Glossary

This fairly comprehensive list of common blackjack terms comes from Blackjack for Blood — A Complete Handbook and Winning System for Casino Blackjack, which many consider the best blackjack book of all time. You’ll need to understand the terminology in order to grasp the rules, procedures, strategies, and advanced concepts.

10—Commonly used in this book to denote a 10-value card, specifically a 10, jack, queen, or king.
86—The casino practice of excluding undesirable patrons and players. See “Barring.”

Action—The sum total of all the money bet in a session of blackjack. As an example, if you play 100 hands at $25 per hand, your action is $2,500.
Advantage—The player’s expected win/loss, expressed as a percent of his action. See “Expectation.”
Barring—The casino practice of excluding undesirable players. See “86.”
Basic Strategy—The proper playing strategy when the only information you consider is the dealer’s up-card and the cards that comprise your own hand. Depending on the number of decks in play and the exact rules in force, basic strategy will result in an edge for the player of between about +.2% and -.6%.
Bee Cards—Made by the Consolidated-Dougherty Company, the famous Bee No. 92, with its dazzling diamond-back design, is the most commonly used deck in the casinos. Many of the casinos use custom versions of this deck with their logos imprinted on the back.
Bet—The player’s wager. Usually an amount ranging from $2 to $2,000.
Break—See “bust”.
Burn—After the cut, the dealer places the top card face up on the bottom of the deck or puts it in the discard tray. This is known as burning a card; the card itself is called the burn card.
Bust—If either the player or dealer exceeds hard 21 in drawing to his hand, he’s said to have busted the hand. If a player busts, he loses immediately; if the dealer busts, he loses to any players who haven’t already busted.
Cage—Casino idiom for the cashier. So called because of the metal grate that usually surrounds the cashier station.
Card Values—The ace counts 1 or 11, as the player chooses. The 10,J,Q,K all count as 10  and the other cards count as their face value.
Casino Manager—A casino employee, reporting to the casino owners, who has the overall responsibility for the successful operation of the casino.
Check—A gaming token or chip. So called because the chips are actually checks drawn on the casino.
Chip—A gaming token. See “Check.”
Comp—This is casinospeak for complimentary. Desirable customers are often treated to a full comp; this includes free room and board, as well as airfare to and from the casino. In return, the customer agrees to deposit a certain amount of money with the casino (usually
between $4,000 and $10,000) and play for a certain number of hours per day (usually four or five) at a certain average bet (usually $50 to $100). Free drinks are available to all players, and comps including free meals and shows are given to players whose action pleases the casino bosses.
Counter—A player who attempts to gain an advantage over the casino by using a card-counting system.
Customs—The traditions of the game.
Cut— An action taken immediately after the shuffle, whereby a player divides the deck into two parts.
Deal—The process by which the dealer distributes the cards to himself and the players.
Dealer—The casino employee who deals the cards and conducts the game.
Dealing Errors—Occasionally, a dealer will make a mistake. Mistakes that help
you are called “gifts”; accept them with a smile. Mistakes that hurt you are called “errors”; greet them with a frown and insist that they be corrected, immediately.
Deck—A standard 52-card pack, consisting of the four suits and four each of the 13 ranks.
Double Down—A playing option allowing the player to double his bet and receive one card face down.
Draw—A hit. To take a card. Sometimes used to mean a push.
Expectation—Used in this book to mean the player’s expected win/loss, expressed as a percent of his action. See “Advantage.”
First Base—The playing position at the dealer’s extreme left.
Hand—The cards a player receives in a round of Blackjack. Also usedto mean a round of play.
Hard—A hard hand is one without an Ace, or one in which any aces present are counted as one. Examples: (8,7) is hard 15, (6,5,ace) is hard 12, (5,ace,ace) is hard 7 (or “soft” 17).
Hit—To request a card from the dealer. The card taken is called the “hit card.”
Hole Card(s)—The dealer’s down card. This term is also sometimes used to mean the player’s initial two cards.
Hustler—A player who attempts to gain an advantage over the casino by any means available including card counting and cheating.
Insurance—If the dealer receives an ace as his up card, the player may make a side bet equal, at most, to half his original bet. This side bet is called insurance and pays the player 2 to 1 if the dealer has a natural.
Natural—A two-card total of 21, consisting of an ace and 10-value card. Another term for a blackjack.
Over/Under—An even-money side bet allowing the player to either wager that his first two cards will total over 13, or that they will total under 13. Aces count 1; 13 always loses, and over/under bets may not exceed the amount of your original wager.
Pack—The deck(s) or any undealt portion thereof.
Pair—Any two cards of the same rank, or value; examples: (ace,ace), (10,10). Most casinos will consider hands comprised of unlike 10s, such as (jack,queen), to be a pair.
Pat—A hand totaling at least hard 17 or soft 18, but not exceeding hard 21, is said to be a pat hand.
Pit—A central casino area surrounded by a cluster of blackjack tables.
Pit Boss—A casino employee, reporting to the shift manager, whose primary responsibilities include supervising the dealers, settling disputes, spotting counters, and handing out comps and other perks to favored customers.
Player—Generally, a casino customer. Also used to mean a high roller.
Point Count—A system of assigning values to the various card ranks, based on the effect the removal of cards of these ranks have on the player’s expectation. By convention, ranks 2,3,4,5,6,7,8 are assigned positive values, and 9,10,Ace are assigned negative values.
Push—When both the player and dealer have unbusted hands of thesame value, the hands are said to push, and no money changes hands. A draw.
Round—In blackjack, a series of events beginning with the deal and ending with the settlement. Also referred to as a hand of play.
Running Count—In card-counting systems, the raw, unadjusted count. Also called the simple point count.
Settlement—After all the players and the dealer have acted on their hands, the dealer collects the bets of the losing players and pays off the winners.
Shift—A shift is an eight-hour work day. The term is also used to mean all the employees starting work at the same time.
Shift Manager—A casino employee supervising the pit bosses, and reporting to the casino manager. The shift manager’s primary responsibilities include scheduling personnel, processing accounting paperwork, and pampering high rollers.
Shill—A casino employee hired to stimulate action at the table games by engaging in simulated play. Shills usually play by fixed “shill rules,” and generally use non-redeemable chips, as well.
Shoe—A dealing box used to hold the cards. Although normally only used in multiple-deck games, the Nevada State Gaming Control Board requires very small casinos to deal one- and two-deck games from a shoe as well.
Shuffling—The random mixing of the cards done by the dealer between hands.
Soft—A soft hand contains an Ace valued as 11. Examples: (ace,6) is soft 17, (ace,ace,6) is soft 18. The lowest soft hand is 12, the highest soft hand is 21.
Split—A playing option allowing the player to treat each card of a pair as the first card of two separate hands.
Stand—When a player is satisfied with his unbusted hand and takes no additional cards, he is said to stand. The dealer stands when his total reaches 17 or more (some casinos have modified this rule for soft hands and stand on soft 18 or more).
Stiff—A hand that totals hard 12 through 16. A stiff may be busted by a one-card draw. Can also mean a player who doesn’t tip.
Surrender—A playing option allowing the player to give up his hand and forfeit half his bet. There are three versions of this option, late surrender, Asian surrender, and early surrender.
Third Base—The playing position at the dealer’s extreme right.
Toke—Casinospeak for a tip or gratuity.
True Count—The running count adjusted for the proportion of the pack remaining to be dealt. Also called the count per deck or point count index.
Twenty-One—Another name for the game of blackjack.
Up card—The dealer’s face-up card.