When To Call And Fold In Poker
The Push Fold App is a great tool to study short stack situations where you have less than 12 big blinds and you need to decide whether to shove all in, fold, or call an all in. If you want to challenge yourself, use the Push / Fold Quiz to see how good you are at knowing when to shove all in and when to fold.
The game of poker has its own slang or “poker talk.” If you are new to poker, learning the poker slang will greatly improve your knowledge of the game.
From the small blind to the straight flush, here is a poker glossary of the important poker terms to know.
Act: check, bet, raise, or fold
- If you instead decide to check, you are deferring your betting rights for the time being. Another player may now bet, in which case you may fold your hand, call the bet or raise (the action of first checking and then raising when an opponent bets is known as a check-raise).
- The first thing that any beginner-level poker player needs to understand is the different actions of a poker game. The basic actions in a poker game include folding, checking and calling, betting, raising, re-raising, and check-raising, and a skilled poker player will use all of these different actions countless times throughout the course of a game, as knowing how to use each.
- The basic actions in a poker game include folding, checking and calling, betting, raising, re-raising, and check-raising, and a skilled poker player will use all of these different actions countless times throughout the course of a game, as knowing how to use each of the actions allows a player variability and lets him or her change up the pace and keep opponents on their toes.
- Fold to Flop CB – Important when deciding whether or not to C-bet 80%: Tight Player, you can C-bet almost every flop profitably; 60 – 80%: Will defend sometimes but often fold, you can C-bet every good flop.
- Fold if the current bet is too high or you have a bad hand. This means quitting the round of poker. To fold, place your cards face down on the table and say, “I fold.” Then, add your cards to the discard pile. Don’t show your cards when you fold during a game, as this can spoil which cards are out of play.
Action: whose turn it is, as in “Action is on you.” Also, slang for gambling, as in “He loves action.” Or a lot of betting, like “The 2/4 game at Pala has a lot of action.”
Active Player:player still in competition for a pot
Yes, it's exactly like the 'fold to any bet' button. If the action checks to you, you will check as well. If someone has bet before you, you will fold. You got it right =) If someone even bets a $0.01 you will fold. I personally don't use it, but you or others may. It's really your decision. The game of poker has its own slang or “poker talk.” If you are new to poker, learning the poker slang will greatly improve your knowledge of the game. From the small blind to the straight flush, here is a poker glossary of the important poker terms to know. Act: check, bet, raise, or fold. Action: whose turn it is, as in “Action is on.
Add-on: additional chips that may be purchased to “add on” to your chip stack, usually at the end of the Re-buy period, though some tourneys allow add-ons earlier and some tourneys even allow for multiple add-ons (and/or Re-buys)
All-in: a player bets all of his or her remaining chips
Bad Beat: when a player has the best of it and the odds are heavily with him or her, but gets beaten in the hand by a long-shot draw
Bankroll:the money a player has set aside to gamble with
Behind: a player who acts after another player in a betting round
Benjamin: a hundred-dollar bill (Benjamin Franklin’s portrait appears on a U.S. $100 bill)
Best of It: the player who has the odds on his or her side
Bet:money initially wagered and put into the pot (during a given betting round, subsequent betting action beyond an initial bet is termed a “raise”)
Big Blind: the larger of two forced “blind hands” in community card games like Hold’em and Omaha; the big blind is generally located two to the left of the “dealer button”
Big Hand: a really good hand
Big Slick: Ace-King hole cards (see Hole Cards)
Blank: community board card that looks like it is harmless or couldn’t really help anybody
Bluff: a bet or raise that appears to represent a good hand, when in fact the bettor has a mediocre or at best a drawing hand
Board:(see also, Community Cards) the playing surface and the community cards on the “board” that are shared by all players in games such as Hold’em and Omaha. Players use the community cards to complete their hands.
Boat:full house (aka “full boat”). three of one card, two of another. ex. JJJ99
What Does Check Call And Fold Mean In Poker Terms
Brick and Mortar: a casino with a physical world spatial existence (as opposed to merely online or cyberspace); some casinos, like Pala, have both a brick and mortar and an online existence.
Broadway: ace-high straight
Bubble: in a tournament, one place away from making it to the money
Busted: broke. Lost all chips and out of the tournament.
Button:(aka Dealer Button), disc that denotes which player is the “dealer” for that hand. Button position is dealt the last card and is last to act in each betting round
Buy-In:the amount of chips a player must buy in order to enter a card game. For tourneys, the buy-in is a set amount of money for a set amount of starting chips. For cashgames, buy-ins are generally expressed as minimums, but can have an optional limited or unlimited range beyond the minimum as well.
