Q

(n) 1. Abbreviation for a queen, usually found only in written text about cards. Q♠, for example, is the queen of spades. 2. The ratio of a player’s stack to the average number of chips left for each player. For example, if you have $50,000 and the average number of chips per player is $10,000, you have a Q of 5. (Term coined by tournament expert and poker author Dan Harrington.)

(n; imitative) 1. Deuces (2s). (Deuces are sometimes called ducks; see duck.). 2. In hold’em, 2-2 as the starting cards.

(n; imitative) In hold’em, 2-2 as the starting cards. Comes from duck.

(expression) “I have a pair of deuces”; “I’m betting some amount involving 22” (such as a raise of $2200). Comes from duck.

(adj) Pertaining to four of a kind, as quad 8s.

(n phrase) A shootout tournament (definition 1) with four levels. A number of tables of players each play down to one winner. Those winners then reassemble at multiple tables, each of which again play down to one winner, again repeat the process, and finally the winners of each of those tables compete in theplayoff. This form of shootout occurs only online. With nine-handed tables, 6,561 players would participate.

(n) Four of a kind.

(n) Four of a kind.

(n) 1. In a high-low split game, as, for example, 8-or-better, a particular holding (or better) that a player must have to win the low half or high half of a pot. 2. Openers. 2. Qualifier tournament.

(n) 1. The specific cards required to qualify. 2. Openers.

(v phrase) A tournament whose prize is one or more entries into a tournament with a larger buy-in, often a major tournament. Often shortened to simply qualifier.

(v) 1. Pertaining to a hand, have qualifiers. “Your hand is a nine; it doesn’t qualify.” 2. In casino stud poker, Caribbean Stud Poker, and other similar games, have a hand that contains some minimum requirement, say, at least, for example, an ace and a king. 3. Win one’s entry to a tournament from a satellite, as from, say, an online cardroom. “I qualified for the World Series online.” 4. Win one’s entry to a tournament by playing a specified number of hours within a specified time period (for example, at least 40 hours in a given month) or meeting other conditions of a promotion; such a tournament is often advertised as afreeroll tournament.

(n phrase) A hand that has qualifiers.

(n phrase) A hand that qualifies (see qualify) for low.

(n phrase) A hand that qualifies (see qualify) for high.

(n phrase) One that is of reasonable strength to win or to improve to win a pot.

(n) Four cards in sequence of the same suit, that is, four to a straight flush.

(n) 1. $25 or a $25 chip. 2. In hold’em, a 2 and a 5 as starting cards. — (adj) 3. Pertaining to $25, as a quarter chip. — (v) 4. In a high-low split game, split either the low or the high half of the pot with another player; usually part of the phrase get quartered. This happens frequently in Omaha 8-or-better. “I didn’t bet my ace-deuce because I was afraid I’d get quartered.”

(n phrase) $25 chip.

(n phrase) $25 chip.

(adj) Winning one-fourth of a pot, usually due to splitting the low half of the pot in a high-low split game. This happens mainly in Omaha 8-or-better games.

(n phrase) 1. A small home poker game, in which the stakes generally are nickels, dimes, and quarters. Also, nickel-dime-quarter game. 2. Any small-stakes game. Compare with penny-ante game.

(n) A face card, the one that ranks between the jack and the king, of which a standard deck contains four, one each in the spades (♠), hearts (♥), diamonds (♦), and clubs (♣) suit.

(n phrase) 1. In high poker, a no pair hand whose highest card is a queen. “I have queen high; can you beat that?” (Also, “I have a queen high; can you beat that?” The difference is that word “a.”) “Yeah, I got king high.” 2. In low poker, a hand topped by a queen.

(adj) Pertaining to a straight or flush topped by a queen. “I was drawing to a queen-high flush but all I made was queen high.”

(n) A form of high draw poker, usually found in home games only, in which a player cannot open the pot without holding at least two queens as openers. Compare with jackpots.

(n phrase) A full house consisting of three queens and a pair.

(n phrase) 1. Queens up. 2. Queens full.

(n phrase) Two pair, the higher of which are queens.

(n) Any of several cheating devices, such as a holdout machine.

(n phrase) In hold’em, Q-T as starting cards. Comes from the initials.

(n; imitative) 1. In lowball, a 9. 2. In hold’em, Q-9 as starting cards. Quinine can sort of be drawn out of Q-9.

(n) 1. Straight flush. This usage is rare. 2. In hold’em, Q-T as starting cards.

(n phrase) Royal flush. This usage is rare.

(v) 1. Cash in your chips and leave a game. 2. Fold.

(n phrase) 1. In a home game, the prearranged time at which the game is supposed to end. (This is often violated when the losers insist on playing “just one more round” or “just another hour” in a usually vain attempt to recoup their losses, and the winners sometimes accommodate them, knowing the losers will likely lose even more.) 2. In a cardroom that does not stay open around the clock, closing time, at which point the house stops dealing and the game is over until the room reopens.

(n) The minimum number of players, usually six, required to start a poker game. This usage is heard mainly in home games. Online and sometimes in brick and mortar casinos, short-handed games, often heads up, are common.

(n) In hold’em, Q-T as starting cards. Comes from the initials; Q-Tips are a brand of cotton swabs.