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Bill Hickok

Glossary of Poker Terms Pt. 4

Paint, Painted Card or Face Card: A Paint card, painted card and face card are all the same thing – a Jack, Queen, King or Ace. “I was in a race and looking for some paint.”

Passive: A passive player is a player who usually does not bet in a hand, but rather check and call more often. “Passive players suck.” NOTE: Passive is usually used in tandem with “loose” or “tight” to define a player’s basic gaming style. So a loose-passive player is a player who plays in many hands (loose) but seldom bets big(passive.)

Pocket Rockets, Rockets or Dried up Drunks: A pocket pair of Aces. The “pocket rockets” refer to a hand which you can take all the way to the moon while the “dried up drunks” refers to AA. “My rockets got cracked, I hate poker.”

Pot Odds: Pot odds and “implied” pot odds can get complicated but briefly, the pot odds of a hand are the calibrations made between the ratio that is made between how many chips are already in the pot and how many you would need to call and the ratio between your hand strength and your opponent’s. “I had to study math for two years before I figured out how pot odds actually work.”

Priced In: When a player only has to call a small bet in order to enter the hand they are said to be “priced in.” “I knew I was behind but I had to call because I was priced in.”

Prop Bet: A prop bet is a bet made between two or people and can be about anything. Famous prop bets include standing in the ocean for 10 hours, golf shots and counting down decks of cards. It comes from the word proposition. “So many high profile poker players are prop bet fanatics.”

Put on or to Put On: To put a player on a hand means that you guess that a player has that specific hand. For example, you can put your opponent on a big pocket pair or you can put your opponent on a bluff. “I had a terrible read and put him on a stone-cold bluff – my wife wasn’t too pleased when I came home.”

Quack Quack: This refers to anything with two-two in it. So a bet of $22 could be quack quack just like a pair of deuces could be quack quack. Paul Magriel, also known as “X-22,” has popularized this term. It stems from the use of the word “duck” as a two. “This guy was crazy, he kept going quack quack and raising $22,000.”

Quads: This is the rare four-of-a-kind. The term “quads” draws on the Latin for the word four. “I’ve been playing poker for 2 years and have picked up quads 6 times.”

Rabbit or rabbit hunt: To rabbit hunt, or just rabbit, is to check a card that would have come on the flop, turn or river but did not get a chance to come into play because all players but one have already folded. “I folded my inside straight draw but I rabbited the turn card and I would have made the stupid joint!”

Race: When you are all-in pre-flop with a pocket pair and have been called by a player with two overcards you are said to be in a race. “He had AK and I had pocket tens so it was a race.”

Rake: The rake is the money that is taken out of every hand by the house to pay for expenses. “I would’ve won $60 but the rake is $2 so I only took home $58.”

Rakeback: When you are playing Internet poker, you can sign up for a rakeback program which returns a percentage of the House Rake from each site back to you. “Since I started playing online, I had to start a rakeback program.”

Read: To read your opponent is to analyze their physical movements and betting patterns to determine what they are likely to be holding. To have a read on your opponent is to have successfully ascertained some knowledge about a fundamental portion of the way they play. “I couldn’t get a read on him so I just had to fold.”

The River or, Fifth Street: The fifth community card which comes after a round of betting on the turn. “Damned river.”

Riverboat Gambler: A riverboat gambler is a loose player who is very aggressive and loves to throw money around. It comes from the days of high stakes gambling on the Mississippi in riverboats. “Sammy Farha is a riverboat gambler.”

Rolled Up: When you are playing Stud and you are dealt three of a kind for your first three cards then you are said to be “rolled up.” “If you find yourself rolled-up you are a heavy favorite to win the hand.”

Scare Card: When a card comes face up which could potentially beat someone’s hand. So if you have a pair of Queens and an Ace or King comes onto your opponent’s Board then that would be a scare card. “Always an Ace on the river, I couldn’t bet because it was a scare card.”

Semi-bluff: This is a bet made by a player with nothing but a good draw (4 cards of the same suit or 4 sequential cards.) It is said to be a semi-bluff because while the player does not have anything yet, there is a chance that they will have a strong cards before the hand is through. Hence they are “semi” bluffing rather than “stone-cold” bluffing. “I always semi-bluff too aggressively and really good players figure me out.”

A Set: Three-of-a-kind. “I was holding 6-7 and when the flop came 6 6 J, I had a set.”

Shark: A shark is a very good poker player. “He was old and fat and he might have been deaf, but the guy was an absolute shark.”

Short Stack: Whoever has the least amount of chips at a table is said to be the short stack as they have the smallest or shortest stack of chips. “He could only go all-in because he was the short stack.”

