slang
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.
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.
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.
Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is a nickname for ace-king, A-K, of any suits. It is a strong starting hand.
Shark
A shark is a highly skilled and experienced player, often a professional, who wins money from weaker players, called fish.
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.
Snapped Off
To get snapped off is to have a good hand beaten. A player whose strong hand loses to a better one has been snapped off.
Snow Job
A snow job is a successful bluff. The player has made opponents believe that he has a strong hand and wins the pot.
Snowmen
Snowmen is a nickname for a pair of eights, 8-8. The number 8 looks like a snowman.
Soft Seat
A soft seat is a seat or game that is favorable because of the lack of skill at the table. The other players are weak, so it is easy to make money.
Speed Limit
Speed limit is a nickname for a pair of fives, 5-5. The name comes from the 55 mile-per-hour speed limit sign.
Spew
To spew is to give away chips by playing too many hands and betting or calling too much, usually while angry. A player who spews makes many bad plays in a row.
Steam
Steam is another word for tilt: a state of anger or frustration after a loss in which a player makes poor decisions. A player in this state is said to be steaming.
Stranger
A stranger is a new or unfamiliar card in a hand after the draw. It is a card that you have just drawn and that was not in your hand before.
Suck Out
A suck out is when a player who is behind wins by catching a lucky card. The player who gets the card has 'sucked out' on the other.
Sucker
A sucker is a player at the table who is weak and inexperienced, so that others expect to win his money. It is another word for a mark or a fish.
Suicide King
The suicide king is the king of hearts. It got the name because in the picture, the king seems to be stabbing himself in the head with his sword.
T.J. Cloutier
T.J. Cloutier is a nickname for jack-nine of clubs. It is named after the poker Hall of Famer Thomas James Cloutier.
Thirty Miles
Thirty miles is slang for three tens. The name is a joke on the sum: three tens make thirty.
Throwing a Party
Throwing a party means that several loose or amateur players are putting a lot of money in the pot. The game is full of weak players who pay out.
Tied On
Tied on means that your hand is good enough to play to the end. If you are tied on, you are committed to continuing.
Tiger
Tiger is a name for a nonstandard poker hand used in some home games; its exact card requirements depend on the local rules.
Tilt Monkey
A tilt monkey is a player who goes on tilt easily, usually after a small setback. It is slang, related to 'monkey tilt', a reckless style of play in which an angry player pushes chips in too freely.
Treys
Treys is a nickname for a pair of threes, 3-3. A three is also called a trey, so a pair of threes is a pair of treys.
Trombones
Trombones is a nickname for seven-six, from the song '76 Trombones' in the musical The Music Man. It is used for the starting hand 7-6.
Turkish Pocket Aces
Turkish pocket aces is a nickname for a pair of eights in the hole, 8-8. The name comes from a story about the Turkish army, which was defeated while having an advantage of eight to one.
TY
TY is chat shorthand for 'thank you'. Players type it, for example, after a courtesy, such as a message of luck, or when another player gives them information about a rule.
UL
UL means "unlucky" in online poker chat, often used to acknowledge another player's bad luck after a lost hand.
Uncle Doc
Uncle Doc is a form of five-card stud with a single spit or table card, and all cards of the same rank as that card are wild. It is a home-game variant.
Union Oil
Union Oil is a nickname for a starting hand of seven and six, 7-6. It is named after the Union Oil Company, which used the number 76 in its logo.
Up the Creek
Up the creek is an old home-game variant in which the kings with split whiskers are wild. It is one of many games named in the slang of old players.
Utah
Utah is another name for Cincinnati, a home poker game with five private cards and five shared table cards.