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Round of Betting
A round of betting is a period when players have the chance to bet, check, call or raise. It ends when the last bet or raise has been called, or when all players have checked.
Round of Play
A round of play is the action sequence in which every player deals a poker hand. In a game with a dealer button, it is one full orbit.
Rounders
Rounders are people who hustle for a living, usually by playing cards. It is also the name of a well-known poker film starring Matt Damon and Edward Norton.
Royal Flush
A royal flush is the highest possible hand in poker: ace, king, queen, jack and ten, all of the same suit. It beats every other hand, and it can only be tied when the royal flush is on the board.
Run
Run has several meanings in poker. It can mean a straight, a series of good results, or the remaining cards of a hand: a 'runout'. 'I was on a run' means that the player won many hands in a row.
Run a Pot
To run a pot is to win a hand by bluffing through the hand, with more than one bet. The bettor bets several streets and wins with no best hand.
Runner‑Runner
Runner-runner is a hand that is made by hitting the cards you need on both the turn and the river. Before the turn, you have only a very small chance of making the hand. It is also called backdoor.
Running Bad
Running bad is a period of bad luck or a losing streak. A player who is running bad loses many hands, often with strong hands that are beaten.
Running Good
Running good is a period of good luck or a winning streak. A player who is running good wins many pots and hits his draws.
Running Pair
A running pair is a pair that comes on the last two cards of the board, the turn and the river. The two cards have the same rank.
Rush
A rush is a winning streak. A player who has won several big pots recently is said to be on a rush. It is the same as a heater.
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.