New Poker Terms

The next edition of The Official Dictionary of Poker will contain literally hundreds of new terms that do not appear in the current edition. Here's a preview of a few of those terms, some of which will be familiar to most of you, some of which will be new to most of you, and some of which will be familiar to only a few of you.



Fancy Play Syndrome, a term invented by Mike Caro, means choosing unusual tactics too frequently when the more obvious choices would work better. The term often implies that a player goes out of his way to impress opponents by using unexpected strategies that actually cost him profits through overuse. Such moves are particularly wasted in low-limit games in which players generally aren't even paying attention. It's often shortened to FPS.



The term skin has several meanings, all in the present dictionary. One more is one member of an online casino group, each member of which is closely aligned with the others, all using the same software and, in the case of online poker rooms, having member players from different skins competing on the same virtual tables with each other. Skins are basically different views into the main casino.



Rotation game is defined as a game or tournament format in which several different games are played in rotation, usually either half an hour of each or one round of each. Examples include H.O.R.S.E. and H.O.S.E. What I've added is that it is also called mixed game.


Table: 1. (n) A poker table. 2. Any surface on which players play poker (such as a kitchen table). 3. A complete poker game, players and all. "Seat open on table four." 4. Figuratively, the players in a particular game. "The table took a break." "Half the table was in every pot." 5. The figurative representation of one's participation in a game, as in a phrase like, "How many chips does he have on the table?" 6. The board, that is, the upcards of all players.



These two terms are new:



Sit Out: (v phrase) 1. Not play one or more hands. "You want a hand?" "I'm going to sit out." "He sat out one round." 2. In an online cardroom, click a button that causes you not to be dealt in.



Sit-Out Sign: (n phrase) In an online cardroom, an indication, often in the form of the words "sitting out" at your seat, that you are sitting out. "As soon as the live one left, they all put up the sit-out sign."



Here are two opposites that certainly warranted inclusion:



Maniac: (n) A player who bets, raises, and reraises without regard to the quality of his hand; someone to whom getting in the last bet is a matter of pride. Such a player is most often found in flop games.



Supertight Player: (n) A player who is extremely tight; that is, rarely takes any risks, rarely initiates the betting, and usually can be counted on to have the best possible hand for the situation.



Here is a new one that belongs in the book. I've heard it a lot lately attendant with the rise of the new, aggressive style of big-bet poker:



Intimidation Factor: (n phrase) An element of your image such that players are afraid to bet into or raise you because of your aggressive tendency to raise or reraise.



I found this one in my research for The Ultimate Casino Guide:



Póker Sintetico: (n phrase) A variant of hold'em, generally found in Spain, in which each player starts with two downcards, followed by a round of betting, and five cards are dealt to the center of the table, one at a time, each followed by a round of betting. At the end, both holecards must be used in combination with three of the community cards to form the best five-card hand.



This is new, the practice not having been around in cardrooms all that long:



Deal Twice: (v phrase) Deal cards a second time with players using the same starting cards. For example, if two players are competing for a hand in which no more chips can be bet, they may agree to play the hand out two times while using their same hands, at whatever stage the hand currently is in, but drawing fresh cards for each hand with half the pot being allocated to the winner of each deal. They might agree after the turn in hold'em, say, and then one river card would be dealt, the card would be replaced in the deck, the deck would be shuffled, and then another river card would be dealt. (Sometimes the card or cards involved are not replaced in the deck.) Players do this to reduce risk or variance. It's sometimes called run twice.



The word play has had two new meanings added:



Play: 1. (n) A bluff. "He got caught making a play.2. Playing a hand in a nonstandard manner, not necessarily a bluff. 3. An attempt, often spectacular or by a large or desperation bet, to win a pot. "When everyone passed, he made a play for the pot." 4. A playing session. 5. Description of action. "The game had plenty of play." 6. Description of the ability to maneuver in a tournament or a blind structure that allows skill to have greater sway than luck. "The main event of the World Series of Poker has plenty of play. Players start with $10,000 in chips and the blinds in the first round are $25-$50."

Michael Wiesenberg's The Ultimate Casino Guide, published by Sourcebooks, is available at fine bookstores and at Amazon.com and other online book purveyors. E-mail: [email protected].