Maniac - A player who does a lot of hyper-aggressive raising, betting, and bluffing. A true maniac is not a good player, but is simply doing a lot of gambling. However, a player who occasionally acts like a maniac and confuses his opponents is quite dangerous.

Money management – the use of the bankroll.

Muck - The pile of folded and burned cards in front of the dealer. Example: “His hand hit the muck so the dealer ruled it folded even though the guy wanted to get his cards back.” Also used as a verb. Example: He didn’t have any outs so he mucked his hand.”

Monster hand – a hand that is very likely to win.

No-Limit - A version of poker in which a player may bet any amount of chips (up to the number in front of him) whenever it is his turn to act. It is a very different game from limit poker. The best treatise on no-limit poker is in Doyle Brunson’s Super/System .

Nuts - The best possible hand given the board. If the board is K -J -T -4 -2 , then A -X is the nuts. You will occasionally hear the term applied to the best possible hand of a certain category, even though it isn’t the overall nuts. For the above example, somebody with A -Q might say they had the “nut straight.”

Offsuit - A hold’em starting hand with two cards of different suits. A hold’em starting hand with two cards of different suits.

One-Cap - A hold’em starting hand with two cards two apart in rank. Examples: J9s, 64.

Open-Ended Straight Draw - Seeking one of two card values to make a straight. For instance, a player holding 9-8 with a board of 2-7-6 can make a straight with either a ten (6-7-8-9-T) or with a five (5-6-7-8-9). This is also known as an up-and-down straight draw.

Out - A card that will make your hand win. Normally heard in the plural. Example: “Any spade will make my flush, so I have nine outs.”

Outrun - To beat. Example: “Susie outran my set when her flush card hit on the river.”

Overcall - To call a bet after one or more others players have already called.

Overcard - A card higher than any card on the board. For instance, if you have AQ and the flop comes J-7-3, you don’t have a pair, but you have two overcards.

Overpair - A pocket pair higher than any card on the flop. If you have QQ and the flop comes J-8-3, you have an overpair.

Passive or passive play – a style of play where the player calls and rarely bet or raise.

Pay Off - To call a bet when the bettor is representing a hand that you can’t beat, but the pot is sufficiently large to justify a call anyway. Example: “He played it exactly like he made the flush, but I had top set so I paid him off.”

Picture card – also called a face card, king queen and jack are the picture cards.

Play the Board - To show down a hand in hold’em when your cards don’t make a hand any better than is shown on the board. For instance, if you have 22, and the board is 4-4-9-9-A (no flush possible), then you must “play the board” : the best possible hand you can make doesn’t use any of your cards. Note that if you play the board, the best you can do is split the pot with all remaining players.

Poket - Your unique cards that only you can see. For instance, “He had pocket sixes” (a pair of sixes), or “I had ace-king in the pocket.”

Poket Pair - A hold’em starting hand with two cards of the same rank, making a pair. Example: “I had big pocket pairs seven times in the first hour. What else can you ask for?”

Poker face – A player who does not show any emotions or face expression has a poker face.

Position – In poker you have early, middle and late position where the button position is the latest position. You can bet on position rather than the strength of your hand if no one did so before you, that would be a position bet.

Post - To put in a blind bet, generally required when you first sit down in a cardroom game. You may also be required to post a blind if you change seats at the table in a way that moves you away from the blinds. Example: a player leaves one seat at a table and takes another in such a way that he moves farther from the blinds. He is required to post an extra blind to receive a hand. See also “extra blind.”

Pot-Limit - A version of poker in which a player may bet up to the amount of money in the pot whenever it is his turn to act. Like no-limit, this is a very different game from limit poker.

Pot Odds - The amount of money in the pot compared to the amount you must put in the pot to continue playing. For example, suppose there is $60 in the pot. Somebody bets $6, so the pot now contains $66. It costs you $6 to call, so your pot odds are 11:1. If your chance of having the best hand is at least 1 out of 10, you should call. Pot odds also apply to draws. For instance, suppose you have a draw to the nut flush with one card left to come. In this case, you are about a 4:1 underdog to make your flush. If it costs you $8 to call the bet, then there must be about $32 in the pot (including the most recent bet) to make your call correct.

Pre flop – anything that happens before the flop.

Price - The pot odds you are getting for a draw or call. Example: “The pot was laying me a high enough price, so I stayed in with my gutshot straight draw.”

Protect - (1) To keep your hand or a chip on your cards. This prevents them from being fouled by a discarded hand, or accidentally mucked by the dealer. (2) To invest more money in a pot so blind money that you’ve already put in isn’t “wasted.” Example: “He’ll always protect his blinds, no matter how bad his cards are.”