 S  |
| S |
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Shorthand, particularly in E-mail and Internet postings, for suited. For example, specifying a hold 'em hand as KQS means king-queen suited.
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| S & M |
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Sklansky & Malmuth. Generally refers to the ideas and algorithms published by these two authors. When used in a 7-card stud context, often refers to '7 Card Stud For Advanced Players', and when used in a Hold'em context, often refers to 'Texas Hold 'em For Advanced Players'.
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| Saddle |
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Bend cards in such a way that the deck will be cut one card above one of these cards.
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| Sail for |
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Lose. "How much did he sail for?"
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| Sailboats |
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Two or more 4s. (That's what they look like.)
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| Salmon |
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7 (the card, or the lowball hand).
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| Salt Away |
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During a playing session, surreptitiously remove chips from play. This is not strictly cheating, just not fair to the other players who do not have an opportunity to win as much as they might otherwise. It is not permitted in public card rooms to remove chips from the table without cashing out. Players rat hole chips because they don't want to chance losing them back, or because they want to hide their winnings from someone who has staked them or someone they owe money to.
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| Saltiness |
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Poor luck; the condition of being salty.
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| Salty |
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Having poor luck; on a losing streak. "How ya doin'?" "Been running salty lately; can't seem to make a hand when it counts."
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| San Jose to Gilroy |
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Three 10s, so called because it used to be 30 miles from San Jose to Gilroy (no longer), and 30 miles is another term for three 10s. Sometimes shortened to just Gilroy. Also, from here to Gilroy.
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| Sand |
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Use sandpaper on the sides of some cards so that their ranks can be determined by feel, or so that they can be easily located within a full deck; a method of shaving the cards.
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| Sandbag |
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Playing a strong hand as if it were only a fair one.
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| Sandbagger |
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One who sandbags, often a term of disapproval.
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| Sandpaper |
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Cards marked on their sides by sanding.
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| Sandwich |
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To raise before, and after, a caller who gets caught in the middle.
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| Santa Barbara |
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In hold 'em, A-K as one's first two cards. Derives from a destructive oil spill off the Santa Barbara coast, the name arising from the more well-known name for the hand, big slick.
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| Satellite |
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A small-stakes tournament whose winner obtains cheap entry into a bigger tournament.
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| Satellite Tournament |
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A special tournament whose prize is usually a buy-in for a larger tournament. One-table satellites usually have just one winner; sometimes second place is awarded a free entry to another tournament. In larger satellite tournaments, the winner may get entry to the larger tournament, round-trip airfare plus accommodations (if the satellite takes place in a city other than that of the larger tournament), plus some percentage of the excess cash accumulated in buy-ins and re-buys. Second, third, and sometimes other places also can win a percentage of this cash. A satellite tournament with a large number of entrants, awarding entry or entries to major tournaments, is called a super satellite.
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| Sauter La Coupe |
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A cheating maneuver in which the dealer palms a card and moves it to the bottom of the deck, there to be dealt at his discretion.
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| Savannah |
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7 (the card, or the lowball hand).
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| Save |
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1) Make an agreement, between two or more players, to pay the others when one wins a pot. For example, if you and I are saving antes, each time you win a pot, you throw me an ante chip, and each time I win one, I throw you a chip. 2) In a tournament, make an agreement near the end to allocate some of the prize money for first place to lower places. For example, if first place is worth $2000 and second $1000, two players might agree to save $200 and play for the rest. This way, second place would be worth $1200 and first $1800. In another example, nine players might be at the final table in a $100-buy-in tournament that pays only the top six places. They might agree before starting final-table play to save $100 for places seven through nine, the amount to come out of first place or perhaps first and second. That way, everyone who made it to the final table would be guaranteed something.
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| Save Bets |
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Make an agreement, between two or more players, to pay the others when one wins a pot, except that players involved in such an agreement return all of what the others have invested in the pot. For example, if you and I are saving bets, and you win a pot in which we both play, you return to me everything I put in the pot, and vice versa. In such cases, you and I make money if we are both in a pot only if someone else is in. This procedure is not permitted in most card rooms, because it looks like a form of collusion to the other players. Also push bets
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| Sawdust Joint |
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1) A card room or casino that caters to a low-class crowd, sometimes implying a place whose denizens include thieves. Comes from a time when taverns had hardwood floors and sawdust sprinkled on the floor to absorb spilled drinks. 2) Any gambling house of less-than-opulent surroundings, as opposed to a carpet joint.
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| Sax |
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6 (the card, or the lowball hand).
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| Say |
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Announce in turn whether one is betting or passing.
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| Sb |
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Shorthand, particularly in e-mail and Internet postings, for small blind.
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| Scam |
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1) A cheating agreement between two or more players; collusion. 2) Less frequently, any marginally dishonest scheme. For example, buying cheap clothes from a factory that specializes in making knockoff copies of designer clothes and then selling them as first-class items that were supposedly part of a hijacked truck shipment, because people think they're getting a great deal if they buy something for seemingly less than it's worth because it's apparently "hot," is the "hot clothing scam."
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| Scare Card |
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1) A card that when it appears makes a better hand more likely. 2) In hold'em, a third suited card on the river is a scare card, because it makes a flush possible. If you're pretty sure your opponent paired a king on the flop, an ace on the turn is a scare card. Scare cards will often make it difficult for the best hand to bet, and offer an opportunity for bluffing. Obviously such cards are scarier in pot-limit or no-limit games.
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| Scared Money |
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Money a player is afraid to lose (and thus probably will). There's a card room saying, "Scared money never wins."
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| Scarne Cut |
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A form of cut in which the cutter holds the cards in one hand, removes the bottom half with the other and places them atop the remaining half, pulls a packet from the center and places those cards on top of the remaining cards. This cut is named after John Scarne, who lectured and wrote about gambling thieves, and introduced this form of cut as a means of foiling cheaters who had stacked the deck. The Scarne cut is not permitted in most public card rooms, where the deck must not be lifted from the table and must be cut with one hand. Sometimes called whorehouse cut.
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| School |
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The players in a regular game.
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| Scoop |
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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. (Just because you declare both ways does not necessarily mean you'll win both ways.) 3) Win all of the pot in a high-low poker game that does not have a declare by having both the highest and the lowest hand. 4) Win all of the pot in a high-low poker game that does not have a declare by having the best hand for one way and no one has qualifiers for the other way. For example, in high-low seven-stud, 8-or-better, if you have a full house, and no one has an 8-low or better, you scoop the pot. Also called shoot the moon (usually only in home games) for definitions 1 and 2, and sweep for 3. 5) In a no-limit game, a handful of chips. When a player bets, and the dealer does not know exactly how much the bet is, the dealer might say, "One scoop." When a bet is raised by approximately the same amount, the dealer might say, "Two scoops." 6) In a limit game, two bets, that is, a bet and a raise. When a player raises, the dealer might say, "Two scoops." 7) A game in which a player who wins two pots in a row must post a blind on the next hand such that the game is played temporarily at a higher limit. That limit is usually either twice the nominal size of the game, or 50% higher (half kill). Thus, Omaha scoop might be a 4-8 game that becomes either 8-16 or 6-12 after someone wins two pots in a row.
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| Scoop Hand |
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A hand that wins both ways in any high-low pot, or the whole pot due to having the best hand for high when there is no low.
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| Scoop the Kitty |
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Win all the money the players have put up during a poker session.
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| Scoop the Pool |
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Win all the money the players have put up during a poker session.
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| Scooper |
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1) A hand that wins both ways in any high-low pot. 2) The player holding the hand that wins both ways in any high-low pot. 3) The player who declares both ways in a high-low poker game that has a declare.
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| Scooping Hand |
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A hand that wins both ways in any high-low pot, or the whole pot due to having the best hand for high when there is no low.
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| Scoot |
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Pass chips between players, considered against the rules in some clubs. For example, John goes broke, and says to Sue, in the same game, "Could you lend me $20 to stay in the game?" Sue takes $20 off her stack, and passes them over to John. This is called scooting, and is considered illegal, even though it may not be specifically mentioned in the rules, because Sue has taken money off her own stack, which goes counter to the rules governing table stakes. The term came from scoot partner.
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| Scoot Partner |
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Someone with whom one player saves antes (or chips of the normal denomination for the game), as described under save and save bets.
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| Scooting |
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Passing chips to another player after winning a pot.
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| Score |
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1) The Win. "He made a good score." 2) To Win. "I scored last night." 3) Win big. 4) Win by cheating.
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| Scored Pair |
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Having a pair in the pocket in hold 'em or seven-card stud, that is, a pair as one's starting (first two) cards.
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| Scotch Straight |
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In high draw poker, a special skip straight, a nonstandard hand sometimes given value in a private or home game, five even cards in a series separated each from the other by one rank, that is, 2-4-6-8-10. The same hand, but with no value, is called a rizlo.
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| Scourge of Scotland |
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The 9 of diamonds, so called because every ninth Scottish king was (supposedly) a tyrant, and diamonds were a symbol of Scotland. Also called Curse of Scotland.
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| Scramble |
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Thoroughly mix the deck while it is face-down on the table by spreading the cards over a large area, a move sometimes made by a dealer prior to actually shuffling the cards in traditional fashion. Sometimes this extra time taken mixing the cards is done at the request of a player. Some say that the legendary Johnny Moss, three-time winner of the World Series of Poker, originated the term scramble. Also called wash.
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| Scratch Paper |
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Cards marked on their backs with sandpaper or a sharp instrument.
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| Screen Out |
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Make a diversion, to draw attention away from a thief who is in the process of performing a cheating maneuver. Also called shade.
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| Screen-Out |
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A diversion made (by another player) to draw attention away from a thief who is in the process of performing a cheating maneuver.
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| Screwy Louie |
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A form of seven stud in which cards are passed to left and right, sometimes multiple times, and sometimes with five cards chosen at the end and rolled, that is, exposed one at a time. Also called pass the trash, Anaconda.
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| Seat |
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1) A chair at a poker table, or, more particularly, the player in that chair, or the seating position of that player. A house dealer might say to an approaching cocktail waitress, "Seat 1 wants a drink." 2) An opening in a poker game, particularly as it just becomes available for a new player. A dealer may announce to the floorman, "Seat open on 3." Someone who has not yet sat down to play may ask the board man, "Do you have a seat in 10-20 hold 'em?"
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| Seat Charge |
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In public card rooms, an hourly fee for playing poker.
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| Seat Position |
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The actual seat a player has, normally numbered sequentially starting with 1 as the first seat to dealer's left. Not to be confused with position in a particular pot. Typically unrelated to play of a hand but often important in peripheral aspects, e.g.: "Seats 1 and 10 are nonsmoking here", "Seat 5 has a good view of the table", "Seat 3 is in a high-traffic area".
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| Seated |
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1) Playing (in a game). 2) Pertaining to a player in a game (as opposed to someone who is either not yet playing, or who is away from the table). In describing the disposition of a jackpot, you may see the wording, "When a jackpot is won, 50% goes to the holder of the losing hand, 25% to the holder of the winning hand, and the remaining 25% to seated players
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| Seating List |
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In most card rooms, if there is no seat available for you when you arrive, you can put your name on a list to be seated when a seat opens up. Typically, games are listed across the top of a board, and names are written below each game so that players are seated for games in the order in which they arrive.
