Satellite

Tournaments that allow you to qualify for other, bigger tournaments. Also called Qualifier.

SB

Short for Small Blind.

Scare Card

A Community Card that possibly transforms your potential winning hand into a losing hand. For example: You have Ts8s and the Flop shows QhJh9d - currently you have a great, winning hand with your Straight. The Turn brings Th and all of a sudden your hand could bring you much grief because anyone with AK or Kx has a higher Straight than you. And now there's always the chance that someone has a Flush or at least a Flush Draw. So Th has been a Scare Card for you.

Second Pair

If you can form a Pair with one of your Hole Cards and the card of the Flop that is neither the high nor the low card. For example: Your Pocket Cards consist of K8 and the Flop shows Q84 - you now hold 88, the Second Pair. While better than nothing this can be dangerous for players new to poker as they tend to overplay this hand. Another expression used is Middle Pair. Also see Bottom Pair and Top Pair.

Sell

A Bluff in which a player tries to Sell his hand as a weaker hand than it actually is. For example a Check or small bet will be used to entice other players to stay in the game rather than Fold, thus enabling the player who attempts the Sell to extract some more money from them.

Semi-Bluff

If your hand is too good for a Bluff and to bad for a legitimate bet or Raise you may want to do a Semi-Bluff. For example you hold KhDh and the Flop shows JsTh3d - if you bet now you would Semi-Bluff as you probably don't hold the best hand at the moment but have a good chance of getting a Straight or maybe even a Flush, or at least a Pair. Sometimes after a Semi-Bluff you will not be sure whether you'd want your opponent to Fold or Call. When you mae a real Bluff you will always want your opponent to Fold.

Set

Three of a Kind combined of your Hole Cards and one Community Card.

Seven Card Stud

A poker variant where every player will receive 7 cards. The first two of them are dealt face down, the following four will be visible for all players and the final card will be dealt face down again.

Shark

A very good poker player who tries to maximise his winnings. For this purpose he will also often be on the look-out for Fishes begging to give him all their chips.

Short Handed

A poker game with only a few players at the table (usually 5 or less).

Short Stack

Denotes a Stack which is considerably small in regards to the current Blinds at the table. Experienced players adjust their playing style according to the size of their Stack. See our M-Calculator for more background information.

Showdown

If after the last betting round there are two or more players left, it is called a Showdown because in this case at least one player has to show his cards in order to win the Pot.

Side Pot

If a player with a smaller chip stack than the remaining players goes All-In, the other players will be able to go on betting with each other. In that case the Pot will be divided into a Main Pot and a Side Pot. The Main Pot is made up of the chips up to the All-In by the player with the smallest chip stack while the Side Pot contains the chips that are being used by the remaining players after that.

Single Table Tournament

A tournament played on a single table. Usually this will be a Sit & Go tournament while scheduled tournaments will be Multi Table Tournaments.

Sit & Go

A tournament variant that doesn't start at a scheduled time but as soon as the table is full. Sit & Go tournaments usually will be played by 6 or 10 players with the best 2 or 3 being paid out.

Slow Play

Trying to conceal a good hand can be accomplished with Slow Play. For example: You hold 88 in your HoleCards, the Flop shows 883. You have a Quad at the Flop! If you place a big bet now, all the other players will likey drop out. So you rather Check and hope that someone else places a bet or at least the action gets started at Turn or River.

Small Bet

At Fixed Limit games this is the lowest possible Bet or Raise. In a $5/$10 Fixed Limit Game the Small Bet would be $5. Also see Big Bet.

Small Blind

Auch kleiner Blind genannt, wird oft mit SB abgekürzt; der Einsatz, den der Spieler direkt links vom Dealer vor dem Austeilen der Karten tätigen muß. Bei $5/$10 Spielen wären dies $5. Siehe auch Big Blind.

Split Pot

If a Showdown ends in a tie with both players showing a hand of the same value it will result in a Split Pot where both players will get the same amount of the Pot.

Spread Limit

A betting structure that allows any kind of bet or Raise in a defined spread. A Spread Limit of $1-$5 would allow any bet in that range.

Stack

The amount of chips that a player has at the table.

Starting Stack

The amount of chips that a player has at his disposal at the start of a tournament.

Steal Raise

A Raise with the purpose of stealing the Pot in an attempt of forcing the other players to Fold. Usually will be attempted in a Late Position if the players before only Limped into the Pot.

Straight

A hand of 5 cards whose ranks follow directly the rank of the prior card. For example: 56789, 89TJQ,...

Straight Flush

A Straight of one colour.

Stud Game

Generally describes poker variants where some of the cards are being dealt face down.

Suited

Denotes cards of the same colour. Often you will see an "s" when reading card combinations. For example: KhJh are Suited and will also often be displayed as KJs.

Suited Connectors

Connectors of the same colour (KQs, 54s, T9s,...).

Spades

One of the four colours Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades.

Straight Draw

A special form of the Draw. A Straight Draw denotes a hand that has the chance of being completed for a Straight on the Turn or the River.