Online Casino Talk

Understanding a casino’s lingo or jargon is as important to the game as knowing the rules and salient features of a game perhaps! Different casino gambling games have different jargons and if you are not fully conversant with them you could really be at a loss while playing your favorite casino game. Surprisingly there is an associated gambling term for nearly all the alphabets starting from A to Z.

‘Action’ would mean the amount of money used by a player to bet over an entire playing session, while ‘Bankroll’ refers to a players’ total budget to gamble. When you use the word ‘Betting Limits’ you would be referring to the minimum and maximum amounts of money that a player can wager pertaining to just one bet, and this is commonly used while playing table games. ‘Blind Bet’ is found in the game of poker and is linked to betting positions, whereas a ‘Bluff’ in poker indicates that you have a weak hand hoping that players with stronger hands will be driven out. A ‘Buck’ is $100 bill and ‘Card Counting’ is found in a game of Blackjack and it is a particular strategy used to play a better hand.

The word ‘Comps’ is a complimentary gift offered by casinos to lure players to gamble, and these are usually in the form of a free hotel room, a meal or a complimentary beverage. While playing slots you may come across the word ‘Cold’ which indicates that you are playing at a slot machine that is not paying out, while a ‘Croupier’ is a French word for Dealer and is often used while playing baccarat and roulette. A common word as ‘Down Card’ means a card facing downwards and is used in all card games, while playing craps you will come across ‘Don’t Come Bet, and ‘Don’t Pass Line Bet’ which are bets placed at different stages in a game of Craps.

The word ‘Draw’ is used when competitors finish evenly and the earnings divided by the number of joint winners. ‘Edge’ is an advantage one has over his opponent and is also used when you refer to a casino’s advantage. ‘Face Cards’ are picture cards like Jack, Queen and King and a ‘Flush’ in poker indicates that you have five cards pertaining to one single suit, and when you ‘Fold’ in poker it means you have declined a bet and have dropped you hand. ‘Four of a kind’ is four cards of the same card value and a ‘Free roll’ in a game of poker implies that you can win real money and don’t have to buy in so to say while a ‘Full house’ in poker comprises of three of a kind and a pair.

‘Gaming’ is a new invention to the word gambling and is commonly used these days. In blackjack you will come across ‘Hard Hand’ which indicates that you have a hand that does not contain an ace and is valued at eleven and the word ‘hit’ in the same game refers to taking another card. A ‘High Roller’ is one that wagers on huge bets and is a VIP bet player in casinos. A ‘Hole Card’ is the dealer’s card that is dealt ‘face down’, these terms will come up very often while playing card games.

The commonly used word ‘House Advantage’ is the casino’s in-built advantage and is all games you will see this word being used time and again. ‘Insurance’ is used in a game of blackjack and is offered when the dealer’s face up card is an ace. ‘Monkey’ is a Chinese term and all cards valued at ten are referred to as monkeys while ‘Nickels’ are $5 chips. ‘Odd’ are chances or ratios of possibilities and ‘Payoff’ is the term used to indicate the amount paid to a player in return for his/her wager. ‘Paytable’ is a term in slots and implies to a chart that shows what is paid out against each win and back to the game of craps a ‘Pass Line Bet’ is the opposite of a ‘Don’t pass line bet’. 

‘Progressive is the name we come across very often recently with the various progressives jackpots being won, and implies to games where the jackpot keeps on growing until such time that one fortunate player wins the pot of money that had been accumulated over a period of time from each wager placed. These can be found in a game of slots and also in Blackjack.

The word ‘Sportsbook’ is an accumulation of all the wagers taken on a fixed odd betting event and is used constantly in sports betting in US. A ‘Stand’ and a ‘Stake’ is used when you do not prefer to take any more cards, and the amount of money that is used to wager respectively. ‘Surrender’ would mean you are giving up half the wager before the hand is over and an ‘Up Card’ is a face up card of the dealer’s in a game of blackjack.

Finally ‘VIP’ is a very important person normally used for a high roller and ‘Wager’ is the amount of money at risk and is "‘THE” word in the gaming world. This is a gist of jargons, phrases and lingo used at a casino so the next time you log on to play, these words would be familiar to you and would help you play a more relaxed game. For more information on online casino lingo then go to the next page on this site.