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| Second |
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The second card off the deck, when referring to being dealt by a cheating dealer; often plural. "He dealt himself a second." "They barred him for dealing seconds."
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| Second Best |
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Holding a hand that comes in second on the showdown (that is, loses). "Here I am, second best again."
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| Second Button |
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A pair with the second highest card on the flop. If you have As-Ts, and the flop comes Kd-Th-6c, you have flopped second pair.
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| Second Dealer |
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A mechanic (card manipulator) whose specialty is dealing the second card from the top. The reason for such a move is to hold back the top card, which he knows because he has peeked it, until he can deal it to himself, to a confederate, or to someone he is trying to cheat.
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| Second Dealing |
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Perform a cheating maneuver in which a card manipulator deals cards not from the top of the deck, but from directly beneath the top card.
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| Second Hand |
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The second player to act in any betting round.
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| Second Nuts |
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In hold 'em, having the second-best possible hand for the situation, or, the actual second-best hand in such a situation. For example, if four spades (not including either the ace or king) and no pairs are on the board, the nuts would be an ace-high flush, while the second nuts would be a king-high flush
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| Second Pair |
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A pair with the second highest card on the flop. If you have As-Ts, and the flop comes Kd-Th-6c, you have flopped second pair.
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| Second Position |
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1) The player two positions to the left of the dealer. 2) The seat position of that player.
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| Second Story |
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A raise, usually while holding a good hand; so called because, if it is called, and the player wins, it doubles the size of his stack.
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| Second-Story Man |
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A mechanic (card manipulator) whose specialty is dealing the second card from the top. The reason for such a move is to hold back the top card, which he knows because he has peeked it, until he can deal it to himself, to a confederate, or to someone he is trying to cheat. Sometimes second dealer. Also called deuce dealer, number two man.
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| Seconds |
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The dealing of one or more cards from the next-to-the-top position of the deck.
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| Seconds Dealer |
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A mechanic (card manipulator) whose specialty is dealing the second card from the top. The reason for such a move is to hold back the top card, which he knows because he has peeked it, until he can deal it to himself, to a confederate, or to someone he is trying to cheat. Sometimes second dealer. Also called deuce dealer, number two man.
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| See |
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To call, as in: "I'll see you" or "I'll see that bet".
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| See a Bet |
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To call, as in: "I'll see you" or "I'll see that bet".
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| Seed |
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1) An ace. Also called bullet (and several other names). 2) A $1 chip. Also called bone.
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| Sell |
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As in "sell a hand". In a spread limit game, this means to bet less than the maximum when you have a very strong hand, hoping players will call whereas they would not have called a maximum bet.
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| Sell a Hand |
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In a spread limit game, this means to bet less than the maximum when you have a very strong hand, hoping players will call whereas they would not have called a maximum bet.
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| Semi-Bluff |
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A semi-bluff is similar to a bluff, except that the semi-bluffer has some chance of making a winning hand. The idea behind a semi-bluff is that while neither the bluff nor the draw might be positive expectation, in combination they could be. Betting a weak draw is often only correct as a semi-bluff.
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| Senate Dealer |
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A professional dealer, in particular, one who does not participate in the game.
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| Send |
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Signal someone's hand, usually by one thief to his confederate; usually followed by the hand. "He sent him the hand" means that he gave his partner a signal that gave away the hand that the former had managed to get a look at.
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| Send Around |
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Playing a strong hand as if it were only a fair one.
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| Send in |
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In a no-limit game, bet large, particularly when that involves all of one's chips.
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| Send it in |
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In a no-limit game, bet large, particularly when that involves all of one's chips.
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| Send it. |
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"Push the pot, losers." Said by an ungracious winner after showing down the best hand, usually in a big pot.
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| Sequence |
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A hand consisting of 5 cards in sequence but not in suit.
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| Serious Poker |
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Serious poker players like to distinguish the game they play from the average weekly penny poker game.
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| Serve |
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Deal (cards), particularly when done as a living.
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| Session |
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1) With respect to a given player, a period of playing cards, from the point at which the player first sits down to the table until he cashes out (or leaves the table broke). 2) With respect to a group, the period of time for which the game lasts, from the deal of the first hand until it breaks up for lack of players, or due to a prearranged ending time. For both meanings, sometimes called poker session
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| Set |
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1) In hold 'em and stud, three of a kind. To flop a set in hold 'em means that (most often) one started with a pair and one of those cards was among the flop (the first three community cards). Less often it means a pair was among the flop and the player had another card of that rank in the hole. 2) Four of a kind, particularly as part of the phrase set of fours. 3) Arrange the two hands that are made out of the seven cards dealt each player in pai gow poker.
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| Set All in |
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In a no-limit game, bet all of someone's chips. You can set another player in, or set yourself in. Both uses often include all in. "When he checked, I set him in, and when he called, I got even." "He set me all in."
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| Set Over Set |
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1) In hold 'em, one player's set (In hold 'em and stud, three of a kind) against another's. 2) In hold 'em, one player's pocket pair (pair in the hole) against another's, in the situation in which the board cards help neither player. If you start with a pair of nines and I have a pair of sevens, and the board comes 10-J-2-3-8, that is a situation of set over set. (In this case, set does not refer to three of a kind.)
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| Set Someone All in |
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In a no-limit game, bet all of someone's chips. You can set another player in, or set yourself in. Both uses often include all in. "When he checked, I set him in, and when he called, I got even." "He set me all in."
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| Set Someone in |
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In a no-limit game, bet all of someone's chips. You can set another player in, or set yourself in. Both uses often include all in. "When he checked, I set him in, and when he called, I got even." "He set me all in."
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| Set Up |
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1) Make a bet or action that causes another player to think you always act that way, so that you can take advantage of the misconception later; set a trap for someone. For example, if in draw poker, you raise and draw one card to three of a kind several times, you may be trying to set someone up to think that every time you raise and draw one you have trips (particularly if you rarely raise on two pair). If later you raise and draw two when you really have three of a kind (if things work out the way you want, preferably aces), the player you have been setting up may think you can't possibly have trips, and will call a large bet after the draw with two pair or possibly even one high pair. (Of course, if things don't work out the way they're supposed to, he'll make a hand that beats your three aces. That's a chance a good player just has to take.) 2) Prepare a victim for being cheated. 3) Having check cashing privileges (or sometimes just credit) in a particular establishment. "Are you set up in the cage?"
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| Set you in |
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To bet as much as your opponent has left in front of him.
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| Settle Up |
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At the end of a poker session, pay one's losses.
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| Settlement |
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The period of time at the end of a poker game (usually private) at which losers pay their losses and winners collect their winnings; cashing in of chips.
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| Setup |
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1) A box containing two decks of plastic cards. You sometimes hear players ask for "a new setup." This means they want not just a new deck, but two fresh decks, because in a game that uses plastic cards, often the decks are rotated and not replaced until a set period of time ends, or until requested (or when the cards become damaged). 2) Preparation of a victim for being cheated.
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| Seven / 8 |
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A poker game, seven-card stud high-low split, with an 8 qualifier for low.
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| Seven Card Stud |
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Variation of Poker. One of the poker games most commonly played in public card rooms, seven card stud is probably the most well known. In seven card stud (sometimes "seven stud" or just "stud"), each player is dealt seven cards of their own: two down, then four up, and a final card down. There is a round of betting after the first up card and after each subsequent card dealt.
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| Seven Deuces Wild |
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This game is played exactly like Seven Card Stud except that all deuces in the deck are wild.
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| Seven Rule |
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In lowball, the rule that states that you must bet a 7 or better (that is, a no-pair hand topped by a 7, 6, or 5) after the draw. In some clubs, failing to bet a 7 costs you the entire pot; in more clubs, it costs you only the action (betting) after the draw. In such a case, if a player passes a 7, and then calls with it, if the player who bet has worse than his hand, that player gets his money back, and the player who passed the 7 wins what was in the pot before the draw; if the player who bet has better than his hand, that player of course wins the whole pot, that is, the bet after the draw along with the remainder of the pot. The purpose of the rule is to speed up the game (by preventing players from passing good hands, and then waiting for the action to get back to them so they can raise
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| Seven Stud Hi Low |
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This game plays the same as Seven Card Stud except that the player with the lowest hand gets half the pot. (See Low) This varient is an Ace to 5 low hand, where straights and flushes are not counted in the low hand. This means that a wheel will most likely win the pot. Pairs and trips count against you in the low hand. Thus when evaluating ^AH ^2H ^3D ^3C ^4S ^9S ^JS, we throw the ^3C out leaving you with a 9 low hand. If it is impossible to get 5 cards out of the seven without having a pair then your hand is evaluated as the worst possible poker hand, usually leaving you with a pair or worse.
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| Seven-Card Flip |
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A form of seven-card stud, found exclusively in home games, in which each player receives four cards face down, turns any two up, and then the betting commences. Also called you roll two.
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| Seven-Twenty-Seven |
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A stud game (sort of), played only in home games, in which each player is dealt a down card, followed by a round of betting, and then one or more cards face up. Aces have a value of 1 or 11, face cards a value of , and all other cards have face value. This is a split-pot game, with the object being to end up with a total closest to 7 or 27. On each round, players can either receive a further up card, or refuse further cards. After any round in which no player takes a card, the players declare which "way" they are going (7 or 27, sometimes called high or low), and there is a showdown. (Sometimes there is one more round of betting before the showdown.) In some versions, once a player refuses up cards a certain number of times (say, three), that player can no longer request further cards. The purpose of this rule is that when a player is in a "lock" (cannot lose) situation, that is, when he is the only one going low, and there are more than one player going high, and who have quit asking for up cards, the player with the lock can prolong the betting by drawing cards to a point at which he cannot hit without destroying his lock. In some games, being on one side or the other of 7 or 27 (when no one has exactly that total) wins over the other side. For example, in some games, 6 loses to 7, while in others, the reverse is true. The best hand is some combination that adds up to 7, and includes two aces, so that the hand also adds up to 27. This is a potential scooping hand, but a hand with which a player must be careful at declare time in a game in which the rules dictate that a player who declares for both ways must clearly win both ways (that is, cannot tie for either). While this is not really a poker game, it is very popular in some home games (because it has many of the elements of poker, including bluffing). Two-twenty-two and three-thirty-three are similar games
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| Sevens Rule |
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In lowball, the rule that states that you must bet a 7 or better (that is, a no-pair hand topped by a 7, 6, or 5) after the draw. In some clubs, failing to bet a 7 costs you the entire pot; in more clubs, it costs you only the action (betting) after the draw. In such a case, if a player passes a 7, and then calls with it, if the player who bet has worse than his hand, that player gets his money back, and the player who passed the 7 wins what was in the pot before the draw; if the player who bet has better than his hand, that player of course wins the whole pot, that is, the bet after the draw along with the remainder of the pot. The purpose of the rule is to speed up the game (by preventing players from passing good hands, and then waiting for the action to get back to them so they can raise
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| Seventh Street |
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The final betting round on the last card in Seven-Card Stud.
