Poker slang lingo, part 4 continues this gamerisms glossary dedicated to all passionate poker players.

1. Poker Slang Nitty Crossword Clue
2. Poker Slang Nitty Gritty
3. Poker Slang Nitty Band

Some one worse than a tramp/hobo, looks like one too, lower than low!, they're snakey ( 2faced, even towards there mates, if they have any!) and kats for drugs (crets/will do anything to get hold of some, they need it as much as they need oxygen.) (Kat).

This is a discussion on Nit vs TAG Player within the online poker forums, in the Learning Poker section. Ive adopted a nitty style when playing cardschat league and freeroll games as the vast. Nitty is poker slang for being a know-it-all wet blanket. Nitty-gritty meaning: the slave-trade origins of the phrase - and other terms with racist links The seemingly innocent phrase is believed to have origins with links to the time of slavery.

This section includes poker slang lingo and terms that are unique to this popular casino strategy game. For example, Overpair, Play on Your Belly, Rock, Rush and Scoot.
Understanding poker terms is critical to your game play, and this applies whether playing poker offline or online. Many of the terms below also apply to video poker, one of the most popular games at online casinos sites.

Poker Slang Lingo: N - O

• No-limit: poker lingo for wide open betting based on each players chips in hand.
• Nuts: the best of hands in the game thus far.
• Odds: calculated probability of winning a specific hand.
• Off-suit: cards that are not of the same suit.
• On the Finger: monies received on credit.
• On Tilt: going into wild play mode after a bad hand.
• Open: player who makes the first bet in a round.
• Outdraw: refers to receiving a better hand by drawing more cards.
• Outs: refers to unseen cards left in the deck that could result in a better hand.
• Overpair: refers to a higher pair than the best card on the board in flop games. Example: You hold KK and the flop is J94.
  

Poker Slang Lingo: P - Q

• Paint: poker slang lingo for a picture card--Jack, King or Queen.
  
• Pair: refers to two cards that have the same rank with a Pair of Aces topping the list.
  
• Pass: refers to no betting or folding.
• Passive Play: player who is not likely to bet and raise.
• Pat: this hand is it, no further cards required.
• Pineapple: poker version, known as Crazy Pineapple online, is similar to Holdem in that players are dealt 3 cards each and must toss 1 card after the flop is dealt.
  
• Playback: action whereby a player raises an opening bet.
• Playing the Rush: refers to a player who 'is on a roll' of good cards and pots won.
• Play on your Belly: refers to legal play, no cheating.
• Pocket Cards: refers to cards dealt face down.
• Position: poker term for a player's position at the table in reference to betting. Example: early position means that player is the first to bet.
• Post: to bet or wager chips in the pot or a position directly in front of you at the table.
• Pot: winning hand(s) take the spoils, either all the money in the middle of the table or a share of the pot in certain games.
• Pot-limit: refers to the maximum bet/raise that is of no greater value than the total pot.
• Pot Odds: refers to amount of money in the pot versus the amount of money required to call a bet.
• Proposition Player/Shill: refers to the casino/card room hired help whose duties include filling up tables or jump-starting games.
• Protect: poker lingo for increased betting or otherwise attempting to eliminate players who could outdraw your hand.
• Quads: four of a kind—a very sweet hand. Example: 4 queens.
• Qualifier: refers to the minimum standard a hand must meet to qualify for all or part of the pot. Example: with Caribbean stud poker, the dealer must have a minimum hand of ace/king to qualify and continue the round.
  

Poker Slang Lingo: R

• Rabbit Hunting: jargon for looking into the future as to what cards would have been if the round had continued. Do you want to see if you would have received that Full House? Some poker rooms forbid this hunting.
  
• Rabbits: poker jargon used for weak or amateur players.
• Rack: poker slang lingo for tray that holds poker chips.
• Rags: term for cards coming your way that do not help your hand.
• Raise: poker term for wagering more than the last bet thereby increasing the bet for other players in the game.
• Railbirds: spectators or lookie-lous watching the action.
• Rake: a percentage and/or flat fee deducted from the pot after each betting round for the casino services. These services include a dealer and equipment
• Rank: value of a set of cards.
• River: poker term for the last cards dealt in a game of Holdem, Omaha or 7-card Stud.
• Read: skillful players use this method to predict cards held by other players.
• Re-buy: purchasing additional chips after initial buy, if tournament rules allow.
• Represent: term for wagering in a specific way that tells you have a specific hand.
• Riffling or Zipping: method used to shuffle cards before dealing.
• Road Gang: poker jargon for a gang of cheating players.
• Rock: player who raises or folds and rarely calls, thus playing few hands.
• Rock Garden: poker lingo for a game consisting of tight players.
• Round: can mean either a betting round or round of poker hands.
• Rounder: skillful player who makes a comfortable living playing poker—a dream job for many poker players.
• Round of Play: a segment of game play that includes dealing, betting and a declared winner.
• Royal Flush: the best of the best, sequence of AKQJ10, all in the same suit.
• Running: you receive the cards you need from the last two cards dealt.
• Rush: poker lingo for a big win quickly—truly a rush.
  