Buying the Pot: to win a pot with a bluff or semi-bluff that forces other players out
Call:to put in the amount that another player bet: “I call”
Calling Station: you bet and bet and he calls and calls; generally a weak player who calls too much but doesn’t usually bet or raise.
Case Card: last card of a given rank left in the deck… the other three are already out
Chasing: hoping an upcoming community card will “hit” to complete a so-far unmade hand
Check: to not bet when it is your turn. can say “I check” or tap on the table in a live game
Check and Raise: to check initially, but then make a raise if another player bets after your initial check
Chop:in tournament play, the last remaining players decide to split up the prizepool rather than play to the end; or, in a hand, where the end result is a tie and the pot is split up and distributed evenly to the tied players.
Community Cards:(see also, Board) the community cards on the “board” that are shared by all players in games such as Hold’em and Omaha. Players use the community cards to complete their hands.
Connectors:(see also, Suited Connectors) two or more cards in sequence; for example: 89 or 10J
Counterfeit:In Omaha Eight or Better, when the board pairs one of your low cards
Cracked: to lose a hand you were initially favored to win, as in “My Aces got cracked!”
Crying Call: a very reluctant call
Dealer:player or staff member who deals the cards out to players; however, see also, Button
Dead Man Hand: A famous hand that consists of the black eights and the black aces
Deep Stack:a tournament in which players begin with an amount of chips that is relatively high in relation to the blind or ante.
Dog:underdog. Not favored to win.
Dominated: a hand that is beaten due to shared cards. for example, A-8 is “dominated” by A-K
Draw: hand that needs additional cards to become a winning hand
Drawing Dead: when there are no cards left in the deck that will make a draw hand into a winner
Draw Poker: each player gets a set amount of cards and then can replace some of his or her cards with others dealt out from the remainder of the deck
Duck: a deuce, a 2
Early Position: approx. first third of players to act in a hand
Face Down: cards, like the hole cards, that are unexposed to other players
When To Call And Fold In Poker Lingo
Face Up: exposed card that everybody can see
Fast Play: aggressive style emphasizing a lot of betting and raising
Favorite: based on odds alone, most likely hand to win
Fish: a novice or poorly-skilled player, expected to lose money
What Does Check Call And Fold Mean In Poker Table
Flop: first three community cards dealt face up on the board
Flush: hand containing five cards of the same suit
Fold:to get rid of one’s cards, and in doing so forfeiting the right to any part of the pot.
Four-Flush: having four of the five cards needed for a flush… and hoping for the fifth
Free Card: a betting round where all players have checked, thus allowing the next community card to fall without anybody putting any money in the pot
Freeroll: a poker tournament in which certain qualifying players get in for free. “Freerolling” also is an expression sometimes used to describe somebody who has won a lot of chips already and is “rolling” through the game with other people’s money.
Four-of-a-Kind: Hand containing four cards of the same rank, like J J J J.
Full House: hand with two of one rank and three of another, like 9 9 J J J
Hand: the cards a poker player holds, combined with any community cards, to make the best five card combination
Head-to Head: aka “Heads Up”
Hi/Lo: type of poker where the highest hand and the lowest hand each take half the pot
Hole Cards: cards held by a player, unseen by other players
Implied Odds:what a player thinks his actual payoff will be if he hits his hand, relative to how much it will cost to play
In Front Of: a player who acts before another player
Inside Straight Draw: a draw where only one card will complete the straight, for example a hand like 6-7- – 9-10… needs an 8 to complete
Isolate: to bet and raise so as to get heads-up against a weaker hand or weaker player
Joker: a wild card, or slang for a really lucky card that came to complete a hand against odds
Kicker:unmatched card in a player’s hand that is not used except to break ties. Example, two pair 5-5 and 8-8 with A kicker beats two pair 5-5 and 8-8 with Q kicker.
Late Position: aprox. the final third of players to act in a hand
Laydown:to fold
Limit:the most that can be bet or raised at any one time (see also, Limit Poker)
Limit Poker:poker games where limits exist for betting or raising, as opposed to no-limit poker
Limp: to just call, rather than bet or raise
Live Card:a card whose rank has not yet appeared on the board (nor presumably in another hand)
Live One: a player likely to bet wildly and probably lose like a fish (see Fish)
Lock: a hand that cannot be beaten
Lock Up My Seat: a commitment to take a seat that is waiting for you
Longshot: a drawing hand that has the odds heavily against it and probably won’t be made
Look Up: to call somebody, as in “I’m gonna look you up.”