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| Sex |
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6 (the card, or the lowball hand). Heard in a card room: He: "Do you like sex?" She: "Sure, sex-four, sex-five..."
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| Shade |
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Make a diversion, to draw attention away from a thief who is in the process of performing a cheating maneuver. Also called screen out.
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| Shade Work |
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Markings placed on the backs of cards, additions made to the natural design (as additional circles on a clock face or spokes on a bicycle wheel), for the use of cheating players or dealers.
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| Shading |
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Markings (or cosmetics) put on the backs of cards with paint, ink, or some other fluid, so that a thief can read the ranks (and sometimes suits) of the cards from the back; alterations made to the natural design on the backs of the cards.
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| Shark |
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1) Expert player. 2) Thief. 3) Loan shark.
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| Sharp |
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1) Expert player. 2) Thief. Often, cardsharp.
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| Sharp Top |
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A four or an ace. Some lexicographers use the term only for an ace
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| Shave |
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Trim the sides of cards, to make them thinner so as to be easily detected by a thief. Also called trim.
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| Shaved |
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Pertaining to the situation in which a hand is beaten by one only slightly better. Also called edged, edged out, or topped out.
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| Shears |
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1) Cards whose shape or size has been altered by a thief so they can be located by feel during manipulation of the deck. 2) A tool for making such cards.
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| Shed |
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In draw poker, discard.
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| Sheet |
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The cashier's or floor man's record of stakes and cows, and sometimes transactions against players' banks and tab cards, which, at the end of the shift, is figured in with the determination of the net gain (or loss) for the shift; the balance sheet for the shift. From this comes the expression on the sheet, which means playing stake or cow.
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| Sheet Player |
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One who plays for the house, that is, on the sheet.
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| Shelf |
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Where a stake player's chips are kept when he is between playing sessions, usually a space under the control of the cashier, often just to one side of the window (to the cage). From this comes the expression on the shelf; the expression is generally used only for a stake player
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| Shift |
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1) One of the three traditional working periods in a card room or casino: day, swing, and graveyard. 2) The personnel of a particular shift. "What time does swing shift come on?"
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| Shift Cards |
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While dealing, reverse the order of two cards as they are dealt.
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| Shifting Sands |
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A variant of Mexican stud in which the rank of each player's hole card is wild for that player. The game probably gets its name because a player's wild card can change each round, along with the composition of the hand. The game is also called Rickey de Laet.
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| Shill |
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1) Someone who plays for the house, to help start games or keep short or shaky games going, to keep the live players (that is, those who are not shills) from leaving. A shill is different from a stake, because a shill keeps no part of the winnings, and is usually in the employ of the house or casino. Shills often have to play according to shill rules. Shills are not common in California card rooms, where the function is more likely to be filled by employees helping get a game started, basically just filling seats till more live players come in. Also, game starter, house player, percentage player. An old term for shill is seat-man. 2) Someone who plays like a shill, that is, a no-action player. This is a derisive term used by other players to describe a tight or otherwise conservative player. 3) Act in the role of a shill. "I usually deal for 40 minutes, and then shill till my next down."
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| Shill Rules |
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How a card room wants its shills to play. For example, in a lowball game, a shill might not be permitted to draw to worse than a 7, call a raise to draw, call after the draw with worse than an 8 (often only a good (smooth) 8), and be required to fold (no matter what she has) if another shill bets
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| Shiner |
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A cheating device, a mirror or other shiny object, such as a highly-polished cigarette lighter, placed apparently innocently on the table, used to read the reflected faces of the cards while they are being dealt. Also, gaper, glimmer, reflector
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| Shirley |
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A timid player; always preceded by play like. If someone says to you, "You play like Shirley," he is accusing you of having no gamble.
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| Shoe Clerk |
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1) A player who does not stay for a raise (with the implication that he is dropping out of fear) or, particularly in a no-limit game, for any large bet.2) Someone who is not serious about playing a particular pot, and thus will not call a raise. For example, for definitions 1 and 2, you might hear an aggressive player say, "Let's raise and get the shoe clerks out." Also known as ribbon clerk. 3) A weak player.
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| Shoot an Angle |
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Use an angle (Any technically legal but ethically dubious way to increase your expectation at a game; a trick.).
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| Shoot the Moon |
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Scoop (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. The term is sometimes shortened to simply moon.
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| Shootout |
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A tournament format in which a single player ends up with the entire prize money, or in which play continues at each table until only one player remains.
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| Shootout Tournament |
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1) A special tournament in which a number of tables of players each play down to one winner, and then the winners of each table compete in the playoff. Often all players who make it to the final table receive a prize, usually ranging from an amount equal to the buy-in for the first busted out to the main prize, which often is 40 to 50% of the total prize pool. 2) A tournament in which one player ends up with all the money, one that is played till only one player remains.
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| Shop |
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1) A card room. Also called joint or store. 2) Stop in at a card room just to check out the action.
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| Short |
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1) Low on funds. 2) Shy of a complete bet. "Who's short in the pot?" implies that someone has not put in a full bet. "He's short $10" means that he was not able to call the full bet, and implies that a side pot will be generated. 3) Be unable to pay time due to having insufficient chips (in respect to a certain cutoff point established by the house, usually equal to only a few chips, as for example less than $4 in a game with a $20 buy-in). 4) Not put the full amount of the bet in the pot. "Who shorted the pot?"
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| Short Buy |
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A buy-in of less than the minimum required for the game.
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| Short Call |
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While going all in, calling less than the full bet (and thus generating a side pot).
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| Short Cards |
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Any card game other than poker (such as gin or klabberjass), usually used to describe a game played by two (sometimes more) players while awaiting a seat in a poker game.
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| Short Flush |
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Four-card flush, so termed mainly in European countries.
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| Short Game |
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1) Less than a full table. "I don't like to play in a short game." 2) Two-handed game. Many card rooms have among their rules one that reads, "No short games." They do not want players to play head up
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| Short Money |
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1) Less than a player would normally buy in to a particular game with.2) Having not enough money to survive the ordinary fluctuations of a particular game. "The game's terrific, but Jim's not going to last unless he gets real lucky; he's playing on short money
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| Short Odds |
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The odds for an event that has a good chance of occurring.
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| Short Pair |
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In high draw poker, a small pair; often any pair less than jacks; any pair smaller than the opening requirements for the game. Also called shorts, pair of shorts
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| Short Stack |
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A short stack is a stack that's too small to cover the likely betting in a hand. A player who has such a stack is said to be short-stacked. This has advantages (e.g., that you cannot be pressured to fold) and disadvantages (e.g., that you cannot get maximum value from your winning hands).
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| Short Straight |
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Four-card straight, so termed mainly in European countries
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| Short Studs |
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The British name for five-card stud and its variants.
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| Short the Pot |
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Any cheating move. "He has to get a little booze in him before he takes a shot."
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| Short-Chipped |
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Playing with only a small amount of money, thus limiting one's risk and reward.
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| Short-Stacked |
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Playing with only a small amount of money, thus limiting one's risk and reward.
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| Shorthanded |
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A game is said to be shorthanded when it falls below a certain number of players. Most poker tables accommodate nine or ten players. Five players is clearly shorthanded, nine players is clearly not. Since many people are uncomfortable playing shorthanded, some card rooms make special provisions for shorthanded tables - reducing the blinds or the rake, or providing shills or props. Since the number of players at a table has a significant impact on strategy, learning to play well shorthanded is an important skill. This is especially true in tournaments, where shorthanded play is much more common.
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| Shorts |
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Short pair. Sometimes a pair of shorts.
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| Shot |
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1) An Angle shot (A poker player who uses various underhanded, unfair methods to take advantage of inexperienced opponents. ). 2) A chance to play. "I'd sure like a shot in that game." 3) A stake. If a player (usually one without money) asks a floor person to "Give me a shot," he is asking if the floor person would put him in the game, that is, stake him. 4) Any cheating move. "He has to get a little booze in him before he takes a shot."
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| Shot Taker |
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Angle shooter (A poker player who uses various underhanded, unfair methods to take advantage of inexperienced opponents. ).
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| Shotgun |
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This game is basically Five Card Draw with the exception that there are more betting rounds. In this game each player is dealt five cards of their own: Three down, followed by round of betting, another down followed by another round of betting, the fifth card down followed by another round of betting. Everyone can then draw up to three cards and then there is a final round of betting. This is an expensive game due to all of the betting rounds. A high two pair often takes this game.
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| Show Cards |
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1) Those cards dealt face up in stud games; the cards on one's board; up cards. 2) Expose one's hole cards (in a stud or hold 'em game) or all or part of one's hand (in a draw game) to one or more other players. If Jim shows his hand to his neighbor, someone might say, "Hey, Jim. Don't show cards."
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| Show Five Cards |
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A variant of seven stud, found only in home games, in which each player receives seven cards and then, on a signal from the dealer, exposes one card at a time, each followed by a round of betting, until five are exposed; the game is often played high-low
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| Show One, Show All |
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Most card rooms have a rule, generally referred to as "show one show all," that if a player shows their cards to anyone at the table they can be asked to show everyone else (even if they would ordinarily not be required to show their hand). This usually comes up at the end of a hand that did not reach showdown (e.g., if a player shows a friend a successful bluff). Obviously showing one's hand to someone else who has cards is illegal for more reasons.
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| Show Openers |
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In a game with minimum opening requirements, such as jacks or better, prove that you had openers when you opened a pot. If you opened the pot and then bet after the draw and are not called, or if you fold, you must show openers. You do so by showing only as much of the hand as it takes. That is, if you opened with three jacks, you need show only two of them, but if you opened with a pat straight, you must show the entire hand. If you opened with a full house, 10s full of 3s, you need show only the three 10s; with 7s full of jacks, you need show only the two jacks
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| Show Tickets |
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1) The third-best hand in a showdown. Comes from the horse racing term show, plus tickets. 2) A form of draw poker, found only in home games, in which the third-best hand wins
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| Showdown |
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1) The point in a hand, after all the betting is over, at which the players turn their cards face up for comparison with all active hands, to determine which hand (or hands in a split-pot game) wins the pot (and, if there are one or more side pots, which hand or hands win which side pots). Sometimes called lay down. 2) A hand of poker played with no draw, and no bet beyond that made before the deal of the cards. Sometimes this is played by two or more players for the odd chips they have, or for an amount that will get one of them even and the others even more stuck. Often called a hand of showdown. "Okay, fellas, the three of us are all down about $20. Let's play a hand of showdown for $10, and then one of us will be even and the other two will be stuck $30 each."
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| Showing |
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Pertaining to one's face-up cards in stud games, that is, the cards on one's board. "What's he got showing?" means what does he have on the board?
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| Shuck |
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1) Discard (Throw one or more cards from your hand.). 2) Substitute (Replace a card in stud, that is, receive a twist.).
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| Shuffle |
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Before each hand, the dealer shuffles the cards - mixes them up in order to make their order as unpredictable as possible. Most card rooms have fairly specific requirements for how the cards are to be shuffled.
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| Shuffle in |
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Add one or more cards to the deck while shuffling.
