Poker

Going all-in means betting every chip you have. You can only win the portion of the pot you matched, with any excess forming a side pot contested by the remaining players.

An ante is a small forced bet contributed by every player before a hand, in addition to the blinds. It increases the pot and pressures players into contesting more hands.

A bad beat is losing a hand you were heavily favoured to win, usually to an unlikely card on the river. They are statistically inevitable and say nothing about the quality of the decision that led to them.

Blinds are forced bets posted before cards are dealt, ensuring every hand has money to compete for. The small and big blind rotate clockwise so the cost is shared equally.

The flop is the first three community cards dealt face up in Hold'em and Omaha. It is the single most informative moment in a hand, revealing five of the seven cards a Hold'em player will ultimately use.

A freeroll is a poker tournament with no entry fee but real prizes. It also describes a situation where you cannot lose a hand but might win it outright.

Omaha is a poker variant where each player receives four hole cards and must use exactly two of them, plus exactly three community cards. The extra cards produce much stronger hands and far bigger swings than Hold'em.

Rake is the commission a poker room takes from each pot or tournament entry. It is the house's entire income from poker, and it is the reason most players lose even in a game of skill.

The river is the fifth and final community card in Hold'em and Omaha. With no cards left to come, all draws are resolved and the betting round that follows is pure value or pure bluff.

Texas Hold'em is the most popular poker variant, giving each player two private cards and five shared community cards. Unlike casino games, you compete against other players and the house takes a commission called rake.