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| Machine Man |
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A thief who uses a mechanical device for his cheating (for example, a holdout machine).
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| Mail |
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Divine that someone is bluffing. After being caught bluffing, someone might say, "You've been reading my mail."
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| Main Game |
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1) In a card room, the game with the highest stakes, or (sometimes) with the most action. Sometimes when a regular player first sits down to play, he may ask, "Is this the main game?" He means that he hopes the players are gambling or otherwise giving action. Sometimes the question is asked facetiously, when the player sits down in what is obviously a dead spread, that is, a game full of mostly house players or what seems to be a game with little action. 2) The game to which players must move from a forced-move game. 3) The more desirable of two (or more) games of the same form of poker at the same stakes.
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| Main Pot |
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When there is a side pot, that part of the pot all of the players have action in.
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| Major Hand |
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In high poker, (generally) a straight or better.
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| Make |
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1) Catch the specific hand one is trying to end up with; often followed by a (or the) hand. In draw poker, if you start with 5-6-7-8-K of mixed suits, you discard the king, and on the draw receive either a 4 or 9, you have made a straight. You have also made the hand or made a hand. The phrases "I made" and "Did you make?" are elliptical, that is, "I made my hand" and "Did you make the hand (or your hand)?", respectively, are understood. In lowball, to catch on the draw any card below one's top card that does not give one a pair is to make the hand. Similarly, though used less often, in a stud or hold 'em game, to turn a drawing hand into a complete hand is to make the hand. 2) Detect cheating. "Did the floor man make you?" means "Did the floor man notice that you were cheating?" 3) Shuffle the cards prior to the next deal; same as make the pack.
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| Make a Move on the Pot |
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Same as make a play (Bet strongly), often implying betting or raising strong when the other players seem weak, and often when the player making the move is himself none too strong. Also, move on the pot.
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| Make a Pass |
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Replace the cards in the same order as they were prior to the cut. This is a slSeven-of-hand maneuver by a card mechanic to negate the effect of the cut. Also called elevator the cut, jump the cut, shift the cut.
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| Make a Play |
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1) Bluff. 2) Bet strongly. He made a play for the pot implies that he bet big to try to win it. Also make a move on the pot.
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| Make Good |
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1) Pay money owed to the pot, usually by matching one's lights, which are (usually only in a home game) chips removed from the pot by a player who has run out of chips but has agreed to stand good on any bets, chips equal in amount to the betting from the point at which the player ran out of chips. If the player loses the pot, he must make good on the money owed. For example, if he had gone light by $10, he must return those $10 in chips to the pot, plus another $10 in cash (or purchase more chips and add another $10 to the pot). 2) Put enough chips into the pot to call a bet or raise.
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| Make Perfect |
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In draw poker, to catch one or more cards that give the maximum improvement to the cards kept. This phrase is most common in lowball. For example, you draw one card to 7-5-2-A, and catch a 3, thus making the hand perfect. (This is actually grammatically incorrect; it should be make perfectly, but card players aren't big on grammar.)
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| Make the Blind Good |
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The situation in which a player has one of the various traveling blinds, dealer blind, middle blind, or big blind, someone has opened the pot, and the holder of the blind calls the opening bet, usually with a marginal hand, and with the intention of "protecting" his investment (operating under the fallacious theory that the chip or chips he has put into the pot prior to the deal in the form of the blind still belong to him).
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| Make the Deck |
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After the play of a hand, gather the cards and shuffle them for the deal of the next hand.
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| Make the Pack |
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After the play of a hand, gather the cards and shuffle them for the deal of the next hand.
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| Make Up |
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After the play of a hand, gather the cards and shuffle them for the deal of the next hand.
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| Make Up the Blind |
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Take the middle blind, and post, or otherwise arrange to receive a hand after having missed the blind.
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| Make Up the Blinds |
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Take the middle blind, and post, or otherwise arrange to receive a hand after having missed the blind.
