Poker glossary: C
30 poker terms starting with C. Each entry has a clear definition, a worked example, and links to related concepts.
C-Bet
A C-Bet, or continuation bet, is a flop bet by the player who raised pre-flop. It keeps initiative and projects strength after you opened the pot. Use it to pressure opponents a...
Call
A "call" matches the current highest bet so you stay in the hand. You do not raise; you put in chips equal to the last bettor. In No-Limit, where players can wager any amount up...
Call Down
A call down is calling bets on the flop, turn and river to reach a showdown, often with a marginal or medium-strength hand. Players call down when they think the opponent's rang...
Call Off
A "call off" occurs when an opponent shoves all their chips and you must call or fold. All-in means a player bets their entire stack; No-Limit allows this at any time. These spo...
Calling Range
A calling range is the set of hands you continue with by calling rather than folding or raising. The shape of that range, what it keeps and what it cuts, depends on position, pr...
Calling Station
A calling station is a highly passive player who calls bets frequently instead of raising or folding. They rarely bluff (a bluff is a bet with a weak hand meant to make opponent...
Calling Station Profile
A calling-station profile is the evidence bundle (notes, HUD numbers, and showdown receipts) that earns an opponent the calling-station label: high VPIP, low aggression, low fol...
Capped Range
A range is the set of hands an opponent could hold given their actions. A capped range contains few or no very strong hands, limiting the opponent's maximum possible strength. T...
Card Code
Card code is the short notation players use to identify cards in written hands and analysis, pairing rank and suit without spaces. Use this concise format to share hands, descri...
Card Removal
Blockers are cards in your hand that remove those cards from the deck, reducing opponents' chances of specific hands. A "range" means the set of hands an opponent could reasonab...
Cash Game
A cash game is poker where the chips on the table represent real money at face value. The blinds stay fixed for as long as the table runs, you can buy in, sit out, and rebuy at...
Check
A check means you decline to bet while remaining in the hand, provided no bet has occurred this betting round. By checking, you pass action to the next player without adding chi...
Check-Back
A check-back occurs when a player with the option to bet instead checks, passing action without adding chips. It most often happens when you are in position - acting after your...
Check-Fold
Check-fold is a conservative post-flop line: you check, then fold if facing a bet. A "check" means you decline to put chips into the pot on your turn. A "fold" means you discard...
Check-Raise
A check-raise is when you check intending to induce an opponent to bet, then raise. In No-Limit Hold'em, unconstrained raise sizes let the check-raise drastically grow the pot a...
Chop Pot
Chopping the pot means dividing it equally among the players whose best five-card hands tie at showdown. It's the verb players use at the table for the same outcome the rules ca...
Clean Outs
An "out" is any unseen card that, if dealt, improves your hand to a likely winner. Example: you hold two hearts and the flop contains two hearts. Each remaining heart is an out...
Closing the Action
"Closing the action" means the betting round ends because no other players remain to act. A betting round is a cycle of checks, bets, calls, raises, or folds. The round ends whe...
Cold Call
A cold call is calling a raise when you haven't voluntarily invested in the pot this betting round, aside from the blinds. It differs from calling additional chips after you hav...
Combo
A "combo" (short for combination) is a specific two-card arrangement that makes a hand or draw. It describes which exact starting hands in a player's range produce a given holdi...
Combo Draw
A combo draw is a hand that can make more than one strong combination. Most commonly it combines a flush draw (needing one more suited card) and a straight draw. Combo draws mat...
Commitment Threshold
The commitment threshold marks when chips already in the pot, relative to your remaining stack and pot size, make folding usually incorrect. Once you've invested enough, calling...
Community Cards
Learn what community cards are in poker, how the flop, turn, and river work, and how every player uses the same board to make the best five-card hand.
Complete
No-Limit Texas Hold'em is a community-card poker game. Each player receives two private "hole" cards and up to five community cards are dealt face-up in the center. Players make...
Condensed Range
A condensed range is a hand range built around medium-strength, showdown-value hands, with the very strongest hands and pure air both removed. It typically shows up when a playe...
Connected Board
A connected board is a flop whose ranks sit close enough together to make straights live. The classic shape is three sequential cards like 9-8-7. Connected textures shrink the p...
Continuation Bet
A continuation bet (C-Bet) is a flop-sized bet by the last preflop aggressor, usually the raiser. Its main goals are to win pots when opponents fold and to pressure marginal han...
Cooler
A cooler is a poker hand where two strong holdings collide and the loser had no real way to fold. The classic example is pocket kings running into pocket aces preflop for stacks...
Counterfeit
Counterfeiting happens when the board duplicates a rank that one or both of your paired ranks have. That duplication reduces your hand's relative strength. In practice, a hand t...
Cutoff
The Cutoff sits immediately to the right of the dealer button and acts just before it. The button marks the nominal dealer and, after the flop, acts last. Because you act late i...