Blackjack Definitions
- Action
- A general gambling term referring to the total amount of money bet in a specific period of time.
- 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. It is placed in the discard tray and may or may not be shown face up. A card is burned after each shuffle.
- Cut Card
- A solid coloured card or piece of plastic given to a player by the dealer for cutting the deck(s) after a shuffle.
- Hole Card
- Any face down card.
- Shoe
- A device that can hold up to eight decks of cards and allows the dealer to slide out the cards one at a time.
- Hard Hand
- Where an Ace is counted as a 1 and not as an 11.
- Soft Hand
- Where an 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. It is a losing hand.
- Push
- A player-dealer tie.
- Pair
- When a player's first two cards are numerically identical.
- 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
- True Count
- The running count adjusted to account for the number of cards left in the deck or shoe to be played.
- Bankroll
- The available money a player plans to bet with.
- Flat Bet
- A bet which you do not vary
- 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 honoured by another as cash.
- Settlement
- The resolving of the bet.
- Toke
- To tip 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.
- Shuffle Up
- Prematurely shuffling the cards to harass a player who is usually suspected of being a card counter.
- Pit
- The area inside a group of gaming tables. The tables are arranged in an elliptical shape, the space inside is the pit.
- House
- The Casino.
- Cage
- The cashier’s den where chips are redeemed for cash.
- 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.
- Head-On
- To play alone at a Blackjack table with the dealer.
- High Roller
- A big bettor.
- Mechanic
- An illicit manipulator of cards
