Poker glossary

A table of at most six players: lojack, hijack, cutoff, button, small blind and big blind. It is the most common online cash game.

With fewer players the blinds come round faster, so you have to play more hands, and play them more aggressively, than at a full table. Short-handed is used loosely for any table of about six or fewer.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s three style profiles were written for 6-max cash games with 100 bb stacks, and the Trainer’s Cash 6-max drill deals hands from that game.

See also: Full ring, Lojack, Trainer

Two meanings. Your chips behind are the chips still in front of you, not yet in the pot. The players behind you are the ones still to act after you.

Your stack behind shrinks as you bet: start the hand with 100 bb, put 10 bb in, and you have 90 bb behind. Players behind matter when you open: the more of them there are, the more likely one has a big hand. To limp behind is to call the big blind after someone else has limped.

In PokerIQ: The Analyser asks for “Your stack behind”: what you have left, not counting the chips already in the pot.

See also: Effective stack, Over-limp, Position

The bigger forced bet, posted two seats to the left of the button. It is also the unit players count in: a stack of 100 bb is 100 big blinds.

Counting in big blinds lets you compare games of any stake: a 2.5 bb open is the same decision at 1p/2p or £1/£2. The big blind acts last before the flop, so if nobody raises it can check and see the flop for free. Calling a raise from here is called defending the big blind.

Example: In a £1/£2 game, a raise to £5 is 2.5 bb and a £200 stack is 100 bb.

In PokerIQ: Every amount in PokerIQ is in big blinds, from the pot and the bet to your stack behind. The big blind posts 1 bb and the small blind 0.5 bb.

See also: Small blind, Effective stack, Stack in big blinds

The disc that marks the dealer’s seat. It moves one place to the left after every hand, and the player on it acts last on every street after the flop.

In a card room or online a house dealer deals every hand, so the button only marks the order of play. Acting last is the best seat at the table, which is why players open the most hands from it.

In PokerIQ: Every seat in PokerIQ is counted back from the button. Choose BTN under “Your seat” in the Analyser, or look at the button’s opening range on the Ranges page.

See also: Position, Cutoff, Small blind

The seat directly before the button. Only the button and the two blinds act after it before the flop.

It is the second-best seat at the table. If the button folds, the cutoff acts last on every street after the flop, so it can open far more hands than the early seats.

Example: Folded to you in the cutoff with K♠10♠king of spades, 10 of spades: only three players can stop you, and if the button folds you will have position for the rest of the hand.

In PokerIQ: CO under “Your seat”. PokerIQ’s Balanced style opens about 28% of hands from the cutoff, against about 44% from the button.

See also: Button, Hijack, In position and out of position, Open

The smaller of two players’ stacks: the most either can win from or lose to the other. With several players, it is worked out against each opponent in turn.

If you have 100 bb and your opponent has 40 bb, only 40 bb can change hands between you, so the hand plays like a 40 bb hand. When players talk about stack depth, deep or short, they usually mean the effective stack.

Example: You have 100 bb, the cutoff has 40 bb and the big blind has 250 bb. Against the cutoff the effective stack is 40 bb; against the big blind it is 100 bb.

In PokerIQ: Enter “Your stack behind” in the Analyser. PokerIQ’s cash profiles change their advice by stack depth: under 25 bb raise or fold, 25 to 60 bb fewer speculative calls, 60 to 150 bb as written, over 150 bb deep.

See also: Stack-to-pot ratio, Behind, Stack in big blinds

A table of nine, sometimes ten, players. It adds three early seats in front of the lojack: under the gun, under the gun +1 and under the gun +2.

More players behind you means more chance that one of them holds a strong hand, so the early seats open fewer hands. Most live cash games are full ring.

In PokerIQ: Choose a table of up to nine in the Analyser. PokerIQ has a full-ring set of ranges, a Cash 9-max drill in the Trainer, and a Live full ring view on the Ranges page.

See also: 6-max, Under the gun, Live sizes

Two players. A heads-up pot has two players left in it; a heads-up game has only two at the table. A pot with three or more players is multiway.

At a two-player table the small blind is the button: it acts first before the flop and last after it. Multiway pots need stronger hands to bet, because someone is more likely to have connected with the board.

In PokerIQ: Bets and raises are valued after the flop against a player type. With several opponents PokerIQ values bets when it’s checked to you, but raises into several players aren’t valued yet. Before the flop, raises follow your profile’s charts: all-in or fold on a short stack in a tournament, and the iso-raise against limpers.

See also: Small blind, Button, Player type

Hero is you, the player whose decision is being looked at. Villain is the opponent. Neither word is a judgement.

Hand histories and poker writing use them so a hand can be talked through without names. With several opponents, people number them or name them by seat.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ uses both throughout. “Villain holds” in the Analyser is where you say what the opponent has: a known hand, any two cards, or a player type’s range.

See also: Range, Player type

The seat two places before the button, between the lojack and the cutoff.

Some players count it as middle position and some as the start of late position. Either way, with only the cutoff, button and blinds behind it, it can open a good many more hands than the early seats.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s Balanced style opens about 22% of hands from the hijack.

See also: Lojack, Cutoff, Position

You are in position on a player when you act after them on each street after the flop, and out of position when you act first.

Acting second is an advantage: you see what they do before you choose. That is why the same hand is worth more in position. Position is about one opponent at a time; the button is in position on everyone after the flop, and the blinds are out of position against everyone.

Example: You call a cutoff open from the big blind. After the flop you act first on every street, so you are out of position for the whole hand.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s profiles play differently in and out of position: Balanced 3-bets to about 3 times the open in position and 4 times out of position, and continuation-bets less often out of position.

See also: Position, Realisation, 3-bet, Continuation bet

The seat three places before the button, with the hijack, cutoff and button still to act after it, then the blinds. At a 6-max table it is the first seat to act before the flop.

Many players call the first 6-max seat UTG, because it is under the gun there. The name lojack comes from the seat sitting just before the hijack. At a full table some players call it middle position, or MP.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ calls the first 6-max seat LJ, so a 6-max lojack and a 9-max lojack have the same five players behind them and the same opening range. Balanced opens about 19% of hands from here.

See also: Hijack, Under the gun, 6-max, Position

Where you sit relative to the button, which decides when you act. Early position acts first before the flop; late position, the cutoff and the button, acts last.

The later you act, the more you have seen before you decide, and the more hands you can play. After the flop the order is fixed for the rest of the hand: the small blind first, the button last. Players also use position to mean acting after one particular opponent, which is covered under in position and out of position.

Example: PokerIQ’s Balanced style opens about 19% of hands from the lojack and about 44% from the button: the same player, more than twice as many hands, only because of the seat.

In PokerIQ: “Your seat” in the Analyser, and the seat in each situation on the Ranges page. The opening ranges widen seat by seat towards the button.

See also: In position and out of position, Button, Under the gun, Open

The forced bet posted by the player directly to the left of the button, usually half the big blind. It acts first on every street after the flop.

Acting first after the flop makes the small blind the hardest seat to play well. It already has half a big blind in, so it pays a little less to call. When it just calls the rest of the big blind instead of raising, players say it completes.

Example: Folded to the small blind with blinds of 0.5 bb and 1 bb: it can complete for another 0.5 bb, raise, or fold and lose the 0.5 bb it posted.

In PokerIQ: SB under “Your seat”. Heads-up, PokerIQ labels it “SB (button)”, because with two players the small blind is also the button.

See also: Big blind, Button, Heads-up, Over-limp

The four betting rounds of a hand: preflop, with only your two hole cards; the flop, when three cards are dealt face up; the turn, a fourth card; and the river, a fifth.

The face-up cards are shared by everyone and together are called the board. There is a round of betting on every street. If more than one player is left after the betting on the river, the hands are shown: the showdown.

In PokerIQ: The Analyser’s Table panel has a row for your hand and a row for the board: flop, turn, river.

See also: Showdown, Board texture, Check

The first seat to act before the flop, directly to the left of the big blind. At a full table the next two seats are under the gun +1 and under the gun +2.

Acting first with the whole table still to come is the hardest place to open from, so the ranges here are the tightest. Seats are counted back from the button, so the number of early seats depends on the table: nine-handed there are three, eight-handed two, seven-handed one, and at 6-max none.

Example: Nine-handed, first to last before the flop: UTG, UTG+1, UTG+2, lojack, hijack, cutoff, button, small blind, big blind.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s Balanced style opens about 10% of hands from UTG at a full-ring table, 12% from UTG+1 and 14% from UTG+2. At 6-max PokerIQ calls the first seat the lojack, not UTG.

See also: Lojack, Full ring, 6-max, Position

The first re-raise before the flop. The big blind counts as the first bet and the open as the second, so the re-raise is the third.

