Slow play
Playing a strong hand in a way that suggests you have a weak hand. sandbagging and check-raising are forms of slow play.
The term slow plays often refers to checking and calling on the flop, intending to bet and raise on the turn, when the bet size increases.
Slowroll
On the river, waiting until everyone else involved in the showdown has turned over their cards before showing yours, even when you think you have the best hand. This is considered bad etiquette by some.
Speculative hand
Speculative hands are a group of hands that aren’t immediately the best hand but are getting sufficient odds for a pre-flop call if four to five other players are active in the pot.
Spread-limit
A betting structure that allows any bet size within a specified range.
Stake-player
A stake-player is a player who has a financial backer.
This is very common in poker tournaments, where one backer will stake more than one player in return for a percentage of their winnings.(See also prop-player and shill.)
Steal-raise
On the pre-flop round of betting, when everyone has checked, an open raise from late position that hopes to make everyone fold and win the blinds.
Stone killer
An extremely tight-aggressive player.
Straddle
A straddle is a voluntary extra blind. Unlike a kill, it does not raise the limits. It ’s just a blind raise within the nominal limits.
Structured limits
A betting structure that specifies a bet size at each betting round.
Tell
An involuntary action that gives observers a clue as to the cards you are holding.
Tight-aggressive player
A player who plays few hands, but when he does play he plays very aggressively, betting and raising often.
Tilt (going on tilt)
A psychological state where you’re playing very badly. The term is borrowed from pinball.
Turn
The fourth card placed on the board as a community card.
The betting round after the turn is usually at a bet size double the size of the bets on the previous round. The previous round is the flop round.
Under the Gun
The first player to act.
Underdog
An underdog has the pot odds against him.
Underpair
A pocket pair smaller in rank than the highest card on the flop.
UTG
See under the gun.
Value bet
On the river, a bet that should win if called.
