R.O.E
rabbit
rabbit hunting
rabbithunt
1. (v) After the
deal is
over, search through the undealt
cards to
see what you would have made if you had stayed in the
pot. Not permitted in most establishments, and frowned on in the rest.
1
rabbithunting
race
1. (n) The situation that occurs in a
tournament at the
point at which the limits are increased and the
denomination of chips used at the lower limits is no longer needed for the current limits. First all chips are exchanged for the higher-
denomination chips (colored up;
see color up); then the odd chips are taken
off in a procedure known as the
race for the odd chips, or simply the race. After the conversion, the
dealer or other person making the
chip exchange shuffles the
deck and deals each
player that has odd chips, in order,
one card face up for each
odd chip. In
one form of race, whoever gets the highest
card, with ties settled by suits in
bridge order, gets all the odd chips. At whatever
point the
ace of
spades appears, no further
cards need be dealt, and whoever gets that
card "wins" the odd chips; otherwise the
cards are dealt until each
player has
one card for each
chip. Those chips are then also colored up and the higher-
denomination chips given to the
winner. Any remaining odd chips are usually just removed from
play. For example, at the $10-$20
limit, $5 chips are used. When the
limit changes to $25-$50, $25 chips will be used. A
house employee comes around to
color up all
even multiples of $25. At this
point, every
player has zero,
one,
two,
three, or four $5 chips. Each
player puts those chips up
in front of him and is dealt
one card for each
chip. The
player who gets the highest
card wins all the $5 chips, which are then colored
up to quarters.
Say Emilie has four odd $5 chips, Chloe has
two, Lee has
one, Martin has
three, Peter has none, Eva has
two, Joe has none,
Mike has none, and Adrian has four. The
dealer shuffles the
deck, and starts
dealing cards face up, first four to Emilie,
two to Chloe,
one to Lee,
three to Martin, none to Peter,
two to Eva, none to Joe and
Mike, and four to Adrian. The
ace of
spades never appears, so the
cards are dealt till Adrian has four. When the
cards are all
out, no aces appeared. Emilie got the
king of
diamonds and Chloe the
king of
clubs; Emilie gets all 12 chips, which are exchanged for
two $25 chips; the other
two odd $5 chips are taken
out of
play. It is
possible to be knocked
out of a
tournament at the race if you have less than five chips total. In another form of race, no
player can get all the odd chips, so whoever gets the highest
card gets
one chip, whoever gets the next highest gets another, and so on, until all the odd chips are distributed.
1
2. (v) Participate in a race.
1
race for the odd chips
race off
1. (v)
race (definition 2).
1
race off the chips
1. (v)
race (definition 2).
1
raced off
raced out
racehorse
Rachel
rack
1. (n)
Poker chips
can get a bit unwieldy in
large quantities, so cardrooms usually supply plastic racks that hold 100 chips in 5 stacks of 20. A rack of
red means a rack of
red chips, typically worth $500. If someone asks for a rack, it usually means they're about to leave the
table. If someone asks to
buy a rack of
red, it means they'd like to
buy $500 in chips.
Someone is said to be "racking up"
a game if they're winning a lot of money at the
table.
3
3. (n) A
unit representing the number of chips that
fill a rack (generally 100). "I'm
stuck three racks."
1
4. (v) Place chips in a rack.
1
5. (v) Win; usually followed by up. "He's been racking up the
game" means he's been winning a lot. Comes from meaning 3.
1
rack up
1. (v)
rack (definition 5); usually followed by the
game.
1
rag
ragged
4. (adj) Same as
rag. "I've got a ragged 8."
1
rags
rail
1. (n) The rail is the sideline at a
poker table - the (often imaginary) rail separating spectators from the field of
play. Watching from the rail means watching a
poker game as a spectator. People
on the rail are sometimes called railbirds.
3
2. (n) A barrier separating the games from the onlookers and those waiting to be
seated; so called because the barrier often is an actual wooden railing. In casinos, the rail often is a velvet rope.
1
3. (n) An imaginary or figurative zone for the same purpose, that is, separating the area in which the
poker games are as opposed to the area in which the nonplaying onlookers hang around.
1
railbird
railroad bible
railroad hand
1. (n) The
two pair hand jacks and 6s. (
Say it rhythmically with this emphasis: jacks and sixes, jacks and sixes, jacks and sixes. Sounds a bit like a
steam train, doesn't it?)
1
rainbow
2. (adj)
Three or four
cards of different suits, for example on a
flop. (
Two cards of different suits are unsuited and five is impossible.)
I figured my
rockets were going to win when the
flop came
queen seven
two, rainbow.
3
3. (adj) Describing a
flop in
hold 'em of
three different suits, usually preceded by the ranks of the
cards, as, "the
flop came 2-8-K rainbow."