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| Shuffle the Spots Off |
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Shuffle excessively. When Slow Sam gives the deck 15 painfully laconic shuffles, one of the losers is sure to say, "Don't shuffle the spots off of 'em." Also, rub the spots off.
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| Shuffler |
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The person who shuffles the cards just prior to dealing. The term usually refers to someone other than the dealer, when the dealer does not perform the shuffling. Sometimes in home games, the player to the right of the dealer (the person who actually distributes the cards) shuffles the cards, offers them to the person on his right for a cut, and then hands the deck over to the person on his left for dealing.
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| Shut Out |
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In a no-limit game, bet so much that another player cannot or will not call.
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| Shy |
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1) Short of the complete bet. "He's shy by $20." 2) Not having anted. "Who's shy?" means "Who forgot to ante?" Also called light, short.
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| Shylock |
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1) Loan shark. Sometimes capitalized. 2) Lend money at usurious rates.
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| Sickle |
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Having the four lowest cards to a wheel; preceded by the rank of the top card. (The term is usually reserved for 10s and worse.) For example, a jack-sickle is J-4-3-2-A.
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| Side |
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1) Side pot. Often part of the term on the side. 2) Referring to money that goes into or belongs in the side pot. "John's out of chips, so Jim's last bet is side money."
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| Side Action |
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The action in and the playing of side games.
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| Side Arms |
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In a two pair hand, the lower pair.
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| Side Bet |
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1) An agreement among two or more players to pay off privately based on their original holdings. Examples are points, colors, low spade, and a back line agreement. These sorts of bet arrangements are particularly frowned on by the house, because they involve exposing too many cards, and also slow the game down while comparisons and verifications are made. 2) A bet made privately among two or more players on the outcome of the next hand, usually made by players not involved in the pot; the side bet is not part of the pot. Most clubs do not permit side bets. 3) Rarely, a bet in a side pot.
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| Side Card |
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1) The fifth card in a hand consisting of two pairs. 2) The card that decides the winner between two otherwise tied two-pair hands (sometimes the one or more cards--in which case the term is pluralized--needed to resolve a tie between two one-pair hands). Sometimes called kicker in this sense. 3) A card that has no worth to a hand.
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| Side Cards |
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Cards other than those that determine the value or rank of the hand. For example, in a one-pair hand, the remaining three cards are the side cards.
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| Side Game |
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At a poker tournament, a game other than the tournament game, usually consisting of players who have busted out of the tournament and players who come to tournaments expressly to get into side games because the action is often better than that of the tournament. Also, ring game.
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| Side Money |
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1) Side pot. 2) The money or chips in a side pot.
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| Side Pot |
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A separate pot contested by other players when one player runs out of money.
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| Side Strippers |
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Cards whose sides (long edges) have been shaved or trimmed by a thief so they can be located by feel during manipulation of the deck. These cards are somewhat thinner than ordinary cards, allowing the thief to find them easily. Also called belly strippers.
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| Sight |
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A situation in which one player runs out of chips (that is, goes all in), and claims sight, that is, the right to a showdown for the amount of chips he has put in the pot thus far. This is an old term rarely used nowadays.
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| Sign |
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A signal given by a cheater to a confederate, usually of someone else holdings. Also sometimes called office.
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| Sign Off |
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Give someone a signal, usually of someone else holdings; used by cheaters. "He signed him off" means that he gave his partner a signal that gave away the hand of another player that the signaler had managed to get a look at. Sometimes part of the phrase sign off a hand. Signing off is sometimes called piping.
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| Sign Off a Hand |
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Give someone a signal, usually of someone else holdings; used by cheaters. "He signed him off" means that he gave his partner a signal that gave away the hand of another player that the signaler had managed to get a look at. Sometimes part of the phrase sign off a hand. Signing off is sometimes called piping.
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| Sign Up |
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1) Get on the board for a particular game. "Did you sign up for the 15-30?" 2) Register for a tournament. "Did you sign up for the no-limit hold 'em at the Pasatiempo?"3) Give someone a signal, usually of someone else holdings; used by cheaters. "He signed him off" means that he gave his partner a signal that gave away the hand of another player that the signaler had managed to get a look at. Sometimes part of the phrase sign off a hand. Signing off is sometimes called piping.
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| Sign Up for |
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1) Get on the board for a particular game. "Did you sign up for the 15-30?" 2) Register for a tournament. "Did you sign up for the no-limit hold 'em at the Pasatiempo?"
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| Sign-Up Board |
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A list of players' names or initials, those who want seating in or changes to particular games. In many clubs, there really is a blackboard or other large writing surface at the front or side of the room with lists of names.
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| Sign-Up List |
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The list of names for a particular game; the board.
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| Signal |
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1) Private communication between thieves; often plural. A hand spread face-down on the table, meaning "go" or "it's safe," and a fist on the table, meaning "don't go" or "it's not safe," are "standard" signals.
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| Silent Partner |
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A no cheating, innocent player to whom a thief gives several winning hands, usually in small pots, to divert attention from himself. This is a specialized usage of the more general term for a business partner who takes no active part in the business, and, in many cases, is unknown to the public.
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| Silent Prop |
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A proposition player who does not openly acknowledge his role by the wearing of a badge. In many card rooms, particularly in California, a proposition player must conspicuously display a badge indicating that he or she works for the card room
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| Simultaneous Declaration |
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The usual form of declaration in a high-low split game, usually with chips and everyone opening a hand at once to indicate whether contesting low, high, or both ways.
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| Single Limit |
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A form of limit poker (generally referring to draw poker, in particular limit draw or lowball as played in Northern California), in which all bets, before and after the draw, are in multiples of the same increment, as opposed to double limit, in which the limit doubles after the draw. For example, in the $20-limit game, all bets before and after the draw are $20, and multiples of $20 when players raise. Also called straight limit.
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| Single-Handed Poker Dictionary |
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1) An early form of poker, in which players received five cards, and bet on their original cards, in much the same as draw poker, but there was no draw. 2) Five card draw poker, high, with no wild cards.
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| Single-O |
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A thief or cheater who works alone.
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| Single-Table Satellite |
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A special tournament whose prize is usually a buy-in for a larger tournament. One-table satellites usually have just one winner; sometimes second place is awarded a free entry to another tournament. In larger satellite tournaments, the winner may get entry to the larger tournament, round-trip airfare plus accommodations (if the satellite takes place in a city other than that of the larger tournament), plus some percentage of the excess cash accumulated in buy-ins and re-buys. Second, third, and sometimes other places also can win a percentage of this cash. A satellite tournament with a large number of entrants, awarding entry or entries to major tournaments, is called a super satellite.
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| Sir |
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Offence. If someone says "nice hand, sir," after you win a big pot, what they are really saying is, "congratulations on winning money through your own stupidity, you clueless moron."
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| Sit in |
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1) Join a game. "May I sit in?" is a request from an onlooker to get into a game. 2) Play poker.
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| Sitter |
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A conservative player, one who gives little action, that is, one who sits and waits for only the good hands
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| Six Card Stud |
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Variation of Poker. In six card stud (sometimes "six stud"), each player is dealt six cards of their own: two down, then three up, and a final card down. There is a round of betting after the first up card and after each subsequent card dealt
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| Six Tits |
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Three queens. This usage is considered vulgar.
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| Six-Card Option |
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A form of six-card stud, found exclusively in home games, in which each player receives one card face down and one face up, followed by a round of betting, with a round of betting after each successive up card, till the fifth card, then a down card, and then a twist, with a further round of betting; the game is played high-low. At the showdown, a player uses the best five of the six cards; (usually) one set of five cards can be used for high and another for low
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| Sixth |
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In a split-pot game, split either the low or the high half of the pot with two other players; usually part of the phrase get sixthed. This happens occasionally in Omaha/8. "My ace-deuce got sixthed."
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| Size |
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In a big bet game, perform a dealer's method of equalizing two wagers. When one player puts out a large stack of chips, and another player calls by placing in the pot more chips than are required for the call (and either does not say the magic word "Raise" or obviously does not have enough chips to constitute a raise), the dealer may not count the first player's chips, but merely places the second stack of chips next to the first, and removes enough chips from the second stack until the two stacks are equal in height. This method originated with dealers in casino percentage games (such as 21 or craps), who paid off winning bets this way, so that watchers (security personnel, perhaps occupying the "eye in the sky") could clearly see that the payoff was correct.
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| Sizz |
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A rush (Several winning hands in a short period of time.); usually part of the phrase putting on a sizz.
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| Skating |
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Bluffing. "I think you're skating, but I'm gonna let you slide."
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| Skeet |
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In draw poker, a nonstandard hand sometimes given value in a private or home game, any hand containing a 9, 5, and a 2, with one card between the 9 and the 5 and another between the 5 and the 2. This hand is also called a pelter or sometimes a kilter (both of which have wider meanings). The hand generally ranks between three of a kind and an "ordinary" straight.
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| Skeet Flush |
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In draw poker, a nonstandard hand sometimes given value in a private or home game, a skeet in one suit. The hand generally ranks somewhere above an "ordinary" straight, sometimes better than four of a kind
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| Skin |
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1) $1 or a $1 bill. 2) Deal cards by sliding them off the deck as it lies on the table, and across the table to the recipients, instead of holding the deck in the air and lifting each card while it is dealt. This method is often used just for the draw in a draw game. 3) Cheat someone. 4) Look at your cards by spreading them slightly.
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| Skin Game |
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A game containing two or more thieves, or cheats playing partners.
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| Skin Out |
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Show down a hand by spreading it on the table.
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| Skin the Deck |
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Palm one or more cards, for later introduction into the game.
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| Skin the Hand |
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To clean up (Get rid of the evidence after making a cheating maneuver. A thief may deal himself six cards, and play the best five. When he conceals the extra card among the discards, he is cleaning up. ).
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| Skinner |
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One who cheats by removing cards from the deck. Also known as holdout artist.
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| Skinning |
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Removing cards from a new deck, altering some or all of the cards (by marking), returning the cards to the deck, and resealing the deck.
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| Skip Straight |
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In draw poker, a nonstandard hand sometimes given value in a private or home game, cards in a series separated each from the other by one rank, as 2-4-6-8-10, or 5-7-9-J-K. Some play that an ace ranks only high in a skip straight, that is, that A-3-5-7-9 is not considered a skip straight. A skip straight is also called an alternate straight, Dutch straight, or sometimes a kilter. The hand generally ranks between three of a kind and an "ordinary" straight.
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| Skipper |
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In draw poker, a nonstandard hand sometimes given value in a private or home game, cards in a series separated each from the other by one rank, as 2-4-6-8-10, or 5-7-9-J-K. Some play that an ace ranks only high in a skip straight, that is, that A-3-5-7-9 is not considered a skip straight. A skip straight is also called an alternate straight, Dutch straight, or sometimes a kilter. The hand generally ranks between three of a kind and an "ordinary" straight.
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| Sky's the Limit |
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A term, generally used only in home games, for a no-limit game.
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| Sleeve |
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1) On the cuff (Pertaining to unsecured card room credit. "Can I have some chips on the cuff?" means the asker will pay back the money if he wins, or, if he loses, at some future unspecified time.). 2) Sleeve holdout (A kind of holdout machine. A sleeve holdout straps to the thief's arm and the cards are held up the thief's sleeve.).
