Sean Chaffin

Quads is a common nickname for four-of-a-kind in poker. In fact, the nickname quads is so common, that it has virtually replaced four-of-a-kind as the official name for this type of holding. It’s simply a lot easier to say that four-of-a-kind. Quads is made when we hold four cards all of the same rank. This leaves room for one kicker, since poker hands are made with 5 cards in the majority of variants.

Preflop in poker simply means “before the flop”. The flop is the name of the second betting round in Hold’em and Omaha where 3 community cards are dealt face up in the centre of the table. Anything that happens before those 3 cards are dealt is referred to as preflop(so essentially, the entire first betting round including posting the blinds and receiving hole cards).

An overpair is a pair in the hole that is higher than the highest card on the board. For example, in Hold’em we have QQ in the hole and the board texture is T72. We hold an overpair. This concept only makes sense in games where there are community cards, Hold’em and Omaha for example.

In Short Deck poker all deuces, threes, fours, and fives are removed from the deck – leaving 36 cards to play with, which can result in a more action-packed game.

Even though only 4 to 8 per cent poker tournament players are women, the ladies want to play. Here’s a quick guide to setting up your own Ladies Poker Night.

An ante is an amount of chips that every player must place into the pot before any cards are dealt. Posting antes is quite similar to posting blinds, but everyone has to post them, not just certain seats at the table. We find antes in both cash games and tournaments, but they are generally more common in tournaments during the later stages. The exception is that some variants such as Studuse antes as part of the basic rules rather than using a small-blind/big-blind system like Hold’em Omaha.