Gambling glossary: casino, poker and card-game terms A to Z

Every entry below carries the game it belongs to in brackets, so a term that means one thing at a poker table and another at a baccarat table is never ambiguous. Where a word depends on the house rules in force, the entry says so instead of picking a version and pretending it is universal.

A

Action (Casino term)

The total amount you wager over a session, which is not the same as the amount you win or lose. Casinos rate players on action, which is why a loyalty tier can rise on a losing night.

Add-on (Tournament term)

A one-off chance to buy extra chips, usually offered at the end of the rebuy period and open to everyone still seated, not only to players who have busted.

All-in (Poker term)

Betting every chip in front of you. You can still win the part of the pot you covered, but anything wagered beyond your stack goes into a side pot you have no claim on.

Anchor (Blackjack term)

The seat immediately to the dealer's right, also called third base. It acts last, which is why superstitious players blame it for the card the dealer draws next. Its decisions have no effect on anybody else's odds.

Ante (Poker term)

A small forced contribution from every player before the deal. Used mainly in later tournament levels to build pots and push the action along.

B

Baccarat (Baccarat term)

As well as naming the game, the word is the name of a hand totalling zero. The worst score in the game shares the game's name.

Backdoor (Poker term)

A draw that needs both the turn and the river to complete. Worth a little, never worth much.

Bad beat (Poker term)

Losing a hand you were a heavy favourite to win. It means the odds held and the cards did not, which is not the same as playing badly.

Banker (Baccarat term)

One of the two hands dealt in baccarat, and not the casino. Anyone at the table can back it. It acts second, wins slightly more often than the Player hand, and pays even money less a five per cent commission. The baccarat drawing rules explain exactly where that advantage comes from.

Bankroll (Casino term)

Money set aside for gambling and kept apart from everything else you owe or spend. The point of having one is that a single bad session cannot reach the rest of your finances.

Basic strategy (Blackjack term)

The mathematically correct decision for every combination of your hand and the dealer's upcard under a stated rule set. It does not beat the house; it shrinks the house edge to its smallest possible size. The blackjack strategy tables set it out hand by hand.

Big and Small (Sic Bo term)

The two even-money bets in sic bo. Small covers three-dice totals of 4 to 10, Big covers 11 to 17, and both lose when the three dice come up as a triple.

Big blind (Poker term)

The larger of the two forced bets posted before the cards are dealt, by the player two seats to the left of the button. Stacks are counted in big blinds because that is what tells you how much room you have.

Big Two (Chinese card game term)

Known as 大老二 or capsa banting. A shedding game for four players in which the aim is to play out all thirteen of your cards first, and in which suits genuinely rank against each other. See the full big two rules.

Bluff (Poker term)

Betting a hand that cannot win at showdown, in the hope that a better one folds.

Board (Poker term)

The community cards lying face up in the middle of the table, usable by everyone still in the hand. The poker rules walk through how it is built one street at a time.

Bounty (Tournament term)

A cash prize paid immediately to whoever eliminates a particular player.

Bubble (Tournament term)

The point just before the prize places begin. Whoever busts here finishes last of the unpaid, and play around that moment gets noticeably more cautious.

Bull (Chinese card game term)

Your score in niu niu. If three of your five cards add to a multiple of ten, the last digit of the other two is your bull. If those two also make a multiple of ten you have niu niu itself, the best ordinary hand.

Burn card (Casino term)

A card the dealer discards face down before dealing the next one. In live poker it is a precaution against marked or accidentally exposed cards.

Bust (Blackjack term)

Going over 21. Your stake is lost immediately, before the dealer plays their own hand at all, and that ordering is the entire source of the house edge in blackjack.

Button (Poker term)

The disc marking the nominal dealer. It moves one seat clockwise every hand, decides who posts the blinds, and gives whoever holds it the last action on every street after the flop.

Buy-in (Casino term)

The money you exchange for chips to join a game. A tournament buy-in is a fixed price that includes a fee for the house; a cash-game buy-in is usually a range between a minimum and a maximum.

C

Call (Poker term)

Matching the current bet exactly, without raising it.

Capsa susun (Chinese card game term)

The Malaysian and Indonesian name for Thirteen Cards, the game in which you split thirteen cards into a back, middle and front hand. Not to be confused with capsa banting, which is big two.

