We have talked about poker lingo, nicknames and slangs in previous posts. While the lingo and slangs carry over to online play there's a language of abbreviations and acronyms in online poker that doesn't cross over to live play. I'm not sure if this “abbreviation” language came out of pure laziness or our want as humans to make things simpler and faster. Probably a little bit of both.

There are the everyday abbreviations we use nowadays in text like LOL (laugh out loud), BRB (be right back), OMG (oh my God) and TY (thank you) that are used regularly in poker chats. You will run across some abbreviations like GG (good game) GH (good hand) NH (nice hand), GC (good call), N1 (nice one) and NC (nice call) that you could probably decipher and understand without someone telling you what it means.

Then you may run across an online poker player that spits out abbreviations like ATC (any two cards). Which means the fish he is talking about or talking to will play any two cards. A few other popular abbreviations that are specific to online poker chat OTT (over the top). Which is referring to someone making a bigger bet over the top of the previous bet. -EV/+EV (negative expected value/ positive expected value) is your average return invested on each Dollar in the pot. SNG (sit and go tournament) is a poker tournament that starts as soon as all seats are filled. WA/WB ( way ahead/way behind) when you're way ahead in a hand your opponent has very few cards to win but when you're way behind you are the player that has very few cards in order to win the pot.

In poker, people like to lump different styles of play into different categories. LAG, TAG and LAP. Which stand for Loose Aggressive Player, Tight Aggressive Player and Passive Player. The more you play with a person the quicker you will pick up there play style and use it to your advantage.

Your position at the table and the type of poker game you are playing also have abbreviations. Your position at the table can be quite important while playing. The last position to act is the best seat to be in because you get to see what everyone else does before you make your decision. Starting from the left of the Dealer Button and at a nine-handed table the abbreviations for table position are SB (small blind), BB (big blind), UTG (under the gun), UTG+1, EP (early position), MP (middle position), LP (late position), CO (cut off). Its good to know the different abbreviations for the type of poker games. You don’t want to sign up to play and not know what you are playing. MTT refers to multi-table tournaments. STT is a single table tournament and SNG is a sit and go tournament.

There are many ways to say thank you in abbreviation. I would like to say TY, T, TX and THX for reading this edition of Poker Talk with Hop. See ya at the tables!