Poker Slang Lingo: S

• Sailboats: poker jargon for a pair of fours starting hand.
• Sandbag: strategy used to check and then raise the opener to increase the pot.
• Scare Card: jargon for a dealt card that may produce a better hand. For example, a third card in an outside straight sequence (Jack, 10 and 9).
• Scarne Cut: refers to cutting the cards by taking a bunch of cards from the center of the deck and putting them on top of the deck.
  
• Schoolboy Draw: amateur draw, not using sound judgment.
• Scoot: poker lingo for sending some pot winning chips to another player.
• Seat Position: refers to the position of a poker player in accordance to other players. When it comes to betting in poker, position can be an advantage if you are the last to bet in a poker round.
  
• Seconds: lingo about the cheater who deals the second card instead of the top card.
• Semi-bluff: the difference from a bluff is that a semi-bluff has a higher certainty of a win.
• Sequence: refers to cards of consecutive value, example: 56789 straight.
• Session: term for time span for poker games played.
• Set: refers to 3-of-a-kind to include two in the hole or a method of play for paigow poker whereby cards are set into two hands of low-hand=2 cards and high hand=5-card.
• Shiner: cheaters use these mirror-like devices to view unexposed cards.
• Shorthanded: refers to a game where there are only a few players.
• Short Pair: refers to a pair that is lower than the openers.
• Short Stack: situation where a player does not have sufficient chips to cover the betting at the table.
• Short Stud: poker slang lingo for 5 rather than 7-card stud poker.
• Shotgun: game where betting begins once the third card is dealt.
• Shove them Along: version of 5-card stud poker where every player can either play the first upcard or pass to the next player.
• Showdown: poker term to describe the end of betting where a winner is declared by a show of hands by the remaining players.
• Shuffle/Shuffling: mix up those cards before starting another game.
• Side Pot: occurs when a player is unable to match the bet made, but continues play of the game. This pot is for players who have the funds and want to bet more. Winner of the side pot goes to the best hand from the players who participated.
• Slowplay: strategy to under bet an excellent hand.
• Slowroll: don't you just hate those players who ever so slowly, roll out their hand while the other participating players await the result?
• Smooth Call: method of holding back a raise in order to call additional bets with a very good hand.
• Snap Off: you call the bluffer and beat him/her with a not-so-hot-hand—'tis a sweet deal.
• Snarker: player who wins and taunts the loser—bad manners and strategy rolled into one.
• Soft Play: poker lingo for intentionally going easy on a player.
• South: poker slang lingo for player folding as in Going South.
• Spikes: here comes that stunning pair of Aces again.
  
• Splash the Pot: player who tosses chips in rather than putting them in front.
• Spread Limit: poker term for fixed minimum-maximum bets allowed per round.
• Squeeze Bet or Squeeze Raise: poker term for a third player with a weak hand who is in the middle of the squeeze and it's costing him/her because of the larger bets made by other players with better hands.
• Stack: poker term for total of all your chips.
• Steal: winning the pot by bluffing—a card sharp's specialty.
• Stenographers: Four Queens, also know as Administrative Assistants in the pc world.
• Still Pack: term for the deck set aside two card decks are used.
• Stonewall: player who remains to the bitter end holding a weak hand.
• Straddle: refers to doubling the blind wherein the player betting becomes the bigger blind. He/she who bets the straddle then bets last in the pre-flop round.
  As a straddle is designated as a blind, not a bet, the player can then raise if everybody calls his/her straddle.
• Straight: refers to 5-card sequence, example: 78910J.
• Straight Draw: refers to the game of draw poker that does not require openers.
• Straight Flush: beauty of a hand that has 5-cards of consecutive rank and are the same suit, example=78910J of clubs.
• Streak: run of either winning or losing hands—what streak do you prefer :-)
• Stringer: poker slang lingo for a straight.
• Stripping: refers to a method of shuffling/changing the order of the cards in a deck.
• Suicide King: poker lingo for the King of Hearts as the card displays a sword poised to the head.
• Suit: refers to the 4 suits in a deck of cards—clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds.
• Super Stud Poker: another name for Caribbean Stud Poker and Casino Stud Poker, however, with a Progressive Jackpot