Card counting (Blackjack term)

Tracking the ratio of high to low cards left in the shoe so you can raise your bet when what remains favours you. Counting in your own head is not cheating, but a casino is private property and can restrict or refuse play; the card counting guide covers both the method and what venues actually do about it.

Cash game (Poker term)

A game in which chips stand for money directly and you may sit down or leave whenever you like. The opposite of a tournament, where chips only have value inside the event.

Check (Poker term)

Passing the action without betting. Available only when nobody has bet in the current round.

Check-raise (Poker term)

Checking to invite a bet, then raising it when it arrives. Perfectly fair in any cardroom, though some home games ban it.

Chip (Casino term)

The token that stands in for money at the table, sized and weighted so a dealer can count a stack at a glance. The poker equipment guide covers what separates a playable set from a novelty one.

Chop (Poker term)

Splitting a pot between players holding equally strong hands. At a final table the same word describes an agreed deal to divide the remaining prize money rather than play it out.

Commission (Baccarat term)

The five per cent the house takes from winning Banker bets in baccarat. Win RM100 on Banker and you are paid RM95. It exists because the Banker hand wins more often than the Player hand, and even after paying it, Banker is still the better of the two bets.

Community cards (Texas Hold'em term)

The shared face-up cards in the middle of the table, which every player may combine with their own hole cards.

Comp (Casino term)

Short for complimentary. Food, drinks, rooms or other perks handed out on the basis of how much action a player has given the house, not on whether they won.

Connectors (Texas Hold'em term)

Two hole cards in sequence, such as 8-7. Suited connectors can make both straights and flushes, which is why they get played more often than their raw strength suggests.

Continuation bet (Poker term)

Betting the flop after you were the last player to raise before it, continuing the story you started.

Cooler (Poker term)

A hand in which two very strong holdings collide and somebody was always going to lose a stack.

Counterfeit (Poker term)

When a later community card makes your hand redundant, such as a board pairing twice higher than the small pair you were holding.

Cut card (Blackjack term)

The coloured plastic card slid into the shoe to mark the point at which the dealer stops and reshuffles.

Cutoff (Poker term)

The seat directly to the right of the button, so called because it acts last whenever the button folds.

D

Dealer (Casino term)

The person running the table. In poker the dealer takes no part in the hand and simply administers it; in blackjack and baccarat they play the house's side of it under fixed rules with no choices to make.

Deck penetration (Blackjack term)

How far into a shoe the dealer goes before shuffling. Deeper penetration makes a count more useful, which is precisely why casinos control it.

Double after split (Blackjack term)

A rule allowing you to double down on the hands created by splitting a pair. Written DAS on table placards. It is a small, real gift to the player wherever it is offered.

Double down (Blackjack term)

Doubling your stake in exchange for exactly one more card, and no more. Which totals are worth doubling depends on the dealer's upcard and on whether the dealer hits or stands on soft 17.

Dragon Tiger (Dragon Tiger term)

A two-card game with no decisions at all. One card goes to Dragon and one to Tiger, and the higher card wins. What happens on a tie is a house rule: some tables take half the losing stakes, others take all of them, so read the layout before you sit.

Draw (Poker term)

An incomplete hand that needs another card to become something. Four to a flush is a flush draw; four in a row open at both ends is an open-ended straight draw.

E

Equity (Poker term)

Your share of the pot as things stand, expressed as the percentage of the time your hand would win if every remaining card were dealt out. The poker tools page covers the calculators that work it out for you away from the table.

Even money (Blackjack term)

The offer to settle your blackjack at 1 to 1 immediately when the dealer shows an ace, rather than waiting to see whether they have a ten underneath. It is insurance wearing a different name, and it costs you money over time.

Expected value (Odds term)

What a bet is worth on average per unit staked, if you could make it endlessly. Written EV. A negative-EV bet loses money in the long run no matter how it goes tonight.

F

Final table (Tournament term)

The last table left standing, usually the last nine or ten players, where most of the prize pool is decided. The poker tournament guide explains how the structure gets you there.

Fish (Poker term)

A weak player. The term is worth knowing mainly for the old warning that attaches to it: if you cannot identify one at your table, it may be you.

