To play online poker you need to know the terms used frequently for players at the tables. This is a list of the terms starting with P.
P
Pay off: Calling a bet where the player betting is representing to have a hand that you can not beat, but the pot is large enough for you to call or calling just for the size of the pot. It is not recommendable to pay off unless the bet is very small and the pot very high.
Play the board: Using all the cards on the board and none into your pocket to make your hand. Obviously anybody can play the board and you can only tie or lose by doing so.
Pocket: Same as hole. The cards which are dealt to you face down in Texas Hold’em and Omaha. You have to use these cards to combine them with the community cards in Texas Hold’em.
Pocket pair: Having two cards of the same rank into your pocket.
Post: To pay the blinds by putting them on the table. You are required to do so in your first hand, but you can wait until it is your turn for the big blinds to avoid posting money when you sit and posting it again when the big blinds turn gets to you.
Pot: This is the money deposited by all players. The blinds, the antes, the bets and the raises are placed into the pot and the winner of the round wins the pot as a reward. In a ring game, the house keeps a rake of the money in the pot. The same name is also given to the area where the money is deposited.
Pot Limit: It is a variation of poker where the player can not bet more money than there is actually in the pot when he has to bet. Some versions of poker are usually played with this limit, but Hold’em is more famous for its No Limit games.
Pot Odds: The money you will have to pay to call a bet when it comes to the ratio of the amount of the money in the pot. This calculation is one of the basic you have to do if you want to play solidly.
Protect: To make a high bet because you have a very good hand, but you are at risk of being outdrawn. By protecting it with a high bet you are forcing other players to fold unless they want to pay too much money to draw a card. A typical situation to protect is when you got a pocket pair (Kc, Kh) and the flop comes for example with (Kd, 8d, 7h). You are having nuts as you got the maximum hand at the moment, but there are two diamonds on the board and you are running a big risk of somebody hitting a flush and busting your three of a kind. By betting a big amount of money you will force players to fold and you will keep the pot.
I’ve just started playing poker online, my husband likes to watch me play, unfortunately he often tells me things to do and “protect” is one of the things he has mentioned but he doesn’t bother to explain them so I am glad that I can come here from now on and find out just what he means.