Poker terms you have made up đŸ€Ș

tuitui

tuitui

Rock Star
Platinum Level
Joined
Nov 8, 2025
Total posts
140
FI
Poker Chips
161
  • #1
I'm rather new in playing poker seriously and I keep running in to new terms constantly . Suddenly some "fish" is "on tilt", another is "donking", a third is "slowplaying" and a fourth is "3-betting"Some sound like they mean something completely different. Maybe that's because english is not my native language.
I've actually made up some poker terms myself and I do find somewhat funny. (Sorry they are not in English and don't translate that well or are a bit of inside jokes) Do you have any self-invented terms?
 
Poker Orifice

Poker Orifice

And Still...
Platinum Level
Joined
Jan 19, 2008
Total posts
28,182
Awards
6
CA
Poker Chips
840
  • #2
donkenschnitzel - This is a donkey from Germany.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Newzooozooo
Dimidrol2

Dimidrol2

Visionary
Platinum Level
Joined
Nov 22, 2022
Total posts
846
Awards
1
BY
Poker Chips
717
  • #3
I have a "fifth card" instead of a river at the beginning. I couldn't remember it for a long time.
 
Propane Goat

Propane Goat

Grinder and paint make me the welder I ain't
Moderator
Joined
Apr 26, 2013
Total posts
9,171
Awards
2
US
Poker Chips
1,328
  • #4
Something I call a "sideswipe," for example you hold :qh4::7c4: and the flop comes :ks4::8d4::2d4:. There are two cards on the flop which are adjacent to your hole cards and in the same direction, both are higher or both are lower.

You"almost" made two pair but actually flopped nothing at all.
 
  • Like
Reactions: monkeytilter
AIMFIRE

AIMFIRE

Rising Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Oct 5, 2025
Total posts
3
ZA
Poker Chips
64
  • #5
So... when bae gets rivered, to avoid an argument, I ask him carefully.. " What's wrong love? Oh no... did you get thingy'd?" LOL
 
  • Wow
Reactions: monkeytilter
puzzlefish

puzzlefish

👆 the guy who's opinion you would trust on this!
Loyaler
Joined
Feb 18, 2018
Total posts
5,740
Awards
3
CA
Poker Chips
338
  • #6
Table f****ing - when the poker site starts repeatedly switching you between tables (to "balance tables") during a critical point of a tournament, with effects such as making you miss several hands, possibly placing you in position to get hit by the big blind twice in short succession, or just putting you at a much worse table such as where you can't get any bounties and are to the right of a much bigger stack.

Rebound - where a player who loses a big pot at showdown goes all in the very next hand with trash and sucks out on a premium hand that calls him, also can happen three hands later

Crush pattern (aka poisoned premiums) - when you win with the stone cold nuts (or folded a hand that would have been the stone cold nuts at showdown), and then are dealt a premium hand the very next hand that loses (gets set mined or outdrawn by another lower hand)

Big blind special - when players limp around to the big blind, who checks, and then outdraws all of them with a completely trash hand that would otherwise have folded if there was any kind of appropriate pre-flop betting action

Big stack special - when a small stack jams all in with aces, but is so short stacked relative to a much bigger stack that they are called and outdrawn by a completely trash hand held by the big stack
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: monkeytilter
Roller

Roller

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Total posts
2,631
Awards
4
US
Poker Chips
713
  • #7
River Rage – that moment when you fold a monster only to see it hit on the river again and again throughout a session
 
Rost

Rost

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Aug 26, 2021
Total posts
1,659
Awards
1
UA
Poker Chips
572
  • #8
tuitui said:
I'm rather new in playing poker seriously and I keep running in to new terms constantly . Suddenly some "fish" is "on tilt", another is "donking", a third is "slowplaying" and a fourth is "3-betting"Some sound like they mean something completely different. Maybe that's because english is not my native language.
I've actually made up some poker terms myself and I do find somewhat funny. (Sorry they are not in English and don't translate that well or are a bit of inside jokes) Do you have any self-invented terms?
No, I don't come up with any terms because I don't see the need for it. But I clearly divide players into donkeys, fish, and those players who play well enough and pose serious competition for me.
 
