Glossary
I chose the name of the site because I think it’s funny. It sounds like some kind of bad physical condition, or bad porn title, but it’s not. I knew it would confuse anyone who isn’t familiar with poker terminology, and I like that. The name of the site comes from “The Flop” and “The Nuts”. “Flopping the nuts” is a very good thing in poker.
Here’s a list of some of the terms and abbreviations used throughout the poker world, and the site:
Bad Beat
When two (or more) players move all-in, usually before the flop, and the player with the worst hand ends up winning. Example: One player moves all-in holding A/A, another calls holding 7/7, then another 7 comes up on the board giving the initially lower hand 3 of a kind, and he takes the pot. This is known as a bad beat.
Buy-In
The amount of money it costs to enter a particular tournament or cash game. A buy-in can be anywhere from ten cents to several thousands of dollars.
Donk or Donkey
A common term used for players that routinely make bad moves, or just simply don’t know what they’re doing. Years ago these types of players were simply called “suckers”. The word “Donk” is also sometimes used as a verb to describe a bad move made by any player. Example: “He donked off 5 buy-ins last night because he had too much to drink.” See also, Fish.
Fish
The fish are what the sharks feed on. They are players who can be easily parted from their money. Professional players are always looking to be at tables with as many fish as possible.
Flop
After the first round of betting is complete in a game of Texas Hold’em or Omaha, the first 3 community cards are simultaneously revealed in the center of the table. This is called “The Flop”.
MTT (Multi Table Tournament)
Multi table tournaments are the type of games most people are familiar with from television. They have a defined start time and registration period. Field sizes can be anywhere from a few hundred players to several thousand. Online tournaments of this type can take five, six, or even more, hours to complete. “Live” MTT’s usually take several days, and a few have even been played over periods of weeks or months.
Nuts
The best possible hand, based on what appears on the board, is called “The Nuts”. For example, if you hold the Ace and King of spades in your hand, and the 10, Jack and Queen of spades come out on the board, you’ve got a royal flush, the best possible hand. You’ve got the nuts. If you make the nuts with just your two cards, and the first three cards from the flop, you have just “flopped the nuts”.
ROI
This stands for return on investment. It is given as a percentage of money spent to play. If you spent $100 to player poker today, and ended the day with $110 in your pocket, you’d have a 10% ROI for the day. (The extra $10 you made is 10% of your starting $100.)
Shark
A good poker player, usually a professional, or at least a very regular and overall winning player. Sharks tend to avoid each other when they can, and try to maintain company with as many fish as possible.
SNG (Sit N Go)
Sit N Go tournaments are games without a defined start time. They have a certain number of seats, and when those seats are filled, the tournament begins. When everyone is seated, it’s time to go. Generally these tournaments are limited to a single table of 9 or 10 players, but it’s also common to find SNG’s ranging from 18 to 180 seats and sometimes more. These games can take anywhere from an hour for small games, to several hours for some of the larger field games.
STT (Single Table Tournament)
STTs are just what they sound like. A tournament format game limited to a single table of 9 or 10 players. STT and SNG are sometimes used interchangeably, but technically STT is the more accurate term for a true single table tournament, since SNGs can be more than one table.
Tilt
Tilt is anything that takes a player out of his best playing form. Tilt can be induced by anger, depression, alcohol or anything else that causes someone to make bad decisions. When someone is “on tilt” they tend to make bad moves and opponents can more easily extract money from them.