BANKER
Either the dealer of the player in a card game who collects the bets of the (other) players at the gaming table.

BANKROLL
The total sum of money set aside by an individual player to gamble with.

BASIC STRATEGY
A method of play formulated to reduce the house edge to a theoretical minimum, optimizing a players chances of winning.

BET SPREAD
The ratio between the minimum and maximum bet e.g. a player who bets between £10 and £100 has a 10:1 bet spread.

BETTING LIMITS
The minimum and maximum allowable single bet possible at a selected table game. Also sometimes called the ‘table limit’.

BLACK
The traditional colour of the ‘100’ value casino chip.

BLIND BET
A bet that a Poker player is obliged to make because of their relative position to the dealer.

BLUE
The traditional colour of the single unit value casino chip.

BLUFF
A technique used in Poker to fool players holding strong hands to fold, by confidently raising despite holding a weak hand.

BOARD
Term referring to the community cards dealt face-up in the centre of a Poker table.

BOOKIE
Contraction of Bookmaker – a person, or organisation that accepts players’ bets.

BREAK EVEN POINT
The point at which a player’s winnings equal the bets placed to achieve them.

BRING IN
A bet that a player of Seven Card Stud Poker is obliged to make if they have been dealt the lowest value upcard in the first round of betting.

BURN CARD
A single card initially dealt from the deck used in a card game after a shuffle and cut and before players’ cards are dealt. In Blackjack the card is placed on the bottom of the deck, whereas in Baccarat it is moved to the discard tray.

BUST
The situation when a Blackjack player’s hand exceeds the value of 21, immediately losing them the game.

(2) To draw the numbers for a game in Keno (and Bingo).

CARD COUNTING
To note the cards that have been played since a shuffle to determine the bias of the remaining deck in favour of the house or the player.

 CARD SHARK
An expert card game player.

CARD WEIGHT
The value applied to the various card ranks in card counting systems to be added or subtracted to the cumulative sum as each new card is exposed.

CASE
The last remaining card in a deck with a specific rank e.g. the case Jack would be the last Jack in the deck.

CASINO ADVANTAGE
The mathematical advantage that a casino has over its players by virtue of the odds it offers for a bet in relation to the true odds of the outcome. See also House Edge.

CHECK
(1) Another less common term for a chip in casino gaming.

(2) Opting to continue in a game of Poker but not bet during a particular round.

CHIPS
The coloured tokens of different denominations that are used in place of cash when playing table games at casinos.

CHIP TRAY
The tray positioned in front of a casino’s dealer that holds that table's supply of chips.

COLD
Description of a player on a losing streak, or a machine game such as a Slot or Video Poker that does not seem to payout often.

 COLOUR UP
The act of changing up smaller value chips for larger denominations, usually when a player ends their session at a particular table.

COMP POINTS
Comp is a contraction or ‘complimentary’. Comp points are promotional rewards offered by online casinos to loyal customers, which can be converted to cash subject to that casino’s wagering requirements.

COPY
A term used in Pai Gow to describe the situation when the banker and player hold the same high or low hand. The banker wins all copies by default.

CROUPIER
The French term for the casino dealer in games of Baccarat and the banker in Roulette.

CUT
The act of dividing a deck of cards into two parts and inverting them immediately after they have been shuffled.

DEUCE
Alternative expression for a playing card with a value of two e.g. two of clubs.

DICE
Two identical cubes with face values from one to six.

DIE
Grammatically correct singular term for dice.

DISCARD TRAY
A tray to the right of a dealer holding all cards that have been played or discarded.

DOUBLE DOWN
An option in Blackjack for a player to double their original bet in exchange for receiving only one further card. This is done by the player placing their first two cards face up on the table and adding an equal bet beside their original wager.

DOUBLE FOR LESS
To Double Down (see above) in a game of Blackjack, but increasing the original bet by less than that original wager. Online Blackjack rarely offers this option.

DOWN CARD
A card dealt face down on a Blackjack table.

DRAW BUTTON
Found on Video Poker machines, this allows a player to draw up to five new cards.

DROP BOX
A box incorporated into a casino gaming table that is used to securely store cash, markers (see later) and chips.

