While not universally true, players who like to gloat after winning a pot are normally significant, longterm, weak-tight losers. Someone who regularly wins doesn't need to draw attention to that fact. Someone who is seldom a significant winner and needs to draw attention to that fact will be insecure as well as weak-playing. Gloaters are much easier to bluff after they begin to gloat, because they hate to now seem like a loser. They don't mind folding on the flop, or on the turn when an overcard hits, because they can pretend they got sucked out on. What they hate to do is be beaten on the river by an opponent with a superior hand. Gloaters can go on mega-tilt if they start losing after gloating, but more often they tighten up and enjoy their moment. They don't get them very often.
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| shoe | A slanted container used to hold the cards yet to be dealt, usually used by casinos or in professional poker tournaments. | U |
| up | When used with a card rank to describe a poker hand, refers to two pair with the named card being the higher pair. For example, a hand of QQ885 might be called "queens up". | U |
| insurance | A "business" deal in which players agree to split or reduce a pot (roughly in proportion to the chances of each of them winning) with more cards to come rather than playing out the hand, or else a deal where one player makes a side bet against himself with a third party to hedge against a large loss. | U |
| back in | To enter a pot by checking and then calling someone else's open on the first betting round. Usually used in games like Jackpots, meaning to enter without openers. | U |
| string bet | A call with one motion and a later raise with another, or a reach for more chips without stating the intended amount. String bets are prohibited in public cardroom rules. Compare to "forward motion". A player can (and should) defend himself against string bet complaints by declaring his intention before moving any chips. Note that the "I call, and raise..." cliche is a string bet. | U |
| window card | An upcard in stud poker. The first window card in stud is called the "door card". In Texas hold'em and Omaha, the window card is the first card shown when the dealer puts out the three cards for the flop. | U |
| post dead | To post a bet amount equal to the small and the big blind combined (the amount of the large blind playing as a live blind, and the amount of the small blind as dead money). In games played with blinds, a player who steps away from the table and misses his turn for the blinds must either post dead or wait for the big blind to re-enter the game. Compare to "dead blind". | U |
| spread | The range between a table's minimum and maximum bets. | U |
| tell | A tell in poker is a detectable change in a player's behavior or demeanor that gives clues to that player's assessment of his hand. A player gains an advantage if he observes and understands the meaning of another player's tell, particularly if the tell is unconscious and reliable. Sometimes a player may fake a tell, hoping to induce his opponents to make poor judgments in response to the false tell. See tell (poker). | U |
| pot | See pot (poker). | U |