Poker Terminology in Magic

Intro 

Back in 1987 I had the electrifying experience of joining the Litton Police Force as beat cop Sonny Bonds in Sierra On-Line’s Police Quest.  Despite the technological limitations of the platform (16 color!), it was a gritty, real-world take on adventure games.  PQ was quite the departure from the fantasy-world of King’s Quest and Space Quest.  You had to study and know actual police procedures to succeed.   
 
At the ripe old age of 10 I was somewhat clueless to the world of drunk driving, hookers, and undercover narcotics busts, but I muddled my way through with my limited understanding of the unseemly underbelly of society.  In today’s world of Grand-Theft Auto, these things are standard fare for 10-year-olds, but in the pre-ESRB world of my youth, I found the sneak peek into the grown-up world on my Apple IIgs to be titillating and challenging.   
 
Maddeningly punishing game play aside (“you just died because you forgot to tie your shoe—hope you saved your game”), I was able to hang in there until the game’s climax at the Hotel Delphoria where all of the plot threads come together as you join Jessie “The Death Angel” Bains in an illegal poker game to gain his trust.  That’s where my adventure ended.  As a 10-year-old, I didn’t have a clue about how to play poker, let alone have any understanding of the world of poker language and culture.  In the game you had to be able to win to not get shot—apparently bad guys think that if you can’t play poker you must be a cop.  I got shot. 
 
Fast forward 23 years. 
 
I’m about 4 years into my new-found hobby as a casual Magic: The Gathering player with only slightly more of a clue than I had in 1987 as to how to play poker, but even as an outsider to both games I can’t help but notice that the worlds of Magic and poker are intertwined.   
 
I’m not talking about professionals such as David Williams who have found success at both poker and Magic, but rather I’m talking about the seepage of poker culture and terminology into the game of Magic.  Every now and then I’ll hear a more experienced Magic player use a term I don’t understand such as “on-tilt”.  When I ask what that means or where it comes from, invariably the answer is that it is a poker term.   
 
So here’s my idea.  I’d like to attempt a run-down of poker terminology and examine the crossover terms that I’ve heard used in Magic that seem to have originated in poker.  I’m guessing that some terminology usage is regional and since I’ve only played Magic in Virginia and Colorado, I’m sure that your comments will reveal ones I’ve missed; and I welcome your input.  I’ll use as my source the Wikipedia Glossary of Poker Terms.   
 
Here are 9 terms I know have been adopted and 9 un-adopted terms that could find a happy home in the Magic community… 
 
9 Poker -> Magic Crossover Terms: 
 
Term: All In 
Definition: Having bet all of your chips in the current hand.  
~In Magic, it’s often a deck strategy that is all or nothing such as “All In Red” that consumes all of its cards to cast an early threat that will hopefully ensure victory. 
Usage: Dan decided to go all in against his control opponent—if Ian was holding Day of Judgment, it was all over, but if he didn’t, the risk would pay off and win him the match. 
 
Term: Bad Beat(s) 
Definition: A subjective term for a hand in which a player with what appear to be strong cards nevertheless loses.  A bad beat can be a profound psychological blow, and can easily lead to a player going on tilt.   
~In Magic, it’s much the same.  But let it be noted that much more so in Magic than in Poker, a player bears responsibility for their bad beats due to the ability to take mulligans and affect match outcome through play skill.  Don’t let bad beats lead you to going on tilt!  
Usage: Getting land screwed seemed on the surface to be bad beats, but Bruce couldn’t shake the sneaking suspicion that he probably shouldn’t have kept his one-land opening hand.  
 
Term: Bubble; on the bubble 
Definition: The last finishing position in a poker tournament before entering the payout structure.  
~In Magic, it’s similar -- to be “on the bubble” means to be in a position at the end of a tournament where it is not clear whether the outcome of the final round will ensure a position in the top 8.  
Usage: Being at 13 points after 6 rounds left Randy on the bubble forcing him to grind out the last two matches. 
 
Term: Cut 
Definition: After a deck of cards is shuffled by the dealer, it is often given to a player other than the one who performed the shuffle for a procedure called a cut. The practice of cutting is primarily a method of reducing the likelihood of someone cheating by manipulating the order of cards to gain advantage.   
~In Magic we take a little bit of liberty with this term.  To offer your deck to your opponent for a cut actually means to give them a chance to randomize the deck which could range from full randomization to nothing at all.  This particular term appears to be misused; perhaps we need to invent a Magic-exclusive term for this procedure.  
Usage: When Wizards released the enemy-color fetchlands, it became a common occurrence for each player’s library to be cut half a dozen times before the end of the first game. 
 
Term: Nut Hand; The Nuts 
Definition: The nut hand is the best possible hand in a given situation.   
~In Magic, the nuts means the “ideal” hand for executing your deck’s strategy as rapidly as possible.  This term generally applies more accurately to aggro and combo decks than control decks.  
Usage: Jeremy’s opening hand was very strong, but his opponent drew the nuts and won the game before he even got a chance to play. 
 
