beginner
Card Protector
A card protector is an item placed on your cards to keep them from being thrown away by mistake.
Cardroom
A cardroom is a venue, or part of one, where poker is played.
Cards Speak
Cards speak means a hand is worth the best combination of its cards, whatever the player calls it.
Cash Game
A cash game is a poker game played for real money, where players can join and leave at any time.
Cash In
To cash in is to exchange poker chips for cash, or to finish in the money in a tournament.
Cash Out
To cash out is to leave a game and convert your chips to cash.
Cashing
Cashing means finishing in the prize positions in a tournament.
Casino Poker
Casino poker is public poker played in gambling casinos.
Catch
To catch is to receive the card you need on a draw.
Center Pot
The center pot is the main pot, the one every player still in the hand is contesting, as opposed to any side pots.
Chase
To chase is to keep calling with a drawing hand that is probably behind, or to keep gambling in order to win back losses.
Chat
Chat is the feature of online poker that lets players send text messages to each other.
Cheater
A cheater is a player who uses dishonest methods to gain an advantage or to win.
Check
To check is to decline to bet when no bet has been made, keeping the option to call or raise later in the round.
Cheese
Cheese is slang for a very poor starting hand.
Chip
A chip is a round token used in place of cash at a gaming table.
Chip and a Chair
Chip and a chair is the saying that as long as you still have one chip and a seat, you can win.
Chip Leader
The chip leader is the player with the most chips in a tournament at a given time.
Cinch Hand
A cinch hand is the nuts: a hand that cannot be beaten.
Coin Flip
A coin flip is a situation in which two players have roughly equal chances of winning the pot.
Cold Deck
A cold deck is a deck secretly swapped in to give a player a planned hand; the term is also used for hands that clash and create a cooler.
Cold Hands
Cold hands are showdown hands, or a run of poor hands.
Collection
A collection is the fee a cardroom charges for running a game, taken from the pot or from each player.
Collection Drop
A collection drop is a fee charged for each hand dealt.
Color Change
A color change is a request to exchange chips from one denomination to another.
Color Up
To color up is to exchange chips for fewer chips of a higher denomination.
Colt 45
Colt 45 is a nickname for the starting hand four-five.
Come Hand
A come hand is a drawing hand, a term likely borrowed from the craps term 'come bet'.
Common Card
A common card is a face-up card used by all players at showdown in stud when too few cards remain in the deck.
Community Cards
Community cards are the face-up cards in the middle of the table that all players share.
Complete
To complete is to raise a forced or partial bet up to a full bet, mostly in limit games.
Complete Hand
A complete hand is a hand defined by all five cards: a straight, flush, full house, four of a kind or straight flush.