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| Sleeve Holdout |
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A kind of holdout machine. A sleeve holdout straps to the thief's arm and the cards are held up the thief's sleeve.
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| Sleeve Machine |
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Sleeve holdout (A kind of holdout machine. A sleeve holdout straps to the thief's arm and the cards are held up the thief's sleeve.).
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| Slick |
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1) Smooth. 8-4-3-2-A and 8-5-3-2-A are slick 8s, while any 8-7 is rough.2) A cheating preparation, make the backs of some cards more slippery so that they slide more easily.
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| Slick-Ace Deck |
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A deck whose aces have had their backs slicked to make them slide out more easily when the deck is in the control of a thief
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| Slide |
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Escape. "I'm gonna let you slide," that is, not call your obvious bluff.
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| Slip |
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1) Pass, with the implication of sandbagging (Playing a strong hand as if it were only a fair one.); often followed by it. If a player says, "I'll slip it," he's trying to give the impression that he passed a good hand, probably because in reality he passed a medium hand with which he doesn't want to have to call a bet. 2) Palm a card, for later introduction into the game.
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| Slip a Hand |
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Sandbag (Playing a strong hand as if it were only a fair one.). "You slipped me a hand didn't you?, but I'm not going to fall into your trap."
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| Slip it |
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Pass, with the implication of sandbagging; often followed by it. If a player says, "I'll slip it," he's trying to give the impression that he passed a good hand, probably because in reality he passed a medium hand with which he doesn't want to have to call a bet.
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| Slip the Cards |
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Set a stacked packet on top of the deck after the deck has been cut.
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| Slip the Cut |
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Set a stacked packet on top of the deck after the deck has been cut.
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| Slip the Deck |
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Set a stacked packet on top of the deck after the deck has been cut.
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| Slippery Sandbag |
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Checking with a very strong hand and then, if bet into, just calling (rather than raising), setting the trap for future rounds of betting.
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| Slow |
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When you play passively, you are playing slow.
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| Slow Game |
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A game with little action, that is, not much betting and raising, or, in a no-limit game, with few large bets.
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| Slow Pace |
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Slow pace describes a game without much betting and raising.
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| Slow Play |
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To play a strong hand weakly, by checking instead of betting or by calling instead of raising. Usually done to win extra bets by keeping more players around for future rounds of betting.
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| Slow-Down Bet |
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In a no-limit game, a bet smaller than one ordinarily might make or than the situation calls for, in the hopes of keeping from having to call a larger bet if one passed instead of betting.
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| Slowball |
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Humorous name for a slow lowball game.
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| Slowroll |
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To reveal one's hand slowly at showdown, one card at a time, is to slow roll. This is usually only done with a winning hand, for the purpose of irritating other players (well, some people do it innocently).
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| Slug |
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A clump of cards, usually implying that they have been deliberately arranged and shuffled into position by a cheat.
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| Slug the Deck |
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Place a slug into a deck (A clump of cards, usually implying that they have been deliberately arranged and shuffled into position by a cheat.) and shuffle it into a prearranged position.
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| Small Bet |
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In a double-limit game, a bet at the smaller bet size. For example, in 10-20, small bets are $10 and big bets are $20.
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| Small Blind |
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The smaller of the two compulsory bets in flop games, made by the player in the first postion to the dealer's left.
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| Small Game |
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A poker table (in a card room) with small stakes.
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| Small Nickel |
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1) A $50 bill. 2) $50 in cash. 3) $50 in chips.
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| Small One |
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1) A $100 bill. 2) $100 in cash. 3) $100 in chips. For all meanings, sometimes called big one. Small one is often used when big one is used for $1000.
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| Small Table |
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A poker table (in a card room) with small stakes.
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| Smear |
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Substance for marking the backs of cards.
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| Smoke on the Water." |
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A phrase used to describe a raise. If you hear this phrase, it usually comes after another player has raised. May derive from steam, a former synonym for raise.
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| Smooth |
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The best possible low hand with a particular high card. 8432A is a smooth 8.
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| Smooth Call |
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To call one or more bets with a hand that's strong enough for a raise, with the intention of trapping more money in the pot. Smooth call is like flat call, although it more strongly connotes a powerful hand that one is trying to slow play.
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| Snake |
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Bend one or more cards, for later identification by a thief.
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| Snakebit |
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Having bad luck. "How ya doin'?" "Terrible. I've been snakebit for a week. Can't make a hand when it counts.
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| Snap Off |
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1) Catch someone bluffing. 2) Catch a card on the end (as the river card or seventh card in seven-card stud, the last community card in hold 'em, or on the draw in draw games) to beat a hand that was leading up to that point.
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| Snatch |
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Money taken from each pot and given to the house in return for hosting the game. Usually a percentage of the pot (5%-10%) up to some maximum amount. Also Rake.
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| Snatch Game |
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A less-common name for rake game. Sometimes snatch game implies a game in which the dealer takes more than he is supposed to, or takes all that he can get away with, whereas rake game is just the generic term for that method of making its money by the house
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| Sneak |
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The removal of a card by a player who is holding out or using a holdout machine or the reintroduction of a card into play.
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| Snoozer |
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The joker when used as a "partially wild card" in high draw poker and ace-to-five lowball. In high, it is good for aces, straights, and flushes. It makes a third (or fourth) ace, but does not improve any other pair. In a deck with the bug, a rank of hand exists higher than any straight flush: five aces. Also Bug.
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| Snow Hand |
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In draw poker, a hand with which you snow (bluff), sometimes by making, in high, a pat hand bluff, or in lowball, by standing pat on any five garbage cards.
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| Snow Job |
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1) A hand with which you snow (bluff). 2) A bluff.
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| Snow the Cards |
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Shuffle a deck or the cards in a hand overhand by pulling a few cards at a time from the top to the bottom.
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| Snowmen |
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Two or more 8s. (That's what they look like.)
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| Society |
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Chips of relatively large denomination. In a small game, in which dollar chips are used for most bets, $5 chips would be considered society chips; in a $20 game, with most bets made with $5 chips, society chips would probably be $20 chips. Chips of the highest denomination for the game are sometimes called high society chips
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| Society Chips |
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Chips of relatively large denomination. In a small game, in which dollar chips are used for most bets, $5 chips would be considered society chips; in a $20 game, with most bets made with $5 chips, society chips would probably be $20 chips. Chips of the highest denomination for the game are sometimes called high society chips
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| Soft |
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1) Smooth, as a soft 8. 2) In lowball, pertaining to a limit game played at slighter higher than its normal stakes. For example, a soft 8 starts out as a $6-limit game, and then the players agree to slightly increase the size of the game by adding $1 to the big blind. Instead of three blinds at $1-$2-$3, it becomes $1-$2-$4 and $8-limit. This is not the same as a straight 8, whose blinds are $2-$2-$4. Similarly, a nominal $8-limit game might become a soft 10, with blinds of $2-$2-$5, instead of the usual $2-$3-$5. The point of all this is to play at the next higher level without having to pay the time for that size game. 3) Easy to beat. "Get in; it's a soft game." 4) Pertaining to currency. For example, when requesting change in currency (as opposed to chips), a request made by a dealer to a floor man of "$20 chips, $80 soft" indicates a player has a $100 bill and wants only $20 of it in chips. 5) Without putting pressure on. "He always plays her soft" means that when he gets in a pot with this particular young lady, he does not bluff her, nor does he try to push her around with aggressive betting
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| Soft Break |
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The changing of currency, usually for part cash and part chips.
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| Soft-Play |
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Without putting pressure on. "He always plays her soft" means that when he gets in a pot with this particular young lady, he does not bluff her, nor does he try to push her around with aggressive betting
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| Solid |
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Conservative, not likely to get out of line; said of someone's play or a player.
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| Something |
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In a no-limit game, a (usually) substantial bet. "You passed? I'm going to bet something."
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| Sorts |
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A deck made up by taking portions from several decks, usually for the purpose of cheating. This is done to, for example, take advantage of slight differences in patterns in different runs of cards. The diamonds on one deck may meet at the edges slightly differently from one deck to another, but, to the untrained eye, the patterns would look the same on the backs of all the cards.
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| Soup |
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To reveal one's hand in a showdown.
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| South |
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Go south.1) Remove chips surreptitiously from the table (so called because on a map that's the direction they go), or pocket winnings while playing. Also called rat hole. 2) Palm or otherwise surreptitiously remove cards from the deck for later introduction (by a thief) at an opportune moment. 3) Leave a game or card room with money obtained dishonestly. 4) Disappear. "I lent him $20 and he went south with it."
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| Southern Cross |
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A form of Cincinnati, in which each player is dealt five cards face down, and nine cards are dealt face down in the center, in the form of a cross, forming five vertical and five horizontal cards, with each player allowed to combine any or all of either the vertical or horizontal cards together with his original cards in forming a five-card hand. The widow cards are turned up one at a time, usually clockwise or counterclockwise from the outside, working inward, with the center card turned up last, each followed by a betting round. Some play that the center card and others of the same rank are wild. In a variation, called X marks the spot, the widow consists of five cards, forming two rows of three
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| Spade |
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1) Any card in the spades suit. 2) Low spade or high spade. "You wanna spade for a drink?"
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| Spades |
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1) One of the four suits in a deck of cards, whose symbol is shaped like an inverted valentine with a stem. Originally, spades may have represented the peasant class, the spade being an instrument used by farmers. In both the traditional and four-color deck, they are black. 2) A spade flush, that is, five cards of the same suit, all spades. "I've got a straight; whadda you got?" "Spades."
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| Spadoodles |
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Spades. One of the four suits in a deck of cards, whose symbol is shaped like an inverted valentine with a stem. Originally, spades may have represented the peasant class, the spade being an instrument used by farmers. In both the traditional and four-color deck, they are black.
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| Speak |
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Bet. "Your turn to speak."
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| Special Hand |
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1) Nonstandard hand. 2) Premium hand (A hand that entitles the holder of the hand to a premium (A bonus or royalty paid by all players to the holder of a particular hand, or a very high hand.). Also called special hand.).
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| Speed |
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1) Play recklessly (by betting and raising frequently and aggressively); so called because one speeds by playing fast. 2) Act out of turn. "It isn't your turn to bet, John. You're speeding. Joan hasn't acted yet." 3) Excessive gamble; often used in admiration. "She's got a lotta speed!"
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| Speed Hold 'em |
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A casino variant of hold 'em in which each player gets four cards, discards two, and five cards are flopped right away.
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| Speed Table |
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1) A poker table specially constructed with a position for a house dealer. 2) A rake game; so called because the faster the dealer puts out the hands, the more money the house makes.
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| Speeding |
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Playing recklessly, making large (in a no-limit game) or frequent bets and bluffing a lot, that is, playing with considerable speed. "Don't get caught speeding."
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| Speedup after Fold |
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Controls whether the game will speedup after you fold. If you fold when this option is selected, the animation and sound effects will be disabled throughout the rest of the hand. This means you can zip to the end of the hand and see how it ends without having to wait.