After the flop, 3-bet also means a re-raise of a raise. A 3-bet range usually mixes strong hands with a few hands that block the best holdings, such as A5s.

Example: The cutoff opens to 2.5 bb and you 3-bet to 7.5 bb on the button: 3 times the open, the size PokerIQ’s profiles use in position. From the blinds they use 4 times, so 10 bb.

In PokerIQ: Villain’s line “Re-raised your raise (3-bet)” in the Analyser, and the 3-bet ranges on the Ranges page.

See also: 4-bet, Squeeze, Open, Blockers

A re-raise of a 3-bet. A re-raise of that is a 5-bet, which with 100 bb stacks is usually all-in.

Each re-raise narrows the ranges. Few players 4-bet with more than the strongest hands and a handful of bluffs.

Example: You open to 2.5 bb, villain 3-bets to 10 bb from the big blind, and you 4-bet to 22 bb: 2.2 times the 3-bet, PokerIQ’s Balanced size in position.

In PokerIQ: Each profile has 4-bet and call ranges for facing a 3-bet, on the Ranges page.

See also: 3-bet, All-in, Range

Putting every chip you have into the pot. Nobody can make you put in more, and you can only win from each player as much as you put in.

If players with more chips keep betting, the extra goes into a side pot that you can’t win. Once you are all-in there are no more decisions for you, so your equity is all that counts.

Example: You shove 20 bb and villain, with 60 bb, calls. Only 20 bb of villain’s chips are at stake against you; the rest stay in villain’s stack.

In PokerIQ: When anyone is all-in, PokerIQ treats the spot as final: no more betting, so a call is judged on equity alone, under rule R3.

See also: Push or fold, Effective stack, Cover

To put chips in when nobody has yet on this street. The others must then call, raise or fold.

Bets after the flop are described as a share of the pot: a half-pot bet into 10 bb is 5 bb. Before the flop the big blind already counts as a bet, so the first chips put in voluntarily there are a call or a raise.

In PokerIQ: When it’s checked to you, the Trainer’s buttons are Check, Bet small (⅓–½ pot) and Bet big (⅔ pot or more).

See also: Bet sizing, Value bet, Bluff

How big a bet is, usually as a share of the pot: a third, a half, two-thirds, the pot, or more.

Bigger bets give villain a worse price, so they fold more but call with stronger hands. Smaller bets keep more hands in. Before the flop, sizes are given in big blinds or as multiples of the last raise.

Example: The equity villain needs to call: a third of the pot, 20%; half the pot, 25%; two-thirds, 28.6%; the pot, 33.3%; twice the pot, 40%.

In PokerIQ: The Analyser’s Betting calculator compares sizes from a third of the pot to all-in. The recommendation only considers sizes bigger than the pot when your stack is no more than three times the pot.

See also: Overbet, Value bet, Bluff, Pot odds

A bet or raise with a hand that is probably worse, made to win the pot by getting a better hand to fold.

A pure bluff wins only when villain folds. It breaks even when villain folds as often as the bet is a share of the pot it creates: bet ÷ (pot + bet).

Example: A 5 bb bluff into a 10 bb pot risks 5 to win 10. It breaks even if villain folds 5 ÷ 15 = 33.3% of the time. If villain folds 40% of the time, it gains 0.4 × 10 − 0.6 × 5 = 1 bb on average.

In PokerIQ: The Analyser’s Betting calculator, and the free Bet sizing calculator on the site, show the folds each size needs to break even.

See also: Semi-bluff, Fold equity, Value bet, Blockers

To match the bet in front of you and stay in the hand.

A call can’t win the pot straight away: only at a showdown, or by betting later. Whether a call pays is a question of price: the equity it needs against the equity you have.

Example: The pot is 20 bb and villain bets 10 bb. Calling costs 10 bb and makes the pot 40 bb, so you need 10 ÷ 40 = 25% equity.

In PokerIQ: The Analyser shows what a call costs, the equity it needs and what it is worth compared with folding.

See also: Pot odds, Equity needed, Cold call

To pass without betting and keep your cards. You can only check when nobody has bet on this street.

Checking costs nothing. When the last player to act checks too, players say they checked behind, or checked back, and the next card comes for free.

In PokerIQ: When the bet to you is 0, the Analyser shows checking and what it is worth. Where bets can be valued, heads-up after the flop against a player type, the recommendation chooses between checking and betting.

See also: Bet, Check-raise, Streets

To check, then raise when an opponent bets.

It is the main way the player out of position can take control of a pot. It can be for value with a strong hand, or a semi-bluff with a draw. It is an ordinary part of the game, not bad manners.

Example: You check, villain bets 4 bb into 8 bb, and you raise to 12 bb: 3 times the bet, the check-raise size in PokerIQ’s Balanced profile.

See also: Check, Raise, Semi-bluff, In position and out of position

To call a raise before the flop when you have no chips in the pot yet: not from the blinds, and not after limping.

Flatting is also used more widely for calling a raise instead of re-raising, at any point in a hand. A cold call leaves the players behind you free to re-raise, and a squeeze is most likely after one.

Example: The hijack opens to 2.5 bb and you call 2.5 bb on the button. That is a cold call.

In PokerIQ: In the Analyser, villain’s line “Called your raise from another seat” uses the player type’s cold-calling range.

See also: Call, Squeeze, 3-bet

A bet on the flop by the player who made the last raise before the flop, carrying on from that raise.

The preflop raiser has more strong hands, so a c-bet often wins straight away. It works best on boards that favour the raiser, such as K♠7♦2♣king of spades, 7 of diamonds, 2 of clubs, and less well on low, connected boards. Betting again on the turn is a second barrel; on the river as well, a triple barrel.

Example: PokerIQ’s Balanced profile c-bets about 70% of the time in position on a dry, high flop like K♠7♦2♣king of spades, 7 of diamonds, 2 of clubs, at a third of the pot: 2 bb into a 6 bb pot.

In PokerIQ: Each style profile has a c-bet plan for five kinds of flop, in and out of position. The recommendation itself values each bet size against the player type you face.

See also: Board texture, Bet sizing, Semi-bluff, Dry and wet boards

A bet by the player who acts first into the player who raised before the flop, instead of checking to them.

The name began as an insult, because weak players do it without a plan. Strong players use small leads on boards that suit the caller’s range, so it isn’t always a mistake.

See also: Continuation bet, In position and out of position, Bet

To give up your hand, and with it any chips you have already put in the pot.

The chips you have already put in are gone whatever you do now, so they are no reason to call. What matters is what the call costs now against what you can win.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ measures every option against folding now, which is worth 0 bb.

See also: Call, Expected value, Fold equity

A raise over one or more limpers, aiming to play the hand heads-up against them, ideally in position.

Limpers often hold weaker hands, so raising them out of the pot, or into a heads-up pot you lead, makes money. Each extra limper adds money to the pot and another player who might call, so the raise grows with each one.

Example: Live, with no straddle and two limpers, PokerIQ iso-raises to 4 bb plus 1 bb per limper: 6 bb. From the small blind or big blind it adds 1 bb more: 7 bb. Online, from the button, it is the 2.5 bb open plus 1 bb per limper: 4.5 bb.

In PokerIQ: Rule R12: each style iso-raises a core of strong hands that is also in the seat’s opening range. Balanced’s core is about 13% of hands in position and about 9% from the blinds.

See also: Limp, Over-limp, Live sizes, Rules R1 to R12

To come into the pot before the flop by just calling the big blind instead of raising. A player who does it is a limper.

Limping is common in live games and among loose players. It is usually weaker than raising: it can’t win the pot straight away, and it lets the big blind see the flop for free. Facing limpers, you can raise (an iso-raise), limp too (an over-limp) or fold.

In PokerIQ: Choose “Limped in” as villain’s line in the Analyser. With your seat set, the recommendation follows your style’s plan against limpers, rule R12.

See also: Iso-raise, Over-limp, Calling station, Rules R1 to R12

The smallest raise allowed. A raise must add at least as much as the last bet or raise on the street.

The rule stops tiny raises that drag the betting out. An all-in for less than a full raise is allowed, but in most rooms it doesn’t reopen the betting to players who have already acted.

Example: Villain bets 4 bb. The smallest raise is to 8 bb: the 4 to call plus 4 more. Before the flop, an open to 2.5 bb raised 1.5 bb over the big blind, so the smallest 3-bet is to 4 bb.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s engine checks each size against this rule and leaves out any raise below the minimum.

See also: Raise, Bet sizing

To be the first player into the pot before the flop, with a raise. When everyone before you has folded, you are first in.

Opening with a raise gives you two ways to win: everyone folds, or you play the flop with the lead. An open from a late seat, aimed mostly at picking up the blinds, is often called a steal.

