The term hole cards refers to any cards that players must keep secret from the rest of the table. Almost all poker variants make use of hole cards. The most common example is in the game of Hold’em. Players are each dealt 2 hole cards on the first betting round which they used in conjunction with ‘community cards’ to make a hand.

Jam in poker is an expression which means to “raise all-in”. It can be used in any situation where we raise all-in regardless of the street. Its usage is more or less identical to the term shove which also means to raise all-in.

Jackpot generally refers to the largest possible prize in a certain game. In the context of poker it usually refers to the bad beat jackpot. The bad beat jackpot is awarded when a sufficiently strong hand (usually good four of a kind or better in Hold’em) loses to an even stronger hand after the chips go all in. Since such losses are very rare, the jackpotpayout is usually very large.

Insurance is a side bet (often made with other players at the table) that our hand won’t hold up after all the chips have gone in. It functions very much like any insurance policy. If our hand holds up we pay a small fee for the policy. If our hand gets sucked out on, the granter of the insurance will typically pay us the value of our equity in the pot (or possibly even the entire pot, depending on exactly what was agreed).

Hit, in poker means to connect with our cards in some way. In most cases it means that we have picked up a made handbut can also be used to describe a situation where we pick up a good draw. It should not be confused with the term hit from blackjack which means to ask the dealer for another card.

A high hand or high-card hand is a poker hand that doesn’t make a pair or better. As such, the value of a high hand is determined by its highest ranked card (Aces being high in most variants). In the event that two high hands have the same ranked high card, the second highest card is consulted to determine a winner (and so on, through all 5 cards). High-card hands can sometimes win the pot, but their exact strength is heavily dependent on the precise situation and the variant of poker being played.