1
rainbow hand
raise
1. (v) After someone has opened betting in a
round, to increase the amount of the
bet is to raise. For example, if the
betting limit is $5 and
player A bets $5,
player B
can fold,
call the $5, or raise it to $10. Knowledgeable
poker players sometimes get irritated when someone says raise to indicate an
opening bet. But they usually know what you mean.
3
3. (n) The
act of increasing the
bet. "Is that a raise?"
1
4. (n) The money, in the form of chips or cash, that constitutes this
bet. "He
put in a $100 raise."
1
raise back
raise blind
raise on the come
raise out
raised pot
raiser
1. (n) Someone who raises. "
Check to the raiser."
1
Raisin bread
rake
5. (n) The money taken as described in definition 1, or the
house's
cut taken in some other form (as, for example,
time). In a nonrake
game, you might hear a
loser sarcastically
say, "Hurry up and
deal; you're slowing
down the rake." Sometimes called
take or
takeoff,
juice,
vig.
1
rake game
rakeoff
rakeoff game
rakes
ram and jam
1. (v)
Bet and
raise frequently and aggressively.
1
rammer jammer
ramming and jamming
1. (v) Betting and raising frequently and aggressively; describing a lively
game. "You oughta get in the 3-6; they're rammin' and jammin'."
1
ranch
1. (n) All
one's chips; usually preceded by
bet the. When a
player goes
all in, someone may
say, "He's betting the ranch." Also, the
farm.
1
rangdoodles
rank
1. (adj) The numerical
value of a
card (as opposed to its
suit). Example: "
jack," "seven."
2
rank card
rank of cards
1. (n) The
list of
cards, from
high to
low, or
low to
high, to determine what beats what, as (from
high to
low) A (
ace), K (
king), Q (
queen), J (
jack), T (10), 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4,
trey (3),
deuce (2). In
ace-to-five lowball (and many
high-
low split games), the
list goes, from
low to
high, A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K.
1
rank of hands
rap
rap pat
Raquel Welch
rash
1. (n)
rush. "He's on a rash."
1
rathole
1. (v) During a playing
session, surreptitiously remove chips from
play. This is not strictly cheating, just not fair to the other players who do not have an opportunity to win as much as they might otherwise. It is not permitted in public cardrooms to remove chips from the
table without cashing
out. Players rathole chips because they don't want to
chance losing them
back, or because they want to hide their winnings from someone who has staked them or someone they owe money to. Compare with
go south,
salt away.
1
ratholer
rattle one's chips
razz
re buy
re raise
reach for one's chips
1. (v)
Make a move toward
one's chips, presumably with the intention of betting. Usually said by someone about another betting in a situation in which the first has no intention of calling. For example, the first
player passes, and before the
second can bet, the first dumps his
cards, saying, "All you had to do was reach for your chips." Also
rattle one's chips.
1
read
1. (v) To read someone is to have a
good idea from their
play (or through tells) what their
cards might be. To have a read on someone is to have a
good understanding of how they
play. Reading players is an important skill in
poker, because... well, if you
can't
figure out why, it's going to be
hard to explain here.
3
3. (n) Such a conclusion or indication. "I got a read on him and called his all-in
bet."
1
read someone's mail
1. (v) Divine that someone is bluffing. After being caught bluffing, someone might
say, "You've been reading my
mail."
1
reader
readers
1. (n)
marked cards, particularly those marked with special luminous ink that
can be seen only by someone wearing special glasses or contact lenses sensitive to a particular portion of the spectrum. Also known as
luminous readers.
1
ready up
1. (v) Prepare for a cheating
move.
1
rebuy
2. (n v) When you first
sit down at
a game, you
buy in with a certain amount of money. Re-buying is what you do when you
buy more chips before you leave.
Re-buys are also allowed in some tournaments to players who fall below a certain
point - usually only up until a certain
point and often limited to a fixed number of re-buys. The
time during which
one may re-
buy, usually lasting from the start through the early stages of the
tournament, is called the
re buy period. Tournaments with re-buys are called, generically, re-
buy tournaments.
See also
add on.
I had to re-
buy after the
second hand when I had
quads shot down.
3
3. (v) In many tournaments, players are allowed to
buy in again if they go broke or if their
chip accumulation falls below a certain level, usually only during a predetermined amount of
time,
say the first hour of
play or the first
three levels. To do so is to rebuy. Also
see add on.
1
4. (n) The chips represented by performing the preceding
action. "The
tournament has
one rebuy and an add-on." Also
see add-on.
1
rebuy period
rebuy tournament
rec.gambling.poker
1. (n) On the Internet, a Usenet newsgroup devoted in
large part to discussions of
poker. The rec is
short for recreational. Often called
rgp. Also
see ba-
poker.
1
red
1. (n) Red is the most common color for $5 chips. If someone bets a
stack of red, it means they're betting a bunch of $5 chips, probably 20 of them.