Example: Folded to you on the button, you raise to 2.5 bb. That is an open, and the blinds now face a raise.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s profiles open to 2.5 bb online, or 3 bb from the small blind. Live they open to 4 times the last blind. In tournaments they open to 2 bb from 20 to 40 bb deep, and 2.2 bb deeper.

See also: Limp, Position, Live sizes, Raise

To limp after someone else has limped. From the small blind, calling the extra half big blind is called completing.

Over-limping suits hands that like a cheap flop with several players, such as small pairs and suited hands, which can win big pots when they hit. Hands that play well heads-up prefer an iso-raise.

Example: Two players limp for 1 bb each and you over-limp on the button. The pot is 4.5 bb before the small blind acts: three limps of 1 bb plus both blinds.

In PokerIQ: Rule R12 limps behind with the pairs and suited hands of the seat’s opening range that aren’t in the iso-raise core, and folds the rest. A small pair limps behind only if the set-mining rule, R11, allows it.

See also: Limp, Iso-raise, Set-mining, Small blind

A bet bigger than the pot.

Overbets suit a polarised range, very strong hands and bluffs with little in between. They put most pressure on hands that are good but not great.

Example: A 15 bb bet into a 10 bb pot is an overbet of 1.5 times the pot. Villain must call 15 bb to win a 40 bb pot, so needs 37.5%.

In PokerIQ: The recommendation only considers overbets when your stack is no more than three times the pot.

See also: Bet sizing, Polarised range, Stack-to-pot ratio

To increase the bet the others must match. A raise is usually said as a total: “raise to 9” means 9 bb in all for this street, not 9 more.

A raise after someone has already raised is a re-raise. Before the flop they are numbered: the open is the 2-bet, the next raise the 3-bet, and so on. Each raise must be at least as big as the last bet or raise on the street.

Example: Villain bets 3 bb. You raise to 9 bb: the 3 bb to call plus 6 bb more.

In PokerIQ: Bet and raise sizes in PokerIQ are always the total for the street, the “to” amount.

See also: Min-raise, 3-bet, Open

A bet or raise with a draw: a hand that is probably behind now but can improve to the best hand.

It wins two ways: villain folds now, or you hit later. The second chance means it needs fewer folds than a pure bluff to make money.

Example: The pot is 10 bb and you shove 30 bb with a flush draw. If villain folds 40% of the time and you have 35% equity when called, the shove gains 0.4 × 10 + 0.6 × (0.35 × 70 − 30) = 0.7 bb on average. Calling a 30 bb shove with the same hand would lose 5.5 bb.

See also: Bluff, Fold equity, Draw, Flush draw

A 3-bet after one player has opened and at least one other has called.

The caller has shown a hand not strong enough to 3-bet, and the opener is caught between you and the caller, so squeezes win the pot often. They need to be bigger than a normal 3-bet, because there is more in the pot and more players to get past.

Example: The lojack opens to 2.5 bb and the cutoff calls. A common way to size a squeeze from the button is 3 times the open plus one more open for the caller: 7.5 + 2.5 = 10 bb.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s ranges cover facing a single raise; there are no separate squeeze ranges yet.

See also: 3-bet, Cold call

A bet made because worse hands will call it. You want a call.

A value bet makes money when, of the hands that call, you beat more than you lose to. Size it so the hands you beat still call: bet too big and only better hands do.

Example: On the river you bet 14 bb into 20 bb, 70% of the pot. Villain must call 14 bb to win a 48 bb pot, so needs to be ahead 14 ÷ 48 = 29.2% of the time.

See also: Bluff, Bet sizing, Polarised range

A draw that needs both the turn and the river to come good, such as three cards of a suit after the flop.

A backdoor flush draw gets there only 4.2% of the time, but it adds a little equity and gives you more turn cards to keep betting on.

Example: A♣K♦ace of clubs, king of diamonds on Q♣7♣2♥queen of clubs, 7 of clubs, 2 of hearts: you need two more clubs for a flush.

See also: Draw, Flush draw, Semi-bluff

Cards in your hand that make some hands less likely for villain, because you hold a card they would need.

Blockers matter most when choosing bluffs: bluff with hands that block villain’s best calling hands. They also explain why suited aces such as A5s are used as 3-bet bluffs: the ace blocks aces and ace-king.

Example: There are 16 ways to be dealt ace-king. If you hold an ace, villain has only 12 left; holding an ace and a king, only 9. With one ace in your hand, villain’s aces drop from 6 combos to 3.

See also: Combos, Bluff, 3-bet, Nuts

What the board cards are like together: how high they are, how close in rank, how many share a suit, and whether two are paired. It decides how many hands connect with it.

Players sum it up as dry or wet, paired or not, and rainbow, two-tone or monotone. Texture shapes everything after the flop: how often to c-bet, how big, and how much a draw is worth.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s profiles plan c-bets for five textures: dry and high, medium, wet and connected, paired, and monotone.

See also: Dry and wet boards, Paired board, Rainbow, two-tone and monotone, Continuation bet

The five highest ranks: ace, king, queen, jack and ten. The straight A-K-Q-J-T is itself called Broadway.

Two broadway cards, like K♣J♦king of clubs, jack of diamonds, make strong top pairs, but often with a weak kicker against an ace. Offsuit hands such as KJo and QTo look nice and are easy to overplay from early seats.

See also: Hand rankings, Connectors and gappers, Kicker

A clean out gives you the best hand. A dirty out improves your hand but still loses, for example a flush card that also gives villain a full house or better.

Counting dirty outs as clean makes a draw look better than it is. A card that would give you a tie counts as half an out.

Example: You hold A♥5♥ace of hearts, 5 of hearts on K♥9♥2♣king of hearts, 9 of hearts, 2 of clubs against a set of twos. Eight hearts give you the best hand on the turn; the 2♥2 of hearts makes your flush but gives villain four twos, so it is a dirty out.

In PokerIQ: The Analyser shows the cards that put you ahead of villain and, where there are any, how many are dirty: they improve you but still lose.

See also: Outs, Paired board, Flush draw

Connectors are hole cards next to each other in rank, like 8♥7♥8 of hearts, 7 of hearts. A gapper has a gap: 9♥7♥9 of hearts, 7 of hearts is a one-gapper, 10♥7♥10 of hearts, 7 of hearts a two-gapper.

Suited connectors make straights, flushes and two pairs that can win big pots, so they play best with deep stacks and in position. The bigger the gap, the fewer straights the hand can make.

Example: 8♥7♥8 of hearts, 7 of hearts is part of four straights (4 to 8, 5 to 9, 6 to ten, 7 to jack); 9♥7♥9 of hearts, 7 of hearts of three; 10♥7♥10 of hearts, 7 of hearts of two.

See also: Suited and offsuit, Implied odds, Draw

A hand that isn’t good yet but can become strong with the right card, such as four cards to a flush. A hand that already has a ranked hand, like a pair, is a made hand.

A combo draw has two draws at once, often a flush draw with a straight draw, and can have 12 to 15 outs. With 15 outs on the flop, you hit by the river 54.1% of the time.

Example: J♥10♥jack of hearts, 10 of hearts on 9♥8♥2♣9 of hearts, 8 of hearts, 2 of clubs: any heart makes a flush, and any queen or seven a straight. That is 9 + 6 = 15 outs, because the Q♥queen of hearts and 7♥7 of hearts are already counted as hearts.

In PokerIQ: The recommendation treats a straight or flush draw that is behind, with betting to come, as a drawing hand (rule R4): it calls on direct odds, or on implied odds within your style’s limit.

See also: Outs, Flush draw, Open-ended straight draw, Semi-bluff

A dry board offers few draws: unconnected cards of different suits, like K♠7♦2♣king of spades, 7 of diamonds, 2 of clubs. A wet board offers many: cards close together, often with two or three of a suit, like 9♥8♥6♣9 of hearts, 8 of hearts, 6 of clubs.

On dry boards the hand that is ahead usually stays ahead, so small bets work. On wet boards many turn cards change who is winning, so strong hands bet bigger to charge the draws.

Example: PokerIQ’s Balanced profile c-bets in position about 70% of the time at a third of the pot on dry, high flops, and about 40% of the time at two-thirds of the pot on wet, connected ones.

See also: Board texture, Continuation bet, Draw

Four cards of one suit, needing one more for a flush. There are 9 cards of that suit left.

From the flop you make it on the turn 19.1% of the time, and by the river 35.0%. From the turn, 19.6% on the river. The nut flush draw holds the ace of the suit, so it makes the best possible flush, though a paired board can still give someone a full house.

Example: A♥6♥ace of hearts, 6 of hearts on K♥9♥2♣king of hearts, 9 of hearts, 2 of clubs: nine hearts are left among the 47 cards you can’t see.

