Paint Cards

King, Queen and Jack; face cards; court cards; picture cards.

Paints

Face or picture cards (Jack, Queen and King).

Pair

Two cards of the same denomination.

Pass

Fold.

Pat Hand

A hand that is played as dealt, without changing a card; usually a straight, flush or full house.

Pay Off

To call a bet where the bettor is representing a hand that you can't beat, but the pot is sufficiently large to justify a call anyway. Example: 'He played it exactly like he made the flush, but I had top set so I paid him off.'

Pay Station

A player who calls bets and raises much more than is typical; a calling station.

Picked Off

To get called when you are bluffing.

Picture Cards

King, Queen and Jack; face cards; court cards; paint cards.

Pineapple

A variation of Hold'em except players are dealt three hole cards and must discard one.

Pip

The suit symbols on a non-court card, indicating its rank.

Play Back

To raise or re-raise an opponent's bet.

Play Fast

Aggressively betting a drawing hand to get full value for it if you make it.

Play the Board

To show down a hand in hold'em when your cards don't make a hand any better than is shown on the board. For instance, if you have 22, and the board is 4-4-9-9-A (no flush possible), then you must 'play the board'.

Play With

Staying in the hand by betting, calling, raising, or re-raising.

Playing the Board

In flop games, if your best five card hand uses the five community cards.

Pocket Cards

The face down cards dealt to each player at the start of each hand. Also called Hole Cards.

Pocket Rockets

A pair of Aces dealt as hole cards.

Pocket

Your unique cards that only you can see. For instance, 'He had pocket sixes' (a pair of sixes), or 'I had ace-king in the pocket.'

Pocket

Another term for hole.

Position Bet

A bet made relying on the strength of one's position rather than on the strength of one's hand. If no one opens, a player on the button in Texas Hold'em is in good position to steal the pot, due to his position.

Position

Your place at the table, relative to the order of betting within a betting round. The first few players to act are in early position, the next few in middle position, and the last few in late position. There is an advantage to being in late position.

Post Now

This is a choice given to new Players joining a game. They can either post now or wait for the big blind bet. If they decide to post now, they bet the equivalent of a big blind bet and receive cards immediately.

Post

To put in a blind bet, generally required when you first sit down in a cardroom game. You may also be required to post a blind if you change seats at the table in a way that moves you away from the blinds.

Pot Limit

A poker structure in which the maximum bet or raise is the size of the pot. For raises, the size of the pot includes the call, so if the pot is $100 and player A bets $100, player B can throw $400 out for a maximum raise.

Pot Odds

The amount of money in the pot compared to the amount you must put in the pot to continue playing. For example, suppose there is $60 in the pot. Somebody bets $6, so the pot now contains $66. It costs you $6 to call, so your pot odds are 11:1.

Pot

The money gathered in the middle of the table from blinds, bets, and raises. This money goes to the winner, or winners as the case may be. If you have not yet folded, you are 'in the pot.'

Pre-Flop

Before the flop, such as raising pre-flop.

Price

The pot odds you are getting for a draw or call. Example: 'The pot was laying me a high enough price, so I stayed in with my gutshot straight draw.'

Prop

Short for proposition player; similar to a shill, but plays with his own money.

Proposition Player

A cardroom employee who joins a game with his own money when the game is shorthanded, or to get a game started; similar to a shill.

Protect A Hand

To protect a hand is to bet so as to reduce the chances of anyone outdrawing you by getting them to fold.

Protect Your Cards

To protect your cards is to place a chip or some other small object on top of them so that they don't accidentally get mucked by the dealer, mixed with another player's discards, or otherwise become dead when you'd like to play them.

Protect

To induce folding in order to prevent another player from outdrawing you is protecting your hand. This is done by betting and raising so that someone on a draw will fold rather than call to see if their cards come off.

Provider

A player who makes the game profitable for the other players at the table; a nicer term for a fish.

Push

When the hand is finished and a winner is determined, the dealer pushes the chips towards the winner.

Put Down

Fold.

Put Him On

To guess an opponent's hand and play accordingly.

Putting On The Heat

Pressuring your opponents with aggressive betting strategies to get the most value from your hand.

Back to top