Poker has a lot of slang. These are the terms that come up most at a home game, grouped by topic. Each one lists the Chinese term players actually use, so mixed-language tables can understand each other.
All terms
The game
| Term |
中文 |
Meaning |
| Texas Hold'em (Hold'em, NLH) |
德州扑克 |
The most popular poker game: two private cards each, five shared cards, best five-card hand wins. |
| Omaha (PLO) (Pot-Limit Omaha) |
奥马哈（PLO） |
Like Hold'em but with four private cards; you must use exactly two of them plus exactly three from the board. Usually played pot-limit. |
| Hand |
一手牌 |
Either one deal from shuffle to pot, or the five cards a player ends up with. Context tells you which. |
| Hole cards (pocket cards) |
手牌 |
The cards dealt face down to you alone. |
| Board (community cards) |
公共牌 |
The face-up shared cards in the middle that everyone can use. |
| Preflop |
翻牌前 |
The first betting round, after hole cards are dealt and before any board cards. |
| Flop |
翻牌 |
The first three board cards, dealt together, and the betting round that follows. |
| Turn |
转牌 |
The fourth board card and its betting round. |
| River |
河牌 |
The fifth and last board card and the final betting round. |
| Pot |
底池 |
All chips put in during the current hand. The winner (or winners) take it. |
| Side pot |
边池 |
A separate pot built from chips an all-in player can't match. Only players who put chips into it can win it. |
| Main pot |
主池 |
The pot every player still in the hand, including the shortest all-in, can win. |
| Showdown |
摊牌 |
After the last betting round, remaining players reveal their cards and the best hand wins. |
| Split pot (chop) |
平分底池 |
Two or more players tie for the best hand and share the pot equally. |
Actions
| Term |
中文 |
Meaning |
| Check |
过牌 |
Pass the action without putting chips in. Only allowed when nobody has bet this round. |
| Bet |
下注 |
Put the first chips into a betting round. |
| Call |
跟注 |
Match the current bet to stay in the hand. |
| Raise |
加注 |
Increase the current bet. Others must match the new amount to continue. |
| 3-bet (re-raise) |
3-bet |
The first re-raise. Preflop the big blind counts as the first bet, so the first raise is the 2-bet. |
| Fold |
弃牌 |
Give up your cards and any claim to the pot. |
| All-in (shove) |
全下 |
Put every chip you have in front of you into the pot. |
| Limp |
平跟 |
Just call the big blind preflop instead of raising. |
| Check-raise |
过牌加注 |
Check first, then raise after someone bets in the same round. |
| Minimum raise |
最小加注 |
In no-limit and pot-limit, a raise must be at least as large as the previous bet or raise in that round. |
| Muck |
盖牌 |
Throw your cards away face down, or the pile of discarded cards itself. |
| String bet |
分次下注 |
Putting chips in with more than one forward motion without announcing first. Usually ruled a call. |
Hands
| Term |
中文 |
Meaning |
| Royal flush |
皇家同花顺 |
A-K-Q-J-10 all of one suit. The best possible hand. |
| Straight flush |
同花顺 |
Five cards in a row, all of one suit. |
| Four of a kind (quads) |
四条 |
Four cards of the same rank. |
| Full house (boat) |
葫芦 |
Three of a kind plus a pair. |
| Flush |
同花 |
Any five cards of one suit. |
| Straight |
顺子 |
Five cards in a row of mixed suits. The ace can be high (10-J-Q-K-A) or low (A-2-3-4-5). |
| Three of a kind |
三条 |
Three cards of the same rank. In Hold'em, a set or trips. |
| Two pair |
两对 |
Two different pairs plus one other card. |
| One pair |
一对 |
Two cards of the same rank plus three unrelated cards. |
| High card |
高牌 |
No pair or better. The highest card decides, then the next, and so on. |
| Kicker |
踢脚 |
A side card that breaks ties between hands of the same type, e.g. the K in A-A-K. |
| Pocket pair |
口袋对子 |
Hole cards of the same rank, like 8♠ 8♥. |
| Suited / offsuit |
同花 / 杂色 |
Hole cards of the same suit (written “s”, e.g. AKs) or of different suits (“o”, e.g. AKo). |
| Suited connectors |
同花连张 |
Two consecutive cards of one suit, like 8♥ 7♥. |
| Set |
暗三 |
Three of a kind made with a pocket pair plus one matching board card. |
| Trips |
明三 |
Three of a kind made with one hole card plus a pair on the board. |
| Top pair / overpair |
顶对 / 超对 |
Top pair: pairing the highest board card. Overpair: a pocket pair higher than every board card. |
| The nuts |
坚果牌 |
The best possible hand given the current board. |
Table & positions
| Term |
中文 |
Meaning |
| Button (dealer button, BTN) |
庄位 |
The disc marking the nominal dealer. It moves one seat left every hand and acts last after the flop. |
| Small blind (SB) |
小盲 |
The forced bet posted by the player directly left of the button, usually half the big blind. |
