A lot of players who have just started playing Texas Hold'em will find that it is not the cards that give them the most trouble at first. Oh sure, it is tough figuring out what cards to play in what situations, but most players begin with a strategy that involves getting strong hole cards, and just playing those; the subtleties come later. What a lot of players have trouble with is the language of the game and terms associated with it. While a lot of the talk is about as intelligible as baby talk to the new player, you can get by without knowing that somebody talking about “Cowboys” is not referring to the NFL franchise based in Dallas, Texas. What you can’t do without is knowing are some of the obscure words that refer to specific actions. Today we will be discussing “Pass”, “Rangdoodles” (or Whangdoodle or Roodles), and “Drag”.
“Pass” is one of the most common mistakes. If are in a casino, and checking is part of a strategy that you are trying to employ, be sure to actually use the world “Check”. If when it comes time for you to declare your action, and you say “pass”, this means you are folding; your hand is now done. It is a simple mistake the dealer will let you get away with ONLY if nobody protestes; and somebody always protests.
If a “Rangdoodle” happens while you are playing, this has nothing to do with anything that the girls in short skirts are serving to the players. What this term signifies is a raise in the limit.
And finally, if somebody mutters something about taking a “drag” and then reaches for the money in the pot, punching them in the nose for trying to steal money is not a very good idea. A drag is the act of making change from the pot.
I hope this helps clear up some of the confusion that can result for a language barrier at the poker table.
