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(n) A cold deck. So called because, after cards are dealt for awhile, they warm a bit to the touch, while a cold deck actually feels cool, or, by extension, like ice.

(n phrase) ignorant end.

(n) "I go home now," in RGP speak. The expression is used in e-mail, and is also heard at the table. The implication is that a good hand held by the speaker just got beat, probably by a longshot. Also see YGHN.

(n phrase) In hold 'em, the low end of a straight, or a straight that can lose to a higher straight. This is a risky hand to hold or draw to, because someone can easily end up with a higher straight. If you have 5-6 in the hole, and the flop is 7-8-9, you have flopped the ignorant end of the straight, and will lose to anyone starting with 10-J or 6-10. Also called dumb end, idiot end.

(n) An unbeatable hand, based on circumstances. For example, in seven-card stud, on the river (the last card, dealt face down) you have four aces, and no one shows two cards to a straight flush, so no one can have you beat. You have an immortal. Also, any perfect hand, as a royal flush in high poker, or a wheel in low poker. This term is frequently found in poker literature, particularly that of years gone by, but is not at all common in cardrooms. Also called immortal hand, immortals, mortal nuts. Also see lock, nuts.

(n phrase) immortal.

(n phrase) immortal.

(n) immortal.

(n phrase) 1. honest reader. 2. A deck with too few, too many, or duplicated cards.

(n phrase) A situation can arise in which the leader in a pot would prefer that one or more of his opponents fold because, while he has a positive expectation on his bet, he is not a favorite against the field. In implicit collusion, all opponents come to an independent agreement--that is, without consulting among each other--to all play in such a way as to minimize the chance of the player with the best hand winning the pot. For example, in a hold 'em tournament, a small stack may go all in and get called by one or more players with larger stacks. Those players collectively have a better chance of beating the all-in player than any does individually, and they may check down the hand till the end, that is, with no one making a bet that might drive anyone else out. The all-in player may have the best hand and be the favorite against any one of the others, but collectively, the remaining players have a better chance against the all-in player, and if they all understand--even though nothing is ever said to that effect--that all will check the hand down, that is implicit collusion. In another example, a bluff may have a high chance of success against any one opponent, but against multiple opponents have no chance at all. In low-limit games, with their many players remaining at the end, a bluff against the field has almost no chance of succeeding. Again, this involves implicit collusion among the players. They may not be aware of the situation, but it does exist. Similar situations arise in other games.

(n phrase) The ratio of what you should win (including money likely to be bet in subsequent rounds) on a particular hand to what the current bet costs. Sometimes called effective odds. Also see expectation.

(v) 1. Better a hand, particularly catch one needed card. For example, in draw poker, you call an all-in raise from another player to draw one card to two pair. The other player shows down a small straight. You show that you made a full house, with the comment, "I improved." Also, help. 2. Have a specific hand made in a stud or hold 'em-type game, and then, upon the appearance of another card, make a better hand. For example, your first five cards in seven-stud are 10 9 3 J 5, giving you a jack-high flush. Your next card is A, causing you to improve (to an ace-high flush).

(n) Betterment of a hand.

(adv) 1. How many chips a player has bought altogether. "How much you in?" might be an attempt by another player to find out whether that large stack of chips you have is winnings or all your own money. Also, in for. 2. Taking part in a pot. "You in?" means "Are you partaking in this sporting venture?" 3. Having anted. In this context, "You in?" means "Did you ante?" (and implies that you didn't).

(adv phrase) 1. Describing a pot in contention. 2. Describing an active hand. 3. Having money, said of a player who has sufficient wherewithal to play the games of his choice. To say that John is in action means that he is not broke and implies that being broke is not unusual for John. 4. Playing or able to play. "He's in action" means "He's in a game." "He's not in action" means "He's not in a game," and is usually extended to mean that he is not currently playing poker because he has insufficient capital.

(n or adv phrase) Descriptive of or a name for a straight.

(n; pl. indexes, indices) 1. A number or letter (2 through 10 or J, Q, K, A) in the upper left-hand and lower right-hand corner of a card denoting the card's rank. (Some say that the suit indication--the single spade, heart, club, or diamond--beneath the number or letter is part of the index.) Compare with pip, suit mark. 2. A mark placed on the back of a card by a cheat to indicate the value of the card. Also see cosmetics, daub.

(adv) 1. The total action (definition 3) to which one player is entitled, usually when side pots are involved. "How much is he in for?" implies that one who is all in is entitled to only a certain portion of the pot. 2. All in, and thus entitled to only part of the pot. "I'm in for the antes" means I can win only the antes if I win; "I'm in for one bet" means I get an amount equal to one bet from each player if I win. 3. How much a player is in (definition 1). "How much you in for?"

(adv) Winning; sometimes followed by an amount. "You stuck?" "Nah, I'm in front." "I'm in front a dime."

(adv) Pertaining to an inside straight. To catch inside means to make an inside straight. An inside straight card is often called a gutshot and sometimes called a belly card.

(n phrase) Four cards to a straight with one "hole," as 4-5-7-8 of mixed suits, which becomes a straight by the addition of any 6, or A-2-3-4, which becomes a straight by the addition of any five, or J-Q-K-A, which becomes a straight by the addition of any 10. (The last two are sometimes called by the special name one-ended straight.) Also, gut straight, one-way straight, split week.

