Foreign Poker Terms: French, German And Spanish

Foreign Poker Terms. Think you don’t need them? Well, you’ll be going through the list of online gambling sites in the UK. There you are playing online poker when a foreign speaker enters the game. Apart from saying “Hello”, you might find it useful to know some of the poker terms in order to make the game more enjoyable for you both.

Introduction: Foreign Poker Terms in French, German and Spanish

Yes, we do have Google translate. But as every translator worth their salt will tell you, it’s not so good on the vernacular or jargon or poker colloquialisms. On the other hand, there are many sites with an “English Language Only” rule, but many players either don’t understand this or simply choose to ignore it.

Let’s first look  back at the history of online poker and then compile a list of the most common foreign Poker terms in English and then put their foreign counterparts besides them. If you don’t see a term listed, it’s because they are using the English equivalent. Watch out: the best Romanian poker players use the same poker terms!

The French Mix It Up

Let’s start with the French, even though they are only recently catching up with the online world of poker and historically have favored off-line sites. Funnily enough the French have a word for everything except “gamble” or “bet”. Also they tend to use a bastardization of English terms in poker. For example a verb can be a verb, but it can also be a noun although it is not one in English. A noun can be used as a verb and who cares how we should conjugate it?

No Such Word As “Bet”

Of course every Frenchman knows what “bet” or “raise” mean, but they never bothered to learn how to use these words in a complete sentence in English. A typical example: “Il a bet hors de pos” (“He bet out of pos[ition]”). Because the verb “to bet” does not exist in French, they simply use “bet”. And why not! Now let’s try that in French.

French Poker Terms

Nice hand — Bon main
Donkey — Un heehaw
Bad beat — Mal dommage
Pair — Les hooters
Flush — Quel language, o moi!
Straight — Pas gay
Full House — Chez moi
Well played — Bon temps jouez
The Poker Gods are smiling on you/me — Mervieulex par les grandes kebobs pour moi
Why did you check/fold/raise? — Est tu un heehaw?
I’m on tilt — Je comme la Pisa

Naked terrorists playing poker with billionaire beggars?

Anglo-Germanic Tongue

And again in German. Though Germans tend to use English phrases, so you really only need to know the card names. There are some differences but knowing these will just be a formality. Also there are now more places to play in Germany.

German Poker Terms

Dealer — Kartengeber
Pair — Paar
Raise — Erhöhen
Hold — Halten
Call — Setzen
Fold — Passen or Aussteigen
2 Pairs — 2 Paare
3 of a kind — Drilling
4 of a kind — Vierling
High card — Hohe Karte
Straight — Strasse
Straight — Straße
Well played  — Gut gespielt !
Hidden card — Versteckte karte
The Party Poker Gods are smiling on you/me — Die Party Pokergötter sind dir wohlgesonnen.
Why did you check/fold/raise? — Warum hast du gecheckt / gefoldet / geraist ?
I’m on tilt — Ich bin auf Tilt.

Cards At Siesta

For those Spanish people entering the game like Partypoker, many terms are similar to English. But the Spanish are more likely to stick with their own tongue if they outnumber the nationality of other players. And don’t start speaking Catalan. Another warning: they speak very quickly. Try this: online sites for gambling in the UK — “Sitios para jugar a poquer en Inglaterra!”

Spanish Poker Terms

Nice hand — Buena mano
Royal Flush — Escalera real
Donkey — Burro
Poker Chips — Fichas de poker
Raise — Aumentar
Fold — Doblar
Call — Ver
Bet — Apostar
All in –Jugarlo todo
Bad beat — Ritmo malo
Pair — Par
Flush — Proyecto de color)
Fold — Abandonar
Straight — Escalera
Full House — Un ful
Limit Poker — Póquer limitado
NL Holdem — Holdem ilimitado
Pot Limit — Limite de pozo
Well played — Buena jugada
The Poker Gods are smiling on you/me. — Los dioses de poquer te/me sonrien
Why did you check/fold/raise? — Por que has pasado/tirado/subido?

If you want to brush up on your Spanish poker, then check out the PokerStars Webcast.