What it means to be ‘felted’

Poker has a language all its own. For example, can you understand the following?

“I was UTG+2 and raised it up 3.5 times the BB. The hijack folded, but the cutoff jammed. Action folded back to me, and I called off. It was a flip pref lop, but he hit a gutter ball on the turn to win.”

If you’re a poker player, you know what that meant. To the layman, it probably came off as gibberish. Don’t worry, though: The longer you play poker, the more you’ll become exposed to the language. Dozens of terms have sprung fromthe game and permeated everyday language, such as “passing the buck” and “going all in.”

Others poker words and phrases, such as “felted,” are only applicable to the game. So, what does it mean to be felted in poker? Simply put, it’s when you go broke. You’re felted because you’ve lost all your chips and there’s nothing in front of you but bare poker felt.

The term was coined by poker pro Phil Laak, known to fans as “The Unabomber” thanks to his trademark getup of dark sunglasses and a pulledup hoodie. Legend has it that Laak first used “felted” during a $10-$20 no-limit hold ’ em game at the Lucky Chances Casino in Colma back in 2004.

“Right as it rolled off my tongue, I knew that was it,” Laak said of the term. “It was sticky. It was going to make it.”

Indeed, the term caught on and has embedded itself in poker lingo. To “felt” someone is to bust them, while being “felted” means you’re the one who went broke.

For example, let’s say you’re playing a $1-$2 no-limit cash game and look down at Ah Ad. You raise to $8 from your $200 stack, and the player on the button calls. Both blinds fold, and you’re heads-up to a f lop of Ac 10c Jd.

You bet $10 with top set, and your opponent, who has a stack the same size as yours, raises to $ 35. In this spot, you want to felt your opponent (take all his chips), but you also want to avoid getting felted yourself. ( Maybe your opponent f lopped a straight.)

You opt to just call, and the 3c appears on the turn. With both straight and flush possibilities on the board, you check and are happy to see your opponent check behind.

The Jh completes the board on the river to improve you to aces full of jacks.

There’s $ 89 in the pot, and you bet roughly half of it, tossing in $ 45. Your opponent then moves all in. The only hand he can have that beats you is pocket jacks, so you happily call with your full house. Fortunately for you, he has 10h 10d for a worse full house, and you felt him.

Now how do you think he felt about that?