[Al Skierkiewicz]

Sanddrag,
Usually when you are referring to the poles of a motor, you are referring to the number of magnetic circuits with in the motor. If you opened a "four pole" brushed motor, you would find four distinct windings on four cores of the armature. As the motor turns, the brush assembly supplies current to each in turn to provide the motor power. (Of course, current is supplied to the windings to make north and south poles and the polarity is determined by the brushes and commutator.)
The more poles in a DC motor, the more even the power output, much like the addition of cylinders in a car engine. Under load, this makes a big difference. If you examine one of the drill motors, for instance, you will see more than four poles.