(n phrase) In Omaha, a situation in which your four downcards consist of three cards each separated by one rank, which combine with two cards of the flop to form five consecutive cards, so that many cards on the turn or river give you a straight. For example, your downcards are 8-6-4-A, and the flop is 5-7-K. You can make a straight with any of 17 cards, any 8, 6, or 4, three each of which remain, or any 9 or 3, of which four of each remain. Compare with full wrap and wraparound.

(n) A side bet between two players, or between one player and an outsider (often known as an insurance man) who makes a business of this sort of thing, against a particular hand losing, usually made at a point before the fall of the final card or cards. For example, in a hold 'em game, one player is all in on fourth street for his entire bankroll. If he loses, he has to leave this wonderful game, and probably go back to playing small limit. He has pocket aces, with another ace on the board. There are also two spades, one of them the ace, on the board, and his opponent has turned up his two spades in the hole. Our hero can lose only if a spade comes on the end that does not pair one of the other cards on the board. The odds against this can be worked out. The holder of the pair of aces can contract for insurance. If he loses the pot, the person with whom he arranged the insurance pays him some amount, usually equal to the value of the pot; if he wins, he pays that person some amount that, based on the odds against his losing, allows that person to make a profit. The more desperate the person who makes the insurance bet, the worse the terms exacted by the seller of the insurance.

(n phrase) See insurance.

(n phrase) A player or spectator who sells or books insurance.

(n phrase) A set of signals supposedly universally recognized by all thieves, allowing thieves who don't even know each other to communicate their desire to fleece the suckers, indicate their need for particular cards, and so on. These signals are of no use in games with sophisticated players, who are clever enough to catch on to what is going on, and are unnecessary with "dummies," because they can be beat by good playing. Some thieves still are not clever enough to understand these concepts, however, and you may see them in some games, particularly those in which the management does not give its players much protection.

(adv phrase) With respect to cards, being dealt. Usually refers to the starting time of a tournament. "The cards will be in the air at 7" means the tournament will start at 7 sharp.

(adv phrase) 1. Bet or check blind (definition 4). 2. Being in one of the blind (definition 1) positions.

(adv phrase) In the weeds.

(adv phrase) 1. Winning. 2. The state of having lots of money. Also termed in action. The phrase has passed into general usage.

(adv phrase) See dark (definition1).

(adv phrase) In the door position. "He's got a five in the door."

(adv phrase) inside.

(adv phrase) 1. Pertaining to a player's hole card or cards. In five-card stud: "He had an ace in the hole." In seven-card stud: "He ended up with three high spades in the hole." 2. Stuck, that is, losing. "How much are you in the hole?"

(adv phrase) 1. Pertaining to a situation in which one player finds himself between two others who are raising frequently, or, in a no-limit game, heavily. He is not necessarily physically between these two; he is logically, however, as far as the betting goes. Also called whipsawed (see whipsaw). 2. In a three-blind traveling blind game, pertaining to a situation in which a player can receive his first hand, if he is too late to get the big blind, in the middle position. To do so is to take it in the middle, take the middle blind, or come in in the middle. (Some clubs do not let a new player, that is, new to the particular game, be dealt in until it is his turn to put in the blind, supposedly to prevent his getting any "free" hands.) Also, if a seated player has missed the blind in a particular round, he can receive his next hand only in the blind position. In such a case, a player must come in on the blind, come in in the middle, or, if not in the big blind position, overblind to receive a hand.

(adv phrase) Having lasted long enough in a tournament to guarantee finishing as one of the winners. Depending on the size of the tournament, this might be one of the top three, having made it to the final table, one of the final 16, perhaps even one of the final 26 (or more, in some very large or special tournaments).

(adv phrase) Pertaining to the hole card or cards. See pocket.

(adv phrase) See weeds.

(adv phrase) In the weeds.

(adv phrase) Playing when one is required (and allowed to), according to the rules of the game. That usually means waiting to act until the player before one has completed her action. Also see out of turn.

(n) 1. How much of a particular pot you put in. Everything beyond that is your profit (if you win the pot). 2. At any point, how much it has cost you up to that point to remain in the pot. 3. How much one is in in a particular game.

(n phrase) pot odds.

(n phrase) The nuts, that is, a hand that has a very good chance of winning a particular pot. Also called iron duke.

(n phrase) The nuts, that is, a hand that has a very good chance of winning a particular pot. Also called ironclad hand.

(n phrase) dead hand; foul hand.

(n). 1. Any breach of the house rules, deliberate or not, such as discarding out of turn, announcing one's intentions out of turn, misdealing, and so on. 2. Something that might cause an imperfect deck, such as flawed cards that might make the deck unintentionally marked.

(v) To bet in such a way as to end up heads-up against a particular player; usually followed by the name or description of the player. Every time the live one opened, John raised to isolate the player.

(n) Someone who helps a cardsharp by sending him signals, supplying him with a stacked deck, or otherwise helping him cheat.

(n) Using an itemer.

(n phrase) See covered.

(v phrase) "I check."