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| Make Up the Pack |
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After the play of a hand, gather the cards and shuffle them for the deal of the next hand.
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| Making the Pass |
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Replace the cards in the same order as they were prior to the cut. This is a slSeven-of-hand maneuver by a card mechanic to negate the effect of the cut. Also called elevator the cut, jump the cut, make a pass, shift the cut.
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| Mambo Stud |
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A combination between stud and a widow game, in which players use three cards in their hands plus one community card, played high-low. Each player is dealt one down card and one up card, followed by a round of betting, one more up card, one more round of betting, and then a community card, with a final round of betting. Players use any combination of three of their four cards for high hand and any three for low. hand rankings differ from "ordinary poker." The highest ranking low hand, A -2 -3, is called a Low Mambo, and the highest ranking high hand, Q - K - A suited, is called a High Mambo. The remaining high hands rank this way: straight flush, three of a kind, straight, flush, one pair, highest card rank. There is a qualifier for low: to win the low half, a hand must be 6-high or better. One worse than a Low Mambo is A-2-4, and so on. If there is no low, the entire pot goes to the high hand.
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| Manage |
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1) Practice money management. 2) Run a card room. 3) Own a card room.
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| Management |
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1) The owners of a card room. 2) Those running or managing a card room.
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| Manager |
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1) Someone good at money management. 2) One who runs a card room. 3) One who owns a card room.
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| Managing |
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Successfully applying the principles of money management.
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| Maniac |
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A very aggressive player who plays hands that more conservative players would probably not consider.
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| Mark |
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1) Put scratches, bends, paint, etc., on cards such that they can be identified visually from the back, or by feel from front or back. 2) Scratches, bends, paint, etc., on cards; often plural. 3) A thief's victim.
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| Marked Cards |
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Cards that have been altered so that their value can be read from the back.
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| Marked Deck |
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A deck with marked cards. Also called cheaters.
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| Marker |
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A promissory note, credit slip, or IOU, usually held by a casino or card room, representing money owed by a player, against which the player plays.
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| Markers |
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Scratches, bends, paint, etc., on cards; often plural.
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| Marriage |
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In hold 'em, suited K-Q as the down cards. Comes from the game of pinochle.
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| Master Card |
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The highest card in play in a particular suit.
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| Match Lights |
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In a home game, a situation that comes up when a player is light (Short of the complete bet. "He's light by $20." Also called shy.). In some home games, not played for table stakes, when a player does not have enough chips to continue betting in a pot, that player withdraws chips from the pot equal to the amount of the betting beyond his chips, (usually) stacking them neatly in front of him. These are called lights. (To so withdraw chips is called go light.) At the end of the hand, if the player does not win the pot, he buys enough chips to cover his lights. He then matches his lights, that is, puts the lights into the pot plus an equivalent amount of chips from the ones he has just bought.
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| Match One's Lights |
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In a home game, a situation that comes up when a player is light (Short of the complete bet. "He's light by $20." Also called shy.). In some home games, not played for table stakes, when a player does not have enough chips to continue betting in a pot, that player withdraws chips from the pot equal to the amount of the betting beyond his chips, (usually) stacking them neatly in front of him. These are called lights. (To so withdraw chips is called go light.) At the end of the hand, if the player does not win the pot, he buys enough chips to cover his lights. He then matches his lights, that is, puts the lights into the pot plus an equivalent amount of chips from the ones he has just bought. For example, in a stud game, Jill starts with $16. After the sixth card, she has $2 left. The high hand bets $4. She puts her last $2 in the pot, and pulls $2 from the pot, and stacks it in front of her. At this point, she might say, "I'm light," or, "I'm going light." On the last round, someone bets $4 and someone calls. She pulls another $4 from the pot, adding it to her pile of lights. On the showdown, she finds that her three 7s are beat by a small straight. She buys another $50 worth of chips from the banker, adds $6 to her lights, and puts the $12 in the pot. At this point, the winner takes the whole pot. In a split (two-way) pot, if both the winner of the high half and the winner of the low half have lights, they exchange lights. This is equivalent to each first matching lights, and then splitting the pot, and saves time.
