Andrew bet $25, which was half his current chip stack”

Betting Structure
A set of rules that determines how a player may bet, raise and fold. The betting structure may vary from game to game.

big blind
A forced bet that must be put into the pot before any cards are dealt. The player who has to post the big blind is seated two positions to the left of the dealer.

Blank
A blank card is usually a community card that doesn’t help make your hand. If you had a pair of fives and the flop came 5, 5, 7 – you would refer to the 7 as a blank.

Bleed
A player who is consistently losing chips is said to be bleeding chips

Blind
A type of forced bet that must be put into the pot before any cards are dealt – there is a big blind and a small blind. The big blind is usually double the small blind.

Blind Off (blinded off)
Where you wait too long to make a move in a tournament (where the blinds are constantly increasing) and due to posting blinds, your chip stack is too small to be a threat to anyone at the table – “Jim was getting such bad cards that he was slowly blinded off until he only had a couple of hundred chips left”

Bluff
To make a bet into a pot when you don’t have a made hand – also said to be “bluffing at the pot” – The idea behind a bluff is to get your opponents to fold better hands than yours.

Board
The community cards face up on the table during a poker game – “Nick was worried about another flush card hitting the board, so he bet heavily with his pair of kings”

Boat
A boat is another name for full house – you have a boat when you have 2 card of the same value and 3 cards of the same value.

Bottom End
The lowest cards that make up a straight – if you were holding 6, 7 and the flop came 8, 9, 10 – you would have the bottom end of the straight and would lose to anyone who could complete the higher end of the straight.

Bottom Pair
When you make a pair, but it is of the lowest value in that hand – If you are holding A,9 and the flop comes 9, J, K – you would have a pair of nines – the lowest pair at the time – bottom pair.

Brick & Mortar
A brick & mortar casino is refers to an actual physical casino in a building as opposed to an internet casino that only exists online.

Broadway
A straight that goes 10, J, Q, K, A.

Bubble
The last position that doesn’t get paid in a tournament – “Tom didn’t want to go out on the bubble in 20th place because he wouldn’t receive any prize money”

Bully
A bully is usually the big stack at the table. They use their chip stack to make large, intimidating bets that put all your chips at risk.

Burn Card
A card that is put aside and not played in a real life poker game – the card is burnt before any card is dealt face up on the table – this is to stop players from cheating.

Busted
1. When you don’t get the cards you need to complete your hand - “All I have is a busted straight draw”
2. When you run out of chips

Button
The button is a physical chip that indicates the dealer position at the table.

Buy-In
The minimum amount of chips that have to be bought to get involved in a game of poker – “to play in the $1/$2 no limit game, Harry had to buy in for $80.

Buying the Button
A strategy usually used in late position, where a player close to the button makes a large raise in order to get everyone up to and including the button to fold so that they become the new button and get to enjoy all it’s positional advantages.

Buying the Pot
Making a large bet when no one else has, that wins the pot.