Term: On Tilt 
Definition: Emotional upset, mental confusion, or frustration in which a player adopts a less than optimal strategy, usually resulting in poor play and poor performance.  
~In Magic, this term could be even more applicable than in Poker.  I’ve seen good Magic players lose perfectly winnable matches because they top decked a fourth-consecutive land and went on tilt.    
Usage: Frank might not have missed the obvious play that could have saved him the match if he had not been on tilt from the lopsided loss in game 2. 
 
Term: Positive EV 
Definition: Positive Expected Value; often used in poker to mean "profitability in the long run".  
~I first saw this used as the title of Manuel Bucher’s column on Star City Games and looked it up because I didn’t know what it meant. As far as I understand, this means that, “This particular play is the right play—even if it didn’t work this time, it will work more often than not, so in the absence of other information, stick with the best Positive EV play.”    
Usage: Extensive playtesting revealed the optimum sideboarding strategy against the worst matchups in the metagame.  It seemed counterintuitive, but the best positive EV was to swap out Jace in favor of Earthquake. 
 
Term: Sandbag 
Definition: Deceptive play in poker that is roughly the opposite of bluffing: betting weakly or passively with a strong holding rather than betting aggressively with a weak one.  
~In Magic, it equates to intentionally holding a spell you are capable of casting to get your opponent to think you don’t have it, or in hopes of getting them to over-extend into the effect it provides.  
Usage: Gabriel was sandbagging a removal spell in hopes of catching his opponent off guard when he counter-attacked the following turn. 
 
Term: Slow Roll 
Definition: To delay or avoid showing one's hand at showdown, forcing other players to expose their hands first.  
~Similar to sandbagging, to slow roll a card is to intentionally give tells that you aren’t holding something that you are and then to surprise your opponent with it.  
Usage: Were you slow rolling me by waiting for me to cast Day of Judgment before you dropped your Sun Titan? 

Here are a few poker terms that I’ve never heard used in a Magic: the Gathering context that I think we’d be wise to adopt.  Consider this my attempt to influence the community to do so. 

9 Terms the Magic Community Should Adopt: 
 
Term: Chop 
Definition: To split a pot because of a tie, split-pot game, or player agreement.   
~In Magic, why not use it when you take an intentional draw to split the prize and go home?  
Usage: We were both a lock to make top 8 so we decided to chop. 
 
Term: Catch 
Definition: To receive needed cards on a draw.   
~In Magic this is often awkwardly called “top decking”.  
Usage: Craig made the most out of an unwinnable board position and was able to catch Lightning Helix for the win. 
 
Term: Coin Flip 
Definition: A situation where two players have, perhaps wisely, invested all their money in the pot and it's a roughly even chance which of them wins.   
~In Magic, we sometimes use it to refer to a metagame matchup (such as a mirror match) where the player who goes first is more likely to win.  
Usage: The RDW mirror seems to be more of a coin flip than a test of play skill.   
 
Term: Horse 
Definition: A player financially backed by someone else.    
~In Magic, why not use it as a nickname for the common practice of one player “sponsoring” another player such as when they cannot afford a deck or the tournament entry fee and there is some sort of agreement to share prizes?  
Usage: I didn’t make top 8 in the FNM draft, but my horse opened a Jace, the Mind Sculptor.  Ca-ching!!   
 
Term: Paint 
Definition: Any royal card. Used mostly in lowball games, where royal cards are rarely helpful.    
~In Magic, I think this would be a clever term to substitute for what is commonly called “business”.  
Usage: All Pat needs to do is catch some paint with his next draw and he’ll win the match. 
 
Term: Rainbow 
Definition: Three or four cards of different suits.    
~In Magic, it could be used to indicate a color-intensive hand.  
Usage: I had to mulligan a rainbow hand because I didn’t have the mana to support it. 
 
Term: Rabbit/Fox Hunt 
Definition:  After a hand is complete, to reveal cards that would have been dealt later in the hand had it continued. This is usually prohibited in casinos because it slows the game and may reveal information about concealed hands.   
~In Magic, this is my proposed name for the insidious practice of looking at the top 2-3 cards following a mulligan decision.  Can also be used to refer to the same practice following the match.  
Usage: Jimmy was the kind of player who wasn’t content to just lose; he liked to go on rabbit hunts after the match to show his opponent that he would have won if he had only drawn 5 more cards. 
 
Term: Snow 
Definition: To play a worthless hand misleadingly in draw poker in order to bluff, or the worthless hand in question.   
~We have these in Magic, so why not steal the term?   
Usage: His opening grip was nothing but snow, but he had such a good matchup, he decided to keep. 
 
Term: Suck out 
Definition: A situation when a hand heavily favored to win loses to an inferior hand after all the cards are dealt. The winning hand is said to have "sucked out". Compare to "bad beat".    
~This definitely happens in Magic.  
Usage: His opener was insane, but he still managed to suck out. 

Conclusion 

 
So, when you catch an opener filled with rainbow paint, rather than stand pat and suck out, offer the chop; either that or go all in and snow the nuts so you don’t end up on the bubble.