C

Call v.  Matching, but not raising, previous bets.  This allows a player to stay in the hand.  Contrast fold, raise.

Call down v.  Calling another player, often repeatedly, to guard against a bluff or otherwise weak hand.  Done when a person feels too weak to raise, but too strong to fold.  Rita called Joe down with a pair of fours.

Calling station n.  Passive player who calls constantly with weak hands, and often calls when he should raise.  The weakest style of play there is, because it not only leaks money, it fails to capitalize on strong hands.  Aka loose passive.

Card rankings n.  The thirteen different cards have hierarchical values.  From strongest two weakest: ace, king, queen, jack, ten, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2.  The ace can also count as a one for the purpose of making a low straight: ace 2, 3 ,4, 5.

Cap v.  Making the final permissible bet in a limit game.  Limit games are often restricted to three raises per round.  I had two aces, so I capped it. 

Cards break even v.  Aphorism meaning that in the long run, everyone gets the same cards.  A good player may be losing and an idiot taking every pot, but eventually, the cards will even out and bring justice.  Repeat it to yourself after someone sucks out, rather than criticize and smarten them up.

Cards speak v.  Common rule that the actual cards, not verbal declarations, determine wins.

Case adj.  The last of something.  "Wow, there are three aces on the board.  Who might hold the case ace?"

Cash game n. The familiar type of game using either currency, or poker chips exchanged for currency.  You can quit anytime and walk away with whatever you have.  Not a tournament; the currency/chips are face value.  Aka ring game.

Cash out v., n.  Exiting a game and exchanging chips for currency.  "How much was your cashout?"

Catch v.  Receiving a desired card.  He caught his ace on the river.  Also spike.

Caught speeding v.  When a bluff is exposed by a call.

Change list n.  Names of individuals requesting a table change at a commercial card room.

Charge v.  Extract a price for staying in a hand.  If you have strong cards, it is important to charge players to continue.  If they are not charged, they can chase unlikely draws without penalty.  See pot odds and infinite odds.

Chase v.  Pursuing unlikely draws. 

Check v.  Not betting, aka pass.  Possible only if no one has bet before you.  If someone has bet out, you must either call, raise, or fold.   Note that before the flop, checking is not an option, because the blinds constitute an initial bet.

Check call v.  Declining to bet, but calling if someone else does.

Check fold v.  A check, with the intention of folding if anyone bets.

Check raise v., n.  First checking, then raising anyone who bets after you.  A powerful show of strength.  The risk is that the whole table may check.

Check to the raiser vp.  If a player shows strength by raising, the tendency next betting round is for players acting before him to check, because they do not want to get reraised. 

Checks n.  Less common term for chips.

Chop v.  Agreeing to prorate a pot and split it.  Chop the blinds.  If the whole table folds, the blinds (if the house permits) can each take back their checks without showing hands.  At the end of a tournament, the final two players might agree to chop the prize money in a ratio according to the size of their stacks.

Cinch adj.  A sure, or nearly sure win. A cinch hand.  Similar: a lock.

Clean outs np.  The cards remaining in a deck that make a winning hand, not second best.  The cards that complete an an 8-high flush could easily give someone else a better flush, so those 9 flush outs are not clean.  There are endless similar situations.  Tainted outs require better pot odds than usual.  Another way to adjust is to discount the outs — simply calculate pot odds assuming fewer outs than you technically have.  Clean outs are the opposite of tainted.

Cling v.  Hanging around in hands you shouldn't, always hoping to get lucky.

Coffee housing v.  Verbally misleading, baiting, or confusing opponents.  A conspicuous act.

Cold call v.  Calling a pot that has been raised and then reraised ahead of you.  Requires a good hand.

Collusion n.  Communication between players in order to cheat.  See whipsaw. 

Color up v.  Exchanging low denomination chips for high.  This reduces the pile you have to carry, keeps the table supplied with plenty of chips, and allows the house to ascertain how you did.  Commonly done when players leave a table.

Come alive v.  Suddenly betting after passively checking and calling.  Danger! Danger!

Come bet n.  A bet made on the come.

Come out n.  To enter a pot.   When it was his turn, Abdul came out raising.

Come over the top v.  To raise a raise, especially making a large reraise in big bet poker.  Jennie made a small raise, Chuck came over the top and put her all in.

Come in for a raise v.  To enter a hand by raising, rather than checking or calling.

Community cards n.  Aka the board.  In hold'em, the cards dealt face up and used by everyone to form hands.  Players combine community cards with their personal hole cards to create the best possible five card poker hand.  Different people can use the same board cards, they do not get used up.  In hold'em, a complete board is composed of five cards: three dealt on the flop, then one each on the turn and river.  

Community pot n.  See family pot.

Complete v.  When the small blind calls with half a bet.  The person in this position has already put in half a bet in the form of the blind, so calling requires only another half bet.  He completes the bet (assuming no raises). 

Concealed pair n.  Aka pocket pair.

Connect v.  Receiving cards that help.  Beth really connected with the flop that time.

Connectors n.  Cards close enough together to make a straight, such as T,9.  Fred held suited connectors.  Connectors can have up to three gaps: the hand 5,9 is a three-gap connector.  Multi-gap connectors are unlikely to hit.  Contrast disconnectors.

Coordinated adj.  The board is coordinated when the cards fit together to create many possibilities.  The board JQ988 is highly coordinated, potentially giving players straights, flushes, trips and full houses.

Counterfeited v.  A hand undermined.  In the following scenario, player X has AK, and player Y has QJ.  The board is AQJ, giving a pair of aces to player X and two pair to Y, who leads.  The last two cards to fall are 4,4.  The board has counterfeited player Y's hand, and he loses.  Player X has a higher two-pair!  AA 44, compared to QQ JJ.  See up.  Easy to miss -- either that your two pair has been counterfeited, or that your single pair has been strengthened.

Court card n.  Face card.

Crack v.  To get beat.  My kings keep getting cracked.

Crippled adj.  A deck is crippled if key cards are out, making action unlikely.  If you hold AA, and the board has another ace, it is less likely for anyone to have the final ace.  Fearing the scary ace on the board, no one will bet hard against your wonderful hand. 

Crying call n.  Calling when you expect to be beat, but need to stay anyway, either because of pot odds or the possibility of a bluff.

Cut the cards v.  Procedure for determining who deals.  Players draw from the deck, or cut a portion and turn it up (a la cutting the deck), and high card wins.  Also: cut the deck.

Cut the deck v.  Final step of a shuffle.  The dealer places the deck in front of the player to the right.  The player cuts the deck by taking off a top portion of the cards and setting it down.  The dealer then places what was the bottom of the stack up on top.  An anti-cheating procedure, not always practiced so formally. 

Cutoff n.  Seat to immediate right of the dealer.  The second-to-last to act in a hand, therefore very good position.

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