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| Match the Pot |
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In home games, a penalty that arises in certain situations, usually in wild-card stud-type games, when a player receives a card of a certain rank. For example, in the seven-card stud variant called baseball, 3s and 9s are wild. A player dealt a 3 face up must either match the pot, that is, add to the pot as much as it already contains, or fold. In some games, the player is not even offered the opportunity of folding; he must match the pot. Sometimes called buy the pot
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| Matchbook Shiner |
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A cheating device, a small mirror attached to the inside of a matchbook cover or small matchbox that has been placed apparently innocently on the table, used to read the faces of the cards while they are being dealt face down.
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| Matching Card |
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A card of the same rank or suit as another card, either in the same hand, or potentially part of the same hand, as when one of the communal cards in a hold 'em-type game. Also, mate.
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| Mate |
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Matching card (A card of the same rank or suit as another card, either in the same hand, or potentially part of the same hand, as when one of the communal cards in a hold 'em-type game.).
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| Maverick |
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In hold' em, Q-J as one's first two cards.
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| Mechanic |
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One who unfairly manipulates the cards, such as a cheat who deals cards from the bottom instead of from the top of the deck (where they should come from), or from the middle, or deals the second card from the top, or who falsely shuffles the cards so as to arrange them in a manner he has predetermined, or who palms cards, or uses any other of scores of cheating methods involving card manipulation or sleight of hand.
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| Mechanic's Grip |
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A way of holding the cards popular with mechanics, because it's easiest to deal seconds, bottoms, or middles when holding the deck this way. A right-handed dealer holds the deck in his left hand, with the thumb along the left edge, the forefinger at the front, and the other three fingers curled around the right edge. (A left-handed dealer does the same, mutatis mutandis, with his right hand.) Since many no cheating players also hold the deck this way, the grip alone is not evidence enough to accuse a player of cheating.
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| Mexican Standoff |
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A tied pot; a hand in which two (or more) players have equivalent hands and split the pot.
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| Mexican Stud |
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A form of five-card stud in which each player first receives two cards face down, and then rolls (turns face up) one card, followed by a betting round. Thereafter, each active player receives another face-down card on each round, from which he chooses one to roll, again followed by a betting round. Sometimes called flip or peep-and-turn.
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| Michigan Bankroll |
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A wad of bills, usually folded over, with a bill of large denomination on the outside, to give the appearance of a large bankroll. Also called Oklahoma bankroll or Philadelphia bankroll.
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| Michigan Roll |
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A wad of bills, usually folded over, with a bill of large denomination on the outside, to give the appearance of a large bankroll. Also called Oklahoma bankroll or Philadelphia bankroll.
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| Middle |
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1) The main pot when there is a side pot. "That dollar shouldn't go on the side: it goes in the middle." 2) A card dealt from the middle of the deck. 3) A card needed to make an inside straight
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| Middle Blind |
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1) In a three-blind traveling blind game, the blind put up by the player to the dealer's left. 2) The player who is in the middle blind position.
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| Middle Dealer |
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A mechanic who can deal from the middle of the deck. This is extremely difficult compared to dealing bottoms or seconds.
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| Middle Man |
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1) The holder of the middle blind. 2) Sometimes (rarely) the player who is in the situation of being between two players who keep raising and reraising each other. The name for this action is whipsaw.
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| Middle Pair |
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In flop games, a middle pair is made by pairing with the middle card on the flop.
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| Middle Straight |
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Inside straight (Four cards requiring one in the middle to fill a straight.).
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| Middles |
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Cards dealt from the middle of the deck (by a middle dealer)
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| Middles Dealer |
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A mechanic who can deal from the middle of the deck. This is extremely difficult compared to dealing bottoms or seconds.
