Poker’s Three-Ring Circus

Ken Adams found no lack of action at the World Series of Poker. What he didn’t find was enough winning hands.

TRIPS - Three of a kind. In Hold'em the term SET is used when two of the three cards are hole cards.
KICKER - In hands containing pairs and trips, the highest card not matched. In draw games, sometimes a card kept for deception purposes.
WHEEL - A-2-3-4-5. Usually discussed in the context of lowball where it is the best possible hand. Can also refer to a 5-high straight in high games. Also: BICYCLE.
LOWBALL - Generic term for poker where the lowest hand wins.
RACE - In tournaments it is sometimes convenient to remove all lower-denomination chips from play, as the remaining players' stacks tend to grow. Small chips are converted to larger chips and any odd chips are "raced off" in the following way: each player with odd chips places them in front of his stack and is dealt one card for each chip. Highest card (rank and suit) takes all the small chips and converts them to higher-denomination chips.
LIVE BLIND - The last and largest blind bet may or may not be LIVE. If LIVE, the blind bettor has the option of "raising" his own blind in the event the bet is called around to him. This is normal, and is sometimes referred to as "blinds are live".

Poker Information