Poker talk confusing you? Let the COTH's Sunday School translate it

Poker talk is a problem for all poker players to deal with. It's a subset of English, used to describe situations arising in all forms of poker. We call it poker talk, when in fact it's poker writing; this is the way all writers describe poker situations.

Think of poker talk as a form of shorthand. Instead of having to say, "You are dealt a pair of Aces," you can simplify it like this:

AA

If the suits of the cards are important:

AdAs is easier than saying, "You are dealt the Ace of diamonds and the Ace of spades."

Here's a full breakdown of poker talk.

• A -- Ace
• K -- King
• Q -- Queen
• J -- Jack
• T -- Ten
• 2 through 9 -- the cards 2, 3, 4 etc.

  
  Suits:

• h -- Hearts
• d -- Diamonds
• s -- Spades OR suited *
• c -- Clubs

* Most of the time, this difference won't matter. It will be obvious what the writer means.

Example: AdAs is obviously "Ace of Diamonds, Ace of Spades." Two Aces could not be suited. However, A7s means "Ace-Seven suited" rather than "Ace-Seven of Spades."

Whenever it would be important to know that the cards were Spades rather than simply any suited cards, the writer will always explain.

See if you can work out the following five hands without thinking too hard about it. Answers follow afterwards.

1. KdJh
2. TT
3. A2s
4. QQ
5. 7d8d

Answers:

1. King of Diamonds, Jack of Hearts
2. Pair of tens
3. Ace-two of the same suit
4. Pair of Queens
5. Seven-Eight of Diamonds

Talking the poker talk? Can you walk the poker walk?