Loose: playing style that plays a lot of hands and often goes for longshots (see Longshot)
Made Hand: already solid. Don’t need to hit a draw to have a good winning hand.
Maniac:wild, loose player who bets it up with mediocre hands just to build the pot
Middle Position: aprox. the middle third of players to act in a hand
Monster: an excellent hand that is either a lock (see Lock) or at least probably won’t be beat
Muck: fold. To throw a hand away and toss it into the Muckpile. (see Muckpile) & (see Fold)
No-Limit: a player may bet any amount of chips up to and including everything he has in front of him or her
One Pair: hand containing two cards of the same rank, like Q Q
Overcard: a higher card. So a K is an “overcard” to a Q, and a Q is over a 9
Pocket Cards: see also- Hole Cards
Position: players relative position to the player who acts last; in flop games like Hold’em and Omaha, position is usually considered relative to the button
Pot:sum total of all antes, blinds, and bets put into the center of the table during a given poker hand. It is the pot for which players are competing to win.
Preflop:before the flop
Premium Starting Hands:holding among the best starting hole cards; for example, in Hold’em premium starting hands include A-A, K-K, Q-Q, and A-K, and possibly A-Q and J-J as well. Hi/Lo games also have low premium starting hands of their own, for example holding perhaps A-2-3-5 as a starting hand in Omaha Hi/Lo
Raise:adding more chips to another player’s original bet to make it more expensive for other players to continue to play for the pot
Rake:the amount of money taken out of a pot by the house (the dealer is the house’s representative in this process) as its fee for running the game; the rake is used to pay overhead, including equipment, facilities, utilities, and staff salaries
Reraise: raising another player’s raise
Ring Game: a cash game with a full table of players, usually seven or more for Stud and nine or more for Omaha or Hold’em
River: the fifth (last) community card on board
Royal Flush: an A-K-Q-J-10 of the same suit. The highest ranking hand in poker.
Satellite Tournament: a smaller stakes tourney in which the prizes are one or more entries into a more expensive major event
Set: three of a kind, consisting of a pocket pair plus a matching community card
Shorthanded: a poker game with five players or less, perhaps six or less
Showdown: final act of a poker hand
Slowplay: playing a powerful hand in a weak manner to disguise its strength and lure, or “trap,” other players into the action
Small Blind: located just to the left of the button, it is the smaller of the two forced blind bets preflop
Standard Raise: typically, three times the big blind
Steal the Blinds: bluffing to make the blinds fold
Straight: a sequence of five consecutive cards, like 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10
Straight Flush: a sequence of five consecutive cards that are all also the same suit
Suck-out:to hit a longshot draw, typically on the river
Suited Connectors: (see also, Connectors) two or more cards in sequence and of the same suit; for example: 8-9 or 10-J of Hearts
Swing:fluctuation of a player’s chip count or even overall bankroll
Table Stakes: a player can only play with the money/chips he or she has on the table in front of him or her; the player’s bet, call, or raise is limited to the number of chips he or she currently has, and the player cannot buy, borrow, or produce more chips in the middle of a hand.
Three-of-a-Kind: three cards of the same rank held in a given hand, ex.: QQQ. see also, Trips
Tournament: a competition in which all players start with the same amount of chips and play continues until one player holds all the chips
Trap: to underplay or slowplay powerful hand so as to lure other players into betting
Trips: three of a kind
Turn: the fourth community card on board, following the flop
Two Pair: a hand that contains two different pairs, like QQ and KK in the same hand
Under the Gun: the first player to act in a round of poker; preflop, under the gun is to the immediate left of the button
Value Bet: betting a hand that is perhaps not a sure thing but that over time will win more than it loses
Wheel: (aka “Bicycle”) a five-high straight: A – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5
Wired: to have a pair in the hole from the start
Now that you are familiar with all of the poker terms you can start playing poker online! Sign up today for a poker tournament to win real money!
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While playing $20-$40 limit hold’em, you pick up the Q Q in middle position. You open-raise, the button three-bets, and you go to the flop heads up. The flop comes 10 7 3. You check, and, as expected, the button bets.
You figure that he has a pretty wide range here, including several pocket pairs, A-K, A-Q, and perhaps some occasional whimsical adventures. You decide to check-raise, for several reasons:
• You are way ahead of most of his range.