Five-card Charlie (Blackjack term)

A house rule under which five cards totalling 21 or less wins automatically. It is not standard blackjack and most tables do not offer it, so check rather than assume.

Flop (Texas Hold'em term)

The first three community cards, dealt together, and the betting round that follows them. The Texas Hold'em walkthrough takes a hand through all four streets in order.

Flush (Poker term)

Five cards of the same suit. In standard poker suits do not rank against one another, so two players with the same flush split the pot. Several Chinese card games do rank suits, which is a common source of confusion at a mixed table.

Fold (Poker term)

Giving up your hand and any claim on the pot.

Foul (Chinese card game term)

In Thirteen Cards, setting your three rows out of order so that a weaker row sits behind a stronger one. A fouled hand loses the entire round no matter how good the cards were.

Four of a kind (Poker term)

All four cards of one rank. Also called quads. It ranks above a full house and below a straight flush.

Freeroll (Tournament term)

A tournament with no entry fee and a real prize.

Freezeout (Tournament term)

One buy-in and no second chances. When your chips are gone you are out.

Full house (Poker term)

Three of a kind plus a pair. It ranks above a flush and below four of a kind.

Full pay (Video poker term)

The best-paying version of a given video poker pay table. In 9/6 Jacks or Better the two numbers are the coins returned per coin staked for a full house and a flush. A machine offering 8/5 for the same hands is the same game with a worse return, and nothing on the screen says so.

G

Gong (Chinese card game term)

The picture cards in san gong: jack, queen and king. Holding three of them is the best hand in the game, which is where the name comes from.

Grinder (Poker term)

A player who makes their money from long hours at modest stakes rather than from occasional big scores.

GTO (Poker term)

Game-theory optimal play: a strategy built to be unexploitable whoever you are facing. It is a professional-level framework. Below that level almost all the profit comes from ordinary discipline.

Gutshot (Poker term)

A straight draw missing one card in the middle, such as 9-8-6-5 needing a seven. Half as likely to arrive as an open-ended draw.

H

Hard hand (Blackjack term)

A blackjack hand with no ace in it, or one where the ace has to count as one. It has a single total and can bust on the next card.

Heads-up (Poker term)

A pot, or a whole match, contested by exactly two players.

High card (Poker term)

The lowest ranking hand in poker: no pair, no straight and no flush, so the highest single card decides it.

Hijack (Poker term)

The seat two to the right of the button, immediately before the cutoff. Named for raising to take the pot away from the players behind.

Hi-Lo (Blackjack term)

The card-counting system most people learn first. Cards 2 to 6 count as plus one, 7 to 9 as zero, and tens through aces as minus one, so a full deck counted through comes back to zero.

Hit (Blackjack term)

Asking the dealer for another card.

Hole card (Poker term)

A card dealt face down. In poker your hole cards are your own private cards; in blackjack the hole card is the dealer's face-down card.

House edge (Odds term)

The share of every wager the house keeps on average over the long run. It is a property of the bet, not of the night: baccarat's Banker bet runs at about 1.06 per cent on eight decks while the Tie bet on the same layout runs at about 14.4 per cent.

House rules (Casino term)

The local variations a particular table, room or family applies. In the Chinese card games especially, house rules decide scoring, bonus hands and payouts, so ask before the first deal rather than after it.

I

ICM (Tournament term)

The independent chip model, which converts a chip stack into its real cash value given the remaining prize structure. It is why a call that is correct on raw odds can be wrong near the bubble.

Implied odds (Poker term)

The money you expect to win on later streets if your draw comes in. They depend on an opponent paying you off, so they are a judgement rather than a calculation.

In position (Poker term)

Acting after your opponent for the remainder of the hand.

Insurance (Blackjack term)

A side bet offered when the dealer shows an ace, paying 2 to 1 if they turn over blackjack. For anyone not counting cards it loses money, and it loses money regardless of how strong your own hand is.

J

Jacks or Better (Video poker term)

The standard video poker game, named after the smallest hand it pays for: a pair of jacks. Any pair below that returns nothing at all.

Junket (Casino term)

A tour operator that arranges travel, credit and accommodation for high-stakes players in return for a share of the play they bring to a venue.