EVEN MONEY
A bet with odds of 1 to 1 i.e. the payout is the same amount as the sum bet, plus the original wager

FIFTH STREET
(1) The third round of betting is Seven Card Stud Poker when players hold five cards.
(2) The final round of betting in Hold'em Poker games when the fifth card is on board.

FLAT BET
A bet for the same amount on successive hands, which the player chooses not to vary.

FLOP
The round in a game of Hold'em Poker when three community cards are dealt face-up in the centre of the table (i.e. three on board).

FLUSH
A term used in Poker games describing a hand consisting of five cards of the same suit.

FOLD
To decline a bet and drop out of the hand during a game of Poker.

FOUL
Term used in Pai Gow to describe when the low hand (two cards) is arranged with a value higher than the high hand (five cards) or the hands contain the wrong number of cards. A fouled hand loses the game.

FOUR OF A KIND
Four cards of the same rank. See also Quads.

FOURTH STREET
(1) The second round of betting is Seven Card Stud Poker when players hold four cards.
(2) The third round of betting in Hold'em Poker games when the fourth card is on board.

FULL HOUSE
A Poker hand consisting of a three of a kind and a pair.

GRINDER
A player who places only small money bets.

HAND-HELD GAME
Any card game where the players' cards are dealt face down, after which they are required to pick them up and sort them themselves.

HARD HAND
Any hand in Blackjack with a value of eleven that does not contain an ace, or in which any ace held is counted as one and not as eleven. Also known as a hard total.

HEAD-ON
To play alone at a Blackjack table with the dealer.

HEDGE
To place an opposite bet to your original wager in order to reduce potential loss.

HIGH ROLLER
A player who habitually places large value bets.

HIT
(1)To request another card from the dealer in Blackjack
(2) An additional card requested by a Blackjack player.

HOLDING YOUR OWN
To experience neither a net gain nor loss during a wager or series of wagers.

HOLD'EM
A type of Poker game in which players construct their hands from the combination of individually dealt face down cards and a number of face-up community cards.

HOLE CARD
(1) The dealer’s face down card in Blackjack.
(2) The players’ face down cards in Stud and Hold’em style Pokers.

HOUSE EDGE
The percentage of each bet that a player makes that the house (casino) takes to generate its income through paying off winning bets at less than the true mathematical odds

INSURANCE
A side bet made in Blackjack that the dealer has 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.

KICKER
A Poker term denoting an odd high value card - usually an ace or a king - held by a player that doesn't contribute to a straight or a flush,

LATE SURRENDER
A surrender in Blackjack allowable when the dealer does not have a natural (21). The player surrendering loses half their bet and cannot play the rest of the hand.

LIMIT
The fixed maximum bet or raise allowed in each round of a game of Poker.

LOAD UP
To play the maximum number of coins per spin or draw that a Slot or Video Poker machine allows.

MUCK
To discard a hand of cards in Poker because they cannot or did not win

(2) A two-card total of eight, or nine in Baccarat.

ON BASE
A term used in the casino business to describe dealers other than the ‘stickman’ (see later).

ONE-ARMED BANDIT
A slang term often used to describe Slot machines.

OPEN
The player who bets first in a game of Poker.

OUTSIDE BETS
Bets in Roulette that are located on the outside part of the layout, and are lower risk wagers on clusters of twelve or eighteen numbers at one time e.g. all odd number

PASS
To not bet. To fold.

PAT HAND
(1) A good hand in Poker that does not need any more cards.
(2) A good Blackjack hand worth at least 17 points.

PAYLINE
The line on a Slot’s console window on which the symbols from each reel must line up. Slot machines can have as many as eight paylines (mutliline Slots) although most have only one.

PAYOFF
The return a player receives on a winning bet.

PAYOUT PERCENTAGE
The percentage of every bet played through a Video Poker or Slot machine that the machine is programmed to payback ultimately as accumulated winnings. Payback percentage is 100 percent less the house edge. Also referred to as the payback percentage.

PAYOUT TABLE
A display on the front of a Slot or Video Poker machine, that indicates what each winning combination of symbols or Poker hands will payout for each credit played.

PIT BOSS
The supervisor of all the tables and casino staff associated with a pit during a particular work shift. A pit bosses role includes watching for cheating, arbitrating any disputes that arise, and offering complimentary hospitability to favoured (usually high-rolling) customers.

