Card games have been a source of entertainment for people around the world for years. Playing cards started in China before AD1000 and made its way to the European countries in 1360. One of the oldest card games is known as the leaf game. With this being said, card games have evolved over the years and now there are as many as 10,000 card games that are played across the globe. One such game type which evolved from the primitive leaf game is poker. Poker has gained immense popularity and is played by professionals and amateurs in casinos both online and land-based. Over 100 million people play poker online and out of those 60 million users are from the USA. Since there are a lot of people playing this game the language of the game also evolved with time and the people playing it. This evolution of the game language is termed as Slang of the game and it becomes very important to know this slang before you start to play poker. Not knowing this slang may lead you to guess most of the time and not allow you to concentrate on the game and winning it. So, what are the most common poker slangs that every poker player should know? Here are a few slangs one should know.
1- Trapping:
Trapping can be defined as a situation wherein a poker player is trying to represent a weak hand just to attract his opponents to bet more on the pot that he is trying to earn. More the bet greater is the earning.
2- Limping:
Raising and calling are two things in the game of poker. If a person is calling rather than raining then we can say that the person is limping. Limping is not suggested to be a good strategy to be used in the game but still many people go with it.
3- Check in the Dark:
As the name suggests the check-in in the dark is some kind of an assumption. Check-in in the dark is a situation when a poker player bets or checks without looking at his hole cards.
4- Muck:
The act of discarding cards in the game of poker is named and called Muck. Muck is often referred to as the discarded pile into which the players throw away their unfolded cards. This is the same pile in which the dealer places his burned cards.
5- All-In:
All-in is a trick and a situation. A situation when a player puts all his chips into one pot and tricks because it is also used to scare other players by showing them how confident you are about your bet.
6- Fold:
The fold is when a player realizes that the game is done and dusted for him or her. When a player realizes that he or she has a weaker hand when compared to the other players in the game then the player folds and in the act loses all the money the player has but as bet till now in the game.
7- Nuts or Nut Flush:
A nut is a situation in the game of poker when you have the best hand in the entire game of poker. Also, nut flush is used to describe any Ace-high flush, this can be a situation even when the Ace-high flush is technically not the nuts of the game.
8- Hold’em:
Hold’em is a variation in the game of Poker. The variation in the game of poker is that when two cards are dealt face down to each player in the game and then five community cards are dealt face up for the table. The players in the game have the option to check, call, raise or fold during the game.
9- Cash Game:
Yes, you have guessed it right, Cash game is a game in which a person can buy more chips while being on the table and in between of a game. These chips are bought using the player’s cash and hence the term cash game.
10- Omaha:
Omaha is another variant of the popular game of poker. In the game of Ohama, each player is dealt with 4 cards and a player is required to create the best hand using 2 private cards and 3 cards from the board. Private cards are the 2-hole cards that are given to each player.
11- Sit and Go:
Sit and Go has been further abbreviated as SnG, and is commonly used as SnG in the game. SnG is a faced paced game when compared to a standard Poker game. It is usually started on a single table and only after the table is full. Each game goes for around 20 to 30 minutes. Players pay a fixed buy-in amount for the chips before the start of the game. The person whose chips are out of the tournament.
12- Satellite:
A Satellite is a qualifying tournament. People can enter the qualifying tournament with a nominal buy-in amount. This game is ideal for people who cannot afford high buy-in amounts for major tournaments.
13- Shark:
The shark is the most dangerous predator of the ocean and nothing wins against the Shark. The same applies in the game of Poker. A person who wins most of the games and at the same time can judge his or her opponent’s moves is called a Shark.
14- Fish:
The shark feeds upon the fish and hence it can be derived that the players who are not good at playing poker and lose often can be termed as fish.
15- Tilt:
A player can have bad days and that can solely be due to the factor of luck or other factors such as less concentration. The losses due to these factors can be termed as tilt.
The game of poker is very interesting and slang like this has made the game even richer in the terms of entertainment. Before heading into a casino for a game of poker make sure that you are well aware of these slangs to make sure that you don’t end up being a fish but rather emerge as a Shark.