Hold’em Glossary

Hold’em terms

Blind

A forced bet posted by the small blind and big blind every hand.

Blinds keep the game moving and create money in the pot before the cards are played.

Preflop

The betting round before any community cards are dealt.

Players act after receiving their two hole cards and before the flop is revealed.

Flop

The street where the first three community cards are revealed.

The flop starts postflop play and often changes range and board interaction quickly.

Turn

The street where the fourth community card is revealed.

The turn narrows ranges and often makes bet sizing more polarised.

River

The final street where the fifth community card is revealed.

River decisions are made with complete board information and no future cards left.

Position

Your seat order, which determines who acts first and last.

Acting later gives you more information, so position is one of the biggest edges in poker.

Stack

The amount of chips a player has behind.

Stacks are often measured in big blinds so strategy can be compared across stake sizes.

Board

The community cards in the middle of the table.

Everyone shares the board, so it shapes ranges, draws, and made hands for both players.

Hand

A player’s two private hole cards.

Your hole cards combine with the board to make the best five-card hand.

Pot

The total chips currently in play for the hand.

The pot size affects pot odds, bet sizing, and how much a player can win.

Showdown

The point where remaining players reveal their hands to decide the winner.

Showdown happens after betting is complete and no player has folded the others out.

Raise

Increasing the current bet amount.

Raises can be used for value, protection, or bluffing pressure.

Call

Matching the current bet.

Calls continue the hand without increasing the price for the opponent.

Fold

Giving up your hand and the chance to win the pot.

Folding ends your participation in the hand, but can save chips in bad spots.

Check

Passing the action without betting when no bet is facing you.

Checking keeps the pot size the same and can be used with strong or weak hands.

Bet

Putting chips into the pot when no one has bet yet on this street.

A bet can build value, deny equity, or apply pressure.

All-in

Betting all of your remaining chips.

Once you are all-in, you cannot add more chips and side pots may appear.

Open

The first raise made before anyone else has raised.

An open raise starts the aggressive action in a preflop spot.

HUD

An on-screen overlay that shows tracked opponent stats.

A HUD helps you read tendencies like VPIP, PFR, and fold-to-3-bet by sample size.

VPIP

The share of hands in which a player voluntarily puts money in preflop.

Posting a mandatory blind does not count. An additional call or raise from the blinds does count. Count each qualifying hand once.

PFR

The share of hands with at least one preflop raise, or the preflop raiser.

The stat includes opening and all subsequent raises; count each hand only once. In a lesson, “the PFR” usually means the last preflop raiser.

3-Bet

A re-raise against an open raise.

A 3-bet can be made for value with strong hands or as a bluff with blockers.

C-Bet

A continuation bet made by the preflop aggressor on the flop.

The preflop raiser keeps the initiative by betting the next street.

Squeeze Play

A large 3-bet after there is an open raise and at least one caller.

The goal is to pressure both the raiser and the caller at the same time.

Donk Bet

A lead into the aggressor from the previous street.

A player calls the last bet or raise on one street and then bets before that opponent on the next. A lead after the opponent checked back is a probe bet.

Overbet

A bet larger than the current pot.

Overbets often come from polar ranges that want maximum pressure or value.

Slow Play

Playing a strong hand passively to keep weaker hands in.

Slow plays can induce bluffs or extra value on later streets.

Check-Raise

Checking first and then raising after facing a bet.

Check-raises are strong pressure tools for both value hands and bluffs.

Thin Value Bet

A value bet that gains a narrow profit because enough worse hands call.

Evaluate the range that calls this particular size. Thin value has no fixed bet size or equity band against the whole range.

Open Limp

Calling as the first player in preflop instead of raising.

Open limps are usually rare in modern theory outside special formats or mixed strategies.

Barrel

Continuing to bet across multiple streets.

Double barrel means flop and turn; triple barrel means flop, turn, and river.

Floating

Calling now with a plan to take the pot away on a later street.

Floats attack weak c-bets and delayed checks from the opponent.

