Some of the advanced terms that professional Texas Holdem players might use may sound unusual, and can make little to no sense. What’s a buy-in? A kicker? How do you go “all in”? This article will explain the advanced poker terms that you might hear on ESPN’s tournaments, or see in online casino’s chat rooms, and so on. Get familiarized with the following poker slang to make sure you have your top performance when money is on the line!

Tournament: a Poker tournament isn’t different from athletics. A pool of players enters a tournament, and the best player gets all the money. Some tournaments split winning money among the top 3, or 5, or 10 people; but those are usually huge tournaments, and you wouldn’t do that while just playing with your friends or neighbors.
Buy-in: this is how much you must pay to enter a poker tournament.
Entry fee: the money that goes to the house for just playing; this is the casino’s running fees.
Rebuy: if you lose all your money, or your chips are worth less than the minimum amount allowed, you may be allowed to rebuy. If you rebuy, you get additional chips in exchange for cash, and you keep playing. Some casinos allow unlimited rebuys while others may have a set limit.
Freezeout: the most common type of Texas Holdem tournament. In a freezeout, you buy in a certain amount of chips, and once you run out, it’s over. You can not rebuy in a freezeout. The winner gets all the money in the pot that others lost.

The following terms can be heard on televised poker tournaments, and aren’t used often in neighborhood, “underground” games. It is nevertheless important to know what these terms mean.

AA: American Airlines, bullets, pocket rockets;
AK: Big Slick, “Walking back to Houston”
AJ: Ajax
KK: Cowboys
KQ: Marriage
KJ: Kojak
K9: Canine
QQ: Dames, divas, ladies, the Hilton sisters, Siegfried & Roy
QJ: Maverick, Oedipus Rex
Q7: Computer Hand
Q3: A San Francisco Busboy
JJ: Jokers, hooks
J9: T.J. Cloutier.
J5: Jackson Five, Motown
10&5: Five and dime
10&2: Doyle Brunson, after a man who won two World Series of Poker titles with this hand.
9&9: Meat hooks
8&8: Snowmen, Octopuses
7&7: Hockey Sticks, walking Sticks
7&2: The Hammer
5&5: Nickels, presto, speed limit
5&4: Jesse James, for his Colt .45
4&4: Sailboats
2&2: Ducks

At any given time, there are 2 players who are big and small. These are known as blinds, and they move to the left of the dealer. Being small means you can bet the half of the bet to see your cards, while being big means you have to put in the full bet without the option of folding first. This is done so that no player can ever sit at a table and wait for the perfect hand to come his way and play then. It’s a safety precaution for all other players, of sorts. The big and the small players move to the left along with the dealer’s chip.

Win Big!