Shadow6969

Shadow6969

Rock Star
Bronze Level
Joined
Sep 11, 2025
Total posts
286
IN
Poker Chips
226
  • #9
Totally relatable 😄 Poker slang can feel like a different language at first—especially when English isn’t your native one. Words like fish, tilt, or donk sound funny, but once you play more, they actually become useful shortcuts for common situations.
I love the idea of inventing your own terms though. Poker is full of inside jokes and table-specific language, and that’s part of the fun. In my own games, we’ve had things like calling a bad beat a “tax payment,” or saying someone “activated god mode” when they spike a miracle river. Another favorite is “confidence bet” for a bluff that only works because it’s fired with zero hesitation.
Curious to hear yours too—those homemade terms often say more about the game than the official ones 😄
 
Sunz of Beaches

Sunz of Beaches

Sunz Tzu
Platinum Level
Joined
Oct 26, 2019
Total posts
5,913
Awards
2
Poker Chips
2,526
  • #10
"Completely learn resistant drooler"
 
tuitui

tuitui

Rock Star
Platinum Level
Joined
Nov 8, 2025
Total posts
140
FI
Poker Chips
161
  • #11
I have not played poker for very long, but long enough that positions should be crystal clear for me. But I must admit that I don't remember lojack, hijack and cut off (just had to google them), I just call them "somewhere in the middle". I do believe I have some sense about how to play from these positions though.
 
Newzooozooo

Newzooozooo

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Apr 22, 2018
Total posts
3,319
Awards
2
UA
Poker Chips
529
  • #12
Personally, I have a whole zoo in this regard. There are deer, donkeys, moose, hamsters, hedgehogs, and, of course, woodpeckers :)
 
puzzlefish

puzzlefish

👆 the guy who's opinion you would trust on this!
Loyaler
Joined
Feb 18, 2018
Total posts
5,740
Awards
3
CA
Poker Chips
338
  • #13
Big blind special
ID 1767029854
 
puzzlefish

puzzlefish

👆 the guy who's opinion you would trust on this!
Loyaler
Joined
Feb 18, 2018
Total posts
5,740
Awards
3
CA
Poker Chips
338
  • #14
Crush pattern / post nut clarity ID 1767031985ID 1767032042
 
puzzlefish

puzzlefish

👆 the guy who's opinion you would trust on this!
Loyaler
Joined
Feb 18, 2018
Total posts
5,740
Awards
3
CA
Poker Chips
338
  • #15
Teflon Donk
 
Alpha737

Alpha737

Enthusiast
Bronze Level
Joined
Jan 3, 2026
Total posts
32
IN
Poker Chips
23
  • #16
That’s totally normal — poker has its own language, and half of it sounds confusing (or even rude 😄) when you first hear it, especially if English isn’t your first language.
What helped me most was realizing that many terms started as jokes or slang and just stuck over time. Fish, tilt, donk, slowplay, 3-bet — none of them are meant literally, they’re just shorthand for patterns we see again and again at the table.
As for self-invented terms
 yes 😅
I definitely have a few “private” ones I use with friends. For example:
A “confidence call” — when someone clearly shouldn’t call, but does because “it felt right.”
“Gym bluff” — a bluff that looks strong on the outside but has zero strength underneath.
“Ego stack” — chips lost not to bad cards, but to pride.
Those little inside jokes actually help me remember situations and leaks better.
 
Roller

Roller

Legend
Loyaler
Joined
Mar 14, 2009
Total posts
2,631
Awards
4
US
Poker Chips
713
  • #17
Bluff buffet
A session where someone is bluffing so much it’s like an all-you-can-eat spread of deception.
 
dompoker

dompoker

Legend
Platinum Level
Joined
Jul 22, 2019
Total posts
1,129
Awards
2
Poker Chips
678
  • #18
I haven't invented any poker terms, in fact I don't know many words used in games, as you say, perhaps because English is not our mother tongue.
 
Top