See also
white,
black, and
green.
3
Red Dog
redbird
redeal
2. (n) The situation in which the
cards must be dealt. "Do I owe an
ante?" "No, it's a redeal."
1
redraw
redskin
reentry blind
reflector
refrigerator
regular
release
Rembrandt
repeat
replacement
represent
1. (v) To
play as if you hold a certain
hand. For instance, if you raised before the
flop, and then raised again when the
flop came
ace high, you would be representing at least an
ace with a
good kicker.
2
2. (v) To
bet in such a way as to indicate that you have a certain
hand. For instance, when you
check-
raise after the third
suited card hits the
board in hold'em, you are representing a
flush,
even if you don't actually have
one.
3
reputation
1. (n) The conception players have of your
play. For example, if you
play conservatively, you may have a reputation as a
tight player.
1
reraise
reraise blind
rest farm
restraddle
return
reverse bridge order
reverse tell
rgp
RGPer
ribbon clerk
rich
1. (adj) Pertaining to a
packet (portion of a
deck) containing an overabundance of
high cards, 10s and up.
1
Rickey de Laet
ride
ride along
ride the pot
Rider back
riffle
2. (n)
shuffle (definition 3). "Give 'em a riffle."
1
riffle cull
riffle shuffle
1. (n) A particular kind of
shuffle, performed with the
deck separated into
two approximately equal packets, whose corners touch, the thumbs against the edges closest to the
dealer, and then lifted against the edges, which separates the
cards enough for them to interlace. This is how professional dealers
shuffle; amateurs may use an
overhand shuffle.
1
riffle stack
rig
1. (n) Any cheating method.
1
3. (v) Prearrange the outcome of an event upon which people
bet, such as
stack a
deck.
1
right joint
1. (n) An
honest gambling establishment, particularly
one in which thieves are not tolerated; the opposite of a
flat shop.
1
right price
1. (n) Exactly the correct
pot odds. For example, if the
odds against your making a particular
hand are 4-to-1, and the
pot offers 4-to-1 on the current
call you must
make, you're getting the right price.
1
right spot
1. (n)
Good situation. "Been losing all
day till I got into this
game. Looks like I finally found the right spot."
1
right to bet
ring game
2. (n) A bunch of people playing
poker for money at a
table in a
cardroom. The term ring game is used to differentiate such games from tournaments.
Tournaments are fun, but I much prefer ring games.
3
3. (n)
A game with several players (generally seven or more), as opposed to a
short game. The term often refers to a completely
full game.
1
4. (n) Any nontournament
game.
1
ring in
ring in a cold deck
ring in a deck
ringer
1. (n) A
player who purports to be a beginner, but in actuality is an expert. Such a
player is sometimes brought into an established
private game by
one of the regulars for the purpose of taking
off some of the money, which the ringer will later
split with the
regular.
1
ripped
1. (adj) Pertaining to a
deck that was
cut, then (dishonestly) replaced in the same order. Also
see hop the cut.
1
river
river card
river gambler
1. (n) Originally a
gambler who plied his
trade on steamboats up and
down the Mississippi and its tributaries, usually playing
poker and often cheating, and later extended to mean any
card thief.
1
river gambling
1. (n) Gambling that took place on steamboats up and
down the Mississippi and its tributaries, in the mid-1800s, usually at
poker and faro, and often involving cheating.
1
riverboat gambler
rizlo
Robin Hood cheat
1. (n) A
thief who cheats for
one or more other players, with no benefit to himself, sometimes robbing other thieves and returning their ill-gotten gains to the victims, but sometimes for the purpose of taking attention away from himself.
1
rock
1. (adj) A
player who plays an extremely
tight, patient
game is a rock. Rocks don't create a lot of
action, and when they enter a
pot, more often than not they're in as a
favorite. This is a decent strategy at some tables (especially at a
table full of maniacs). But
good players with more varied strategies will eventually get the best of a real rock.
3
rock crusher
1. (n) The
nuts; usually preceded by a.
1
rock garden
1. (adj) A
table populated with rocks.
I never
play there anymore, it's a real rock garden.
3
rocked up
rocket
rockets
rocky
roll
4. (vv)
Deal; usually followed by them. "Roll 'em" is a request to the
dealer to please distribute the
cards.
1
roll the deck
roll your own
1. (v) Expose
one's
cards in the manner described under
roll-your-own.
1
rolled up
3. (adj) Pertaining to the situation in which
one is rolled up; always followed by the
rank of the
card. In the previous definition,
John would be described as having rolled-up kings.
1
roodles
roodles hand
room
rotating bet
rotation
1. (n) The clockwise progression of betting, or of successive deals.
