Poker Terms: Buy-In

The minimum required amount of money it costs to enter a poker game or tournament.


Example: A $4 - $8 fixed limit game might require a player to buy at least $40 worth of chips. This is far less than an average player would expect to play with for any amount of time, but large enough that the player can play a number of hands without buying more without slowing down the game by constantly buying chips.

Poker Terms: Float

Calling a bet without a good hand in order to take a pot down later, kind of like a bluff slowplay or a bluff call.


Example: You call suspected continuation bets on the flop in the hopes that the bettor will give up his unimproved AK and check on the turn. You then bet and hopefully take the pot away from the preflop aggressor. We are floating over the other guys flop bet looking for an opportunity to take the pot.

Poker Terms: Rakeback

Rakeback began in 2004 as a player rewards method. Rakeback is when some online poker sites or their affiliate partners return part of the rake or tournament entries a player pays as an incentive for them to continue playing on that site.


Rakeback in cash games is calculated using one of two methods: dealt and contributed. The dealt method awards the same amount of rakeback to each player dealt into a hand, and the contributed method rewards players based on their actual contribution to the pot. In poker tournaments, rakeback is deducted from cardroom's entry fee. Rakeback can be compared to comps in regular casinos.

Not all online poker rooms offer rakeback. Sites such as Full Tilt Poker, Cake Network and UB.com allow affiliates to offer rakeback as a direct percentage of rake and tournament entries paid back to the players. Other card rooms such as PokerStars, PartyPoker and iPoker are against affiliates giving rakeback. Instead they offer in-house programs that give cash and other rewards to players based upon how much they play.