Hand
All of the cards you have.
Hole
The cards that are face down. In games like 7 cards stud you have cards face up and face down. These are the one's nobody else see's. Or at least aren't supposed to.
Split the pot
Happens with games where the pot can be split between different players. Like high-low split. The pot is evenly divided between the winners. If there's a remainder then it goes to the person with the high hand. If as in a high-low hand the ones with the same hand split again. For example, two people have high hand and one has low. The one with the low hand will get 50% of the pot. The two people with high hand will each split the other half. Each getting 25% of the total pot.
Wild cards
A card that can be used as any other card. Either as a number or suit. Or both. For the very first card dealt up as in 7 card stud, it's not wild. It's face value. The second card up allows a card to become wild.
For the wild card the dealer can pick. Often that is Duces and One-Eyed Jacks.
Seven card stud
Each player gets seven cards. The deal is two down, four up, and one up. Only five cards are used to determine the hand.
Five card draw
Dealt five cards. You can throw off three cards. Usually bet after the cards are dealt then again after more cards are given.
Jacks or better
Must have a pair of Jacks or a higher hand to start the betting. Anyone can bet after that regardless of their hand. The person who opened the bet must show their hand once the game is over.
Progressive
A variation of Jacks or better. If no one had a pair of Jacks then it goes up to Queens. Then to Kings. Then back to Jacks again. If no one has the needed hand (Jacks, Queens, Kings) then everyone folds and the cards re-dealt. The deal then moves to the left until someone has Jacks or better.
Open on your nerve
Opposite of Jacks or better. You can open with any hand you want.
The wheel
Considered a low hand in the casinos for those games that have low hands. It's Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5. For us this is a straight so it isn't low.
Round
Cards are dealt then bet. Rounds move around to the left.
Betting
Usually done after each round. Or for each card as in 3-card-monty. It depends on the game. Going around the left, it's the first high hand showing. Bet's continue around the left with each player either matching the bet, raising it, or folding. When all is done everyone should have bet the same amount. When only one card is showing it goes by its face value. Wild cards are considered face value for the first round in Seven card stud type games. The bet is a minimum of 5 but the maximum is usually 25. Go in increments of 5.
Folding
Quiting a game. When a player can't, or doesn't want to match the bet, he folds. His entire hand is put face down. Any money he has put in so far is forfeited. The bet goes back to the person who last called/made a bet.
Ante
The amount to put in, or bet, to start a new game. The dealer pays for all.
Low ball/low hand
A bad hand. Ace's can be low as in Ace, 2, 3, 4, 6. To determine who bets during a round you still go by the high hand and Ace's are high. When determining who won the game, compare the highest card of each player, with Aces low, and work down in case players have similar cards. The player whose highest is the lowest compared to others is the winner.
Progressive Wild
When doing Jacks or better, and Progressive with wild cards, the wild card progresses as well. Start with two then go up in subsequent hands.
Draw versus Stud
Draw means no cards are showing (face up) and you throw off the cards you don't want then draw an equal number of cards from the dealer. Stud is when cards are also dealt face up so you get an equal number of cards.
Dead Man's Hand
Black Aces and Black Eights. The fifth card is up for speculation since it was face down. These were the cards reportedly held by Old West lawman and gunfighter, Wild Bill Hickok, when he was murdered on August 2, 1876, in a saloon in the town of Deadwood, Dakota Territory.
Suicide King
This is the King of Hearts. It appears the king is putting his sword through his head. Some people disagree in that maybe he's raising his sword to strike but due to the size of the card it's hard to tell.
Roll Your Own
This is a variant of Seven Card Stud. The way this options works is that players are allowed to select which cards they will show the other players at the table while at the same time leaving three cards face down and the other four cards face up. Each player is dealt three cards then each player decides which card will be turned face up. Bet as usual. Deal the next card face down and let the players decide which will be turned face up. At the end of the game each player will have three cards down and four up.
A variant of this is that only the third card is dealt face down. The next three cards are dealt face up as usual in Seven Card Stud.
Low Hole Wild
Low Hole Wild means your lowest hole card, and all other similar ranked cards, can be used as wild cards.
Community Cards
These are cards that shared among all players and are usually dealt on the table as in Four By Four with the extra hand.
Showdown
This is the end of the game when you figure out who won and who lost. This is determining your hand like for Seven Card Stud.
One-Eyed Jacks
These are the Jack of Spades and the Jack of Hearts. You are only able to see one of their eyes unlike the other two (Jack of Clubs and Jack of Diamonds) where both of their eyes are showing.
Jokers
The Jokers are extra cards in the standard 52 card deck. Some games like Euchre use them. Or they can be used to replace lost or torn cards. They can also be used as wild cards. In the poker games we play they are not used.