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| Midnight Shift |
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One of the three shifts in a 24-hour card room or casino, the shift between swing and day. Graveyard shift usually starts anywhere between midnight and 2 am and ends eight hours later.
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| Mighty Wurlitzer |
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1) In lowball, a pair of 8s (that is, 88; comes from the number of keys on the instrument). 2) In hold 'em, 8-8 as one's two starting cards.
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| Miles |
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In high poker, part of a phrase describing three of a kind (or, rarely, four of a kind), using total point value. That is, 30 miles means three 10s, and nine miles means three 3s.
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| Miles of Bad Road |
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Three of a kind. Prefixed with a number, 3*, to indicate 3 s. Thus "24 miles of bad road" is 3 eights, etc. (This obviously doesn't work for face cards.)
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| Milk |
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1) Shuffle the deck by pulling out top and bottom cards simultaneously, and forming a pile with these cards as they are drawn, for the purpose of thoroughly mixing the cards prior to shuffling. 2) Perform a cheating maneuver in which the cards are mixed by an overhand shuffle, or something that looks like a casual sifting through of the discards, in such a way as set up two or more hands to be later dealt to predesignated positions. This is a cheating maneuver usually done by a mechanic prior to some other move, such as hopping the cut and then dealing bottoms. 3) In draw poker, shuffle through one's five cards repeatedly by holding them face down and sliding one card at a time from top to bottom. Also called milk the cards, fuzz. 4) Get the most benefit on a hand (often a hand of relatively low value) from the holder of another, inferior, hand; usually followed by that hand or the name of the player who was so cajoled into calling the maximum. "You certainly milked me that time." "He milked that hand for the most he could get, considering who he was up against." 5) Withdraw money from a game, generally by tight, conservative play; usually followed by a or the game
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| Milk the Cards |
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In draw poker, shuffle through one's five cards repeatedly by holding them face down and sliding one card at a time from top to bottom. Also called milk, fuzz.
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| Milk the Deck |
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Shuffle the deck by pulling out top and bottom cards simultaneously, and forming a pile with these cards as they are drawn, for the purpose of thoroughly mixing the cards prior to shuffling.
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| Milk Up |
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1) Shuffle the deck by pulling out top and bottom cards simultaneously, and forming a pile with these cards as they are drawn, for the purpose of thoroughly mixing the cards prior to shuffling. 2) Perform a cheating maneuver in which the cards are mixed by an overhand shuffle, or something that looks like a casual sifting through of the discards, in such a way as set up two or more hands to be later dealt to pre-designated positions. This is a cheating maneuver usually done by a mechanic prior to some other move, such as hopping the cut and then dealing bottoms.
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| Milk Up the Deck |
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1) Shuffle the deck by pulling out top and bottom cards simultaneously, and forming a pile with these cards as they are drawn, for the purpose of thoroughly mixing the cards prior to shuffling. 2) Perform a cheating maneuver in which the cards are mixed by an overhand shuffle, or something that looks like a casual sifting through of the discards, in such a way as set up two or more hands to be later dealt to pre-designated positions. This is a cheating maneuver usually done by a mechanic prior to some other move, such as hopping the cut and then dealing bottoms.
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| Milker |
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A tight or conservative player. Probably comes from the description of someone who has to milk every hand he plays, because he would not ordinarily get much action. To milk is to Get the most benefit on a hand (often a hand of relatively low value) from the holder of another, inferior, hand; usually followed by that hand or the name of the player who was so cajoled into calling the maximum. "You certainly milked me that time." "He milked that hand for the most he could get, considering who he was up against."
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| Minnie |
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Lowball, the best hand, a wheel or bicycle, A-2-3-4-5 of various suits (including all the same suit). In some games, this could also be the lowest possible hand. For example, with straights and flushes not counted as low hands, 6-4-3-2-A would be a minnie. With aces high plus the preceding strictures, 7-5-4-3-2 would be a minnie.
