Poker Terms Explained: Read? Runner-Runner? Rainbow?
Poker can seem like a game of complex strategy and jargon, especially for beginners. But once you get the hang of the most common poker terms, it can become much easier to understand the action at the table. In this blog post, we’ll explain some important poker terms that will help you become a more confident player: Read, Runner-Runner, and Rainbow.
Read
In poker, the term “Read” refers to the ability to observe your opponents’ behavior, tendencies, and betting patterns to deduce the strength of their hands. A good “read” helps you make more informed decisions about whether to bet, raise, or fold.
Players often try to pick up subtle clues from their opponents, such as how quickly they bet, the size of their bets, or how often they bluff. This is especially important in live poker games where body language and facial expressions can give away valuable information. In online poker, a read comes from studying players’ betting patterns and timing.
- Example: If you notice that an opponent always raises aggressively when holding a strong hand, you can adjust your strategy accordingly and avoid calling with weak hands when they raise.
Runner-Runner
The term “Runner-Runner” is used to describe a situation where a player needs two specific cards to come on the turn and river to complete a winning hand. It’s often used in reference to drawing hands, where a player is hoping to get the cards they need to make a better hand than their opponents.
For example, imagine you have a flush draw (four cards of the same suit), and you need the next two cards (the turn and river) to also be the right suit for you to complete the flush. If you hit those cards, it’s called a runner-runner.
- Example: You’re holding 10♠ 6♠ in a hand, and the board comes out as 7♠ 8♠ 2♦. You have a flush draw and need a spade on both the turn and the river to complete your flush. If both the turn and river are spades, you’ve hit a runner-runner flush!
While this is often a rare and dramatic way to win a hand, it’s important to keep in mind that relying on runner-runner draws can be risky, as they require a specific combination of cards.
Rainbow
In poker, a “Rainbow” refers to a board that contains three or more cards of different suits. It’s often used when describing the community cards in games like Texas Hold’em or Omaha.
The significance of a rainbow board is that it reduces the chance of someone having a flush (a hand consisting of five cards of the same suit), as no one suit dominates the board. This can help players gauge the strength of their opponents’ hands more accurately.
- Example: A flop of J♠ 7♦ 4♣ is a rainbow board because each of the three community cards is a different suit. It’s unlikely that any player can make a flush based on the community cards, so players might focus more on pairs, straights, or sets.
In contrast, if the board was J♠ 7♠ 4♠, it would be considered a “flush draw” since there are three spades, and players might be looking to complete a flush by getting a fourth spade on the turn or river.
