Poker Glossary

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There are currently 15 names in this directory beginning with the letter S.
SB

Abbreviation for the small blind, second-to-last to act preflop and first to act postflop.

SEMI-BLUFF

Bet with the intention of folding out better hands, with a hand that is not best now but can easily improve at showdown.

SHORTHANDED

When roughly half or fewer of the seats at the table have active players, the game becomes shorthanded.

SMALL BALL

Using pot control to play smaller pots when equity is uncertain.

SNOW

Another term for bluff, mostly used in variants of draw poker.

SPECULATIVE HAND

A hand that has lots of drawing potential postflop, such as 76s, 97s, and A4s.

SPEWY

Describes a player who is making many -EV plays.

SPOKE

A synonym for a WHEEL (A2345), deriving from the fact that certain wheels have spokes. In some esoteric poker circles, a SPOKE FLOP is a flop comprised entirely of a 2, 3, 4, or 5, but no A.

SPR

Short for Stack-to-Pot-Ratio, SPR is used to assess how automatically committed (or not) we are to a pot with certain hand strengths. The smaller the SPR, the more you automatically commit with strong draws, single pairs, etc.
The formula is SPR = Effective Stack Size / Pot Size

SQUEEZE

A specific kind of 3-bet made after a preflop raise gets one or more callers.

STEAL

A preflop open-raise made specifically from the CO, button, or SB.

STRADDLE

A blind preflop bet, typically a 2BB forced bet by UTG+1, however there are many forms of straddles including button straddles, MIssissippi stradles, and more.

STUD POKER

Any variant of poker in which a player's hand is dealt as some combination of face down and face up. Common forms include 5-card stud, 7-card stud, 7-card stud hi/lo, Canadian stud and Mexican stud.

SUITED CONNECTOR

Two suited hole cards that are also in sequence, both of lesser rank than broadway cards.

SUITED GAPPER

A suited hand with one gap between the cards. Typically this refers to hands like 86s and J9s.