hands
Full Boat
A full boat is a full house: three of a kind with a pair. For example, three sevens and two kings is a full boat.
Full House
A full house is a five-card hand that has three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank. It beats a flush and loses to four of a kind. It is also called a boat.
Full Tub
A full tub is another name for a full house: three of a kind with another pair. It is also called a full hand.
Gut Shot
To gut shot is to draw to, or to hit, an inside straight. A gut shot is a draw that needs one card in the middle of the straight.
Gutshot Straight
A gutshot straight is a straight that was filled in the middle. For example, with nine and eight, a flop of 7-5-2 and a six on the turn, you have made a gutshot straight.
Hand
A hand has two meanings: the set of cards a player holds, and a single game of poker from the deal until the pot is pushed to the winner.
Hearts
Hearts is one of the four suits in a standard deck, with diamonds, clubs and spades. There are 13 hearts in the deck, and the suit is red.
Heinz
Heinz is a nickname for a starting hand of five and seven, 5-7, after the '57 Varieties' slogan of the Heinz company.
Help Card
A help card is a card that improves a player's hand. When it comes, your hand is stronger than before.
High Hand
The high hand is the best hand in a round of poker. In hi-lo games, the high hand wins one half of the pot, and in some casinos a high hand jackpot pays the best hand of the hour.
High‑Card
A high card is a hand in which no other combination is possible, so the highest card decides the value. It is the lowest-ranked kind of poker hand.
Hit
Hit means that the flop contained cards that help your hand, as in 'the flop hit me'. It can also be used for the turn and the river.
Hitchhiker
A hitchhiker is a player who comes into a pot cheaply as the victim of a trap. He enters because the price is low and does not know that a strong hand is waiting.
Hockey Sticks
Hockey Sticks is a nickname for a pair of sevens, 7-7. The number 7 looks like a hockey stick.
Hook
Hook is poker slang for the jack, because the letter J looks like a fish hook.
Idle Card
An idle card is a card that adds no value to a hand. It does not help make a pair, straight, flush or any other combination.
Ignorant End
The ignorant end is the lower end of a straight in a game with community cards. A straight that uses the low end of the sequence can be beaten by a higher straight.
Immortal
An immortal is the best possible hand, or a certain winner.
Improve
To improve is to make your hand better with the cards that come later, for example on the flop, turn or river. Your hand improves when it gets stronger than it was.
In a Row
In a row, or in a line, describes a sequence of cards: a straight. Five cards in a row make a straight.
In the Hole
In the hole means the cards dealt face down to a player, called the hole cards. In Hold'em and Omaha, these are the private cards.
Index
An index is the number or letter printed on the corner of a card. A cheater can also add an index, which is a mark on the edge of a card.
Indexing
Indexing is a cheater's technique to mark cards with a fingernail or a device, so that the cards can be recognized later. It is a form of marking cards.
Inside Straight
An inside straight is a hand that needs one specific card to complete a straight, because the missing card is in the middle. It is also called a gutshot or a belly buster.
Inside Straight Draw
An inside straight draw, also called a gutshot or belly buster, is a draw to a straight in which only one rank completes the hand. It has only four outs.
Iron Duke
An iron duke is an unbeatable hand. It is also called an ironclad hand.
J‑Boy
J-Boy is slang for a jack. The J stands for jack, and 'boy' is used as a nickname for the face cards.
Jack Benny
Jack Benny is a nickname for a starting hand of nine and three, 9-3. It refers to the comedian Jack Benny, who joked that he was always 39 years old.
Jackson Five
Jackson Five is a nickname for a starting hand of jack and five. The name refers to the music group The Jackson 5.
Jake
Jake is slang for a jack, the card between the ten and the queen.
Jesse James
Jesse James is a nickname for a starting hand of four and five, 4-5. The name comes from the outlaw Jesse James, who was reportedly killed by a .45.
John
John is slang for a jack. A pair of johns is a pair of jacks.