1
rotation game
rouge
rough
1. (adj) A
hand of a particular type that will not
beat many other hands of that type. Often used in
low games to indicate non-
nut low hands with a particular
high card. A rough 8 in
ace to five lowball could be any eight
high hand other than 8432A, although 8532A isn't too rough. Rough is the opposite of
smooth.
3
rough it up
1. (v) Change the tempo or temperament of
a game by increasing the
stakes beyond what are customary.
1
roughen
round
5. (n) Drinks for the
table. After winning a
big pot,
Slick calls to the cocktail waitress, "Serving wench! A round for my friends."
1
round from home
round of ...
round of betting
round of jacks
round table game
1. (n) Any
game, particularly
poker, in which gamblers
wager among themselves (as opposed to betting against the
house or any other
banker).
1
rounder
1. (n)
player (definition 3). Some people
say rounder and
hustler are synonymous, but that's not usually true for all connotations. Others
say the same for rounder and
thief, but that's
even less universally accepted.
1
rounders
rounding
1. (n) Performing a cheating maneuver consisting of marking the
back of a
card with a fingernail or by bending a corner. Also known as denting.
1
rounds
1. (n) A
deck of
cards marked on their
backs, for easy detection, by feel, by a cheater. Also
see nail,
peg, and, unfortunately, lots of other vocabulary entries, because thieves have many terms for their methods.
1
routine
royal
Royal Brass Brazilians
Royal Brazilians
1. (n) The
nuts; usually preceded by the.
1
royal flush
1. (n phrase) A special name given a
straight flush topped by an
ace, that is, five
cards in
sequence, 10, J, Q, K, A,
all in one suit. In the 52-
card deck, when playing without
wild cards, this is the highest-ranking
poker hand. This
hand ranks just above a
king-
high straight flush. Sometimes called
quint major.
1
2. (n) A special name given a
straight flush topped by an
ace, that is, five
cards in
sequence, 10, J, Q, K, A,
all in one suit. In the 52-
card deck, when playing without
wild cards, this is the highest-ranking
poker hand. This
hand ranks just above a
king-
high straight flush. Sometimes called
quint major.
1
royal six
royal straight flush
2. (n) A
royal flush, a term usually used only by amateurs or those otherwise unfamiliar with
poker.
1
royalties
royalty
rub the spots off
rug joint
rule book
1. (n) The written regulations (
poker rules) of a particular
cardroom on the conduct of a
poker game.
Poker rules are not standard, although most rule books contain many similar rules. Some rules, such as what
hand beats what, are fairly standard, particularly in public cardrooms, while others, such as what constitutes a legitimate
bet or
raise and the manner in which betting must be made, vary widely. The smart
player familiarizes herself with the rule book of a particular establishment before first sitting
down to
play.
1
rules of poker
ruling
rumble
run
run a pot
run a stack through
Run 'em
run in
1. (v) While shuffling, maintain the original order of the
cards; that is, perform a
false shuffle.
1
run one
run over
run over the game
1. (v)
Bet aggressively, intimidating the other players.
1
run through
run up a hand
1. (v) Perform a cheating maneuver in which
one selects
cards from the
discards, and arranges these prior to some form of false shuffling such that they will be distributed where the
thief wants them
to go (usually with
one good hand, sometimes more, the best of which will go to the
dealer or his
confederate). Compare with
riffle cull.
1
runner
1. (adj) Typically said "runner-runner" to describe a
hand that was made only by catching the correct
cards on both the
turn and the
river. Example: "He made a runner-runner
flush to
beat my
trips."
See also "
backdoor."
2
runner runner
2. (n) In
hold 'em,
flush or
straight cards that arrive on the fourth and fifth
cards, appearing for someone who,
on the flop, had only
three to that particular
hand. For example,
Loose Larry starts with
hole cards 2 7. The
flop is A K 8. The J 5 that appear
on the turn (
see turn card) and
river are called
runner-
runner. Larry probably beats
Salty Sam, who started with A A and
bet it
all the way. Sam says, "How
can I
beat this
game? I start with
pocket rockets, it's
capped before the
flop, I
flop a set, I'm betting
all the way, the
live one stays with
deuce-seven
suited and of course catches
runner-
runner, while I'm just praying to
pair the
board, because I know what's gonna happen when I
see two hearts and him hanging on." Also called
perfect-
perfect.
1
running
running pair
running snow
runt
rush
1. (adj) A
player who wins a
large number of pots in a
short period of
time is said to be
on a rush. Some players feel superstitiously that a rush is an independent entity, and will "
play their rush" or "
bet their rush" after winning a few pots -
play looser and more aggressively, or just be certain to
play out each
hand until the rush ends. Sometimes this isn't such a
bad idea if the other players at the
table are superstitious as well and will
fold.
I was
down about $500 after
two hours of
bad beats, but then I went on a
monster rush and made it all
back in three hands.
3