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| Minnow |
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Someone who plays over his head, that is, enters with insufficient funds a game larger than he is accustomed to.
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| Minor Hand |
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In high poker, (generally) three aces or worse.
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| Miscall |
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Verbally declare your hand as being other than it is, usually better.
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| Misdeal |
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A hand dealt incorrectly that must be re-dealt.
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| Miss |
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To be unable to make your drawing hand when the final cards are dealt.
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| Miss the Blind |
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Be absent from the table when the blind positions arrive at one's table position. In most clubs, if a player misses the blind, he must either wait for the blind or post.
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| Miss the Flop |
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In hold 'em, the situation in which the flop bears little relation to a player's down cards.
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| Mississippi Stud |
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A form of seven-card stud, often played pot limit, with fourth and fifth street cards dealt without a betting round between them, and seventh street dealt face up
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| Mistigri |
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The joker, when it can represent any card. The name comes from French, and is close to 100 years old. It originally meant the jack of spades, especially when accompanied by two cards of the same color in the old games of bouillotte and brelan, both similar to modern poker, and later was used for the blank card that came with a deck of cards, and then for the game played with that card. That blank card later evolved into the joker.
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| Mistigris |
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1) High poker (usually draw) with the joker wild. 2) The joker, when it can represent any card. The name comes from French, and is close to 100 years old. It originally meant the jack of spades, especially when accompanied by two cards of the same color in the old games of bouillotte and brelan, both similar to modern poker, and later was used for the blank card that came with a deck of cards, and then for the game played with that card. That blank card later evolved into the joker. Also spelled mistigri
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| Misère |
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Another name for lowball, primarily in England
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| Misère Pots |
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Another name for lowball, primarily in England.
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| Mits and Mice |
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Nits and lice (In high poker, two small pair, usually 3s and 2s.)
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| Mitt |
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A poker hand, that is, a fistful of cards.
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| Mitt Joint |
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A crooked gambling establishment that relies on marked cards.
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| Modified Limit |
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Spread limit (Betting limits in which there is a fixed minimum and maximum bet for each betting round. A typical spread limit structure is $2-$6, where a player may bet as little as $2 or as much as $6 on every betting round.)
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| Money Management |
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Playing in such a way as to minimize your losses and maximize your wins. Many players win a little and quit, no matter how good the game, but when they get stuck, they often lose far more than they win in any winning session in a desperate attempt to get even. This is poor money management. For some, money management means quitting when ahead, and not losing back all of their winnings. For others, it means not putting all their bankroll on the table for any one session. For still others, it means putting aside a portion of their winnings into other money-making investments. Some poker writers claim that money management is not a viable concept
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| Money Odds |
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The best of it in a particular situation, with respect to the size of a bet that must be called compared to either what is currently in the pot or what is likely to be. In lowball, you might hear, "I knew I hadda beat an eight. I'm already getting 3-to-2 in the pot, plus I get all his chips if I make the hand. I was getting money odds." The term usually does not apply to a situation in which a player is getting better than 1-to-1 on his investment, but is taking the worst of it when comparing the odds against his making a winning hand with how much he can win for his investment. (That is, if a player stands to win $100 for a $50 investment, or 2-to-1, but the odds against him are 3-to-1, he is not getting money odds
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| Money Plays. |
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An announcement, usually by a dealer, of acknowledgment that a player has ordered chips from a chip runner and can bet up to as much as the amount of cash he has on the table.
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| Mongrel |
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In hold 'em, K-9 as one's first two cards.
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| Monkey |
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A sucker, particularly one who is the victim of cheating.
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| Monster |
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A hand that is almost certain to win.
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| Montana Banana |
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In hold 'em, 9-2 as one's first two cards. Some say that the 92 refers to the number of the proposition that legalized poker in Montana; others have conjectured that it is called that because bananas will grow in Montana before that hand makes money. We have not been able to confirm either contention
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| Monte |
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Three-card monte (Any card game played with three cards, particularly poker.).