Nit

A very tight player type that continues mostly with strong hands.

Nits often overfold to steals and small c-bets, but their large river bets and 4-bets are usually value-heavy.

Calling Station

A player type that calls too often and does not fold enough.

Against calling stations, cut back on big bluffs and widen your value betting range, especially on later streets.

Passive Caller

A player type that calls often but rarely takes the lead with bets or raises.

Repeated checks from a passive caller usually cap their range, but sudden strong aggression still deserves more respect.

Limper

A player type that open-limps or limp-calls too often preflop.

Frequent limpers create dead money, so bigger isolation raises with linear value hands become more profitable.

Maniac

A player type with excessively high betting and raising frequency.

Maniacs bring too many bluffs, so wider call-downs and stronger value traps usually outperform fancy counter-bluffs.

Home Game Player

A recreational player type with inconsistent sizing and intuition-driven lines.

Simpler value-heavy plans and reusable notes work better than trying to fight them with balanced, solver-like precision.

Pot Odds

The cost of a call divided by the pot after calling.

Facing 50 into 100, you call 50 to make a pot of 200: 25%. With no further betting or rake, that equity breaks even. When more betting remains, account for how much equity you realize.

Equity

A hand’s expected share of the pot at showdown.

Count your full share on wins and your split share on ties. In heads-up play, 30% wins and 10% ties give 35% equity. The chance of completing a draw is a different measure.

Implied Odds

The extra money you may win after hitting a draw.

If you win when you hit, give up on misses and have no later losses or rake: extra average winnings needed when you hit = call cost ÷ hit probability − pot after calling. The remaining stack is an upper bound.

Reverse Implied Odds

The risk of losing extra money even when you improve.

This matters when your draw can make a second-best hand.

Fold Equity

The expected value of getting an opponent to fold.

Heads-up without later bets, raises, or rake: EV(bet) = fP + (1−f)[q(P+2B)−B]. Here f is fold probability, q is equity when called, P is the pot before the bet, and B is the bet. With P=5.5BB, B=2BB, f=40% and q=0, EV is +1BB.

EV

Expected value, or the long-run average result of an action.

Positive EV makes money over time; negative EV loses money over time.

EQR

Equity realization rate, or how much of a hand’s raw equity it can actually convert into results.

Two hands can have similar equity but very different realization. Position, initiative, and playability all affect whether that equity turns into real EV.

Outs

Cards that complete or improve a hand toward a target.

The rule of 4 and 2 approximates the chance of hitting: outs × 4% for two cards and outs × 2% for one. Nine flop outs hit by the river about 35.0% of the time. Hitting a draw is not the same as winning at showdown.

MDF

The minimum defense frequency that denies immediate profit to a zero-equity bluff heads-up.

MDF = pot before the bet ÷ (pot before the bet + bet). Facing 50 into 100, call or raise about 66.7%; folding more than about 33.3% makes the bluff immediately profitable. This is a benchmark, separate from the 25% equity needed to call.

Pot-Sized Bet

A bet equal to the pot before the bet.

Betting 50BB into 50BB is pot-sized. A bet larger than the pot is an overbet.

GTO

A balanced strategy that is hard to exploit.

GTO aims to protect you from counterplay rather than punish one specific opponent leak.

Range

The full set of hands a player can have in a spot.

Modern poker decisions are made against ranges, not one exact hand.

Blocker

A card you hold that removes specific opposing combinations.

With three spades on the board, your A♠ prevents the opponent from having a flush that uses A♠. The effect depends on the board and opposing range.

Unblocker

A card that leaves combinations you want the opponent to have available.

A bluff-catcher may benefit from blocking value and unblocking bluffs. A bluff may benefit from leaving hands that will fold available.

Bluff-Catcher

A hand that beats bluffs but loses to most or all value bets.

Use pot odds and the effect of your cards on the opponent’s value and bluff combos to decide whether to call.

Population Tendency

A pattern observed repeatedly in a particular player pool.