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| Speedy |
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Describing one who plays with a lot of speed.
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| Spider |
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A kind of holdout machine (A mechanical device enabling thieves to surreptitiously hold out. Holdout machines used to be more popular many years ago, but are not often seen now, probably because thieves are becoming more sophisticated, and also because being caught with one is dangerous. Also called a string.), a holdout device with a simple spring-loaded clasp that attaches to a vest or jacket.
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| Spike |
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1) Nail (Mark a card, often with a fingernail. Also called spur.). 2) In (usually) hold 'em, catch on the board precisely the card needed to match your hand, usually the third to your pair, sometimes another of the same rank; always followed by the card in question. "I was betting my two pair all the way, and he spiked another deuce on the river." 3) An ace.
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| Spit |
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1) Spit in the ocean (A form of widow poker). 2) Spit card (The card turned up in spit in the ocean).
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| Spit Card |
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The card turned up in spit in the ocean (A form of widow poker).
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| Spit in the Ocean |
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A form of widow poker, played only in home games, in which each player is dealt four cards face down, and one card is dealt face-up in the center, which rank is then wild in and part of anyone's hand. Usually the card is turned up at the point at which some player other than the dealer calls out, "Spit!" After a round of betting, each player can draw to his four-card hand.
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| Splash |
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To throw your chips into the pot, instead of placing them in front of you, is to splash the pot. Doing so can make it difficult for the dealer to determine if you've bet the correct amount, or to keep track of the action.
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| Splash the Pot |
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To throw your chips into the pot, instead of placing them in front of you. This makes it difficult for the dealer to determine the amount you bet.
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| Split Openers |
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In draw poker, to discard one or more openers, usually to draw to a straight or flush. Normally requires the opener to declare the act and retain the discards so that the act of opening can later be validated.
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| Split Out |
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When a player quits who went cow (that is, with whom the house or another player went half and half on the buy-in) or who was staked, if he won, he splits out (splits those winnings with the house or the person who was his partner). Also cut out.
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| Split Pair |
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The situation in a stud game in which a player has a pair, with one card face up and the other in the hole.
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| Split Pot |
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1) A tie, that is, the situation in which two (or more) players have identical hands, with the pot divided between them. 2) A pot that is divided between the holder of the high and the low hand in a high-low split game, or some other form of split-pot game.
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| Split Someone Out |
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After the house has gone cow with someone, when the player gets far enough ahead of the game, the house may split him out, that is, remove half of his chips and put him on his own. In some games, the players object to chips leaving the table (in fact, there is often a house rule against that), so the player has to cash out to split out.
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| Split the Pot |
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A pot which is shared by two or more players because they have equivalent hands.
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| Split Two Pair |
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A two pair hand in which one of each of your cards' ranks appears on the board as well. Example: you have T9, the flop is T-9-5, you have a split two pair. This is in comparison to two pair where there is a pair on the board. Example: you have T9, the flop is 9-5-5.
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| Split-Pot Game |
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1) High-low split game. 2) Some other game in which the pot is split between the holders of two hands, as determined by other criteria, such as Black Maria or seven-twenty-seven.
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| Spoke |
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In ace-to-five lowball, any ace, 2, 3, 4, or 5. Also called wheel card.
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| Sponsor |
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1) Someone buying you a drink or meal. If someone offers you a drink at the table, when you call the cocktail waitress, you can say, "Bring me a drink; I've got a sponsor." 2) Someone who puts up a player's buy-in, usually to a tournament, in exchange for a portion of the profits, if any. 3) Pay someone's buy-in to a game or entry to a tournament, in exchange for a portion of the profits, if any.
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| Spot |
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A card; always preceded by its rank. For example, a 4-spot is a 4.
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| Spots |
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Pips. The suit symbols on a non-court card, indicating its rank.
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| Spotter |
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A card 4 through 10. When one of these cards is lying face down, and you lift the lower right corner, you can see spots in the corner (as opposed to a no-spotter, which has no spots in the corner, or a liner, which is a face card). Some lowball players couple the knowledge that a card could be one of these (but that they don't know which one) with game theory to decide on whether or not to bet. (Impartial observers might say they're just playing games with themselves, but we don't make judgments; we just define terms.)
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| Spread |
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1) Start a game. "Don't leave; we're about to spread a 20." 2) Show down; usually followed by a or the hand. "When I showed my pat 6-4, he spread a bicycle." 3) A game. If you phone your local card emporium, and ask the floor man how many games are going, he might say, "I have five spreads." 4) The act of exposing one's cards at the showdown. Also called roll.
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| Spread a Hand |
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Show down; usually followed by a or the hand. "When I showed my pat 6-4, he spread a bicycle."
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| Spread Limit |
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Poker in which the betting limits are somewhere between single limit and no limit. Bets have a range, from a minimum to a maximum. For example, in $2-$5 seven-card stud, a player can bet at any time either $2, $3, $4, or $5. If 50-cent chips or coins are used, a player can sometimes also bet $2.50, $3.50, and so on. As in no-limit games, a raise must always at least equal the previous bet or raise (unless the player making the raise is going all in, in which case the interpretation varies from club to club). That is, if one player bets $2 and the next player raises $3, any other player to come into the pot who wishes to raise must raise at least $3; a $2 raise is not permitted at this point. Also called modified limit.
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| Spread the Hand |
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Respond to a request to see the entire hand. If someone cannot see the winning hand, she might say to the dealer, "Spread the hand."
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| Spring |
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Suddenly make a large bet.
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| Spring Table |
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A card table made for cheating, with cracks that look like honest defects through which cards can be retrieved when acted upon by a spring attached to the underside of the table.
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| Spur |
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Mark cards with one's fingernails, particularly sharp thumbnails, or some other sharp instrument.
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| Spurr |
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Mark cards with one's fingernails, particularly sharp thumbnails, or some other sharp instrument.
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| Square |
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1) Honest. 2) Arrange the deck in a neat pile of cards, with no edges protruding, prior to dealing; usually followed by the cards or the deck
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| Square Deal |
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An honest deal, as indicated by a deck containing no trimmed or shaved cards. The term has passed into general usage.
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| Square Deck |
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An honest deck, that is, one containing no trimmed or shaved cards, as observable when it is arranged into a squared deck.
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| Square Game |
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An honest game, as indicated by its being played with a deck containing no trimmed or shaved or otherwise marked cards.
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| Square the Table |
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A request to the dealer to make sure that all the players sit in their proper positions, that is, with no one off-center and crowding someone else (likely the player making the request).
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| Square Up the Table |
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Ensure that all the players sit in their proper positions, that is, with all centered and equally spaced.
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| Squared Deck |
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A deck arranged in a neat pile, with no edges protruding, usually prior to cutting or dealing.
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| Squeeze |
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1) In a draw game, look at one's cards slowly; so called because players start with their cards tightly squared together, such that they can see only the first card, and then slowly squeeze them apart, that is, separate them, causing each card to reveal itself, slowly, one at a time, as if the viewer wishes to surprise himself with the cards; this is often done agonizingly slowly, frequently when it is the squeezer's turn to act, as if the player deliberately wants to annoy the others, while he pretends to be innocent of any knowledge of what effect his slowness is having. Sometimes called sweat. "Hey, don't squeeze the spots off of `em; we're paying time here." 2) Whipsaw (To raise before, and after, a caller who gets caught in the middle.).
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| Squeeze Bet |
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1) squeeze play. (The situation in which a player is whipsawed. (To raise before, and after, a caller who gets caught in the middle.).) 2) A bet to extract additional chips from a player not likely to win a pot, or, in high-low split, not likely to share in a split.
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| Squeeze in |
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Squeeze ( In a draw game, look at one's cards slowly; so called because players start with their cards tightly squared together, such that they can see only the first card, and then slowly squeeze them apart, that is, separate them, causing each card to reveal itself, slowly, one at a time, as if the viewer wishes to surprise himself with the cards.).
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| Squeeze Out |
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1) Squeeze (In a draw game, look at one's cards slowly; so called because players start with their cards tightly squared together, such that they can see only the first card, and then slowly squeeze them apart, that is, separate them, causing each card to reveal itself, slowly, one at a time, as if the viewer wishes to surprise himself with the cards.). 2) Force a player out of a pot by the size or intensity of betting or raising.
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| Squeeze Play |
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The situation in which a player is whipsawed. (To raise before, and after, a caller who gets caught in the middle.).
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| Squeezers |
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Special cards with suit and rank printed at the corners, so these can be seen by just barely squeezing back the corners. (This is the ordinary card format now, but many years ago, cards had no markings in their corners.)
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| Stack |
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1) The amount of money you have in front of you on the poker table (i.e., stack of chips). Often used in the plural. 2) A stack can also refer to a particular number of chips. Most chip racks take stacks of 20 chips. Many players like to keep their chips in stacks of particular numbers of chips.
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| Stack Off |
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In no limit, bet all your chips; move all in.
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| Stack Poker Dictionary |
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In no-limit, play in such a way that you get all your chips into the pot nearly every hand, that is go all in (stack off) whenever possible.
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| Stack the Deck |
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Arrange the deck by some slSeven-of-hand maneuver, as done by a cheat, and described under stack.
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| Stack-Off |
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All of your chips. "Did he bet?" "Yep, that was a stack-off."
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| Stacked Deck |
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A deck that has been arranged to give one player a huge advantage.
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| Stake |
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1) The amount of a player's Buy-In, or the amount of money they are willing to play with in a given session. 2) A player's bankroll; the money a player needs to get into a game. 3) Put someone into a game with house chips. 4) Give someone chips to play on, that is, back that player.
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| Stake Player |
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A player given house chips to play for the purpose of starting a game that would otherwise be short, or to keep a game that is becoming short from breaking up. A stake player keeps half his profits (after returning to the house the amount given him when he was first put in), usually at the end of a shift, but absorbs none of the losses. When he receives his share of the profits, this is the split-out.
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| Stakes |
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The size of a game, with respect to its betting increments or limits (or lack thereof). In a $2-limit game, for example, the stakes are just that, $2. In a no-limit game, the stakes are unlimited. In anything in between, the stakes are usually described by the minimum and maximum bets, sometimes by the amount required for a buy-in.
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| Stamped Cards |
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Cards marked on their backs during printing and sold to thieves for cheating purposes.
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| Stand |
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In a draw game, at the time for the draw (card replacement), draw no cards. "How many do you want?" "I'll stand."
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| Stand Pat |
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To decline an opportunity to draw cards.
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| Stand Up |
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Have a hand win, when one or more other hands are trying to, in draw, draw out on it, or, in stud or hold 'em, catch winning cards against it. "How do you like my chances?" "I had two little pair against three one-card draws, and the hand stood up.".
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| Stand-Off |
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1) A tie, in which the players divide the pot equally. 2) To call a raise. "Opener raises, I stand off"
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| Standard Deck |
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The 52-card deck, consisting of four suits (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs) of 13 cards each (A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K).
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| Star |
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The joker. Also, man with the star.
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| Starter |
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Game starter. (A card room employee who plays with House money, and does not share in any of his (her) winnings or losses. Shills are used to facilitate starting games, and keeping them going.).