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| Moon |
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1) Shoot the moon (1- Declare both ways in a high-low poker game that has a declare. 2- Win both ways in a high-low poker game that has a declare.). In both cases, this phrase is usually heard in home games, and not public card rooms.). 2) Win all of a high-low split pot by having both the best high and low hands.
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| Moon Hand |
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In a high-low split declare game, a hand that declares for and wins both ways.
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| Mortal Cinch |
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1) The nuts (The best possible hand of a given class.); usually preceded by a. 2) Lock (A hand that cannot lose; a cinch hand.).
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| Mortal Lock |
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The nuts (The best possible hand of a given class.); usually preceded by a.
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| Mortal Nuts |
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The nuts (The best possible hand of a given class.); usually preceded by the.
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| Mortals |
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The nuts (The best possible hand of a given class.); usually preceded by the. Also called immortals.
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| Moss, Johnny |
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Johnny Moss (In hold ' em, A-T as one's first two cards.)
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| Motion |
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The act of betting. If someone says, "Motion's good," he probably means, "If that act of reaching for your chips that you are performing is to be interpreted as an actual intention on your part of betting, you can take the pot, because I shall not be calling." Some clubs have a rule motion is binding, which means that if you have chips in your hand and make a motion toward the pot with the hand that holds those chips (also known as a forward motion), you must complete the bet.
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| Motown |
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In hold 'em, J-5 as one's first two cards. From the Motown singing group the Jackson Five
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| Mouth Bet |
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Oral bet (A wager made by announcing the size of the bet but without actually putting any chips or money in the pot. In some (not all) establishments, oral declarations made in turn are binding; nonetheless, cautious players wait till the chips are actually in the pot before either calling the bet or showing their hands. Also called mouth bet, verbal bet.)
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| Move |
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1) Perform a cheating manipulation of the deck. To deal seconds or hop the cut are to move. 2) Any fancy play. 3) Betting all of one's chips, in the phrase "He's making his move."
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| Move All in |
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Bet (usually) or call (less often) all one's chips in one hand. "Sally bet $20 and Jim moved in" means Jim raised all his chips (or hers, if she had fewer than he). Also, go all in.
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| Move in |
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Bet or call all one's chips in one hand; sometimes followed by on. "Sally bet $20 and Jim moved in" (or "Jim moved in on her") means Jim raised all his chips (or hers, if she had fewer than he). Also, go in.
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| Move on the Pot |
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Same as make a play ( Bet strongly), often implying betting or raising strong when the other players seem weak, and often when the player making the move is himself none too strong.
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| Mover |
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A card thief, that is, someone who moves.
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| Moves |
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Fancy plays, often accompanied by theatrics; sometimes just the theatrics. "He's got a lot of moves."
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| Muck |
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1) To discard a hand; also the discard pile in which all cards are dead. 2) A collection of face-down cards near the dealer composed of discards, i.e., folded hands, burns and discards for drawing purposes.
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| Mucker |
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Hand mucker (A thief who palms cards, which he holds out for later introduction into the game. This usage comes from a pan (panguingue) dealer, who, in the course of dealing the game, constantly shuffles cards that have been played (taking these cards from the discard pile, or the muck) and reinserts cards of similar rank and suit into various separated places of the remainder of the deck.).
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| Murder |
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Variation on Chicago games. Murder plays the same as Seven Card Stud except with the following exceptions: If the queen of spades is ever dealt up then the game is reset and players re-ante and the game is played again. If a queen of spades is dealt down to a player then it is a wildcard, At the showdown the pot is split between the player with the highest poker hand and the player with the highest spade up OR down. You cannot use the queen in the hole as a wildcard to win the chicago portion of the pot, excepting that it acts as a queen of spades.
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| Mustache |
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A term of opprobrium peculiar to card rooms. "Ya mustache" means "You no-good person, you"
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