See also: Draw, Outs, Rule of 2 and 4, Nuts

A straight draw that needs one card in the middle: 4 outs.

From the flop you hit on the turn 8.5% of the time, and by the river 16.5%. A gutshot alone rarely has the price to call a bet, but it adds useful outs to a hand that already has some.

Example: 9♠8♠9 of spades, 8 of spades on J♦7♣2♥jack of diamonds, 7 of clubs, 2 of hearts: only a ten makes the straight, J-T-9-8-7.

See also: Open-ended straight draw, Outs, Implied odds

The order of poker hands, best first: straight flush (the ace-high one is a royal flush), four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pair, one pair, high card.

You make the best five-card hand from your two cards and the five on the board, in any combination, even using none of yours. Suits never rank against each other. An ace can be high (A-K-Q-J-T) or low (5-4-3-2-A, the wheel), but not both at once.

Example: On A♠K♠7♠ace of spades, king of spades, 7 of spades 7♦7 of diamonds 2♣2 of clubs, a player with Q♠J♠queen of spades, jack of spades has a flush, but one with 7♣2♦7 of clubs, 2 of diamonds has a full house, sevens full of twos, and wins.

In PokerIQ: The Analyser’s Hand and outs panel names your best hand as each board card goes in.

See also: Kicker, Nuts, Set and trips

A side card that breaks a tie between hands of the same rank, such as two players with the same pair.

With top pair the kicker often decides the pot, which is why A♠K♦ace of spades, king of diamonds is so much stronger than A♠6♦ace of spades, 6 of diamonds. A kicker only counts if it is among your best five cards; if both best fives are the same, the pot is split.

Example: On A♣9♦5♠ace of clubs, 9 of diamonds, 5 of spades 3♥3 of hearts 2♣2 of clubs, A♥K♠ace of hearts, king of spades beats A♦Q♠ace of diamonds, queen of spades: both have a pair of aces, and the king outkicks the queen.

See also: Top pair, Hand rankings, Reverse implied odds

The best possible hand on the board as it stands. The nut flush is the best possible flush, the nut straight the highest straight.

The nuts can change on every street. Players say second nuts, or near the nuts, for hands that only lose to one or two holdings.

Example: On K♥9♥4♥king of hearts, 9 of hearts, 4 of hearts, any hand with the A♥ace of hearts is the nuts. If the turn is the 9♣9 of clubs, the board is paired, a full house becomes possible, and the ace-high flush is no longer the nuts.

See also: Hand rankings, Blockers, Flush draw

Four cards in a row that a card at either end turns into a straight: 8 outs.

From the flop you hit on the turn 17.0% of the time, and by the river 31.5%. A-K-Q-J can only be completed by a ten, so it has 4 outs, like a gutshot.

Example: 8♠7♠8 of spades, 7 of spades on 6♦5♣K♥6 of diamonds, 5 of clubs, king of hearts: any nine or four makes a straight, 8 outs.

See also: Gutshot, Outs, Draw

The unseen cards that would give you the best hand. Counting them tells you how often you are likely to improve.

Count each card once, even if it helps two draws. Watch for cards that complete your draw but also help villain: those are dirty outs. If no card can win for you, you are drawing dead.

Example: A flush draw has 9 outs, an open-ended straight draw 8, a gutshot 4, and two overcards against a pair up to 6.

In PokerIQ: The Analyser counts only the cards that put you ahead of the hands beating you, against a known hand or a player type’s range, and shows the next-card chance exactly. The free Outs calculator lists every card that improves your hand.

See also: Clean and dirty outs, Rule of 2 and 4, Draw, Equity

A pocket pair higher than every card on the board, such as Q♠Q♦queen of spades, queen of diamonds on J♣7♥2♦jack of clubs, 7 of hearts, 2 of diamonds. A pocket pair lower than every board card is an underpair.

An overpair beats any top pair, but loses to two pair, sets and better. It is strong on a dry board and more fragile on a wet one.

See also: Pocket pair, Top pair, Dry and wet boards

A board with two cards of the same rank, such as Q♣Q♦4♠queen of clubs, queen of diamonds, 4 of spades.

Few hands connect with a paired board, so small bets often take the pot. A pair on the board also makes full houses possible, which turns some flush and straight outs dirty.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s Balanced profile c-bets paired flops often and small: about 65% of the time in position, at a third of the pot.

See also: Board texture, Set and trips, Clean and dirty outs

Two hole cards of the same rank, such as 7♣7♦7 of clubs, 7 of diamonds.

There are 13 pairs, each dealt 6 ways, so you are dealt one once every 17 hands on average. Small pairs rarely improve: they flop a set or better only 11.8% of the time, so they are played to hit one cheaply.

Example: 7♣7♦7 of clubs, 7 of diamonds against A♠K♥ace of spades, king of hearts all-in before the flop has 55.4% equity: close to the famous coin flip.

In PokerIQ: Pairs from 22 to 66 are covered by the set-mining rule, R11.

See also: Set and trips, Set-mining, Overpair

Words for the suits on the flop. Rainbow: three different suits. Two-tone: two of one suit, so flush draws are possible. Monotone: all three the same suit, so a flush is already possible.

On a monotone flop, a hand without a card of that suit is in trouble against a player who bets as if they have the flush. Holding the ace of the suit, even without a flush, blocks the nut flush.

Example: K♠7♦2♣king of spades, 7 of diamonds, 2 of clubs is rainbow, J♥8♥3♣jack of hearts, 8 of hearts, 3 of clubs is two-tone and K♥9♥4♥king of hearts, 9 of hearts, 4 of hearts is monotone.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s Balanced profile c-bets monotone flops small and seldom: about 40% of the time in position, at a third of the pot.

See also: Board texture, Flush draw, Blockers

Both are three of a kind. A set uses a pocket pair plus one board card; trips use one hole card plus a pair on the board.

A set is far better hidden, because nobody can see it coming. With trips, anyone holding the same rank has them too, so the kicker matters.

Example: 7♣7♦7 of clubs, 7 of diamonds on K♠7♥2♣king of spades, 7 of hearts, 2 of clubs is a set of sevens. A♠7♣ace of spades, 7 of clubs on K♠7♥7♦king of spades, 7 of hearts, 7 of diamonds is trip sevens, and anyone else with a seven has trips as well.

See also: Pocket pair, Set-mining, Paired board

Suited hole cards share a suit, like A♥5♥ace of hearts, 5 of hearts, written A5s. Offsuit cards are different suits, like A♥5♣ace of hearts, 5 of clubs, written A5o.

Being suited adds only a few points of equity, but the flushes it makes win big pots, so suited hands are played far more often. Each suited hand can be dealt 4 ways, each offsuit hand 12 ways.

Example: Against Q♥Q♦queen of hearts, queen of diamonds before the flop, A♠K♠ace of spades, king of spades has 46.2% equity and A♠K♣ace of spades, king of clubs has 42.8%.

See also: Hand notation, Combos, Connectors and gappers

A pair made with the highest card on the board. Pairing the second-highest card is middle pair, the lowest card bottom pair.

Top pair with the best possible kicker is TPTK, top pair top kicker. It is a strong one-pair hand, but still one pair: how much to put in with it depends on the stack-to-pot ratio.

Example: With A♠Q♦ace of spades, queen of diamonds on Q♣8♥3♠queen of clubs, 8 of hearts, 3 of spades you have top pair, top kicker. With 8♠7♠8 of spades, 7 of spades on the same board you have middle pair.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s profiles get the stack in with top pair or better when the stack-to-pot ratio is under 3, but keep the pot small with one pair when it is over 8.

See also: Kicker, Overpair, Stack-to-pot ratio

A loose-passive player: plays lots of hands, calls far more than raises, and hates to fold once in.

Don’t bluff a calling station. Value bet them instead, with more hands and bigger sizes than usual. A fish is any weak player, and many fish are calling stations.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s Loose-passive (calling station) player type: VPIP 35–60%, PFR 3–10%, and it limps in rather than raising.

See also: Passive and aggressive, Value bet, Player type, Limp

A range that can’t hold the strongest hands, because the player would have played those differently earlier.

A player who only called before the flop rarely has A-A or K-K, because they would usually have re-raised. Capped ranges are good targets for big bets, because they struggle to call them.

Example: You open, the big blind calls, and you check the flop and the turn. On the river your range is capped: with a very strong hand you would usually have bet earlier.

See also: Range, Polarised range, Overbet

The exact two-card holdings a hand stands for. A pair can be dealt 6 ways, a suited hand 4 ways and an offsuit hand 12 ways: 1,326 combos in all.