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| Starting Hand |
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A player's first two cards in hold 'em or first three cards in seven-card stud.
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| Starting Requirement |
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The minimum holding a particular player feels he needs to get involved in a hand. For a good player, the starting requirement takes position into account.
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| Stash |
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1) A bankroll (often hidden away, though generally readily accessible) for emergency situations. 2) Any bankroll. 3) Hide money; secrete one's bankroll.
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| Stay |
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To remain in a hand with a call rather than a raise.
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| Stay in |
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To remain in a hand with a call rather than a raise.
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| Stayer |
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1) Active player. In a draw game, "Cards to the stayers?" is a request from the dealer for those remaining in the pot to tell him how many cards they want. 2) A hand worth calling with, but not raising or initiating any betting.
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| Steal |
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A bluff in late position, attempting to steal the pot from a table of apparently weak hands.
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| Steal Position |
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In a game with blinds, a late position, often the dealer or the middle blind (if there are three blinds); so used because it is most likely from this position that a player attempts to steal the antes.
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| Steal the Antes |
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Win just the antes by bluffing; get everyone to fold, usually by opening in late position when no one else appears to be interested in the pot, before there is any real action, and thus win the antes.
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| Steal the Blinds |
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Win just the blinds by bluffing; get the blinds to fold, usually by opening in late position, and thus win the blinds.
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| Steam |
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1) Be on tilt. (Playing poorly and irrationally due to emotional upset, often caused by the player in question having had a good hand beat by a freak draw from another player (often in complete disregard of the odds and good play) or the player having lost a pot because of his own bad play. Also called steaming, having one's nose open, opened up, unglued and being wide open.).2) Raise; no longer frequently used. "He steamed it."
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| Steam Bet |
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A bet made by someone playing on tilt (Playing poorly and irrationally due to emotional upset, often caused by the player in question having had a good hand beat by a freak draw from another player (often in complete disregard of the odds and good play) or the player having lost a pot because of his own bad play. Also called steaming, having one's nose open, opened up, unglued and being wide open.).
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| Steamer |
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One who is on tilt (Playing poorly and irrationally due to emotional upset, often caused by the player in question having had a good hand beat by a freak draw from another player (often in complete disregard of the odds and good play) or the player having lost a pot because of his own bad play. Also called steaming, having one's nose open, opened up, unglued and being wide open.).
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| Steaming |
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Being on tilt (Playing poorly and irrationally due to emotional upset, often caused by the player in question having had a good hand beat by a freak draw from another player (often in complete disregard of the odds and good play) or the player having lost a pot because of his own bad play. Also called steaming, having one's nose open, opened up, unglued and being wide open.). "Big John's going to lose his whole bankroll tonight. He's stuck and steaming."
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| Steel Wheel |
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A straight flush, five high. That is, A2345 of the same suit. A pretty nice hand to have in a high-low split game.
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| Steer |
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Hustle someone into another game, often private.
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| Steer Game |
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An after-hours game, to which players are steered (Hustle someone into another game, often private.) from a card room. Someone, usually an accomplice of one of the thieves who runs the game, directs departing players to the private game.
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| Steer Man |
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One who steers players ( Hustle someone into another game, often private.).
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| Steer Money |
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Commission paid by the operators of a steer game to a steerer (Hustle someone into another game, often private.)
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| Steerer |
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One who steers players (Hustle someone into another game, often private.).
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| Step |
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A tiny "ledge" shuffled into a deck by a cheater so that his accomplice can cut it at the prearranged location; a card offset by a barely perceptible fraction of an inch but able to be found by touch when cut. A brief can be felt but not easily seen; a good cutter can feel a 1/32-inch brief. Sometimes called jog, needle, or brief.
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| Step Bet |
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Stakes of more than one limit, with, one betting limit on early rounds and a higher limit on succeeding rounds. This is the common card room practice. For example, a $2-$4 hold 'em game involves a step bet: $2 may be bet or raised on the first two rounds of betting, and $4 on the last two.
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| Step Out |
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Bet; often implying (in a no-limit game) bet large.
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| Step the Deck |
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Cut a stacked deck such that it ends up with a step (A tiny "ledge" shuffled into a deck by a cheater so that his accomplice can cut it at the prearranged location) at the stacked portion.
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| Stew. |
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Two cards, please. (Heard in a draw game at the time of the draw.) Also Stu.
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| Stick |
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1) Stand or stand pat. (In a draw game, at the time for the draw (card replacement), draw no cards.) "How many cards do you want?" "I'll stick." This term is more common in home games; in card rooms, it is usually said only by inexperienced players. 2) Game starter (A card room employee who plays with House money, and does not share in any of his (her) winnings or losses. Shills are used to facilitate starting games, and keeping them going. ).
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| Stiff |
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1) After winning a pot, give no tip (toke) to the dealer.
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| Still Pack |
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The alternate deck, that is, the one not currently being dealt, in home games in which two decks are used. One deck is dealt while the other is being shuffled (by the shuffler) for the next deal.
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| Stock |
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1) Stub (The un-dealt portion of the cards, sometimes also called the deck, stock, or talon.). 2) Stack a deck, that is, prearrange the cards for cheating purposes.
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| Stone |
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Complete. "A stone beauty" means a good hand.
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| Stonewall |
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1) A tight player. 2) Stiff ( A player who makes a practice of not tipping the dealers.).
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| Stonewall Jackson |
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1) A tight player. 2) Stiff (A player who makes a practice of not tipping the dealers.).
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| Store |
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Joint (Card room; gambling establishment. Also called store or shop. Sometimes part of the phrase bust-out joint, carpet joint, juice joint, sawdust join).
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| Stormy Weather |
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A form of widow poker, played only in home games, in which each player is dealt four cards face down, and three cards are dealt face-up in the center. After a round of betting, each player can draw to his four-card hand. The dealer then turns up each of the widow cards one at a time, each followed by a round of betting. Each player may use (only) one of the cards as part of his hand. The game is sometimes played high-low split.
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| Straddle |
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1) Over blind (Put in a blind when one is already present. In a traveling blind game, this could mean someone putting in an optional blind in addition to the mandatory blinds. In a game without mandatory blinds, this would be blinding a pot (putting in a blind) after someone else has killed it. (To put in an over blind is sometimes called to kill.) Sometimes called go the overs.). 2) Over blind (The blind put in by the person who over blinds.). Someone might say, "John acts last; he has the straddle." 3) The second of two forced blinds, usually put in by the player two positions to the left of the dealer position. In former years, these two bets were called blind and straddle. Some say that definition 3 is the only proper use of the word straddle.
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| Straddle Game |
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1) A traveling blind game, usually with three blinds. 2) A blind and straddle game.
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| Straggler |
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A player who is able to come in light, that is, for a small call, such as in a pass-and-back-in game, when the pot has been opened in late position and not raised, so a player who passed earlier can now limp in (To enter the round by calling a bet rather than raising.); a player coming in in this situation is called a straggler.
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| Straight |
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A hand consisting of 5 cards in sequence but not in suit.
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| Straight Draw |
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1) "Normal" five-card-draw high poker, bet-or-fold before the draw, open on anything, that is, no opening requirements, as opposed to, for example, jacks or better. Also called guts-to-open, pass-out. 2) A hand that contains four cards to a straight.
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| Straight Flush |
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A hand consisting of five cards of consecutive ranks of the same suit. A straight flush is the strongest possible hand. Of two straight flushes, the one with the highest high card is better. An ace high straight flush is often called a royal flush or a royal straight flush, or just a royal.
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| Straight Limit |
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A form of limit poker (generally referring to draw poker, in particular limit draw or lowball as played in Northern California), in which all bets, before and after the draw, are in multiples of the same increment, as opposed to double limit, in which the limit doubles after the draw. For example, in the $20-limit game, all bets before and after the draw are $20, and multiples of $20 when players raise. Also called single limit.
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| Straight Poker Dictionary |
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1) An early form of poker, in which players received five cards, and bet on their original cards, in much the same as draw poker, but there was no draw. 2) Five card draw poker, high, with no wild cards.
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| Straight Up |
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Pertaining to honest play; on the square. A former thief may tell a friend, "I don't need any edge [dishonest advantage]; I can beat this game straight up." The manager of a card room may say to a player whom the former knows to be capable (that is, has the ability to cheat), "You can play in here only if you play straight up."
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| Strange |
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Money other than one player's bet. That is, if a player puts $6 into a pot and the pot has $20 altogether, the pot holds $14 strange or $14 strange money.
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| Strange Money |
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Money other than one player's bet. That is, if a player puts $6 into a pot and the pot has $20 altogether, the pot holds $14 strange or $14 strange money.
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| Stranger |
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1) In draw poker, a card one hasn't seen in one's hand after the draw, while shuffling through the entire hand. When a player is squeezing his hand, and finds one of the cards he drew, he may say, "There's a stranger." This quotation sometimes implies a card that improves the hand. 2) A player unknown to the regulars in a game.
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| Strategic Bluff |
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A planned bluff, as opposed to one made on the spur of the moment.
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| Streak |
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A run of good or bad cards.
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| Street |
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The cards that come out one at a time in a card game are sometimes referred to as different numbered streets. The door card in seven card stud is third street, and subsequent cards are numbered consecutively. In hold'em and other flop games, players sometimes refer to the turn and river as fourth and fifth street.
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| String |
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Holdout machine (A mechanical device enabling thieves to surreptitiously hold out. Holdout machines used to be more popular many years ago, but are not often seen now, probably because thieves are becoming more sophisticated, and also because being caught with one is dangerous. Also called a string.).
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| String Bet |
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An unethical and often illegal means of raising whereby a player puts a call-size stack of chips into the pot and, after observing the reactions of the players, then goes back to his stack and puts out more, thus raising.
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| Strip |
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Trim the sides or edges of cards, to make them identifiable by feel to a thief. This produces strippers.
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| Strip Poker Dictionary |
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A form of poker, generally played in mixed company, in which players use articles of clothing to purchase chips. As players need more chips, they must remove clothing; sometimes (rarely) the winners put those articles on. In some versions of the game, in each hand, all but the winner of the pot must remove one article of clothing; the drawback to this is the lack of an ante, unless players ante with clothing, in which case a disproportionate value is placed on any one article of clothing. This form of poker is not really related to the true nature of poker, whose goal is, for each player, to win money; the underlying nature of strip poker is to get almost everyone naked.
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| Stripped Deck |
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A deck with certain cards removed for special games, such as for Asian stud, a form of five-card stud played with a 32-card stripped deck, from which all cards 2 through 6 have been removed. In some European countries, and Australia, poker is sometimes played with a stripped deck from which the deuces and treys have been removed.
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| Stripped Pack |
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A deck with certain cards removed for special games, such as for Asian stud, a form of five-card stud played with a 32-card stripped deck, from which all cards 2 through 6 have been removed. In some European countries, and Australia, poker is sometimes played with a stripped deck from which the deuces and treys have been removed.
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| Stripper Deck |
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A deck marked by shaving the edges of some cards such that a thief can tell by feel the values of certain cards. Examples are belly strippers, end strippers, high belly strippers, humps, low belly strippers, side strippers.
