Blackjack Glossary - Blackjack Glossary

Anchor - Last taken sit to the dealer's right.

Banker - In a card game, dealer or the players who books the action of the
other bettors at the table.

Bankroll - The total amount of money you have the intention of gambling
with.

Basic Strategy - In blackjack, the set of plays that you should make to
maximize your advantage.

Blackjack - Total of 21 on your initial two-card hand.

Burn Cards - Remove cards from the top of the deck and place them in the
discard tray after a shuffle and cut.

Break - Exceeding the hand total of 21.

Bust - same as Break, exceeding the hand total of 21.

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.

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.

Card Sharp - A person who is an expert at cards.

Cut - To split the deck of cards before they are dealt.

Cut Card - Colored faceless plastic card used to cut the cards after the
shuffle.

Deal - To give out the cards during a hand.

Discard Tray - A tray on the dealer's right side that holds all the cards
that have been played or discarded.

Draw - (Also Hit.) Call a card or adding a new card to your current hand.

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.

Early Surrender - Surrender allowed before the dealer checks for blackjack.

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.

Face Cards - Jacks, Queens and Kings.

Face Down Game - Your first card is placed face up while the second one is
placed face down.

Face Up Game - Both your cards are placed face up.

First Base - First taken seat to dealer's left - where the first card is
dealt.
 
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.

Heads Up or Heads On - A head to head play with the dealer - no other
players are involved.

Hit - (Also Draw) Call a card or adding a new card to your current hand. The
card received is also called a hit.

Hole Card - In blackjack, the facedown card that the dealer gets. In stud
and hold 'em poker, the facedown cards dealt to each player.
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.

Late Surrender - Surrender allowed only if the dealer does not have
blackjack.

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.

Pat - In blackjack, an unbusted hand worth at least 17 points. In draw
poker, a hand that does not need any more hands.

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.
Point Count - (In card counting systems) The net value of the card count at
the end of a hand.

Preferential Shuffling - Shuffling when the remaining cards are deemed
favorable to the players.

Push - (Also Tie or Stand-off.) Both player and dealer have the same hand
total - player keeps bet.

Running Count - (In card counting systems) 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.
Shiner - A reflecting device used to try and glimpse the dealer's hole card.

Shoe - Device, usually a wooden box, used for holding and dispensing the
cards to be dealt.

Shuffle - At the start of each game when the dealer mixes up the order of
the cards is said to shuffle the cards.

Shuffle Up - Premature shuffling by the dealer to discourage card counting.

Soft Hand - Hand containing an ace counted as 11.

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.

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.
 
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.

Stand-off - (Also Tie or Push.) Both player and dealer have the same hand
total - player keeps bet.
 
Stand or Stay - Not requiring any more cards, to refrain from taking another
card.
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.

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.
Surrender - Giving up your hand and lose only half the bet.

Tell Play - Observing the dealer's body language and expressions to
determine his hand of cards.

Third Base - Last taken seat to the dealer's right.
Tie - (Also Push or Stand-off.) Both player and dealer have the same hand
total - player keeps bet.

True Count - (In card counting systems) The running count adjusted to
account for the number of cards left in the deck or shoe to be played.

Upcard - The dealer's first dealt card, placed face up for all the players
to see before they play their hands.

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