Counting combos shows how likely each part of a range really is. There are 4 combos of AKs and 6 of AA, but with the 12 offsuit ones there are 16 of ace-king altogether. Cards you can see, in your hand or on the board, remove combos.

Example: On K♠7♦2♣king of spades, 7 of diamonds, 2 of clubs, villain’s K-K has only 3 combos left, because one king is on the board, while Q-Q still has 6.

In PokerIQ: The Ranges page gives each range as a share of hands and a number of combos: the Balanced button open is 43.9% of hands, 582 combos.

See also: Range, Blockers, Hand notation

Game theory optimal: a strategy so balanced that no opponent can beat it by changing how they play. Solvers are computer programs that work such strategies out.

GTO is a baseline, not a script. Against real players with clear leaks, exploitative play, changing your strategy to punish what they do wrong, wins more. In GTO talk, a balanced range has the right mix of value hands and bluffs for its bet size.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s Balanced style is a simplified baseline in that spirit, not a solver’s output, and Tight and Aggressive depart from it on purpose. Its ranges are written by hand, not copied from solver charts.

See also: Style, Polarised range, Range

The shorthand for hands and ranges. The ranks are A, K, Q, J, T (ten) and 9 down to 2; s means suited and o offsuit; a plus means “and better”, and a dash gives a span.

AKs is ace-king suited and KQo king-queen offsuit. 22+ is every pair from twos up. ATs+ is ATs, AJs, AQs and AKs: the kicker rises to just below the top card. A5s-A2s is A5s, A4s, A3s and A2s. Ranges are often drawn as a 13 × 13 grid: pairs on the diagonal, suited hands above it, offsuit hands below.

Example: 22+, ATs+, KQs, AJo+ is 78 + 16 + 4 + 36 = 134 combos, about 10% of all hands.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ writes every range this way. On the Ranges page the grid colours raises red, calls green and folds dark.

See also: Combos, Range, Suited and offsuit

A range made of the best hands down to a point, with no bluffs underneath: the top 10% of hands, say.

Opening ranges are mostly linear. A linear 3-bet range suits an opponent who calls too much, because you want to be called by worse hands.

See also: Polarised range, Range, 3-bet

A very loose, very aggressive player who raises and re-raises with a wide range, bets almost every time it is checked to, and bluffs a lot.

Against a maniac, call down with more hands than usual and let them do the bluffing; don’t try to out-bluff them.

In PokerIQ: Maniac is one of the five player types: VPIP 45–70%, PFR 30–50%.

See also: Passive and aggressive, Player type, Bluff

A very tight player who plays only strong hands and folds easily unless holding one.

Against a nit, steal their blinds often and believe their big bets. When a nit raises, their range is narrow and strong.

In PokerIQ: Nit is one of the five player types: VPIP 8–16%, PFR 6–13%.

See also: Tight and loose, Player type, VPIP

How a player plays their hands. Passive players check and call; aggressive players bet and raise.

Put together with tight and loose, you get the common labels: TAG (tight-aggressive), the solid winning style; LAG (loose-aggressive), many hands played hard; loose-passive, the calling station; and tight-passive, the rock.

In PokerIQ: Aggressive is also the name of one of PokerIQ’s three styles, and Loose-passive is one of its player types.

See also: Tight and loose, PFR, Calling station, Maniac

The share of hands in which a player raises before the flop. It can never be more than their VPIP.

The gap between VPIP and PFR shows how passive someone is. A player at 25% VPIP and 20% PFR raises most of the hands they play; one at 45% and 5% calls and limps with nearly everything.

In PokerIQ: Typical PFR for PokerIQ’s player types: Nit 6–13%, Regular 16–23%, Unknown 12–18%, Loose-passive 3–10%, Maniac 30–50%.

See also: VPIP, Passive and aggressive, Player type

A range made of very strong hands and bluffs, with few medium hands in between.

Big bets and overbets usually come from polarised ranges, because medium hands prefer to check. To be hard to play against, the value bets and bluffs use the same size.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s Balanced profile bets the river at about 70% of the pot with value hands and missed draws alike, with about one bluff for every two value bets.

See also: Linear range, Capped range, Overbet, Bluff

Every hand a player could have in a spot, given what they have done. Thinking in ranges means asking “what could they hold?” instead of guessing one hand.

A range starts wide and narrows with every action. Some hands in it are more likely than others, so a range can be weighted: a hand can be in it fully, partly or not at all.

Example: A tight player who raises first under the gun might hold 66+, ATs+, KQs and AQo+: 98 combos, about 7% of hands.

In PokerIQ: Every range PokerIQ uses is on the Ranges page: your three style profiles and the five player types, each as a 13 × 13 grid.

See also: Combos, Hand notation, Vs assumed range, Player type

A habit that gives something away about a player’s hand: a gesture, a pause, or the size or speed of a bet.

Online, the tells are timing and bet sizes. Live, players often act weak when strong and strong when weak, but most tells are unreliable on their own: weigh them against what the range says.

In PokerIQ: Each player type lists what it tends to look like at the table, to help you choose a type for an opponent.

See also: Player type, Range

How many hands a player plays. Tight players play few, loose players many.

Tight isn’t the same as good: a player can be tight and still play their hands badly. Tight and loose are about how many hands; passive and aggressive are about how they play them.

In PokerIQ: Tight is also the name of one of your three styles in PokerIQ, which shape your own advice. Opponents are described by the five player types instead.

See also: Passive and aggressive, VPIP, Style, Nit

The share of hands in which a player chooses to put money in before the flop, by calling or raising. Posting a blind doesn’t count.

It is the quickest measure of how loose someone is: a low number means tight, a high one loose. Players get it from tracking software, or by counting at a live table.

Example: A player who has put money in voluntarily in 30 of the last 100 hands has a VPIP of 30%.

In PokerIQ: Each player type lists typical figures to help you pick one: Nit 8–16%, Regular 20–27%, Unknown 24–32%, Loose-passive 35–60%, Maniac 45–70%.

See also: PFR, Player type, Tight and loose

A cash-game win rate: big blinds won per 100 hands.

Measuring in big blinds makes win rates comparable across stakes. Because of variance, you need many thousands of hands before a win rate means much.

Example: Winning 150 bb over 3,000 hands is 150 ÷ 30 = 5 bb/100.

See also: Variance, Big blind, Rake

Whether a draw can call on the next card alone: the chance of hitting on the next card, compared with the equity the call needs.

If the next card alone pays for the call, you don’t need to win anything more later. If it doesn’t, you need implied odds: extra chips won on later streets when you hit.

Example: Nine outs on the flop hit on the turn 19.1% of the time. Facing a half-pot bet you need 25%, so the direct odds are not enough.

In PokerIQ: The Analyser shows “Direct odds: enough” or “not enough”, how many points the next card is above or below the price, and the implied odds you would need.

See also: Implied odds, Outs, Equity needed

Your share of the pot if all the remaining cards were dealt with no more betting: how often you win, with ties counted as half.

Equity is measured against a known hand or, more usefully, against a range. It isn’t what happens this time, but what your hand is worth on average if the cards were dealt out many times.

Example: A♥K♦ace of hearts, king of diamonds against Q♠Q♣queen of spades, queen of clubs before the flop has 42.8% equity: it wins on 730,541 of the 1,712,304 possible boards and ties on 5,854.

In PokerIQ: “Your equity” in the Analyser is by the river, against villain’s hand or range, with a badge saying how sure it is. The free Equity calculator works it out for any hands.

See also: Equity needed, Realisation, Exact, Simulated

The least equity a call needs to break even: the call divided by the pot you would win after calling, with any rake taken off.

If your equity is above it, calling makes money over time; below it, folding is better. It leaves out any betting still to come, which is where implied odds come in.

Example: You call 10 bb into a pot that will be 40 bb: 10 ÷ 40 = 25%. With PokerIQ’s online rake, 5% of 40 bb is 2 bb, so you would win 38 bb and need 10 ÷ 38 = 26.3%.

In PokerIQ: “Equity needed” sits beside “Your equity” in the Analyser, with a note of the rake taken off. In a tournament it can show the ICM or bounty version, with the chip price beside it.

See also: Pot odds, Equity, Rake, Close spot

What a decision wins or loses on average, as if you could make it many times. Positive EV makes money over time; negative EV loses it.

EV is about the long run: a good call can lose this time and a bad one can win. For a call with no more betting to come, EV is your equity times the pot you would win, minus the call.

Example: You call 10 bb to win a 40 bb pot. With 30% equity: 0.30 × 40 − 10 = +2 bb. With 20%: 0.20 × 40 − 10 = −2 bb.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ measures EV against folding now, which is worth 0 bb, so chips already in the pot don’t count. “Your options” in the Analyser lists each action’s EV in big blinds, with a certainty badge.