POCKET CARDS
An alternative term to Hole Cards used by Hold'em Poker players for first two down cards they are dealt.

POINT TOTAL
The total numerical value of cards in a hand.

PREFERENTIAL SHUFFLING
A dealer reshuffling a deck in Blackjack when it is exhibiting a tendency to favour the players, but not when the deck favours the house.

PRESS A BET (PRESS)
To increase a bet by doubling it.

PROTECT
To keep a hand or place a chip on the cards in a real-world game to prevent those cards from being fouled by a discarded hand or accidentally mucked by the dealer.

PROGRESSIVE
A Slot machine whose potential jackpot increases with each coin that is played. When the progressive jackpot is finally won, the amount resets to a fixed starting value from where it begins to build again.

PUSH
A tied hand between a dealer and a player e.g. a push in Blackjack happens when both the dealer and player hold unbusted hands with the same point values. Any bet is returned to the player without penalty

QUALIFIER
The minimum standard a hand in a game of Poker must meet to be eligible for part of the winning pot.

RAKE
The money that a casino charges for each hand of Poker. It is usually a percentage (5-10%) or flat fee that is taken from the pot after each round of betting. Casino Pokers played against the house dealer, such as Caribbean Stud, do not have a rake.

RANK
The value of a particular combination of cards.

RED
The traditional colour of the ‘5’ value casino chip.

REEL
The vertical, rotating wheel behind a Slot machine’s window on which various symbols are printed. The number of reels employed by Slots vary but are commonly three or five.

RICH DECK
The remnant of a deck being played that contains a high percentage of face cards and aces.

RIVER
The final community card dealt in a hand of Stud or Hold'em style Poker.

ROUND OF PLAY
The complete period of a game, commencing with the removal of the first card from the shoe or shuffling device by the dealer and finishing when the dealer draws the last card, declares the result, and pays out all winning bets.

ROYAL FLUSH
The best possible hand to hold in Poker, comprising Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, all of the same suit.

SET
The step of arranging the seven dealt cards in a game of Pai Gow into high and low hands of five and two cards respectively.

SHOE
The plastic or wooden box used to hold and deal multiple decks of cards in Baccarat and Blackjack games. A shoe can typically hold up to eight decks of cards and is designed to enable a dealer to slide out one card at a time.

SHOWDOWN
The reveal of cards by the remaining players in a game of Poker, following the final betting round, to determine the winner.

SHORT STACK
A stack of chips in front of a player that is smaller than the stacks of the other players at the table, suggesting that they are in a weak position.

SHUFFLE
The action of randomly mixing up the order of the cards in a deck before commencing a new hand.

SINGLE
A bet on a single result or outcome.

SOFT HAND
A term used in blackjack to describe any hand that contains an ace being played as eleven.

SPLIT HAND
A hand in Blackjack, where the two dealt cards are of the same rank and are subsequently split to form two independent hands. To play a split hand a player must add an additional bet to the newly created second hand.

STAND
Term used in Blackjack for the point where a player is satisfied with their hand and declines any further cards.

STICKMAN
The casino employee at a Craps table who calls the game and handles the stick used to manoeuvre chips on the layout and retrieve the dice.

STIFF
A hand in Blackjack that is not pat (see earlier), and can easily bust if hit with one more card. Stiffs include a hard twelve through sixteen, and have a poor chance of winning regardless of how the hand is played.

STRAIGHT
A Poker hand consisting of five cards of consecutive ranks e.g. 9,8,7,6,5 but of differing suits.

STRAIGHT FLUSH
A Poker hand consisting of five cards of consecutive ranks of the same suit.

SURRENDER
An opportunity for a Blackjack player to give up half their bet so that they can avoid playing out a hand.

TEN POOR
The remainder of a deck in play that has a lower density of tens and face cards than average.

TEN RICH
The remainder of a deck in play that has a higher density of tens and face cards than average.

THREE OF A KIND
Three playing cards of the same value.

TRUE ODDS
The mathematical probability that a specified event will occur compared to other possible events. The odds offered in casino games are rarely the true odds, creating the house edge by which casino’s generate their income.

TWO PAIR
A hand consisting of two pairs of cards with the same value.

WILD CARD
A card, typically a Joker or a Deuce, that can be used as any other card value to build a competitive hand