K

Kicker (Poker term)

The side card that separates two players holding the same pair. A-K beats A-Q on an ace-high board for exactly this reason.

Knockout (Tournament term)

A tournament format in which part of every entry fee becomes a bounty on that player's head. Also called a bounty tournament.

L

Late position (Poker term)

The cutoff and the button, the seats that act last and therefore with the most information.

Limp (Poker term)

Calling the big blind before the flop instead of raising. Widely treated as weak, because it lets everybody in cheaply without building a pot.

Live dealer (Casino term)

An online table streamed from a studio with a real dealer and real cards, rather than dealt by software. Which studios reach you is a property of the operator, not of the game: see our casino coverage for Malaysia.

Lojack (Poker term)

The seat three to the right of the button, just before the hijack.

Loose (Poker term)

Playing a lot of hands. It describes hand selection, not aggression: a player can be loose and passive or loose and aggressive.

M

Martingale (Odds term)

Doubling your stake after every loss so that a single win recovers the lot. It cannot beat a house edge. The sequence needs an unlimited bankroll and a table with no maximum, and neither of those exists.

Misdeal (Casino term)

A dealing error serious enough to cancel the hand and deal it again, such as an exposed first card or the wrong number of cards going out.

Muck (Poker term)

The pile of discarded cards, and also the act of throwing a hand away without showing it.

Multi-table tournament (Tournament term)

A tournament that begins across many tables and merges them as players bust, until a single final table remains. Written MTT.

N

Natural (Baccarat term)

A two-card total of 8 or 9 in baccarat. Neither side draws again and the higher total wins. In blackjack the same word describes an ace with a ten-value card.

Nit (Poker term)

A player so tight that they only put money in with premium hands, and are therefore easy to fold against.

Niu Niu (Chinese card game term)

Written 牛牛. A five-card banker game in which you look for three cards adding to a multiple of ten, then score on the last digit of the remaining two.

No-limit (Poker term)

A betting structure in which you may bet any amount up to your entire stack at any point.

Nuts (Poker term)

The best hand possible on a given board. There is always exactly one, and working out what it is before you bet is one of the fastest habits to build.

O

Odds (Odds term)

The relationship between the chance of something happening and the chance of it not happening, usually written as a ratio. Payout odds and true odds are different things, and the gap between them is the house edge.

Offsuit (Texas Hold'em term)

Two hole cards of different suits, written with an o, as in A-Ko.

Open-ended straight draw (Poker term)

Four cards in sequence that can complete at either end, such as 9-8-7-6. Eight cards in the deck finish it.

Out of position (Poker term)

Having to act before your opponent for the remainder of the hand.

Outs (Poker term)

The unseen cards that would complete your hand. A flush draw has nine, an open-ended straight draw eight, a gutshot four.

Overpair (Texas Hold'em term)

A pocket pair higher than every card on the board, such as queens on a J-7-3 flop.

P

Pat hand (Blackjack term)

A blackjack hand of 17 to 21 that you would normally stand on rather than draw to.

Pay table (Video poker term)

The schedule printed on a video poker machine showing what each hand returns. Two machines running the identical game can carry different pay tables, and that difference is the whole of the player's long-run return.

Player (Baccarat term)

One of the two hands dealt in baccarat, and not necessarily the hand you are backing. It acts first and pays even money with no commission.

Pocket pair (Texas Hold'em term)

Two hole cards of the same rank.

Position (Poker term)

Where you sit relative to the button, and therefore when you have to act. Acting last is worth more than any single starting hand.

Pot (Poker term)

All the chips wagered so far in the current hand, sitting in the middle of the table.

Pot odds (Poker term)

The price the pot is offering you. If it holds RM100 and you must call RM50, you are risking 50 to win 150, so you need to be right about a quarter of the time to break even.

Preflop (Texas Hold'em term)

The betting round after the hole cards are dealt and before any community card appears.

Punto banco (Baccarat term)

The version of baccarat dealt in effectively every casino and every online studio. Neither side chooses anything: the third-card rules are fixed and the dealer applies them.

Push (Blackjack term)

A tie between your hand and the dealer's. Your stake comes back and nothing is won or lost.

Q

Quads (Poker term)

Four of a kind: all four cards of one rank.