See also: Equity, Equity needed, Variance, Chip EV

The extra value a bet or raise gets from the chance that villain folds.

When you are the one betting, you can win without the best hand. A bet is worth the pot when villain folds, plus whatever your equity wins when called. It needs an opponent who can fold: there is little fold equity against a calling station.

Example: You bet 5 bb into 10 bb with a hand that never wins when called. If villain folds 40% of the time, the bet gains 0.4 × 10 − 0.6 × 5 = 1 bb on average.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ takes fold chances from the player type you choose: how often that type keeps going against each bet size. They are estimates, and marked as such.

See also: Bluff, Semi-bluff, Player type, Estimate

The extra chips you expect to win on later streets when your draw hits. They can make a call right that the pot odds alone would not.

Implied odds are best when your hit is hard to see and villain has chips left to pay you. They are worth little when stacks are short, or when hitting also improves villain’s hand.

Example: You call 5 bb into a pot that becomes 20 bb, with a flush draw that hits on the turn 9 times in 47. To break even, you need to win 5 ÷ (9 ÷ 47) − 20 = about 6.1 bb more when you hit.

In PokerIQ: The Analyser shows how much more you would need to win. Rule R4 calls only if that is within your style’s limit: 15% of your stack behind after calling for Tight, 25% for Balanced and 40% for Aggressive.

See also: Direct odds, Reverse implied odds, Set-mining, Pot odds

Two ways of writing the same chance. Odds of 3 to 1 against mean 3 losses for every win: 1 win in 4, which is 25%.

To turn odds of X to 1 into a percentage, divide 1 by X + 1. To turn a percentage into odds, compare what is left with it: 20% is 80 to 20, which is 4 to 1.

Example: 2 to 1 is 33.3%; 2.5 to 1 is 28.6%; 3 to 1 is 25%; 4 to 1 is 20%.

See also: Pot odds, Equity needed

What you can win compared with what a call costs. If you call 10 bb and the pot already holds 30 bb including the bet, the pot odds are 30 to 10, or 3 to 1.

Pot odds are most useful turned into the equity you need: the call divided by the whole pot after you call. 3 to 1 means you need to win 1 time in 4, which is 25%.

Example: The pot is 20 bb and villain bets 10 bb. You call 10 to win 30: pot odds of 3 to 1. The pot after your call is 40 bb, so you need 10 ÷ 40 = 25%.

In PokerIQ: Pot odds appear in the Analyser’s Odds and value panel as a ratio, such as 3.0 : 1, with what the call costs and what it can win. Try the free Pot odds calculator too.

See also: Equity needed, Odds and percentages, Implied odds, Rake

The fee the house takes from each pot in a cash game, usually a percentage up to a cap. Under “no flop, no drop”, a hand that ends before the flop isn’t raked.

Rake comes out of the pot you win, so it makes every call need a little more equity. It costs most at small stakes, where the cap is many big blinds, so most pots pay the full percentage. Tournaments take no rake from the pot; their fee is paid with the buy-in.

Example: You call 20 bb into a pot that will be 70 bb. Without rake you need 20 ÷ 70 = 28.6%. With 5% taken, capped at 3 bb, you win 67 bb and need 20 ÷ 67 = 29.9%.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s online default is 5% of the pot, capped at 3 bb, no flop no drop. You can choose no rake, or your card room’s own percentage and cap.

See also: Equity needed, Drop, Time charge, bb/100

How much of your equity you actually turn into winnings once the rest of the betting is played out.

Equity assumes every card is dealt with no more betting. In real hands you sometimes fold the best hand or get bluffed off it. Hands in position, and hands that are easy to play, realise more of their equity; weak hands out of position realise less.

Example: A hand with 40% equity that realises only 80% of it plays like a hand with 32%.

In PokerIQ: With betting still to come, PokerIQ’s value for a call is a check-down EV: it assumes the hand is checked to the river, so all your equity counts. That is one reason it is marked estimate.

See also: Equity, In position and out of position, Expected value

The extra chips you stand to lose on later streets when you make your hand but it is still second best.

Weak draws, small flushes and top pair with a poor kicker have reverse implied odds: they win small pots and lose big ones. Allow for them before calling with a hand that might hit and still lose.

Example: You call with 7♥6♥7 of hearts, 6 of hearts on a board with two hearts. If a third heart comes, anyone holding a bigger heart also has a flush, and that is when you will put the most chips in.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ doesn’t model reverse implied odds, so allow for them yourself with weak draws.

See also: Implied odds, Clean and dirty outs, Kicker

A quick way to turn outs into a chance: multiply by 2 for one card to come, or by 4 for two cards to come from the flop, if you will see both.

It is close for small numbers of outs and runs high for big draws. Only use the 4 when you are sure to see the river, for example when someone is all-in. If there will be another bet on the turn, use the 2.

Example: With 9 outs on the flop the rule gives 18% for the turn and 36% by the river; the exact figures are 19.1% and 35.0%. With 15 outs the rule says 60% by the river, but the exact figure is 54.1%.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ shows the exact chances, so you don’t need the rule there, but it is handy at the table.

See also: Outs, Flush draw, Odds and percentages

The end of a hand, when the players left after the river betting show their cards and the best hand wins.

A hand with showdown value is good enough to win sometimes if nobody bets, such as a modest pair, but not strong enough to bet for value. Those hands often prefer to check.

In PokerIQ: On the river, or with anyone all-in, the Analyser labels a call’s value showdown EV: there is no more betting to come.

See also: Streets, Value bet, Realisation

The effective stack behind divided by the pot on the flop. It tells you how much a hand can stand before you are committed to it.

With a low SPR, one or two bets get the stacks in, so top pair is often enough to go all the way. With a high SPR there is room for several big bets, and one pair should usually keep the pot small. When so much is in the pot that folding would give up too much of it, players say they are pot-committed.

Example: You open to 2.5 bb, the big blind calls and the small blind folds: 5.5 bb in the pot and 97.5 bb behind, an SPR of about 18. In a 3-bet pot of 20.5 bb with 90 bb behind, it is about 4.4.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s profiles have three SPR zones: under 3, top pair or better gets the stack in; 3 to 8, top pair with a good kicker is worth about two bets; over 8, playing for stacks wants two pair or better.

See also: Effective stack, Top pair, Overbet

The ups and downs of results around your expected value. Good decisions often lose in the short run, and bad ones often win.

Over a few hundred hands, luck swamps skill. That is why players judge decisions rather than results, and keep a bankroll: money set aside for poker, big enough that a bad run doesn’t put them out of the game.

Example: A♥A♦ace of hearts, ace of diamonds all-in before the flop against K♠K♣king of spades, king of clubs has 81.3% equity, and still loses nearly one time in five.

See also: Expected value, bb/100, Equity

A small forced bet on top of the blinds, mainly in tournaments. With a big-blind ante, the big blind pays one ante for the whole table, usually the size of the big blind.

Antes are dead money: they are in the pot but don’t count towards anyone’s bet. They make the pot bigger before anyone acts, so stealing the blinds is worth more and the blinds get a better price to defend.

Example: With blinds of 0.5 bb and 1 bb and a 1 bb big-blind ante, the pot is 2.5 bb before anyone acts. An open to 2.2 bb risks 2.2 to win 2.5.

In PokerIQ: Choose No ante, Big-blind ante or Every player in the Analyser’s game setup. Antes go in the pot as dead money, and the Trainer’s Tournament drill uses a big-blind ante.

See also: M-ratio, Push or fold, Big blind

The point in a tournament just before the paid places, when one more player out means everyone left wins something. Once past it, the players left are in the money.

Near the bubble, short and medium stacks tighten up because busting costs so much, and big stacks can push them around. Satellites have the most extreme bubbles of all.

Example: Four players left and three paid: whoever busts next wins nothing, so the risk premium for calling an all-in is large.

See also: ICM, Risk premium, Payouts, Satellite

Expected value counted in chips rather than in prize money.

In a cash game chips are money, so chip EV is the whole story. In a tournament a play can win chips on average and still lose money, because the chips you might lose are worth more than the ones you might win.

In PokerIQ: Without prize money entered, PokerIQ values a tournament shove in chips, against folding now. With the stacks and payouts entered, it values it in prize money.

See also: Expected value, ICM, Chips and money

In a tournament, chips aren’t money. Doubling your stack doesn’t double what you will win, and losing them all costs you every prize still to come.

Prizes are paid in steps, so each extra chip is worth a little less than the one before. That is why tournament players pass on some close all-ins that a cash player would take.

Example: Three players are left with 50%, 30% and 20% of the chips, playing for 50%, 30% and 20% of the prize pool. By ICM the chip leader’s stack is worth 38.4% of the prizes and the short stack’s 28.9%.

