Below you will find a compilation of common Casino Dealing Terms that you will encounter at the Casino
College. These terms are just a fraction of what you will learn and put to practical use in one of our Casino
Schools.
ACES UP
Two pair, a pair of Aces and any other pair.
ACTION
A fold, check, call, bet, or raise. For certain situations, doing something formally connected with the
game that conveys information about your hand may also be considered as having taken action. Examples would be
showing your cards at the end of the hand, or indicating the number of cards you are taking at draw.
ACTIVE PLAYER
A player still involved in a hand.
AGENT
A player working with a dealer for the purpose of cheating
AGGRESSIVE ACTION
A wager that could enable a player to win a pot without a showdown; a bet or raise.
ALL-IN
When you have put all of your playable money and chips into the pot during the course of a hand, you are
said to be all-in.
ANTE
A prescribed amount posted before the start of a hand by all players.
BACK DOOR
Making a hand that the player wasn't drawing at.
BACK RAISE
To reraise another players raise.
BACKING UP CARDS
To reconstruct a hand
BAD BEAT
A hand being beat by another hand that had a very low percentage of becoming a winning hand.
BANKROLL
Casino cheques kept in a tray on the gaming table directly in front of the dealer
BARBER POLE
A stack of cheques in which varied denominations are in a random order
BET
The act of placing a wager in turn into the pot on any betting round, or the chips put into the pot.
BIG BLIND
The largest regular blind in a game.
Blank
A card that has little value to the hand.
BLACKJACK
An Ace with any 10 point value card dealt as the original two cards to a player or the dealer
BLIND
A required bet made before any cards are dealt.
BLIND GAME
A game which utilizes a blind.
BLUFF
A bet or raise with a hand that is unlikely to beat the other players.
BOARD
The board on which a waiting list is kept for players wanting seats in specific games.
Cards faceup on the table common to each of the hands.
BOARDCARD
A community card in the center of the table, as in hold?em or Omaha.
BREAK (or BUST)
Drawing cards for a hard total of more than 21
BROKEN GAME
A game no longer in action.
BURN
To remove a card from play by taking it from the shoe and then placing it face down into the discard
rack
BUTTON
A player who is in the designated dealer position. See dealer button.
BUTTON GAMES
Games in which a dealer button is used.
BUY-IN
The minimum amount of money required to enter any game.
CARDS SPEAK
The face value of a hand in a showdown is the true value of the hand, regardless of a verbal
announcement.
CAPPED
Describes the situation in limit poker in which the maximum number of raises on the betting round have been
reached.
CHECK
To waive the right to initiate the betting in a round, but to retain the right to act if another player
initiates the betting.
CHECK-RAISE
To waive the right to bet until a bet has been made by an opponent, and then to increase the bet by at
least an equal amount when it is your turn to act.
COLD CALL
To call a bet or multiple bets for the first time in a round.
COLLECTION
The fee charged in a game (taken either out of the pot or from each player).
COLLECTION DROP
A fee charged for each hand dealt.
COLOR CHANGE
A request to change the chips from one denomination to another.
COMMON CARD
A card dealt faceup to be used by all players at the showdown in the games of stud poker whenever there are
insufficient cards left in the deck to deal each player a card individually.
COMMUNITY CARDS
The cards dealt faceup in the center of the table that can be used by all players to form their best hand
in the games of hold"em and Omaha.
COMPLETE THE BET
To increase an all-in bet or forced bet to a full bet in limit poker.
CHECK
To pass without betting.
CUT
To divide the deck into two sections in such a manner as to change the order of the cards.
CUT-CARD
Another term for the bottom card.
DEAD CARD
A card that is not legally playable.
DEAD COLLECTION BLIND
A fee posted by the player having the dealer button, used in some games as an alternative method of seat
rental.
DEAD HAND
A hand that is not legally playable.
DEAD MONEY
Chips that are taken into the center of the pot because they are not considered part of a particular
player?s bet.
DEAL
To give each player cards, or put cards on the board. As used in these rules, each deal refers to the
entire process from the shuffling and dealing of cards until the pot is awarded to the winner.
DEALER BUTTON
A flat disk that indicates the player who would be in the dealing position for that hand (if there were not
a house dealer). Normally just called ?the button.?
DEAL OFF
To take all the blinds and the button before changing seats or leaving the table. That is, participate
through all the blind positions and the dealer position.
