Poker terminology, organized by the decisions the words belong to.
A glossary is more useful when terms connect. Equity belongs beside ranges and pot odds; blockers belong beside combinations; ICM belongs beside tournament payouts.
Cards & hand construction
Hole cards
Private cards dealt to a player.
Board
The shared community cards in Hold’em and Omaha.
Kicker
An unpaired side card used to break many tied hand categories.
Nut hand
The strongest possible hand under the current board and rules.
Blocker
A card you hold that reduces combinations available to opponents.
Redraw
Additional ways to improve after already making a strong hand.
Probability & decision math
Out
An unseen card that improves the hand toward a target outcome.
Equity
Your share of the pot implied by win/tie probabilities against a specified range.
Pot odds
The price of a call relative to the final pot contested.
Implied odds
Potential future winnings beyond the current pot.
Reverse implied odds
Potential future losses when improving to a dominated hand.
EV
The probability-weighted average value of a decision under stated assumptions.
Ranges, economics & formats
Range
The set of hands a player can plausibly hold.
Fold equity
Value created by the chance opponents fold to a bet or raise.
Effective stack
The maximum amount two players can wager against each other.
Rake
Money the operator removes from cash-game pots or collects via another fee structure.
ICM
A tournament model translating chip stacks into estimated prize-value shares.
PLO / O8
Pot-Limit Omaha / Omaha Hi-Lo 8-or-better.