Poker Slang Lingo: T

• Table Stakes: we are talking money here in reference to the amount a player places on the table that cannot be changed during the hand.
• Talon: poker slang lingo for the rest of the deck after the deal.
• Tap or Tap Out: you have bet all your money and if you lose, you are tapped out.
• Tell or Tell play: refers to a player giving out signals or 'telling' about his/her hand.
• Thirty days or Thirty miles: poker jargon for 3 tens.
• Three of a kind: 3 cards of the same rank, AAA.
• Tierce: refers to a three-card straight flush.
• Tiger: poker lingo for a low hand to include 23456 or 7.
• Tight Player: poker term for a cautious player who rarely bets on weak hands.
• Trap: poker lingo for a situation where a player may have to call a big raise to stay in the game.
• Trey: refers to the 3-card with 3 pips.
• Two-card Poker: version where the best 2 cards are winners.
• Two Pair: refers to a 5-card hand that includes two different pairs, QQ773.
  

Poker Slang Lingo: U - Z

• Underdog: card contest wherein the underdog is usually the loser.
• Under the Gun: refers to the first player's action once the blind bets are completed.
• Unlimited Poker: no bet or raise limits in this game.
• Washing the Cards: the dealer blends the deck of cards in a circular motion with both hands before a shuffle is performed.
• White Meat: poker slang lingo for profit or money made with the game of poker.
• Wild Card: card(s) that can sub for any other card to improve your hand.
• World Series of Poker WSOP: the granddaddy of all poker tournaments played at Binion's Horseshoe Casino in Vegas yearly. A gold bracelet awaits the winner.
  

After poker slang lingo, you can take a look at Poker Game Software Reviews
Online Poker Guide
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Poker Slang Nitty Crossword Clue

Roulette Quiz
Video Poker Facts Trivia

The phrase is also agreed to have another, less innocent meaning, although it has long since fallen into disuse. Reports do suggest however that it was a derogatory term for slaves in the early 1900s, or even worse; a euphemistic term for the practice of forcing intercourse on the female slaves under ones 'ownership'. As it has passed into such common usage few have call to know this unpleasant origin; and its use by public officials has occasionally caused some scandal.It is also believed to be a euphemism for the layer of excrement at the bottom of a slave ship after a trans-atlantic crossing. Hence to 'get down to the nitty-gritty'.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term is of 20th Century coinage. Surely, therefore, the phrase could not relate to the issues described above because the practice of slavery as described was already historical? I have been led to believe the alleged slavery connection is an urban myth. Has anyone got a definitive source?

Dating the phrase is difficult, since the main function of the word seems to have been as a spoken euphemism that would allow, say, white Southerners to make an allusion to 'black' issues over the dining table without their children understanding what was being mentioned. The spoken usage may well go back significantly further than the earliest written documentation, since there wouldn't have been an obvious need to write the phrase down (unless perhaps some KKK official felt the need to document its use).

Insulting slang terms based on the idea of slavery can persist long after slavery has ended - remember, racial segregation was still legally supported in parts of the the South until comparatively recently (the fundamentalist Christian Jerry Falwell, very recently deceased, started out as a pro-segregation campaigner), so there would have been easily enough people in the South to keep these nasty terms alive . Abusive slang can have a very long life. Floortile 18:13, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Poker Slang Nitty Gritty

Literary References

I recall Maya Angelou, in her book, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' being punished by her mother for using the term because she considered it offensive.

...and on a lighter note:i have read that 'nitty gritty' was a slang term used by blues musicians to refer to the rough texture felt by the tongue on the inner walls of a woman's vagina when performing cunnilingus upon her, thus 'getting down to the nitty gritty'. i kid you not64.185.130.149 22:05, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Rough texture? I don't want to know. OK, maybe I do. No, I don't. neodanite

Poker Slang Nitty Band

Nitty gritty (Southern States, USA / West Indies)[edit]

The mysteriousness of the origin of 'nitty-gritty' stems from the fact that it originated as a word that wasn't supposed to be explained or documented. In the American Old South, white segregationist groups were fond of inventing codewords that would be understood by fellow segregationists but not by outsiders, and 'nitty-gritty' was one of them.

The word is a basic 'secret slang' construction of the type that kids often use to talk to each other so that any eavesdroppers hear it as gibberish. The speaker strips out all the vowels and vowel sequences from a sentence and replaces them with a distracting 'nonsense' sound, which the intended listener then strips out, leaving just the original consonants, which are usually sufficient to recontruct the words.

Working backwards from 'nitty-gritty' to reconstitute the original word, the fake sequence is obviously 'itty', and the original source word becomes

n(itty) gr(itty) = n__gr__ = 'negro', or 'nigger'

This explanation seems to explain all subsequent usage.

