See starting hand.
U
| up the ante | Increase the stake. Also commonly used outside the context of poker. | U |
| pot | See pot (poker). | U |
| scare card | A card dealt face up (either to a player in a game such as stud or to the board in a community card game) that appears to create a strong hand for someone. The Jack of spades on the turn was a scare card because it put both flush and straight possibilities on the board. | U |
| to go | A term used to describe the amount that a player is required to call in order to stay in the hand, "Alice was deciding whether to call now it was $50 to go." | U |
| coffee housing | Talking in an attempt to mislead other players about the strength of a hand. For example a player holding A-A as their first two cards might say "lets gamble here", implying a much weaker holding. Coffee housing is considered bad etiquette in the UK, but not in the USA. This is also called speech play. | U |
| check | To fold, in turn, even though there is no bet facing the player. In some games this is considered a breach of etiquette equivalent to folding out of turn. In others it is permitted, but frowned upon. | U |
| dirty stack | A stack of chips apparently of a single denomination, but with one or more chips of another. Usually the result of inattention while stacking a pot, but may also be an intentional deception. | U |
| action button | A marker similar to a kill button, on which a player places an extra forced bet. In a seven-card stud high-low game, the action button is awarded to the winner of a scoop pot above a certain size, signifying that in the next pot, that player will be required to post an amount representing a completion of the bring-in to a full bet. For example, in a stud game with $2 and $4 betting limits and a $1 bring-in, a player with the action button must post $2; after the cards are dealt, the player with the low card must still pay the $1 bring-in, then when the betting reaches the player who posted the $2, he is required to leave it in as a raise of the bring-in (and has the option to raise further). Players in between the bring-in and the action button can just call the bring-in, but they know ahead of time that they will be raised by the action button. | U |
| pay off | To call a bet when you are most likely drawing dead because the pot odds justify the call. | U |
| pocket pair | In community card poker or stud poker, when two of a player's private cards make a pair. Also "wired pair". | U |