For example, a pool may bluff a specific river line less often than a reference strategy. Confirm the pattern with a relevant sample before adjusting.

Polarized Range

A range made of very strong hands and bluffs, with few medium-strength hands.

Polarized ranges usually like larger bet sizes.

Merged Range

A range made of strong and medium-strength value hands together.

Merged ranges often use smaller sizes to get called by worse hands.

Backdoor Draw

A draw that needs both remaining streets to improve.

Backdoor draws are weaker than direct draws but still add useful equity.

Nuts

The strongest possible hand on the current board.

Another player can tie the nuts. New board cards can change which hand is the nuts.

Drawing Dead

Unable to win no matter what cards come next.

If you are drawing dead, no outs remain.

ICM

A tournament model that converts chip stacks into prize equity.

ICM makes chips worth less than linearly near payout pressure spots.

Tilt

Emotional play that leads to poor decisions.

Managing tilt is a core skill because mental mistakes cascade quickly.

DCFR

A discounted version of CFR that puts less weight on older regret and strategy updates.

This is the core algorithm used by the postflop solver in the simulator.

Discounted CFR

Counterfactual Regret Minimization with discounting applied.

Discounting helps the solver converge faster in practical postflop trees.

Exploitability

How much the current strategy can still be punished by a perfect opponent.

Lower exploitability means the strategy is closer to a stable GTO solution.

Iteration

One solver update pass through the game tree.

More iterations usually improve stability, but large trees also cost much more time.

Weight

How often a hand or combo appears inside a range.

A weight of 100% means always included; 50% means mixed half the time.

Combo

One exact two-card combination.

Pocket pairs have 6 combos, suited hands 4 combos, and offsuit hands 12 combos.

Runout

The possible future turn and river cards.

Runout analysis shows how strategy and EV change when different cards arrive.

Strategy Grid

A 13x13 matrix that visualizes how each hand mixes actions.

The colors inside each cell show how often a hand bets, checks, calls, or raises.

Chance Node

A node where the next state is decided by card dealing instead of player action.

Turn and river card reveals are typical chance nodes.

Terminal Node

A node where the hand is over and no further action remains.

Hands end in a fold or at showdown, which makes the node terminal.

Rake

The fee taken from the pot by the poker room.

Rake changes EV and can noticeably shift optimal strategy in small or thin-margin pots.

Rake Cap

The maximum rake that can be taken from a single pot.

A cap keeps rake from growing forever in larger pots.

Starting Pot

The pot size already in the middle at the root of the solve.

This value anchors bet sizing and exploitability as a share of the pot.

Effective Stack

The smaller remaining stack between the players.

Only the smaller stack can actually be won or lost in an all-in situation.

16-bit Compression

A lower-precision storage mode that reduces memory usage.

It helps fit larger trees in memory, with a small trade-off in precision.

Merging

A rule that combines very similar bet sizes to keep the tree smaller.

Higher merging saves memory and time, but removes some fine detail from the strategy.

Add All-in Threshold

The threshold that adds an all-in action when the largest size is already close enough to jam.

For example, 150 means an all-in option is added when the largest size is 150% pot or smaller.

Force All-in Threshold

The threshold that replaces a large size with all-in when the remaining SPR would be very small.

This simplifies the tree by turning near-jam spots into direct all-ins.

Multi-threaded

A runtime mode that uses several CPU threads at once.

It is faster when the browser and device support shared memory correctly.

Single-threaded

A runtime mode that uses only one CPU thread.

It is slower, but works as a safe fallback when multi-threading is unavailable.

OOP Range

The range assigned to the out-of-position player in the current spot.

If this assumption is off, the whole strategy, EV, and runout view become less reliable.

IP Range

The range assigned to the in-position player in the current spot.

Solver output always depends on the range assumptions you start from.

IP

In position, meaning you act after the opponent.

Acting later gives you more information and usually makes postflop play easier.

OOP

Out of position, meaning you act before the opponent.

