The poker term high hand means simply the best poker hand, using traditional poker hand rankings. It is a retronym coined in response to lowball. The term is used most commonly in High-low split games.

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The large and growing jargon of poker includes many terms. This page contains brief definitions of the most common terms you may encounter in text or at play. If possible, a link to a more complete article on the topic is given. Though space is not an issue here, the list has been trimmed to primarily those poker-specific terms one might find in poker texts or in common use in casinos.

Various poker hands have been given many names, and these are listed in List of slang names for poker hands. Finally, this is not meant to be a formal dictionary; precise usage details and multiple closely related senses are omitted here in favor of concise treatment of the basics.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

Cheating in poker is any behavior outside the rules intended to give an unfair advantage to one or more players. Many people make the distinction in poker between hard cheating (mechanics, collusion, and the like) and soft cheating (noting the bottom card that the dealer happened to expose without calling for a misdeal). While the rules are explicit on the subject of cheating in general, many otherwise fair players are tempted to “soft cheat”. Miscalling your hand (calling four hearts a flush, for example–hence a “four-flusher”) is cheating, while offering alcoholic drinks is not, because each player can decline.

Cheating is more common in poker than most people care to believe. Although most cheating occurs in private games that do not follow strict gaming procedures, it is also very common in regulated card rooms and casinos. Cheating can be done either by means of collusion, sleight-of-hand (such as bottom dealing, stacking the deck, switching cards etc), or the use of cheating gaffs (such as marked cards, holdout devices, glims etc).

Cheating is as common in friendly games as it is in high-stakes games. A card cheat may operate alone, but most of them operate in pairs or small groups. The groups are often composed of one card mechanic who is in charge of manipulating the cards, one or several shills who pose as regular players, and a muscle who acts as a bodyguard. Street gangs also often employ a wall man who acts as a lookout, however this approach is more common with three card monte mobs, and back-alley dice gangs.

Following is a list of terms used to categorize specific card cheats:

• card mechanic — A card cheat who specializes in sleight-of-hand manipulation of cards.
• base dealer/second dealer — Also called bottom dealer/second dealer is a cheat that specializes in bottom/second dealing.
• paper player — A card cheat that exploits the use of marked cards.
• hand mucker — A card cheat that specializes in switching cards.
• machine player — A card cheat that uses mechanical holdouts.
• crossroader — Originally, any kind of traveling hustler; but now the term is mainly use to describe cheats who specialize in hitting casinos.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.

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