| Big blind (BB) |
大盲 |
The larger forced bet, two seats left of the button. Sets the minimum bet for the hand. |
| Ante |
前注 |
A small forced contribution before the deal. Paid by everyone, or all at once by the big blind (big blind ante). |
| Straddle |
抓头 |
An optional blind, usually twice the big blind, posted before the deal by the player left of the big blind. They act last preflop. |
| Bomb pot |
炸弹底池 |
A house-rule hand where everyone puts in an agreed amount, preflop betting is skipped and the flop is dealt straight away. |
| Under the gun (UTG) |
枪口位 |
The seat left of the big blind, first to act preflop. |
| Cutoff (CO) |
关煞位 |
The seat directly right of the button. |
| Position |
位置 |
Where you act relative to others. Acting later (“in position”) means you see what others do first. |
| Heads-up |
单挑 |
Only two players, either in a hand or left at the table. |
| Burn card |
烧牌 |
The top card discarded face down before the flop, the turn and the river, so nobody gains from a marked or glimpsed card. |
| Misdeal |
误发 |
A deal that has to be redone, e.g. the first or second card is exposed or someone got the wrong number of cards. |
Odds & strategy
| Term |
中文 |
Meaning |
| Outs |
补牌 |
Unseen cards that would improve your hand to one that is probably best. |
| Draw |
听牌 |
A hand that isn't made yet but can become strong, like four cards to a flush. |
| Open-ended / gutshot |
两头顺 / 卡顺 |
Straight draws: open-ended needs one of two ranks (8 outs), a gutshot needs one rank in the middle (4 outs). |
| Pot odds |
底池赔率 |
The price of a call compared with what you can win: call ÷ (pot after your call). |
| Equity |
胜率 |
Your share of the pot if all cards were dealt out from here — your chance to win, counting ties as half. |
| Run it twice |
发两次 |
When players are all-in, deal the remaining board twice and split the pot between the two results. Needs everyone's agreement. |
| Tilt |
上头 |
Playing worse because you are upset, usually after a bad beat. |
| Bad beat |
被反超 |
Losing a hand you were a big favourite to win. |
Tournaments
| Term |
中文 |
Meaning |
| Blind level |
盲注级别 |
A fixed period in a tournament with set blinds; blinds rise at each new level. |
| Freezeout |
不可重购赛 |
A tournament with no rebuys: once your chips are gone, you're out. |
| Re-entry / add-on |
重新参赛 / 加码 |
Re-entry: buy back in with a fresh stack after busting, until a set level. Add-on: an optional extra stack at the end of that period. |
| Colour up |
换大码 |
Swap the smallest chips for larger ones once the blinds no longer need them; odd leftovers go by a chip race. |
| Bubble |
泡沫 |
The last finishing place before the places that get a share of the prizes. |
Hosting & settling
| Term |
中文 |
Meaning |
| Buy-in |
买入 |
The fixed chip stack a player takes when they sit down. In Poker Night each buy-in is one “Buy-in size” worth of chips. |
| Rebuy |
补码 |
Taking another buy-in during the night. In Poker Night, tap + on the player's buy-ins. |
| Stack (chip count) |
筹码量 |
The chips in front of a player right now. |
| Cash game (ring game) |
现金局 |
A format where blinds stay fixed, players can come, go and rebuy, and chips keep the value set by the buy-in. |
| Tournament (MTT, sit-and-go) |
锦标赛 |
Everyone starts with the same stack, blinds rise on a clock, and play goes on until one player has all the chips. |
| House rules |
房规 |
The rules your group agrees on for things standard rules leave open: straddles, run it twice, rebuy limits and so on. |
| Net (P&L) |
净码 |
In Poker Night: chips at the end minus buy-ins × buy-in size. Positive means up, negative means down. |
| Balanced / Off by |
账平 / 账不平 |
Poker Night's check that every player's net adds up to zero. “Off by N” means the chip counts don't match what was bought in. |
| Direct settle |
直接互转 |
Poker Night's default settle mode: players who are down pay players who are up directly, in as few transfers as possible. |
| Banker |
一人代收代付 |
Poker Night's settle mode where one person collects from everyone who is down and pays everyone who is up. |
| Charge |
费用 |
A shared cost such as food, a tip or chip rental, recorded in Poker Night and split among chosen players. |
| Leave table (cash out) |
下桌 |
A player stops for the night. Poker Night records their final chips and keeps them in the balance check. |
| Hit and run |
赢了就走 |
Leaving right after a big win. Allowed, but agree a leaving etiquette in advance so it doesn't sour the night. |
| Slow roll |
慢亮 |
Deliberately taking your time to show a winning hand at showdown. The most disliked habit in poker. |
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