DECK
A set of playing-cards. In these games, the deck consists of either
52 cards in seven-card stud, hold?em, and Omaha.
53 cards (including the joker), often used in ace-to-five lowball and draw high.
DISCARD(S)
In a draw game, to throw cards out of your hand to make room for replacements, or the card(s) thrown away;
the muck.
DOWNCARDS
Cards that are dealt facedown in a stud game.
DRAW
The poker form where players are given the opportunity to replace cards in the hand. In some places like
California, the word "draw" is used referring to draw high, and draw low is called "lowball."
The act of replacing cards in the hand.
The point in the deal where replacing is done is called "the draw."
EARLY POSITION
A position in which you must act before most of the players during a round.
FACECARD
A king, queen, or jack.
FLOP
The first three community cards dealt up at one time at a poker table.
FIXED LIMIT
In limit poker, any betting structure in which the amount of the bet on each particular round is
pre-set.
FLASHED CARD
A card that is partially exposed.
FLOORPERSON
A casino employee who seats players and makes decisions.
FLOP
In hold?em or Omaha, the three community cards that are turned simultaneously after the first round of
betting is complete.
FLUSH
A poker hand consisting of five cards of the same suit. FOLD To throw a hand away and relinquish all
interest in a pot.
FOURTH STREET
The second upcard in seven-card stud or the first boardcard after the flop in hold?em (also called the turn
card).
FOULED HAND
A dead hand.
FORCED BET
A required wager to start the action on the first betting round (the normal way action begins in a stud
game).
FREEROLL
A chance to win something at no risk or cost.
FULL BUY
A buy-in of at least the minimum requirement of chips needed for a particular game.
FULL HOUSE
A hand consisting of three of a kind and a pair.
HAND
All a player's personal cards.
The five cards determining the poker ranking.
A single poker deal.
HEADS-UP PLAY
Only two players involved in play.
INSURANCE
A side agreement when someone is all-in for a player in a pot to put up money that guarantees a payoff of a
set amount in case the opponent wins the pot.
JOKER
The joker is a ?partially wild card? in high draw poker and ace-to-five lowball. In high, it is used for
aces, straights, and flushes. In lowball, the joker is the lowest unmatched rank in a hand.
KICKER
The highest unpaired card that helps determine the value of a five-card poker hand.
KILL (OR KILL BLIND)
An oversize blind, usually twice the size of the big blind and doubling the limit. Sometimes a ?half-kill?
increasing the blind and limits by fifty percent is used. A kill can be either voluntary or mandatory. The most
common requirements of a mandatory kill are for winning two pots in a row at lowball and other games, or for
scooping a pot in high-low split.
KILL BUTTON
A button used in a lowball game to indicate a player who has won two pots in a row and is required to kill
the pot.
KILL POT
A pot with a forced kill by the winner of the two previous pots, or the winner of an entire pot of
sufficient size in a high-low split game. (Some pots can be voluntarily killed.)
LEG UP
Being in a situation equivalent to having won the previous pot, and thus liable to have to kill the
following pot if you win the current pot.
LIVE BLIND
A blind bet giving a player the option of raising if no one else has raised.
LIST
The ordered roster of players waiting for a game.
LOCK-UP
A chip marker that holds a seat for a player.
LOOSE
Playing more hands than normal.
LOOSE GAME
A game with a lot of players in most hands.
LOWBALL
A draw game where the lowest hand wins.
LOWCARD
The lowest upcard at seven-card stud, which is required to bet.
MISCALL
An incorrect verbal declaration of the ranking of a hand.
MISDEAL
A mistake on the dealing of a hand which causes the cards to be reshuffled and a new hand to be
dealt.
MISSED BLIND
A required bet that is not posted when it is your turn to do so.
MUCK
The pile of discards gathered facedown in the center of the table by the dealer.
To discard a hand.
MUST-MOVE
In order to protect the main game, a situation where the players of a second game must move into the first
game as openings occur.
NO-LIMIT
A betting structure where players are allowed to wager any or all of their chips in one bet.
NUT
The best possible hand.
OPENER
The player who made the first voluntary bet.
OPENER BUTTON
A button used to indicate who opened a particular pot in a draw game.
OPENERS
In jacks-or-better draw, the cards held by the player who opens the pot that show the hand qualifies to be
opened. Example You are first to bet and have a pair of kings; the kings are called your openers.
OPTION
The choice to raise a bet given to a player with a blind.
