Kara Mills | December 29, 2023 | Updated on: September 9th, 2024
Without reading our video poker glossary it would be silly to think that you can play the game. Let’s be honest, playing a game without knowing the lingo can make you look like a fool. Moreover, you don’t get to fully understand and enjoy the game.
We have created this guide to include the essential terms of the casino game. Beginners will definitely benefit from knowing the definition of video poker terminologies. If you’ve already played the game, it won’t hurt to run through this video poker glossary.
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Video Poker Glossary
- Action – This is the amount you wager on a video poker machine
- Ace High – When a player has an ace but no pairs or better card
- Aces and Eights – A higher payout is awarded to a player in this video poker variation for four of a kind hands with aces and eights.
- Aces Full – when you hold a full house with three aces or another pair in the game.
- Bonus Poker – In this variant of video poker four of a kind hands are paid out more.
- Boat – Players will sometimes call a full house a boat. It’s when you have a pair and three of a kind in a five card hand.
- Bankroll – This is the money a player sets aside to gamble with. There’s a principle called bankroll management that says when you run out of funds that means you should stop. A bankroll is always good to have because it also makes you a discipled player.
- Credits – This is the amount of cash you are playing with in a machine.
- Coins – A video poker machine will decide how much a coin is worth, this is taking into consideration the coin payouts.
- Comps – High rollers and regular players are given free rewards so they keep playing the game.
- Cycle – On average the number of hands it takes for video poker to hit the jackpot.
- Cowboy – it’s a slang word for the king card in video poker.
- Discard – Whenever a player chooses to get rid of one or more cards in the game.
- Draw – The cards that a player decides to discard, the substitution of the card is referred to as draw.
- Deuces – It is another named for the cards showing number 2.
- Drawing Hand – A term used when you have to improve your hand to hopefully win.
- Denomination – A word used for the value of the cards or coins in video poker.
- Deuces Wild – In this type of video poker, you can make the best possible hand when a deuces which is a wild can be replaced for another card.
- Expected Value – Each game has an expected value known as the chance of it paying out.
- Expected Return – Over a long term you’ll expect a certain amount of money from the game.
- Full House – A poker hand that has two cards of one suit and three cards of a different suit.
- Flush – Five cards of the same suit but not in successive order.
- Four of a Kind – cards that are of an identical value.
- Five of a Kind – These are five cards of the same suit.
- Full Pay – A video poker machine that makes use of the best pay table for a certain game.
- Fish Hook – The jack card is called fish hook in slang or boy or hook.
- Fool – Also known as the joker card and sometimes called fly or old maid.
- Face Card – When you refer to cards that show faces such as jack, queen and king.
- House – This is another name for online or land-based casino.
- Hold – When you choose to retain cards.
- Hand – Five cards make up a hand in video poker and you’ll need to make the best hand.
- House Edge – It is an advantage a house has over a player who is enjoying a specific game.
- High Card – A useless poker hand that has no valuable cards such as straights, flushes or pairs.
- Hopper – You’ll find a hoper inside a land-based machine, he captures coins and let’s them go when a player cashes out.
- Heads Up – When you play with only the dealer.
- Hand Pay – Land-based casinos will physically give you your money when you win. This action is carried out by an employee at the venue.
- Inside Straight – Straight card are five cards in successive order. An inside straight is if you have a good middle card to complete a hand.
- Jacks or Better – a variation of video poker where you must have a pair or jacks at least for you to get a payout.
- Perfect play – Video poker players enjoy perfect play when they place bets and assemble hands with the highest value during each hand.
- Pocket Rockets – Slang term for a pair of aces. Also known as “bullets,” “snake eyes,” and “Alan Alda,” (among others).
- Progressive Jackpot – A jackpot that grows as more players place deposits on the game. For every play, another small amount is added to the jackpot total.
- Random Number Generator – A program that generates new hands on a completely random basis.
- Royal Flush – The highest card in video poker if no wild cards are played. Royal flush hands contain Ten, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace of the same suit.
- Rag – A card that does nothing to help improve a video poker player’s final hand.
- Spot – Slang term, refers to the ace card. Ace is also known as the “bullet”, “rocket” and “alas”.
- Straight Flush – A hand with five cards in sequence from the same suit.
- Three of a Kind – A hand containing three of the same cards.
- Two Pairs – An online video poker hand containing two pairs.
- Underdog – The person least likely to win the pot.
- Volatility – The ups and downs of a player’s bankroll while playing video poker machines. Games with low volatility tend to offer smaller, more frequent payouts. High volatility options feature larger-but-less-frequent-prizes.
- Wild Card – If a card is wild, it can substitute for any other card on a specific game.