The phrase 'the nitty gritty' is sometimes used by Southern right-wing politicians and evangelist Christians to refer to a set of shared fundamental beliefs that the audience would consider self-evident, but which are not always stated, or which do not need to be stated. The speaker will often know the racial origin of the phrase and will assume that their target audience does too, allowing the phrase to be used as a 'codeword' to connect with like-minded members of the audience without alienating other listeners who wouldn't understand the 'racial' reference. However, the deliberate vagueness of the term means that it's also possible that some other Southern politicians and campaigners may have inadvertently adopted the phrase without realising its racial connotations, and may use it publicly to refer to other 'back to basics' campaigns based around fundamentalist values and beliefs that have no racial content.

This can make it difficult for outsiders to tell whether a Southern politician or campaigner referring to 'the nitty gritty' is really campaigning on a racist platform or not - and of course, this uncertainty was originally part of the reason for the phrase existing, it allowed 'good ol' boys' to understand what was really being said by context, while still allowing the campaigner to claim that there was no 'racial' content to their speeches. Floortile 17:43, 16 May 2007 (UTC)

Agreed by whom? After a Equality and Diversity Course (much needed), this origin story for Nitty-Gritty was posited by our speaker, so that we would be aware of how offensive our language might be, without us even knowing it. When I asked for where this information came from, I received no sensible reply. At first I was a bit annoyed by this apparent fanciful redaction of history for no good reason so I calmed down and researched a little. There are no references in any literature either online or in any reference book I can find that Nitty-Gritty is anything but a common and innocent phrase referring to the basics, the soil, the unpleasant, hard part of any enterprise. For example Phrase.org who are a group of amateur and professional lexicographers (twas ever thus) gives the history of this mis-definition, and states the first written reference is Steve McQueen in Time in the 1960s! I even downloaded a sailors dictionary from the 1800s from Gutenburgh which doesn't refer to it at all (nitty means 'noisy'). So I'll ask Floortile, can you tell me of any literature from which this definition comes from, even the person who told you it. Or was it passed solely over the polite tables of Georgia Society until it reappeared to be used by 1920s jazz musicians, Steve McQueen, the Black Panthers, British Government Ministers at ACPO senior police officers conferences (google that one) and my mother to name but a few. I don't mind moderating my language if it truly offends, but don't destroy the English language over some specious definition. KBO (12th March 2009)

Nitty gritty (Southern States, USA - Counterpoint)[edit]

While the argument that nitty-gritty arose as an alternative to the use of nigger is plausible, I'd counter that euphemisms arise when there's a need to employ a more socially acceptable term. The word nigger was so ingrained in the antebellum vernacular of the American South that there was no need to employ a euphemism.

Philip Howard - The Times - London - Thursday May 16th 2002...[The police apparently believe that 'nitty - gritty' refers to the debris left at the bottom of a slave ship after a voyage...]...This is not just politically correct nonsense... The first appearance of 'nitty - gritty' in print was in Time magazine in August 1963;The negroes present would know perfectly well that the nitty - gritty of a situation is the essentials of it.... It is inconceivable that the phrase 'nitty-gritty' lay dormant in Black American for a century after the last slave ship sailed without somebody like Harriet Beecher Stowe writing it down.To assert that 'nitty-gritty' is racist is as moronic as saying 'niggardly' is an insult to black people.We cannot allow English language to be kidnapped by ignoramuses in race relations industry... Of course, it behoves us all, including police, to use sensitive language and not cause offence.Philip Howard ; 2nd November 1933 - 5th October 2014true... but if you knew that 'nitty gritty' was referred to by some as the 'effluent and faeces that collected in the bottom of slaving ships' and you used the word then the charge of being 'racist would stick (pardon the pun). I would also like to point out that 'ignorance of the law is no excuse' in the UK at least. Thus, you could find yourself in the dock if some smart assed person overheard you using the term. Please don't shoot the messenger!

Nitty-gritty (in popular music)[edit]

The Phrase 'Nitty Gritty' was also adopted by some black musicians as a cultural reference, and/or as a euphemism for sex:

• Chuck Berry's song: 'Club Nitty Gritty'.
• Shirley Ellis's song 'Nitty Gritty' refers to 'getting right down' to 'the real nitty gritty'.
• Gladys Knight and the Pips covered Ellis's song on their 1969 album: 'Nitty Gritty'.

• The Dirt Band , a group with a varying line-up, specialising in playing Country music classics, renamed themselves 'The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band'.
• Jamaican rapper Glen Holness went by the stage name 'Nitty Gritty' until he was shot dead in 1991.

The phrase also appears in the lyrics of some later popular songs that don't obviously share same cultural references, usually as an implied reference to sex. It's often not clear from the context of these later songs whether or not the phrase is still intended to carry an ethnic reference. Floortile 19:54, 20 May 2007 (UTC)