Action: This is a general gambling
term which refers to the total amount of money bet in a specific
period of time. Ten bets of ten dollars each is $100 of action.
Burn Card: A single card taken from the top of the deck or the
first card in a shoe which the dealer slides across the table
from his/her left o the right, and is placed into the discard
tray. The card may or may not be shown face up (which can
affect the count if you are counting cards). A card is burned
after each shuffle.
Cut
Card: A solid colored card typically
a piece of plastic which is given to a player by the dealer
for the purpose of cutting the deck(s) after a shuffle.
Hole
Card: Any face down card. The
definition most often refers to the dealer's single face down
card.
Shoe: A device that can hold up
to eight decks of cards which allows the dealer to slide out
the cards one at a time.
Hard
Hand: A hand in which any Ace
is counted as a 1 and not as an 11.
Soft
Hand: A hand in which any Ace is
counted as an 11 and not as a 1.
Pat
Hand: A hand with a total of 17
to 21.
Stand: To decline another card.
Hit: To request another card.
Bust: When a hand's value exceeds
21... a losing hand.
Push:
A player-dealer tie.
Pair:
When a player's first two cards are numerically identical (ie,
7,7).
Point Count:
The net value of the card count at the end of a hand.
Running Count: The count from the beginning
of the deck or shoe. The running count is updated by the value
of the point count after each hand.
The running count adjusted to account
for the number of cards left in the deck or shoe to be played.
Bankroll: The stake (available money)
a player plans to bet with.
Flat Bet: A bet which you do not vary,
if you are flat betting ten dollars, you are betting $10 each
and every hand without changing the betting amount from one
hand to the next.
Black Chip:
A $100 chip.
Green Chip:
A $25 chip.
Red Chip:
A $5 chip.
Foreign Chip:
A chip that is issued by one casino and is honored by another
as cash. A casino is not necessarily obligated to accept them.
Settlement: The
resolving of the bet. Either the dealer takes your chips, pays
you, or in the case of a push, no exchange of chips occurs.
Toke:
To "toke" the dealer is just another word for tipping
the dealer.
Marker: An IOU. A line of credit
provided by the casino to a player.
Junket:
An organized group of gamblers that travel to a casino together.
Junkets are usually subsidized by a casino to attract players.
Comp:
Short for complimentary. If you wave lots of money around, the
casino may give you things like a free room or free food, hoping
you'll keep losing money at the tables in their casino.
Heat: The pressure a casino puts
on a winning player, typically someone who is suspected of being
a card counter.
Shuffle Up:
Prematurely shuffling the cards to harass a player who is usually
suspected of being a counter.
Nut: The overhead costs of running
the casino.
Pit: The area inside a group of
gaming tables. The tables are arranged in an elliptical manner,
the space inside the perimeter is the pit.
House:
The Casino of course.
Cage:
Short for cashier's cage. This is where chips are redeemed for
cash, checks cashed, credit arranged, etc.
House Percentage: The casino's advantage in
a particular game of chance.
Drop Percentage:
That portion of the player's money that the casino will win
because of the house percentage. It is a measure of the amount
of a player's initial stake that he or she will eventually lose.
On average this number is around 20 percent. That is, on average,
Joe Gambler will lose $20 of every $100 he begins with.
Head-On: To play alone at a BlackJack
table with the dealer.
WAG Player: Wild Assed Guessing player.
SWAG Player: Scientific
Wild Assed Guessing player.
Tough Player: a
player who can hurt the casino monetarily with his or her intelligent
play.
Counter: Someone who counts cards.
High Roller: A
big bettor.
Mechanic: A
manipulator of the cards, typically for illicit purposes.
Shill: A house employee who bets money and pretends to be a
player to attract customers. Shills typically follow the same
rules as the dealer which makes them somewhat easy to spot (ie,
they don't Double Down or Split).
An employee of the casino whose
job is to supervise BlackJack players, dealers, and other floor
personnel.