Acting first is harder because you must decide with less information.

Postflop

All streets after preflop: flop, turn, and river.

This is where board texture, range interaction, and position matter the most.

Bluff

Betting or raising with a weak hand to make better hands fold.

A bluff wins by fold equity, not by showdown strength.

Air

A hand with little showdown value and little direct draw value.

Some air hands bluff well because of blockers; others are better left in checks.

Semi-Bluff

A bluff made with a draw or some chance to improve.

Semi-bluffs can win now by folds or later by improving to the best hand.

Value Bet

A bet made to get called by worse hands.

Good value bets target a clear set of weaker hands that continue often enough.

Showdown Value

The chance a hand can still win at showdown without betting.

Hands with showdown value often prefer checking over turning themselves into bluffs.

Flush Draw

Four cards of one suit among the hole cards and board, with one more needed for a flush.

There are nine unseen cards of the suit. From flop to river, about 35.0% of runouts contain at least one of them. Completing the flush does not guarantee a win.

Straight Draw

A draw that needs one more card to complete a straight.

Open-ended draws are stronger than gutshots because they have more outs.

OESD

An open-ended straight draw that can be completed at either end.

For 5-6-7-8, any four or nine completes a straight. These eight cards hit by the river about 31.5% of the time from the flop.

Gutshot

A straight draw missing one rank in the middle.

For 5-6-8-9, any seven completes the straight. These four cards hit by the river about 16.5% of the time from the flop.

Combo Draw

A hand with two overlapping draws, such as a flush draw and a straight draw.

Nine flush cards plus eight straight cards minus two overlaps gives 15 cards. Hitting at least one by the river from the flop is about 54%, which is not showdown equity.

4-Bet

A re-raise made against a 3-bet.

4-bets are used both for strong value hands and selected blocker bluffs.

Top Pair

A pair made with the highest card on the board.

Top pair is often strong, but its value depends on kicker and board texture.

Overpair

A pocket pair higher than any card on the board.

Overpairs are strong value hands, though wet boards can reduce their edge.

Overcard

A hole card ranked higher than the highest card on the board.

Overcards can improve to top pair on later streets and add bluffing value.

Set

Three of a kind made from a pocket pair and one board card.

Sets are well hidden and usually much stronger than trips made from the board.

Pocket Pair

Two hole cards of the same rank.

Pocket pairs are often grouped by strength and can also be played for set value.

TPTK

Top pair with top kicker.

TPTK is a classic strong one-pair value hand on many dry boards.

One Pair

A hand ranking made from one matching pair.

One pair is common, but kicker strength matters a lot.

Two Pair

A hand ranking made from two different pairs.

Two pair is strong, but connected or suited boards can still threaten it.

Straight

Five consecutive ranks, regardless of suit.

Straights beat three of a kind but lose to flushes.

Flush

Five cards of the same suit.

Flushes beat straights and are ranked by their highest cards.

Full House

Three of a kind plus a pair.

Full houses beat flushes and are ranked first by the trips part.

Straight Flush

Five consecutive cards of the same suit.

A straight flush is one of the strongest hands in poker.

High Card

A hand with no pair and no made ranking above that.

When both players miss, the highest card and kickers decide the winner.

Suited

Two hole cards of the same suit, such as AKs.

You can make a flush using both hole cards. The equity gain over offsuit depends on the opposing hand or range.

Offsuit

Two hole cards of different suits, such as AKo.

You can still make a flush using one hole card and four board cards, or play a flush made by the five board cards.

Connector

Two hole cards with consecutive ranks.

Connectors can make straights more easily and often play well postflop.

Dry Board

A board with few connected cards and few draw possibilities.

Dry boards usually support smaller bets and more frequent c-bets.

Wet Board

A board with many straight or flush draw possibilities.

Wet boards create more strong draws, so bet sizing and bluffing change a lot.

Multiway

A pot played by three or more players.

Bluffs work less often multiway, and stronger value is usually needed.