Of all the casino games, poker stands out in a unique field. Of course, there are many differences between roulette, blackjack and slots, but the characteristic that binds them all together is that they are all predominantly games of luck.

It doesn’t matter if you follow a gambling influencer on social media who claims to be banned from the casinos because of his winning strategy, or you’re chatting with a guy in a casino lobby who claims to know when a slot game is about to pay out. The only game that can provide gains for those with experience and expertise is poker. It’s also the game that contains the most rules, slang and interweaving techniques and methods, giving elite players the edge over their competition.

So, with that out the way, if you’re somebody still finding the ropes and wanting to know about poker, here are our top 10 terms that are essential in building your knowledge and acting as a foundation to understand the game’s building blocks.

1. Poker Hand

A nice, easy one to start off with – a poker hand is what the dealer will provide you with at the start of the game. This can vary depending on the type of poker you’re playing; in Texas Hold’em, for instance, the term includes community and hole cards.

2. Hole Cards

Hole cards are the two cards you receive at the beginning of the game.

3. Community Cards

These are the five cards dealt in the middle of the table, which face upward, and they’re combined with your hole cards so you can make the strongest hand possible.

4. Angle Shooters

Poker players will use various dubious techniques to gain an edge over other players at the table. While angle shooting is not against the rules, it is frowned upon and calls upon the dark arts of poker. There are four main types of angle shooting to be wary of:

• Verbal misdirection – announcing the strength of your hand misleadingly to throw off other players. Not all casinos allow this and will eject players guilty of it.
• A fake raise – when a player pushes their chips to give the illusion that they are raising, but they don’t have the correct chip tally. When the dealer counts the total, it’s revealed that they haven’t put enough in. The angle shooter will gauge your reaction based on this. Again, this isn’t against the rules, but some casinos will kick you out if they find you doing it, as it is against the spirit of the game.
• A confused check – pretending a hand movement was arbitrary and not an actual check.
• Fake folding – when a player pretends to fold to see your response.

There are techniques to avoid angle shooters, as detailed in this handy guide compiled by CasinoMeister, which also details other lesser-known types of angle shooting. However, it shows how tricky people can be at the poker table, and understanding these terms and movements will give you the best chance of not getting hustled at the table.

5. Stack and the Pot

Let’s return to something more basic – the pot is the total amount of all the bets placed during the game. If anybody refers to a winning total for that game, they refer to this combined amount.

A stack is the number of chips somebody has to play with; once they wager any amount, it becomes part of the pot.

6. Prize Pool

If you enter a tournament, your entrance fee will be put toward the prize pool given to the eventual winner. This differs from the pot, as the pot refers to a single game, whereas a prize pool is paid out to the eventual winner. The biggest prize pot in history was paid out to 2023 WSOP winner Daniel Weinman, who took home a pretty decent amount, slightly north of $12 million.

Poker fans travel from all over the world to watch the WSOP unfold. The added convenience of modern-day travel tools and the interest of TV audiences have helped keep the tournament relevant and growing in a digital-first world.

7. Check

This common phrase refers to when a player does not want to bet. They will either do this verbally or tap the table to signal this.

8. Bluffing

While bluffing is nowhere near as essential or game-changing in online poker as in a land-based tournament or game, it’s an important phrase. Bluffing is a colloquialism used in everyday language, of course. Still, in poker, it’s when a player has a bad hand but gives off the impression they have a better hand, psychologically pushing those with better hands to fold.

9. A Fish

If you’re new to the game, you may have heard this one a few times. A fish is used as a derogatory term to describe either an inexperienced player or a poor player, and the whole basis is that they will be eaten by the “sharks”, a term used to describe a strong or competent player. Another sea-based poker idiom is a “whale” – used to describe a high-roller or somebody with a big balance.

10. Table Captain

The player with the most chips may also be called the “table captain” – this differs from a whale, which is simply somebody with many chips. The table captains can dictate the pace of the game, as they have a lot more chips than anybody else, and if they’re a competent player, they will play aggressively and use this to their advantage.

Overview

We recommend getting to grips with dozens of other terms before you enter a real-money poker game. Poker is a casino game that rewards knowledge, expertise and experience. For this reason alone, it contrasts starkly with the vast majority of other games that casinos offer.

Learning terminology in any casino game is essential, but it becomes even more crucial in games such as poker when there are other players at the table, and techniques that players can use to gain an edge. Once you grasp these terms well, you can use them to develop your strategies and techniques and improve your game.