See also: ICM, Chip EV, Risk premium

You cover a player when you have at least as many chips as they do. If you lose an all-in to them you survive; if you win it, they are out.

Being covered means the other player can knock you out. It matters most in tournaments: for ICM, and for bounties, which you can only win from players you cover.

Example: You have 30 bb and villain shoves 18 bb. You cover villain: if you call and lose, you are left with 12 bb.

See also: Knockout bounty, Progressive knockout, Effective stack, All-in

The last table of a tournament, once few enough players are left to sit together. The pay jumps are biggest here.

Each place is worth more than the one below, so ICM matters most at the final table, and stack sizes shape the play as much as the cards do.

See also: Payouts, ICM, Bubble

The Independent Chip Model: a way to turn tournament chip stacks into shares of the prize money still to be paid.

What your stack is worth in money by ICM is your prize equity. The usual version, Malmuth-Harville, takes each player’s chance of finishing first as their share of the chips, then works out the other places the same way. It ignores skill and position, but it shows why risking your stack costs so much near the money.

Example: Four players with 25 bb each, playing for 50%, 30% and 20%: each stack is worth 25% of the prizes. Win an all-in and you hold half the chips, but only 38.3% of the prizes. Doubling up adds 13.3 points; busting costs 25.

In PokerIQ: The Analyser’s ICM tab shows every player’s chip share and prize equity. Enter the other stacks and the payouts still to come, and the equity a call needs is worked out in prize money.

See also: Chips and money, Risk premium, Bubble, Chip EV

A tournament in which each player carries a bounty: cash paid to whoever knocks them out. In a standard knockout you get the whole bounty in cash.

A bounty is only won by busting someone: you must cover them and win the all-in. That makes calling all-ins from players you cover cheaper, because the bounty is added to what you win. To weigh it, turn the cash into chips at what the starting stack cost.

Example: Each starting stack of 10,000 chips cost £10 of prize money, so a chip is worth a tenth of a penny. A £10 bounty is then worth 10,000 chips: 20 bb at a 500 big blind. Calling 20 bb to win a 41 bb pot needs 20 ÷ 61 = 32.8%, not 20 ÷ 41 = 48.8%.

In PokerIQ: Choose the bounty format in the Analyser. Facing an all-in from a player you cover, the equity needed takes the bounty into the price, turned into chips this way.

See also: Progressive knockout, Cover, Equity needed

A tournament measure: your stack divided by the cost of one round of blinds and antes. It says roughly how many rounds you could last without playing a hand.

It was made popular by Dan Harrington, and you will hear players talk about their M. It counts the antes, which a stack in big blinds doesn’t. Most players now simply count big blinds.

Example: 6,000 chips, blinds of 100 and 200, and a 25 ante from nine players: a round costs 100 + 200 + 225 = 525, so M is about 11.4, though the stack is 30 bb. With a big-blind ante of 200 instead, a round costs 500 and M is 12.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ doesn’t use M. It uses your stack in big blinds, with the antes counted in the pot, and in cash games the stack-to-pot ratio as well.

See also: Stack in big blinds, Ante, Stack-to-pot ratio

How the prize pool is shared among the finishing places. A pay jump is the difference between one place and the next.

Top-heavy payouts, with most of the money for the top few places, reward taking risks. Flat payouts, and satellites most of all, reward survival.

In PokerIQ: Enter the payouts still to come, first place first, in money or percentages. PokerIQ uses them for ICM.

See also: ICM, Final table, Satellite

A bounty tournament in which knocking a player out pays you half their bounty in cash and adds the other half to your own bounty.

Bounties grow as players win them, so the biggest sit on the players who have been knocking others out. Your own bounty goes to whoever knocks you out; if you win the tournament, you collect it yourself.

Example: Villain’s bounty is £10. Knocking them out pays £5 now and puts £5 on your own head. With a chip worth a tenth of a penny, the £5 is 5,000 chips, or 10 bb at a 500 big blind. Calling 20 bb to win a 41 bb pot then needs 20 ÷ 51 = 39.2%.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ counts the cash paid now. The half added to your head counts as nothing unless you enter the prize money, which leans towards folding.

See also: Knockout bounty, Cover, ICM

On a short stack, the only sensible choices when first in are all-in or fold: a smaller raise commits too much of your stack to fold to a re-raise.

Shoving gets full value from fold equity: everyone behind must risk their tournament to call. The shorter the stack and the later the seat, the more hands you can shove.

Example: With 10 bb, an open to 2.2 bb uses more than a fifth of your stack, and you could hardly fold if someone shoved. Moving all-in yourself makes them decide first.

In PokerIQ: Each style has a push-or-fold line. First in with 10 bb or less for Tight, 12 bb or less for Balanced and 15 bb or less for Aggressive, PokerIQ only moves all-in or folds (rule R8). Practise it in the Trainer’s Push or fold drill.

See also: Re-shove, All-in, Stack in big blinds, Trainer

Moving all-in over someone else’s open, instead of calling or making a smaller 3-bet.

Re-shoves work best with a stack big enough to hurt the opener but too short to play well after the flop. The opener has already put chips in, and must fold everything but the top of their range.

Example: With a 1 bb big-blind ante, the cutoff opens to 2.2 bb and you move all-in for 16 bb on the button. Whenever the cutoff and both blinds fold, you win the 4.7 bb in the middle: the open, the blinds and the ante.

In PokerIQ: Between your style’s push-or-fold line and 20 bb, PokerIQ’s tournament zones move all-in over opens from late seats and the blinds, rather than calling.

See also: Push or fold, 3-bet, Fold equity

The extra equity ICM asks for above the chip price, to make up for the prize money you put at risk.

It is highest on the bubble and at final tables, and for medium stacks facing a big stack that covers them. A short stack about to be blinded away has a small one.

Example: Four players with 25 bb each, three paid 50%, 30% and 20%. Facing an all-in for your whole stack, the chip price is 50%, leaving the blinds aside to keep it simple. By ICM you need 65.2%: a risk premium of 15.2 points.

In PokerIQ: In a tournament with the payouts entered, the Analyser shows “Equity needed (ICM)” with the chip price beside it, and whether calling gains or loses prize money.

See also: ICM, Bubble, Equity needed

A tournament whose prizes are seats in a bigger tournament, usually all of the same value.

Every seat is worth the same, so there is no reward for finishing with the most chips. Once a seat is all but certain, folding even the best hands is right: winning the pot adds nothing, and losing it could cost the seat.

In PokerIQ: Choose Satellite (equal seats) for the prize structure. Rule R10: when folding keeps at least 99% of a seat, PokerIQ folds rather than call or shove.

See also: Bubble, ICM, Payouts, Rules R1 to R12

Your stack divided by the big blind. In a tournament the blinds go up at every level, so the same chips are worth fewer big blinds as the game goes on.

Stack size in big blinds decides your options: deep stacks can play lots of hands after the flop, short ones come down to moving all-in or folding.

Example: 6,000 chips at blinds of 100 and 200 is 30 bb. At the next level, 150 and 300, the same chips are 20 bb.

In PokerIQ: PokerIQ’s tournament advice is set by your stack in big blinds: push or fold at or below your style’s line, re-shove up to 20 bb, short-stacked from 20 to 40 bb, and deep above that.

See also: M-ratio, Push or fold, Effective stack, Big blind

The card room’s word for rake: the chips the dealer takes from the pot, usually a percentage up to a cap, sometimes a fixed amount.

“No flop, no drop” means hands that end before the flop aren’t raked. Ask your room how its drop works, because it changes the equity every call needs.

In PokerIQ: Choose “My card room’s rake” under Rake, and enter its percentage and its cap in big blinds, with or without no flop, no drop.

See also: Rake, Time charge, Equity needed

The bigger raises used in live card-room games, where players call and limp more than they do online.

A 2.5 bb open that works online gets several callers live, so live players open bigger and add more for each limper.

Example: With £1/£2 blinds and no straddle, PokerIQ’s live open is £8, 4 bb. Over one limper in position the iso-raise is £10; from the blinds, £12. With a £4 straddle the open is £16.

In PokerIQ: Open to 4 times the last blind, the straddle when there is one; iso-raise to 4 times plus 1 per limper, and 1 more from the blinds. Online sizes are unchanged.

See also: Iso-raise, Straddle, Open, Limp

Calling a raise with a small pocket pair mainly to hit a set, and winning a big pot when you do.

You flop a set or better 11.8% of the time, about 1 in 8.5. That alone isn’t enough, so you need to win a lot more when you hit: deep stacks, and an opponent likely to pay you off. A common guide is about 15 to 20 times the call behind.

Example: With 100 bb, calling a 5 bb raise leaves 95 bb behind: 19 times the call.

