P
- paint
- Any royal card. Used mostly in lowball games, where royal cards are rarely helpful.
- pair
- Two cards of the same rank. See main article: one pair
- passive
- A style of play characterized by checking and calling. Compare to "aggressive", "loose", "tight".
- pat
- Already complete. A hand is a pat hand when, for example, a flush comes on the first five cards dealt in Draw poker. Also see Made hand.
- pay off
- To call a bet when you are most likely drawing dead because the pot odds justify the call.
- penny ante
- Frivolous, low stakes, or "for fun" only; A game where no significant stake is likely to change hands.
- perfect
- The best possible cards, in a lowball hand, after those already named. For example, 7-perfect would be 7-4-3-2-A, and 8-6-perfect would be 8-6-3-2-A.
- pick-up
- When the house picks up cash from the dealer after a player buys chips.
- play the board
- In games such as Texas hold 'em, where 5 community cards are dealt, if your best hand is on the board and you go to the showdown you are said to "play the board".
- PLO
- Pot limit Omaha. See main article Pot Limit Omaha.
- pocket cards
- See "hole cards".
- pocket pair
- In community card poker or stud poker, when two of a player's private cards make a pair. Also "wired pair".
- poker face
- A blank expression that does not reveal anything about the cards being held. Often used outside the world of poker.
- position
- See main article: position.
- position bet
- A bet that is made more due to the strength of the bettor's position than the strength of the bettor's cards.
- post
- To make the required small or big blind bet in Texas hold 'em or other games played with blinds rather than antes
- post dead
- To post a bet amount equal to the small and the big blind combined (the amount of the large blind playing as a live blind, and the amount of the small blind as dead money). In games played with blinds, a player who steps away from the table and misses his turn for the blinds must either post dead or wait for the big blind to re-enter the game. Compare to "dead blind".
- post oak bluff
- See main article: post oak bluff
- pot
- See main article: pot.
- pot-committed
- More often in the context of a no limit game; the situation where you can no longer fold because the size of the pot is so large compared to the size of your stack.
- pot-limit
- See main article: pot limit.
- pot odds
- See main article: pot odds.
- pre-flop
- The time when players already have their pocket cards but no flop has been dealt yet. It's also the first round of bets.
- probe bet
- A bet after the flop by a player who did not take the lead in betting before the flop (and when the player that did take the lead in betting before the flop declined to act). Compare to "continuation bet".
- prop, proposition player
- A player who gets paid an hourly rate to start poker games or to help them stay active. Prop players play with their own money, which distinguishes them from shills, who play with the casino's money.
- protected pot
- A pot that seems impossible to bluff to win because too many players are active in it and the chances of another player either calling you to the end or raising beyond measure become an assurance.
- protection, protect
- See main article: protection.
- purse
- The total prize pool in a poker tournament
- push
- To bet all in.
- put the clock (on someone)
- See main article: call the clock.
- put on
- To put someone on a hand is to deduce what hand or range of hands they have based on their actions and your knowledge of their gameplay. See also tells.
Read more about this topic: Glossary Of Poker Terms