Essential Betting Terms

Familiarize yourself with these common poker betting terms and slang and you'll fool everyone into thinking you're a seasoned pro.

Buy-In- The amount of money required to sit down at a game or enter a tournament. It's also just a general term to describe how much money you started at a table with, i.e. "I bought into the game for $50."

Bump — To raise. "Bump it to ten" means raise the total bet to $10.

Family pot — When everyone at the table stays in a hand, it's called a family pot.

Kick it— To raise. If you’re raising a $5 bet by another $5, you’d say, “Kick it up to $10."

Limp — To bet the minimum or simply call. In hold’em, when the little blind simply meets the big blind bet as opposed to raising, the little blind is "limping in."

Post — To put in a bet. Usually this refers to a forced bet, like a blind. If you step away from a game for a break, the dealer might "post" your blind for you.

Stack — Your total chips on the table; your bankroll. If you’ve got fewer chips than most other players at a game, you’re “short stacked.”