A shootout in poker is a fun tournament variant where every table starts with 9 players, not stopping until only 1 player remains. Then the winners combine into tables, and only the winner from each table advances.    One of the most popular Shootout tournaments takes place in Las Vegas every summer, with the WSOP…

A Steel Wheel is an Ace-to-Five Straight Flush. 

SNGs (short for Sit and Gos or Sit’n Gos) are poker tournaments begin as soon as the required number of players has registered. Single table sit and go’s are the most common. For example, a nine-player Sit and Go doesn’t start at a particular scheduled time; it will start as soon as nine players are…

The Sucker (also known as the Mark or the Spot) is the player at a poker table who attracts much attention, largely due to his/her inexperience and lack of skill. The term is commonly used when good players are determining a good table to play at.  “Listen, here’s the thing. If you can’t spot the…

The Spot (also known as the Mark or the Sucker) is the player at a poker table who attracts much attention, largely due to his/her inexperience and lack of skill. The term is commonly used when good players are determining a good table to play at.  “There are a couple great spots at the $2/$5…

The term “Suck-Out” is commonly used when a player has very little equity in an hand but happens to get lucky and beat a much stronger hand. Also sometimes referred to as a Bad Beat.  Example: Clarence has AA and the flop is A56. He goes all-in and his opponent Randy calls. Randy flips over…

SPR stands for Stack-to-Pot Ratio, which is the ratio of the shortest stack in the hand (aka the effective stack) divided by the pot on any given street. For example, if the pot is $10 and the effective stack is $100, the SPR is 10 (100/10). Want to learn the strategic value of SPR? Read…

SRP stands for Single Raised Pot, which occurs when one player raises and all other players that remain in the hand just call (as opposed to re-raising). For example, if the actions folds to you on the button in a $1/$2 No Limit Hold’em game, you raise to $10 and the big blind calls, you’re…

Snap refers to the action of taking very little time before making a decision. “Mike went all-in on the river and I snap-called.”

Set over set is a situation in which two different players both have a set (aka three-of-a-kind) in a given hand. For example, if you hold 5♦ 5♣, your opponent has 2♣ 2♥, and the board runs out 5♠ 2♠ A♥ J♥ 7♣ you’re on the winning end of a set over set situation.

A hand that has a reasonable chance of winning in a showdown on a given board has showdown value. For example, if the board runs out J♦ 2♦ 3♣ 7♠ 2♠, hands like 7♣ 6♣ and A♥ Q♥ and have showdown value, as this board doesn’t have any possible flushes or straights, and a pair…

A card that’s dealt in a particular betting round, in many poker variants, is called a street. For example, in Texas Hold’em and Omaha, the community cards are referred to as the flop, turn and river, with the turn and river sometimes referred to as Fourth Street and Fifth Street. In Seven Card Stud, the…

Small Ball is a poker strategy, usually applied to tournaments, which involves keeping pots small and frequently calling instead of raising, in order to avoid potentially getting eliminated. For example, if playing a small-ball strategy, you might call vs a 4-bet (instead of 5-betting) with a hand like AK, in order to avoid an all-in…

A swap is an agreement between players in the same tournament, in which the players swap a percentage of each other’s winnings in the event. For example, suppose Doug and Ryan agree to a 10 percent swap in the WSOP Main Event. Doug cashes for $50,000 and Ryan cashes for $100,000, so Ryan owes Doug…

Set mining is the act of calling a preflop raise with a pocket pair with the sole objective of flopping a set. For example, if you’re set mining with pocket twos, you’re raising/calling with 22 with the sole aim of hitting a 2 on the flop. Want to learn the strategic value of set mining?…

In draw poker games, to stand pat is to not discard any of your cards, keeping your current hand intact. “I had a flush in my five-card draw game, so I stood pat.”