R

Rake (Poker term)

The house's cut of a poker pot, taken either as a small percentage or as an hourly seat charge. It is the reason a poker room exists and a real cost you are playing against; see how the online poker economy works.

Rebuy (Tournament term)

Buying a fresh stack after busting, permitted only during a set early period of the tournament.

Resplit (Blackjack term)

Splitting again when a split hand pairs up. Most tables allow three or four hands in total, and many do not allow aces to be resplit at all.

Return to player (Odds term)

The share of all money staked that a game pays back over the long run, written RTP. It is the house edge seen from the other side: a 97 per cent RTP is a 3 per cent edge.

River (Texas Hold'em term)

The fifth and final community card, and the last round of betting. Occasionally called fifth street.

Roadmap (Baccarat term)

The grids of past results displayed beside a baccarat table, meaning the bead plate, the big road and their derivatives. They record what has happened and say nothing about what comes next, because every hand is dealt independently. The baccarat strategy page goes through why the patterns feel meaningful and are not.

Royal flush (Poker term)

Ten to ace all of one suit. The highest hand in poker.

Runner-runner (Poker term)

Making a hand with both the turn and the river. The same idea as a backdoor draw, described after the fact.

S

San Gong (Chinese card game term)

Written 三公. A three-card banker game scored on the last digit of your total, in which three picture cards is the top hand. Scoring details vary more here than in any of the neighbouring games.

Satellite (Tournament term)

A tournament whose prize is a seat in a larger event rather than cash.

Set (Poker term)

Three of a kind made from a pocket pair plus one matching board card. It ranks identically to trips and is far better hidden.

Shoe (Casino term)

The box holding several shuffled decks, from which the dealer draws. Six and eight decks are the usual counts in blackjack and baccarat.

Showdown (Poker term)

The end of a hand, where the remaining players turn their cards face up and the best five-card hand takes the pot.

Sic Bo (Sic Bo term)

Written 骰宝. A three-dice game in which every bet is settled on the outcome of a single throw, with no decisions after the stake is placed.

Side bet (Casino term)

An optional extra wager placed alongside the main game. Side bets are almost always far more expensive in house-edge terms than the bet they sit next to.

Side pot (Poker term)

A separate pot created when one player is all in for less than the others are betting. Only the players who matched the larger amount can win it.

Single (Sic Bo term)

A sic bo bet that a chosen number appears on at least one of the three dice, paying more when it turns up on two or three of them.

Slow roll (Poker term)

Pausing before showing a winning hand at showdown so an opponent briefly believes they have won. The most disliked act in poker.

Small blind (Poker term)

The smaller of the two forced bets, posted by the player directly to the left of the button.

Soft 17 (Blackjack term)

Seventeen made with an ace counting as eleven, such as ace plus six. Whether the dealer stands on it or draws again changes both basic strategy and the house edge. The answer is printed on the table, and the blackjack rules page sets out what each version changes.

Soft hand (Blackjack term)

A hand containing an ace counted as eleven. It cannot bust on the next card, because the ace can quietly drop back to one.

Split (Blackjack term)

Separating a pair into two hands, matching your original stake on the second one.

Squeeze (Poker term)

Raising large after one player has opened and one or more have called, using the callers' money as the reason.

Stack (Poker term)

The chips in front of you. Experienced players count theirs in big blinds rather than in currency.

Stand (Blackjack term)

Taking no further cards.

Straight (Poker term)

Five cards in sequence of mixed suits.

Straight flush (Poker term)

Five cards in sequence, all of one suit. Ranked below a royal flush, which is simply its highest possible version.

Suited (Texas Hold'em term)

Two hole cards of the same suit, written with an s, as in A-Ks.

Surrender (Blackjack term)

Giving up half your stake to fold before drawing. Late surrender, offered after the dealer has checked for blackjack, is the common form, and many tables do not offer it at all.

T

Table limits (Casino term)

The minimum and maximum a table will accept on a single bet. The maximum is the practical reason no doubling-up system can work.

Tell (Poker term)

An unconscious habit that gives away something about a player's hand. Far less reliable than films suggest, and absent entirely online. The grouped poker glossary covers the vocabulary of reading opponents in more depth.

