When I first started playing poker it wasn’t the rules that freaked me out; I’m pretty smart, how hard can they be, I figured. Neither was it the strategy; I reckoned that I’d loose a bit, and before I knew it I’d be up to speed and on the ball. No, it was the terminology that got me; I had images of coming to the table and everyone immediately knowing that I didn’t have a clue what I was doing, and feeling like an absolute idiot. For that reason, I want to briefly explain some of the most common terminology used in the game; so that no-one else will have to feel the way I did and won’t be held back by it.
Antes: An ante is used in all table games and is the money that each player must put into the pot in order to buy into the game. The ante is a set amount for the table and this will not change. The money is paid before the first cards are dealt; anyone who does not pay the ante will not be dealt in.
Big blinds and little blinds: Tournaments don’t have antes per se because everyone has already bought into the hand, so to speak, by buying into the tournament. The buy in of a tournament negates the need for an ante as...