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Anchor - Last taken sit to the dealer's right.
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Banker - In a card game, dealer or the
players who books the action of the other bettors at the table.
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Bankroll - The total amount of money you have the intention of
gambling with.
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Basic Strategy - In blackjack, the set of plays that you
should make to maximize your advantage.
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Blackjack - Total of 21 on your initial two-card hand.
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Burn Cards - Remove cards from the top
of the deck and place them in the discard tray after a shuffle and cut.
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Break - Exceeding the hand total of 21.
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Bust - same as Break, exceeding the hand
total of 21.
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Camouflage - Anything a skilled gambler does to conceal their
activities from the casino. Camouflage can include mixing in playing and
betting behavior that mimics typical gamblers, or using disguises, appearing
to be drunk, or any number of other possible ploys intended to throw the
casino's scrutiny off.
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Card Counting - Recording (in memory)
played cards (usually high cards) so as to establish a conditional probability
advantage on the remaining cards against the dealer.
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Card Sharp - A person who is an expert at cards.
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Cut - To split the deck of cards before
they are dealt.
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Cut Card - Colored faceless plastic card used to cut the cards
after the shuffle.
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Deal - To give out the cards during a
hand.
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Discard Tray - A tray on the dealer’s right side that holds
all the cards that have been played or discarded.
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Draw - (Also Hit.) Call a card or adding
a new card to your current hand.
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Double Down (Doubling Down) - Double your initial bet
following the initial two-card deal, but you can hit one card only. In
blackjack, it is the players option to double their original bet in exchange
for receiving only one more card. To do this the player turns over their first
two cards and places an equal bet alongside the original bet.
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Early Surrender - Surrender allowed
before the dealer checks for blackjack.
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Even Money - Cashing in your bet immediately at a 1:1 payout
ratio when you are dealt a natural blackjack and the dealer's showing card is
an Ace.
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Face Cards - Jacks, Queens and Kings.
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Face Down Game - Your first card is placed face up while the
second one is placed face down.
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Face Up Game - Both your cards are
placed face up.
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First Base - First taken seat to dealer's left - where the
first card is dealt.
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Hard Hand - (Also Hard Total.) A hand
without an Ace, or with an Ace valued at 1 is said to be Hard in that it can
only be given one value, unlike a 'Soft' hand.
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Heads Up or Heads On - A head to head play with the dealer -
no other players are involved.
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Hit - (Also Draw) Call a card or adding
a new card to your current hand. The card received is also called a hit.
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Hole Card - In blackjack, the facedown card that the dealer
gets. In stud and hold ‘em poker, the facedown cards dealt to each player.
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Insurance - Side bet up to half the
initial bet against the dealer having a natural 21. Insurance is offered only
when the dealers up card is an Ace. The insurance bet wins double if the
dealer has a natural, but loses if the dealer does not.
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Late Surrender - Surrender allowed only if the dealer does not
have blackjack.
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Natural - In blackjack, a natural is a
two-card hand of 21 points. In baccarat a natural is a two-card total of
eight, or nine.
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Pat - In blackjack, an unbusted hand worth at least 17 points.
In draw poker, a hand that does not need any more hands.
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Plug - A shuffling technique that is
sometimes employed in card games like blackjack where the game is often dealt
from a multi-deck shoe. When freshly shuffled cards are brought back into
action a substantial portion of the cards are kept out of play by the
insertion of a cut-card at the back of the deck or shoe. The placement of the
cut card marks the place where play will be stopped and the cards are again
shuffled. During the play, used cards are stacked in a discard tray. When the
cut-card is reached, the game is stopped, and the remaining un-dealt cards are
inserted somewhere into the middle of the cards that have already been stacked
up in the discard tray. The cards so inserted are referred to as a 'plug'.
Such action is called 'plugging' the deck.
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Preferential Shuffling - Shuffling when the remaining cards
are deemed favorable to the players.
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Push - (Also Tie or Stand-off.) Both
player and dealer have the same hand total - player keeps bet.
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Shiner - A reflecting device used to try and glimpse the
dealer's hole card.
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Shoe - Device, usually a wooden box,
used for holding and dispensing the cards to be dealt.
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Shuffle - At the start of each game when the dealer mixes up
the order of the cards is said to shuffle the cards.
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Shuffle Up - Premature shuffling by the
dealer to discourage card counting.
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Soft Hand - Hand containing an ace counted as 11.
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Split Hand - Split the initial two-card
hand into two and play them separately - allowed only when the two first cards
are of equal value.
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Spooking - The act of standing behind the dealer to peak at
the hole card and then secretly convey the information to a partner player
sitting at the table. An illegal form of cheating.
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Standing Hand - In blackjack, meaning a
hand which hard-totals to 17 or more, which is very likely to bust if one more
card is called and therefore the player is expected to stand.
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Stand-off - (Also Tie or Push.) Both player and dealer have
the same hand total - player keeps bet.
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Stand or Stay - Not requiring any more
cards, to refrain from taking another card.
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Steaming - A blackjack term where a player has become
frustrated with how badly the events of a session of play have turned out.
'Steaming' in blackjack has practically the same meaning as 'going on tilt' in
poker. In either case the player has lost emotional control and is betting
more aggressively and often recklessly in an attempt to turn things around.
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Stiff Hand - Hand with little chance of
winning. A hand that is not pat and that may bust if hit once. Stiffs include
hard twelve through sixteen.
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Surrender - Giving up your hand and lose only half the bet.
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Tell Play - Observing the dealer's body
language and expressions to determine his hand of cards.
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Third Base - Last taken seat to the dealer's right.
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Tie - (Also Push or Stand-off.) Both
player and dealer have the same hand total - player keeps bet.
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Upcard - The dealer's first dealt card, placed face up for all
the players to see before they play their hands.
BlackJack Jargon
