Blackjack Definitions

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.

True Count: 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 ie, 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).

Pit Boss: An employee of the casino whose job is to supervise BlackJack players, dealers, and other floor personnel.