Many years ago, it occurred to me to become very irritated when I heard poker-related terms. “All in”, “raise the wager”, “check raise” and all others became very frustrating to hear, especially since I was complete beginner when it came to poker. All this was because I did not know how special poker is, and especially Texas Hold ‘Em.

But after I decided to give poker a chance, these words began to sound like a beautiful medieval sonnet (no, seriously!) and I had realized that these terms were not so bad after all. If you plan to begin playing poker, or if you want to catch up after not playing poker for some time, it’s very crucial to look into the most common poker terms.

Probably the most common terms that you will hear during a poker game are “call”, “raise”, “check” and “fold”. Assuming you know the basic rules of poker, calling can be easily explained as betting the same amount as the maximum bet so far. Raising, as the name suggests itself, means raising the current maximum bet. The amount of raising can vary from the Texas Hold ‘Em version being played.

Checking on the other hand means to pass and allow the other players to declare whether they want to bet or withdraw. After they declare, it is your turn to do the same thing. Checking is extremely useful when trying to raise the opponent’s maximum bet; “check raising” is the term coined for this particular move.

Last but certainly not least, folding is a term that means withdrawing from the betting series. Folding can happen for a wide variety of reasons, either for not having enough money to meet the minimum, or for not letting other players know you’ve got something good going on. One thing you should bear in mind is that if you fold, you will not participate on the current hand and will not receive any share whatsoever.

All in is the term used when players decide to bet all the money they have. While putting the money all in is allowed in almost all versions of Texas Hold ‘Em, there a few games which disallow it. You should also know what the pot is – it’s the specific spot on the table where the bets are placed.

While these are some of the most common terms you will encounter during a Texas Hold ‘Em game, there are many others which are also incredibly important. But learning these mentioned essential concepts is the first thing you should do before even observing a game, let alone playing. Last, you should definitely consider seeing many games before participating so that you can get familiar with the game.