In PokerIQ: Rule R11: before the flop, a pair from 22 to 66 calls only with at least 20 times the call behind after calling for Tight, 15 times for Balanced and 12 for Aggressive. Heads-up, it counts the smaller of your stack and villain’s, when you enter villain’s chips behind. In the example, Tight folds and the other two call.

See also: Implied odds, Pocket pair, Set and trips, Rules R1 to R12

An optional blind, usually twice the big blind, posted before the cards are dealt by the player to the left of the big blind. It works as a third blind: the action starts with the next player, and the straddler acts last before the flop.

A straddle doubles the stakes for the hand, so every stack is half as deep when counted in straddles. Some rooms allow other straddles, such as from the button.

Example: In a £1/£2 game with a £4 straddle and £200 stacks, everyone is 100 bb deep but only 50 straddles deep, and the hand plays like it.

In PokerIQ: Tick “Live game”, then “Straddle” from the first seat, at a table of 4 to 9, for 2 to 5 bb. Each seat then opens the range of the seat one place earlier, opens are 4 times the straddle, and stacks are read in straddles.

See also: Live sizes, Under the gun, Big blind, Effective stack

A bet or raise made in more than one movement without saying the amount first. Card rooms don’t allow it, so only the first movement counts.

If you put in a call and then reach back for more chips, it stands as a call. To raise, say “raise” and the amount out loud, or put all the chips in with one movement.

See also: Raise, Call

A fee paid to the card room for your seat, for example every half hour, instead of rake taken from the pot.

Because nothing comes out of the pot, a time charge doesn’t change pot odds or the equity a call needs. It is still a real cost to your results.

In PokerIQ: Choose “No rake (time charge)” under Rake, so no rake is taken out in the maths.

See also: Rake, Drop

The part of PokerIQ that explains a spot in plain English. It writes the explanation; the engine supplies every number, and the rules choose the action.

Any figure the AI writes that didn’t come from the engine is withheld, and a sentence that argues for a different action from the engine’s is removed. So the AI can explain why, but it never decides what.

In PokerIQ: Ask the AI analyst at the foot of the Analyser’s Odds and value panel, or talk a whole hand through in Coach. Google’s Gemini writes the explanation.

See also: Recommendation, Study, Certainty badges

The small labels beside PokerIQ’s figures that say how sure each one is: exact, simulated, estimate, or vs assumed range.

A figure can carry more than one: an equity can be exact against an assumed range. The badges keep facts and assumptions apart, so you always know which numbers rest on a guess.

In PokerIQ: Throughout the Analyser, in saved hands, and in the AI analyst’s answers, where every figure comes from the engine with its badge.

See also: Exact, Simulated, Estimate, Vs assumed range

A decision where the options are worth nearly the same, so either is reasonable. PokerIQ labels the recommendation Close spot instead of Clear.

A call is close when your equity is within 3 points of the equity needed with betting to come, or when a simulated figure’s margin straddles it. A bet is close when it is within your style’s margin of checking. In a close spot Tight takes the cautious option, Balanced the one with the higher EV, and Aggressive the aggressive one.

Example: With betting still to come you need 25% and have 27%: within 3 points, so it is close. Balanced calls, because 27% is above 25%; Tight folds; Aggressive calls.

In PokerIQ: In the Trainer, a close spot also accepts the other side of the close call.

See also: Recommendation, Style, Equity needed, Trainer

A certainty badge: the figure rests on assumptions, such as a player type’s range or how often it folds, and PokerIQ lists them beside it.

An estimate is only as good as its assumptions. If you know your opponent folds more or less than their type, allow for it. Estimated amounts are shown with ≈.

See also: Certainty badges, Player type, Fold equity

A certainty badge: the figure was counted over every remaining card or board, with no sampling.

An exact figure is a fact, given the cards and range entered. When there is no more betting, the recommendation never lets your style override an exact result.

See also: Certainty badges, Simulated, Equity

The sequence of actions a player takes through a hand: raise, bet, then check, say. In PokerIQ it means what villain did before the flop.

Players talk about taking a line, such as check-raising the flop or betting three streets. A good line tells a story about your hand that holds together.

In PokerIQ: Under “Before the flop they…” in the Analyser: for example Raised first from the cutoff, Called your raise in the big blind, Re-raised your raise (3-bet), Limped in, or in tournaments Moved all-in first. The line picks which of the type’s ranges is used.

See also: Player type, Vs assumed range, Range

PokerIQ’s description of an opponent: Unknown, Regular, Loose-passive, Nit or Maniac. Each has its own ranges and its own habits when facing a bet.

Unknown is the default when you have no read: the typical low-stakes player, who calls small bets too often and folds to big ones too often. Regular is a solid, thinking player. Loose-passive is the calling station, Nit the very tight player and Maniac the wild aggressor.

In PokerIQ: Choose “A player type’s range” under “Villain holds” in the Analyser, then villain’s line. All five types’ ranges are on the Ranges page under Villain types.

See also: Nit, Calling station, Maniac, VPIP, Line

The action PokerIQ favours in a spot: fold, check, call, bet or raise, with a size where it matters. It comes from fixed rules with test cases, never from the AI.

The rules compare your options using the engine’s figures, the price and your style. Each recommendation names the rule that chose it and says whether the spot is clear or close. It says what the maths and your style favour, never that something is certain.

In PokerIQ: The Recommendation card in the Analyser’s Odds and value panel, marked Clear or Close spot, with the policy version and the rule, such as policy-v6, rule R4.

See also: Rules R1 to R12, Close spot, Style, AI analyst

The numbered rules behind PokerIQ’s recommendation. The Recommendation card names the one that chose the action.

R1: nothing to call, so no recommendation until bets can be valued. R2: the figures aren’t ready yet. R3: no more betting (the river, or anyone all-in): call if your equity covers the price. R4: a draw with betting to come: call on direct odds, or on implied odds within your style’s limit. R5: a made hand with betting to come: call or fold, with a 3-point close band. R6: checked to you: bet if the best size beats checking by your style’s margin. R7: facing a bet: raise if it beats folding or calling by that margin. R8: push or fold on a short stack in a tournament. R10: a satellite seat as good as won: fold. R11: set-mining with 22 to 66. R12: facing limpers: iso-raise, limp behind or fold. There is no R9 on the card: facing an all-in is decided by R3, against the shover’s range.

In PokerIQ: R6 and R7 apply heads-up after the flop against a player type. The rule appears on every Recommendation card, for example policy-v6, rule R11.

See also: Recommendation, Close spot, Implied odds, Set-mining

A certainty badge: there were too many boards to count, so PokerIQ dealt a large sample of random ones and shows a 95% margin.

The true figure is very likely within the margin. Saved hands and the AI analyst use 200,000 deals with a fixed seed, so the same spot always gives the same figure.

Example: 26.5% ± 0.6 means the true figure is very likely between 25.9% and 27.1%.

See also: Certainty badges, Exact, Equity

PokerIQ’s mode for talking through one hand with the AI analyst, using the engine’s figures for that hand.

Study keeps the game the hand came with: cash or tournament, the table size, and any prize money and bounties. It works before the flop as well as after it.

In PokerIQ: In Coach, under Study a hand. Send a hand there from the Analyser, from History or from the Trainer.

See also: AI analyst, Trainer

Your own playing style in PokerIQ: Tight, Balanced or Aggressive. It shapes the advice for you, never the maths about your opponent.

The style sets your ranges and several thresholds, Tight, Balanced and Aggressive in turn: push-or-fold lines of 10, 12 and 15 bb; implied odds of up to 15%, 25% and 40% of your stack behind; set-mining at 20, 15 and 12 times the call; and how much a bet must beat checking by, 10%, 5% and 2.5% of the pot. Balanced here isn’t the same as a balanced range in GTO talk.

In PokerIQ: Change your style in Settings. Each style’s ranges are on the Ranges page under Your profiles.

See also: Close spot, Recommendation, GTO, Push or fold

PokerIQ’s practice mode: it deals you a spot, you choose an action, and it grades your choice against the engine’s recommendation.

There are five drills, each scored on its own: Cash 6-max, Cash 9-max, Tournament (after the flop, with a big-blind ante), Push or fold, and Facing an all-in. Your choice is correct when it matches the engine; close when it is the other side of a close spot, or the right action at a different size; and different otherwise.

In PokerIQ: In Coach, under Trainer. Any hand it deals can be sent to Study to talk through with the analyst.

See also: Study, Recommendation, Close spot, Push or fold

A certainty badge: the figure was worked out against a range you chose for villain, not against a known hand.

The assumed range is the one PokerIQ puts villain on: the player type’s range for what they did before the flop. The maths against it can be exact, but the range itself is a read, so a wrong read gives a wrong answer.

See also: Certainty badges, Range, Player type, Line