Showdown: When a hand has reached the final round of betting and all involved players have called there is a showdown. A showdown is when players turn their hole cards face up and show what they have. “Always try to win before the showdown.”

Sick: An adjective meaning extreme. A sick call is an extremely great call while a sick beat is an extremely unlucky suck out. “Chris Moneymaker made the sickest call of the entire 2003 WSOP.”

Sit-and-Go: A sit-and-go tournament is a single table elimination tournament with a set number of players (generally 2, 6 or 10.) It is paid out according to finishing places rather than as a cash game. “I love playing in sit-and-gos.”

The Speed Limit: Pocket fives, or more appropriately, 5-5. This nickname comes from the prominent freeway speed limit of 55 MPH. “Gotta slow down with the speed limit pre-flop.”

Split blanks: When you are playing Stud and you are dealt a pair with one paired card face up and the other face down, you are said to have a split pair. “I had one Ace in the door and the other in the hole so I had split Aces.”

Standard Raise: A pre-flop raise of 2.5-4 times the size of the Big Blind. It is called a standard raise because it is the size of the raise that Wild Bill Hickok made most often when he was playing poker in the 1800’s. “He made a standard raise of $400 once the blinds reached $50/$100.”

Stone-cold bluff: This is an absolute bluff made with terrible cards and no chance of winning outright. “I went all-in on a stone-cold bluff.”

Sucker Straight: A sucker straight is a low straight on a board with a higher possible straight. For example if a player is holding 8-9 and the flop comes 10 J Q then they would have the sucker straight because both big slick and K-9 would make a higher straight. It is called a sucker straight because only a sucker sees it as strong. “I’ve taken a lot of money from people overplaying a sucker straight.”

Suck Out or Bad Beat: When a player draws a lucky river card to beat a player who had a previously favored hand then he is said to have sucked out or put a bad beat on an opponent. “I had Kings but he sucked out on me with an Ace on the river.”

Suited: This means that any number of cards are matched up in suit (ie Clubs, Spades, Hearts or Diamonds) rather than number. When used as an adjective with a single card it is meant to signify suited hole cards. “Maybe it was a loose call but I had a suited Ace so I thought I would gamble.”

Suited Connectors: This refers to hole cards which are close sequentially (like 8-9, Q-J, or 10-Q) and are the same suit. Unsuited connectors are sequentially close cards which are not suited. “I’ve heard that suited connectors are the hands most likely to crack Aces.”

About the Author

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Help With Finding Information On Wild Bill Hickok?

I have a HUGE paper to write over the summer in order to get my IB diploma, and the topic is basically anything we want. I want to talk about German and American folk tales, and how they have changed over the years since their creation in order to appeal to a larger audience. For the Germanic folk tales, I picked Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty (yes I know now that it's unclear whether some of these originated in Germany or Italy, but my coordinator said it would be acceptable as long as I cite it in the essay). For the American folk tales, I picked The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Pocahontas, and the tales of Wild Bill Hickok.
I was hoping someone could tell me some of the Hickok tales that were fictionalized. Just a title would be good, or a URL address or something would be really helpful!! Thank you so much!

When you find one good source, remember to look at the sources which that author cites. You can even look at the article on Wikipedia. Then scroll all the way down to the bottom and look at the "Notes" and the "References." That will give you all of the footnotes or bibliographical information.

I only glanced briefly at the Wikipedia article, but I noticed that it mentions a notebook in which a past mayor of Abilene wrote some notes about Wild Bill Hickok. The notebook has been donated to the Abilene Historical Society. You might want to contact them. I am sure they would be eager to answer your questions and assist in any way possible.

Best wishes with your research, your paper, and your IB diploma!
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From Wikipedia:
On April 15, 1871, Hickok became marshal of Abilene, Kansas . . . Theophilus Little, mayor of Abilene and owner of the town's lumberyard, recorded his time in Abilene by writing in a notebook that was recently given to the Abilene Historical Society. Writing in 1911, he detailed his admiration of Hickok and included a paragraph on the shooting that differs considerably from the accepted account.[33]

See Notes from Wild Bill Hickok article on Wikipedia. Here are a few which caught my eye because they are different from the usual sources which are published books and journals:

3.^ "Wild Bill" Hickok Court Documents Nebraska State Historical Society 1861 Subpoena issued to Monroe McCanles to testify against Duck Bill.
20.^ http://www.droversmercantile.com/history.cfm
27.^ City Marshal Thomas J. Smith, Abilene Police Department.
33.^ Page #21 in a loose leaf notebook titled Early days In Abilene Theophilus Little.
35.^ Buffalo Bill Museum & Grave - Golden, Colorado.
"External Source" Wild Bill Hickok collection at Nebraska State Historical Society

Wild Bill Hickock