Heard a new one today at the Venetian. A guy had won two pots in a row. Then when he was on the button called a small raise, saying, "Heat test. If she [indicating the dealer] can make something out of this hand, we're onto something."
Flop was raggedy. Original raiser bet. The object of the story made a large raise, causing the other player to fold. He then showed his 6-3, with which he had flopped bottom two pair. He said, "Yep, it's a heater, all right."
The "heat test" was a new one on me: play a junk hand as a test for whether you're on a heater. It's a completely ridiculous concept, but fun.
Wednesday, April 08, 2009
Poker terms
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4 comments:
Hey grump,
Believe that term originates from basketball: when a player hits several shots in a row (i.e. is running hot), then throws up a prayer to see if he can sink it.
Pretty sure it predates the poker boom (Merv Albert uses the term, and has since perhaps all the way back to the Jordan era).
~a
Anon. is correct. They call it a "heat check" in hoops. Given further emphasis by the video game "NBA Jam" back in the 1990s in which (if I remember correctly) after a player hit three in a row the announcer yells "HE'S ON FIRE!" and for the next 20 seconds or whatever would automatically hit every shot he took -- with flames flying from the ball as he did.
It is indeed most common in basketball - usually in a somewhat derogatory fashion. You hear many announcers say it when the same guy that has hit 2-3 shots in a row takes a godawful shot and misses it badly. Or when the same guy comes down and immediately jacks up a shot.
I do like it as a poker term - would be good to use as an open raiser after just about any win.
Come to think of it, the guy at my table may well have said "heat check" rather than "heat test" as I wrote it.
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