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| Strippers |
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(Always used in the plural) A deck marked by shaving the edges of some cards such that a thief can tell by feel the values of certain cards. Examples are belly strippers, end strippers, high belly strippers, humps, low belly strippers, side strippers.
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| Stripping |
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Shuffling by rapidly pulling small packets from the top to the bottom of the deck.
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| Strong |
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1) Quite dishonest. "I just looked in at the lowball game. Jim's going really strong." This means that Jim is using some very dishonest cheating methods. 2) When pertaining to the rate at which chips are raked from a game heavily. "What? You take $2 out of every pot, even if no one plays? That's pretty strong."
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| Strong Hand |
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A hand that has a great likelihood of winning a pot; the nuts.
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| Strong Work |
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Marked cards whose markings are obvious and easily seen even by the untrained eye.
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| Stronger Than Nuts |
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Describing a game so very crooked that the live ones would find it harder to beat than the shell game. The nuts here refer to those used in the shell game (which, like the three-card monte found on the street, is known as the game the suckers never win at), not the unbeatable poker hand.
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| Stronger Than the Nuts |
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Describing a game so very crooked that the live ones would find it harder to beat than the shell game. The nuts here refer to those used in the shell game (which, like the three-card monte found on the street, is known as the game the suckers never win at), not the unbeatable poker hand.
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| Structure |
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1) The makeup of a game, with respect to the size of antes, the betting limits, opening requirements, blinds, forced bets, and so on. 2) With respect to a tournament, the amount of money in tournament chips players start with, the rules for re-buys and add-ons, and the manner in which the blinds increase.
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| Structured |
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Used to apply to a certain betting structure in "flop" games such as hold'em. The typical definition of a structured game is a fixed amount for bets and raises before the flop and on the flop, and then twice that amount on the turn and river. Example: a $2-$4 structured hold'em game - bets and raises of $2 before the flop and on the flop; $4 bets and raises on the turn and river.
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| Structured Limit |
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Describing the betting structure of a limit game (as opposed to no limit), as, for example, a structured limit hold 'em game, in which bets are at one level before and on the flop, and twice that level on the turn and river, such as $15-$30 hold 'em. The term structured limit is usually used for stud and hold 'em games, while double limit is used for draw games.
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| Struggle |
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Stand pat. In a draw game, "I'll struggle," said at the time for the draw, means "I'll take no cards."
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| Stu. |
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Two cards, please. (Heard in a draw game at the time of the draw.) Also, "Stew."
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| Stub |
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The un-dealt portion of the cards, sometimes also called the deck, stock, or talon.
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| Stuck |
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Slang for losing, often a substantial amount of money. Down a nontrivial amount of money, as in "he's stuck $800".
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| Stud |
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1) Any of several poker games in which some of each players' cards are exposed. 2) Usually short for seven card stud.
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| Stud Player |
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1) Someone who plays stud poker (usually exclusively, or in preference to other forms of poker). 2) In lowball, someone who regularly turns part of his hand face up (generally to coax another player into or out of a pot.
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| Stud Poker Dictionary |
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A form of poker in which one or more cards are dealt to each player face down, followed by one up card, with a betting round, more up cards, with a betting round after each, and then, in seven-card stud, a final down card, and a final betting round. The forms are five-card stud and seven-card stud, and sometimes six-card stud. In home games, you can find other variants.
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| Stud-Horse Poker Dictionary |
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Supposedly an early form of stud poker, but, in fact, a game that no one really knows how to play. A portion of the California Constitution (Section 330) legislates against certain games of chance by name, including roulette, blackjack, something called lansquenet, and, notably, stud-horse poker. Even though attorneys-general of the state had no idea what the game was, they used that apparent ban for a long time to prevent the playing of any form of poker that was not draw. Some historians think stud-horse poker was a variant of three-card monte, that is, a sucker game in which the sucker had no chance. Eventually the government quit prosecuting clubs in which hold 'em was played, because judges ruled it was not stud. Once the "door was opened," other games were permitted, including stud, and even games like super pan 9, California aces, and 21st Century Blackjack that clearly bear little resemblance to poker. And nobody knows yet what stud-horse poker is.
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| Study |
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1) Regard your cards intently while trying to make up your mind what to do next. 2) Regard an opponent intently in an attempt to divine what cards the opponent has.
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| Substitute |
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Replace a card in stud, that is, receive a twist.
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| Substitution |
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In stud, played in a home game, an extra card that a player can "buy" after all the cards that constitute a hand have been dealt. This card is generally a replacement for one of the player's existing cards, usually with an up card being replaced by an up card, and a down card being replaced by a down card, and often with the player having to pay for the card, that is, put extra chips in the pot, such chips not constituting a bet, because that "bet" does not have to be matched by other players. "We're playing five-card stud, high-low, with a twist." Also called discard, optional card, pitch, replacement, twist.
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| Substitution Poker Dictionary |
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Stud poker played with a twist (an extra card that a player can "buy" after all the cards that constitute a hand have been dealt.).
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| Subway Dealer |
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Bottom dealer (A cheat who deals cards from the bottom of the deck. Also sometimes called b-dealer, or cellar dealer.).
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| Suck |
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Draw cards. "How many cards do you want?" "I'll suck two."
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| Suck Out |
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To win a hand by virtue of hitting a very weak draw, often with poor pot odds.
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| Sucker |
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Live one; a rich loser; any loser or poor player.
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| Suction |
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In a big bet game, a small bet on a good hand to entice players to make an easy call, or better, to raise (so the suction bettor can re-raise).
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| Suction Bet |
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In a big bet game, a small bet on a good hand to entice players to make an easy call, or better, to raise (so the suction bettor can re-raise).
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| Sudden Death |
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Five-card stud played for low. So called because catching a pair usually kills a player's hand.
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| Suicide King |
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King of Hearts. So named because in the drawing the king appears to be stabbing himself in the head.
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| Suit |
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Clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades.
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| Suit Mark |
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The single spade, heart, club, or diamond beneath the index. (Some say that the suit mark is part of the index)
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| Suit System |
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A method of marking the backs of cards by indicating their suits.
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| Suited |
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Two or more cards all the same suit.
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| Suited Connectors |
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In hold 'em, two cards in sequence and in the same suit, usually with reference to hole cards.
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| Summertime Hand |
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A better-than-average hand, one likely to win the pot, but one that is not quite a strong hand.
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| Sunning a Deck |
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A form of cheating, a method of marking certain cards by leaving them in the sun for a period of time, which causes their backs either to lighten or darken
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| Super Satellite |
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A special tournament whose prize is usually a buy-in for a larger tournament. One-table satellites usually have just one winner; sometimes second place is awarded a free entry to another tournament. In larger satellite tournaments, the winner may get entry to the larger tournament, round-trip airfare plus accommodations (if the satellite takes place in a city other than that of the larger tournament), plus some percentage of the excess cash accumulated in buy-ins and re-buys. Second, third, and sometimes other places also can win a percentage of this cash. A satellite tournament with a large number of entrants, awarding entry or entries to major tournaments, is called a super satellite.
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| Super-Bluff |
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A successful bluff against the holder of a strong hand. For example, I have a pat 7-4 in no-limit lowball. You and I both have a lot of chips. Someone opens for $4, I raise $40, and you come in cold behind me. The first player does not call. After the draw, I bet $80. With only a momentary hesitation, you raise $200. I think you must have been slow-playing a monster, and fold for the raise. You chuckle, and show a flash of paint in your hand as you muck it. You have just run a super-bluff.
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| Survival Mode |
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In a tournament, just trying to hang on till the limits go up, or avoid being busted before someone else, for the sake of making it to the final table or be among those who receive a payout. This is a no aggressive strategy some use to try to be among the winners of a tournament
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| Svengali Deck |
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A machine-made deck that contains marked cards, shaved cards, cards made up of pieces of other cards for certain effects, etc. Such decks are sold at magic supply outlets, supposedly for entertainment, and are indeed used by magicians to perform tricks, but they are also used by thieves to introduce into card games. Svengali was a character in George Du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby, an evil hypnotist who enslaved the title character, a young woman
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| Sweat |
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1) Take a long time to look at your cards, often by squeezing; often followed by a or the hand or cards. "Will you hurry up? We're paying time!" "Hold on, this is an important pot; I gotta sweat these cards." 2) Kibitz (Watch someone play, or stand and watch a game, often from the rail.). "Aren't ya ready to leave yet?" "Hold on, I wanna sweat this game a few more minutes." 3) Win by careful play, avoiding taking risks.
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| Sweat Out |
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Sweat (Take a long time to look at your cards, often by squeezing; often followed by a or the hand or cards. "Will you hurry up? We're paying time!" "Hold on, this is an important pot; I gotta sweat these cards."). "Will you hurry up? We're paying time!" "Hold on, this is an important pot; I gotta sweat out this hand."
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| Sweater |
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Kibitzer; sometimes in particular someone who, in a tournament, stands on the rail and closely follows the play of one particular player, perhaps because of having a financial interest in, or being married to, the significant other of, or a friend of, that player
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| Sweep |
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Scoop (Win all of the pot in a high-low poker game that does not have a declare by having both the highest and the lowest hand.)
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| Sweeper |
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1) A hand that wins both ways in any high-low pot. 2) The player holding the hand that wins both ways in any high-low pot. 3) The player who declares both ways in a high-low poker game that has a declare. Also called scooper.
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| Sweeten |
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Add money (sometimes just in the form of antes) to a pot.
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| Sweeten the Pot |
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1) Raise. "Let's sweeten the pot a little" means "I'm going to raise," and, in a no-limit game, generally portends a large raise.2) Ante again after an unopened deal in any game with opening requirements, as jacks or better. This phrase is more commonly heard in home games than in card rooms.
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| Swing |
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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. (Just because you declare both ways does not necessarily mean you'll win both ways.) 3) Win all of the pot in a high-low poker game that does not have a declare, by having the best hand for one way and no one has qualifiers for the other way. For example, in high-low seven-stud, 8 for low, if you have a full house, and no one has an 8-low or better, you swung the pot. This usage is not common. For meanings 1, 2, and 3, more commonly called scoop. 4) Steal, or go south. "He was swinging with house chips, so they quit staking him." 5) Swing shift. "When do you work?" "I'm on swing."
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| Swing Hand |
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A hand that wins both ways in any high-low pot.
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| Swing Shift |
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One of the three shifts in a 24-hour card room or casino, the shift between day and graveyard. Swing shift usually starts anywhere between 6 pm and 8 p.m. and ends eight hours later.
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| Swinger |
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1) A hand that wins both ways in any high-low pot. 2) The player holding the hand that wins both ways in any high-low pot. 3) The player who declares both ways in a high-low poker game that has a declare.
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| Switch |
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Substitute dishonest cards for honest ones, as, for example, bring in a marked or stacked deck. Also, bring in a deck.
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| Switch Man |
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A person who introduces a dishonest deck into a game, surreptitiously replacing an honest deck.
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| Sökö |
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A variant of five-card stud, played mainly in Scandinavian countries, in which a four-straight ranks higher than one pair, and a four-flush ranks higher than a four-straight and just under two pair. The game is usually played pot limit.
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