Thirteen Cards (Chinese card game term)

Written 十三张, also called Chinese poker or capsa susun. Thirteen cards each, split into a back, middle and front hand, with no drawing and no betting rounds at all.

Three-bet (Poker term)

The first re-raise before the flop. The big blind counts as the first bet and the opening raise as the second, so the raise on top is the third.

Three of a kind (Poker term)

Three cards of one rank. In poker it ranks below a straight. In zhajinhua it beats a straight flush, because with only three cards in a hand it is the rarer holding.

Tie (Baccarat term)

The third bet on a baccarat layout, paying 8 to 1 on most tables and carrying a house edge of roughly 14.4 per cent on eight decks. Tables paying 9 to 1 exist and are better, but it remains the worst bet on the layout.

Tiger (Dragon Tiger term)

The second of the two hands in dragon tiger. One card goes to each side and the higher card wins.

Tight (Poker term)

Playing few hands and folding most of them.

Tilt (Poker term)

Playing worse than usual because you are upset, most often straight after losing a big pot. It shows up as calling too wide and chasing losses, and the only reliable fix is to stand up.

Toke (Casino term)

A tip to the dealer, either handed over directly or placed as a bet on their behalf.

Top pair (Texas Hold'em term)

Pairing the highest card on the board with one of your hole cards. A decent hand, and one beginners consistently over-value.

Total (Sic Bo term)

A sic bo bet on the combined value of the three dice, from 4 through 17. Payouts vary with how many different ways a given total can be made.

Triple (Sic Bo term)

All three sic bo dice showing the same number. You can back one specific triple or any triple at all, at very different prices.

Trips (Poker term)

Three of a kind made from one hole card and a pair already on the board. The same ranking as a set and far more obvious to everybody else.

True count (Blackjack term)

A running card count divided by the number of decks still to be dealt. Without that division a count of plus six means something quite different early in an eight-deck shoe than it does near the end of one.

Turn (Texas Hold'em term)

The fourth community card and the betting round that follows it. Occasionally called fourth street.

Two pair (Poker term)

Two cards of one rank and two of another. Ties are settled by the higher pair first, then the lower pair, then the kicker.

U

Under the gun (Poker term)

The seat that acts first before the flop, immediately to the left of the big blind. The hardest position at the table.

Upcard (Blackjack term)

The dealer's face-up card. Every basic-strategy decision you make is a response to it.

V

Value bet (Poker term)

Betting a strong hand hoping to be called. Most of a winning player's profit comes from these rather than from bluffs.

Variance (Odds term)

The spread of results around the average. High variance means long swings in both directions, which is why a short winning run proves nothing about whether a strategy is sound.

Video poker (Video poker term)

A machine game dealt as five-card draw against a fixed pay table. Unlike a slot, its odds are visible: the deck is a standard 52 cards and the pay table is printed on the screen.

W

Wager (Casino term)

A bet. The word also covers the total amount staked, as in a wagering requirement.

Wagering requirement (Casino term)

The number of times a bonus must be staked before anything connected to it can be withdrawn. It is the single term that decides whether an offer is worth taking, and it is always in the terms rather than the headline. Our bonus pages work the multiple through in ringgit.

Wild card (Video poker term)

A card that stands in for any other. In Deuces Wild every two is wild, which changes both the pay table and the correct strategy completely.

Z

Zhajinhua (Chinese card game term)

Written 炸金花. A three-card betting game in which players may bet blind without looking at their cards, usually at half the stake of a player who has looked.

How to get the most out of this list

A glossary is a lookup, not a syllabus. If several entries in one section are new to you, the underlying guide will teach the subject far faster than reading definitions in alphabetical order. That is what the links inside individual entries are for.

Two habits are worth carrying away from any list like this one. The first is that house rules outrank glossaries: surrender, five-card Charlie, tie handling in dragon tiger and almost everything in the Chinese card games are local decisions, and the table is the authority, not the page. The second is that a definition is not a strategy. Knowing what a house edge is does not reduce it.

Everything here is educational. Games of chance are designed so the house keeps a share of every wager over time, no run of results changes that, and no betting pattern overcomes it. If gambling has stopped being entertainment, set a limit before the next session or stop entirely, and talk to someone. 18+.