OUTS
The cards that will improve a hand to win.
OVERBLIND
Also called oversize blind. A blind used in some pots that is bigger than the regular big blind, and
usually increases the stakes proportionally.
OVERCARD
A hole card that is higher than any other card on the board.
OVERPAIR
Two hole cards paired and higher than any card on the board.
PASS
Decline to bet. In a pass-and-out game, this differs from a check, because a player who passes must
fold.
Decline to call a wager, at which point you must discard your hand and have no further interest in the
pot.
PAT
Not drawing any cards in a draw game.
PLAY BEHIND
Have chips in play that are not in front of you (allowed only when waiting for chips that are already
purchased). This differs from table stakes.
PLAY THE BOARD
Using all five community cards for your hand in hold?em.
PLAY OVER
To play in a seat when the occupant is absent.
PLAYOVER BOX
A clear plastic box used to cover and protect the chips of an absent player when someone plays over that
seat.
POSITION
The relation of a player?s seat to the blinds or the button.
The order of acting on a betting round or deal.
POT-LIMIT
The betting structure of a game in which you are allowed to bet up to the amount of the pot.
PROPOSITION BETS
Side bets between players that are not related to the outcome of the hand.
PROTECTED HAND
A hand of cards that the player is physically holding, or has topped with a chip or some other object to
prevent a fouled hand.
PUSH
When a new dealer replaces an existing dealer at a particular table.
PUSHING BETS
The situation in which two or more players make an agreement to return bets to each other when one of them
wins a pot in which the other or others play. Also called saving bets.
RACK
A container in which chips are stored while being transported.
A tray in front of the dealer, used to hold chips and cards.
RAGS
Cards generally not worth playing. IE 2,7 in Texas Hold'em.
RAISE
To increase the amount of a previous wager. This increase must meet certain specifications, depending on
the game, to reopen the betting and count toward a limit on the number of raises allowed.
RERAISE
To raise someone?s raise.
RIVER
The final card dealt.
SAVING BETS
Same as pushing bets.
SCOOP
To win both the high and the low portions of a pot in a split-pot game.
SCRAMBLE
A facedown mixing of the cards.
SETUP
Two suited decks, each with different colored backs, to replace the current decks in a game.
SIDE POT
A separate pot formed when one or more players are all in.
SHORT BUY
A buy-in that is less than the required minimum buy-in.
SHOWDOWN
The final act of determining the winner of the pot after all betting has been completed.
SHUFFLE
The act of mixing the cards before a hand.
SMALL BLIND
In a game with multiple blind bets, the smallest blind.
SPLIT POT
A pot that is divided among players, either because of a tie for the best hand or by agreement prior to the
showdown.
SPLITTING BLINDS
When no one else has entered the pot, an agreement between the big blind and small blind to each take back
their blind bets instead of playing the deal (chopping).
SPLITTING OPENERS
In high draw jacks-or-better poker, dividing openers in hopes of making a different type of hand. Example
You open the pot with a pair of aces. One of your aces is a spade, as are the three other cards in the hand. If
you throw away the non-spade ace to go for the flush, you announce to the table, "Splitting openers."
STACK
Chips in front of a player.
STRADDLE
An additional blind bet placed after the forced blinds, usually double the big blind in size or in lowball,
a multiple blind game.
STRAIGHT
Five cards in consecutive rank.
STRAIGHT FLUSH
Five cards in consecutive rank of the same suit.
STREET
Cards dealt on a particular round in stud games. For instance, the fourth card in a player?s hand is often
known as fourth street, the sixth card as sixth street, and so on.
STRING RAISE
A bet made in more than one motion, without the declaration of a raise (not allowed).
STUB
The portion of the deck which has not been dealt.
SUPERVISOR
A cardroom employee qualified to make rulings, such as a floorperson, shift supervisor, or the cardroom
manager.
SUITED
Cards are of the same suit.
TABLE STAKES
The amount of money you have on the table. This is the maximum amount that you can lose or that anyone can
win from you on any one hand.
The requirement that players can wager only the money in front of them at the start of a hand, and can only
buy more chips between hands.
TIME COLLECTION
A fee for a seat rental, paid in advance.
TOURNAMENT
A poker competition, normally with an entry fee and prizes.
TURN
The fourth card dealt on the board during community card games.
TURNCARD
The fourth street card in hold'em or Omaha.
UPCARDS
Cards that are dealt faceup for opponents to see in stud games.