• You are out of position, which normally means that you have to take some chances to gain full value from your hand. If you just call here and check the turn, he will often just take a free card, and you will fail to profit when you are ahead. You want him to pay to draw out.
• Of course, you also may be behind, in which case you will most likely be three-bet, or raised on the turn. At that point, if it happens, you will have to assess your opponent and make a decision about whether to continue.
He calls your check-raise, and the turn is the 3. This seems to be as good a turn card as you could hope for, and you bet. He calls.
You probably are thinking, “No ace, no king, no ace, no king,” when the dealer burns and turns the A. Now what? If your opponent has a dreaded ace, you are going to lose. Your first thought is probably to check and call. But what if, instead of an ace, he has pocket jacks or even a loose hand like K-10 suited? He will probably check it back, and you will lose the chance to gain a bet from a crying call. You want to win those bets when they are available.
If you bet, however, he might raise. Then, you could lose two bets if you call, and kick yourself for not checking. Or, you could fold, in which case you lose if he was making a bluff-raise.
The right answer depends (surprise!) on how you assess your opponent. Against most opponents, who are reasonable, straightforward to bet, and if raised, fold. Very few opponents are capable of making a bluff-raise here. You already have shown considerable strength, the pot is fairly large, and he should be expecting a call. Plus, you bet fearlessly, which has to alarm him. After all, unless he has one, the ace should scare him as much as it does you.
However, some opponents are highly creative, and may be capable of making just such a bluff. Luckily, they are also the ones who will probably put in a bluff-bet if you check, hoping to convince you to fold. Against one of them, check and call. In the long run, you probably will pick off enough bluffs to offset the bets that you may lose by not betting when you have the best hand.
This choice — bet and fold to a raise, or check and call — comes up often when you are heads up and out of position on the river. You have a good hand, but the river card may have beaten you. You don’t want to give up the calls when you are ahead, but also don’t want to lose two bets when you got unlucky. Against average opponents, bet and fold to a raise. Against tough, tricky opponents, check and call.
Think through these two choices before you act. Avoid the other two: betting and calling the raise, or checking and folding. Remember, by checking, you are often inviting even some usually honest players to attempt a bit of larceny, or to somehow think their second-best hand is good, so you have to make that river call.
Another example: Later in the same game, you happily see red aces in early position before the flop. After one fold, you open-raise, and get four callers: a middle-position player, the button, and both blinds. The flop is 9 7 4. So far, so good. The blinds check, you bet, the middle-position player calls, and the button raises. Both blinds fold, you three-bet, and the other two players call.
The turn is the J. This makes a straight if either opponent started with 10-8, but you can’t worry about that. You bet, the middle position player folds, and the button calls.
The river is the disappointing 2. Was the button raising for a free card on the flop with a flush draw, or does he have a hand like 10-9 or even J-10, which flopped a gutshot with two overcards? If he has the flush and you bet, you will probably get raised. And, of course, you have pocket aces, and it is tough to lay them down. At least if you call, you can show them, and everyone can see how unlucky you were. Despite this pity factor, you should, of course, quietly fold to the raise.
All of this should not affect your primary choices. Against most players, bet, hoping to pick up a call from a smaller pair. Against tough, tricky players, check and call, hoping to pick off a bluff. Don’t forget that you would have made the same series of plays with the A K, so the flush card on the river can look as scary to your opponent as it does to you.
But what if you don’t know the players? First, you should always have some idea of how everyone plays, even if you just watched one round before posting to play. But worst case, it is always safe to check and call, even though you may have lost a bet if it goes check, check. I hope that this is an unusual default position, because betting is far more profitable against most players.
Conclusion: Bluff-raises on the river are very rare at almost every level of play, but calling river raises is quite common. After all, the pot usually is large, it costs only one bet to call, and limit poker doesn’t reward heroic river lay-downs. Nevertheless, you ought to be able to assess your opposition well enough to understand who is capable of making huge, expensive, and generally unsuccessful bluff-raises, and who is not. Play accordingly, and you will collect all the bets you are entitled to, while not losing extra ones.
Hands To Fold In Poker
Barry Tanenbaum is the author of Advanced Limit Hold’em Strategy, and collaborator on Limit Hold’em: Winning Short-Handed Strategies. Barry offers private lessons tailored to the individual student. Please see his website, www.barrytanenbaum.com, or write to him at pokerbear@cox.net.