Poker
Kansas City Lowball
Kansas City lowball is a form of lowball in which the best hand is 7-5-4-3-2 of different suits. Aces are high, and straights and flushes count against you. It is also called deuce-to-seven lowball.
Katie or Katy
Katie or Katy is a nickname for a starting hand of king and ten, K-T. The name comes from the sound of the letters K and T.
Keep Them Honest
To keep them honest is to call a bet, usually at the end of a hand, so that your opponent cannot bluff you every time. You call to make him show a real hand sometimes.
Key Card
A key card is a card that gives you a big draw or makes your hand. When it comes, it changes the strength of your holding.
Key Hand
A key hand is the one hand in a session or tournament that becomes a turning point for a player, for better or worse.
Kibitzer
A kibitzer is a spectator who watches a game and comments on it, usually without being asked.
Kick It
To kick it means to raise. You kick it when you make a larger bet after someone has bet.
Kicker
A kicker is the side card in your hand that is not part of the made hand, but is used to break ties between hands of the same rank. For example, with ace-king against ace-queen on an ace-high board, the king kicker wins.
Kill
A kill, or kill blind, is an oversized blind, usually twice the big blind, which also doubles the betting limits. A half-kill raises the blind and limits by 50 percent. A kill can be voluntary or mandatory.
Kill Button
A kill button is a button used in a lowball game to show a player who has won two pots in a row and must kill the pot. It marks who has the kill action.
Kill Pot
A kill pot is a pot in which the stakes are raised because a player won the previous pot, or won two in a row. The player who wins posts an extra blind, called the kill blind, which makes the game larger for the next hand.
King Crab
King Crab is a nickname for a starting hand of king and three, K-3. The name comes from the shape of the three, which looks like a crab on its side.
Knave
Knave is an old name for the jack. In some card games the jack is called the knave.
Knock
A knock is the same as a check: a player decides not to bet and passes the action to the next player. It can be done only if no one has bet in the current round.
Knockout Tournament
A knockout tournament is a tournament in which part of the buy-in becomes a bounty on each player. When you eliminate a player, you win their bounty in cash. Also called a bounty tournament.
Kojack
Kojack is a nickname for king-jack, K-J, of any suits. It is the same as Kojak.
Kojak
Kojak is a nickname for a hand with king and jack, K-J. It is named after the TV detective.
Komodo Dragoned
Komodo dragoned means that a player's hand is defeated because an opponent completes a straight or flush on the river. It is a slang term for a bad beat.
Ladies
Ladies is a nickname for a pair of queens. It comes from the queens being the 'ladies' of the deck. The phrase is used for pocket queens, as in 'I looked down at ladies'.
LAG (Loose‑Aggressive)
LAG means loose-aggressive: a style in which a player plays many starting hands and makes many raises, hoping to outplay his opponents.
Last Longer
A last longer is a side bet among players on who will last the longest in a tournament. The winner is the player who is eliminated last.
Late Position
Late position means the last seats to act in a betting round, usually the button and the cutoff. These positions are advantageous, since the players see how the others act first.
Lay Down Your Hand
To lay down your hand is to fold. The word is often used for folding a strong hand when you think you are beaten.
Lay Odds
To lay odds is to give favorable odds to an opponent. You risk more than you can win.
Laydown
A laydown is a fold, usually a fold of a strong hand because you believe that you are beaten. The word is often used for a good or difficult fold.
LDO
LDO is poker forum slang for "Like Duh, Obviously" or "LOL, Duh, Obviously," used to say that something is obvious.
Lead
To lead is to be the first to bet in a round. The word is also used for the player who is currently ahead, and for the player who made the last bet or raise in the previous round, and so 'has the lead'.
Leader
The leader is the player with the most chips in a tournament or at a table. He can apply pressure to the others with his big stack.
Leak
A leak is a consistent strategic mistake that reduces your profit. Finding and fixing leaks is a key part of improving at poker.
Leg Up
Leg up means being in a situation equal to having won the previous pot, so that you must kill the next pot if you win the current one. It is a term from kill games.
Legitimate Hand
A legitimate hand is a hand that is strong enough to have a good chance of winning the pot. The term separates real, playable holdings from bluffs and weak hands.
Let Slide
To let slide is to not call a bet from a player you think is probably bluffing. You decide that the pot is not worth the risk and you let the hand go.