Poker Terms: Leads
The term ‘lead’ in poker en ligne has several manners of use, the first, and most common being that a player has bet first or ‘taken the lead’ in the hand. Often the player that takes the lead will be the player that wins the pot, as he is acting aggressively and giving his opponents the chance to fold.
A change of lead can occur when a online poker player who had been following suddenly reraises an opponent who had the lead, thus creating the appearance that they are ahead, and therefore perhaps making the previous person in the lead more weary as to their holdings.
‘Lead’ can also be used as a verb, as in ‘leading out,’ which refers to the act of betting first into the pot. ‘Leading out’ is also referred to as ‘continuation betting’ when the online poker player who bets is following up on an earlier bet by betting again in a later round, which can be considered a sign of weakness, as the player may just be betting out of the mechanics of following the act they have made.
Because every hand of poker is meant to ‘tell a story,’ the lead is often the current that will end up taking in the chips at the end, as they have been in charge. Who wouldn’t end their own story with their own win?