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116 terms found
Sandbagging
Sandbagging is holding back and just calling, even though you have a very good hand, usually to hide strength, to provoke bluffs or to check-raise. It is a form of slow playing.
Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is a nickname for ace-king, A-K, of any suits. It is a strong starting hand.
Satellite
A satellite is a tournament in which the prize is an entry into a larger, more expensive tournament, instead of money. It lets players win a seat for a much smaller cost.
Scare Card
A scare card is a community card that may have given an opponent a strong hand, and makes you afraid to keep betting. It is typically a card that completes a flush or a straight, or an overcard to the pairs on the board.
Scoop
To scoop is to win the entire pot. The word is used mostly for split-pot games such as Omaha hi-lo, where a player who has both the best high hand and the best low hand takes both halves.
Scramble
A scramble is a face-down mixing of the cards on the table. The dealer spreads the cards face down and moves them around.
Seat Position
Seat position is the position of a player relative to the other players, especially to the dealer button. It decides when you act.
Seating List
A seating list is a waiting list for a table. A player puts his name on it if there are no free seats at the game that he wants to play.
Second Best
The second best hand is the best losing hand at showdown. It is a strong hand that loses to a stronger one, and it is the hand that costs the most.
Second Pair
Second pair is a pair made with the second-highest card on the board, in games with community cards. It is a medium-strength hand.
See
To see is to call. In the old style, a player says 'I see your bet' when he matches it.
Sell
To sell a hand is to bet less than the maximum with a very strong hand in a spread-limit game, in the hope that more players will call. It is a form of underplaying.
Semi‑Bluff
A semi-bluff is a bet or raise made with a hand that is not the best now but has a good chance to improve, such as a flush draw. It can win in two ways: the opponent folds, or the draw comes in.
Sequence
A sequence is a group of cards of consecutive ranks, as in a straight: four, five, six, seven, eight.
Session
A session is the period in which a poker game is held, or the time that you sit and play. For example, a session may last five hours.
Set
A set is three of a kind made with a pocket pair and one card on the board. For example, you hold two sevens and the flop contains a third seven. It is a strong, well-hidden hand.
Set a Trap
To set a trap is to play in a way that creates a false impression, which you can use to win in a later hand or later in the same hand. It is an act of deception.
Set Mining
Set mining is calling a raise before the flop with a pocket pair, only to hit a set. If the flop does not give you a third card of your rank, you give up the hand.
Set Over Set
Set over set is a situation in which two players both flop a set, and one has the higher set. The player with the lower set is in a very bad position, since he is almost certain to lose.
Setup
A setup is a pair of suited decks, each with a different colored back, that replaces the decks in play. Card rooms use two decks to keep the game fast: one is shuffled while the other is dealt.
Seven‑card Stud
Seven-card stud is a popular poker game in which each player gets three cards face down and four face up, and plays the best five-card hand from the seven.
Seventh Street
Seventh street is the last round of betting in seven-card stud and stud eight-or-better. Each player gets the seventh card face down, and then there is a round of betting and a showdown.
Shark
A shark is a highly skilled and experienced player, often a professional, who wins money from weaker players, called fish.
Shills
Shills are paid props who help start and maintain poker games. They play with the house's money or are paid by the house to keep the game going.
Ship It
'Ship it' is something players say when they win, or hope to win, a big pot: the pot is 'shipped' to the winner. It can be a cheerful call, but it is also heard as a taunt, so many players dislike hearing it after a loss.
Shoot‑out
A shoot-out is a tournament in which players with no rebuys play until they lose all their chips. It is also a format in which winners of a table move on to the next stage.
Short Buying
Short buying is buying more chips after your initial purchase, for an amount smaller than the minimum buy-in. In some games, a short buy is allowed after the first stack.
Short Handed
Short handed means a game with six or fewer players. It is the opposite of a full ring game.
Short Stack
A short stack is a stack with relatively few chips compared with the blinds, usually fewer than 20 big blinds. It also means the player with the fewest chips at the table.
Shorthanded
Shorthanded describes a poker game with six or fewer players at the table. It is the opposite of a full ring game with nine or ten players.
Shot Clock
A shot clock is a timer that gives a player a limited time to act, usually 30 seconds per decision. Players also get extra time banks to use when needed.
Shove
To shove is to push all your chips into the pot, going all in. It is also called a jam or a push.
Show
To show is to expose your cards. At showdown, you show your hand to determine the winner.
Show Cards
Show cards are the exposed cards in stud, the cards that are dealt face up. Opponents can see them.
Showdown
The showdown is the final stage of a hand in which the remaining players show their cards to decide who has the best hand and wins the pot. It takes place after the last round of betting if more than one player is left.
Showdown Value
Showdown value is the ability of a hand to win at showdown without further betting or a bluff. A hand with showdown value is usually a pair or a medium-strength hand that may be best.
Shuffle
To shuffle is to mix the cards before a hand, so that their order is random. The dealer shuffles the deck before every deal.
Side Bet
A side bet is any bet made outside the pot. It is a bet between players that does not change the poker hand, or a bet on the side of the game.
Side Game
A side game is a cash game that runs at the same time as a large tournament. It is often filled with players who were eliminated from the tournament or who chose not to play it.
Side Pot
A side pot is a separate pot created when a player goes all in and other players keep betting. The all-in player can only win the main pot, and the side pot is contested only by the remaining players.