Is It Necessary to Know Blackjack Slang to Play the Game?
Blackjack, also known as Twenty-One, describes a popular card-based casino game played across land-based casinos in the world. You also find lucrative online variants such as live blackjacks, online table blackjack format that allows you to engage in a fascinating gaming experience using your electronic devices and stable internet connection from anywhere in the world. This is a simple game and involves a maximum of seven players and a dealer. As a player, your objective is to beat the dealer by achieving a hand that’s total value exceeds that of the dealer but shouldn’t be higher than 21.
Despite a simple gaming format, players of Blackjack might be weighed down by the complicated jargon Blackjack gamers have curated over the years. Some terms used by a blackjack dealer might just leave you bamboozled, and you might not feel confident enough to play for real money. So whether you are a nervous newbie aspiring to give blackjack a shot or are a player with some experience who needs some revision of pre-existing knowledge, be assured that you’ve come to the right place! We have compiled some of the most common blackjack terms to support your gambling endeavors! Read on to master the Blackjack word power.
Blackjack Terms Explained
Here’s our cherry-picked list of terms in Blackjack:
| Blackjack Term | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Anchorman | Let’s begin our blackjack glossary of terms with the Anchorman. This term refers to one of the most important position holders in a game of blackjack. They are quite literally the dealer’s “right hand,” meaning they are seated to the right of the table and have their cards dealt with or acted upon at last, just before the dealer’s turn. |
| Blackjack | Blackjack describes a card-based game that is widely played in land-based casinos and even in online casinos and gaming websites. During a game round, blackjack, also called Natural 21 ( described below), implies the positioning of an Ace and a 10 point card that earns the player 3/2 of their bet. |
| Burn Card | This refers to a card that is removed from the shoe of the blackjack just before a new game round begins. This is to ensure that the dealer doesn’t appraise the player about the first card that is about to be dealt with and doesn’t receive any uncharted advantage. |
| Bust | During a game, when a player goes beyond a total of 21, they lose their bet and have to wait until the next game round. This is referred to as busting or bust in blackjack lingo, and you’d really wish such a situation doesn’t arise. |
| Cold Deck | Imagine you’re in a game, and your card dispensing device is not being your lucky chum but only emitting cards that are putting you in a position of disadvantage and causing you losses. In light of such a situation, someone well versed with blackjack words would express that you are operating within a cold deck. |
| Colour Up | During a game round, if a player ends up owning a lot of chips with low-denominations, he can request the dealer to colour up some of them, implying changing these low-value chips for high-value ones. |
| Cut Card | This refers to a card that a player uses to cut decks in a shoe of blackjack. During a game, it indicates when the shoe being used has come to a close, and a new shoe is required. This requires the dealer to reshuffle the deck when the cut card has been reached. |
| Discards | According to casino vocabulary, Discard(s) refer to cards that have been dealt with during a game round and have been jettisoned until the next shuffle of the game. |
| Double Down | This is a game move where the player doubles the original bet value. As a result, the dealer releases one more card into the player’s hand. This is also sometimes referred to as just “Double”. |
| D9 | This refers to a gaming move where it is possible to only double cards that are inscribed with values of 9, 10 and 11. |
| DA2 | This refers to a gaming action when it is possible to double any two cards. |
| DAS | Double After Split. In blackjack gambling terms, this is an advantageous move for the player during a blackjack game round that allows the player to double down after one has split their hand. |
| Don Johnson | Don Johnson was one of the most successful Advantage players in the recent past. Without using card counting and instead opting for other mathematical strategies, he won fifteen million dollars in six months. |
| Early Surrender | This refers to a gaming situation where a player decides to surrender after receiving their first two cards. However, they should make this call before the dealer comes about to check for blackjack combinations. As a result of this, the player loses half the amount of their bet. |
| Even Money | This refers to the possibility of a wagering scheme with even odds. This means that your chances of winning the bet or losing the bet stand the same. In this situation, if the dealer happens to have an Ace Up card and the player achieves a Natural hand, some casinos permit the player to seek a 1:1 payout. |
| Flat Betting | According to casino jargon, this is a type of betting that implies that the betting amount remains the same and doesn’t change with successive hands during a game of blackjack. This can be introduced in the form of a betting restriction on some casino floors when they suspect that some players are using card counting while playing their games. This means that such players are in some way tracking the cards that have been dealt with so that they can have the upper hand during the game. |
| First Base | First Base, in casino blackjack terms, connotes the first position at the table, which is located far left from the dealer, and the player placed there is the first to receive their cards. |
| Green Chip | Green Chips, in a game of blackjack, refer to low-value chips. They denote chips worth 25 dollars. |
| Hard Hand | In our ongoing list of words associated with blackjack, Hard Hand certainly deserves mention. If the player is in possession of no aces or only has aces expressed in the value of 1, they have a Hard Hand. |
| Hit | In a game of blackjack, Hit refers to a gaming action of drawing another card. This decision, according to the terms in blackjack, necessitates the dealer to deal another card onto the player’s Blackjack hand. |
| Hit 17 | This is a gaming action articulated by blackjack rules in most casinos and involves the deal to draw another card (take a ‘hit’) when they acquire a soft 17, i.e. a hand containing a combination of an Ace value as 11 and other cards that make the soft value 17. |
| Hole-Carding | Sometimes a situation arises when the dealer is flashing their second face-down card that, in gambling, vocabulary is called “hole-card,” and you make a note of it and manoeuvre your game moves accordingly. This results in what gambling experts have called hole-carding. This is popular during carnival and other festivities and is a huge advantage to the player. |
| House Edge | This refers to the degree of advantage a particular casino has over the player in a given game and is usually expressed in percentage. |
| Index | The “Index” in the context of the blackjack card game refers to documented integers on Deviation charts that are applied to count counting. These indexes are pitted against the True count to measure whether a player should deviate from Basic Strategy. |
| Insurance | Insurance is a form of a side bet that is awarded when the dealer is in possession of blackjack and is treated independently of the main wager. The player is entitled to receive a payment against the 2:1 ratio ( for example, if your bet amount is 2 dollars, you’ll receive four dollars ). However note, the Up Card ( i.e. exposed card ) of the dealer must be an ace. |
| Multi Deck | This is a type of blackjack game that involves more than one card deck in a gaming session. |
| Monkey | According to blackjack terminology, Monkey refers to a card with a value of 10 ascribed to it. |
| Natural | During the game, if the player receives an Ace and a 10 point card as the first two cards during a deal, they are said to have a “blackjack” or “natural 21”. This awards the hand 3/2 of the player’s bet. |
| NDAS | No Double After Split. This refers to a gaming situation where you cannot double down your bet after undergoing a split. |
| NRSA | No Resplit Aces. In terms of blackjack games, this refers to a rare gaming condition imposed by casinos that don’t allow respiting of aces during a gaming session of blackjack. |
| Pink Chip | This refers to gaming chips used in blackjack rounds that are worth 2.50 dollars. |
| Pit | Pit refers to the spatial arrangement of tables on a casino floor where you sit and enjoy your blackjack game. It is supervised by a casino official known as the pit boss. |
| Purple/Barney Chip | These refer to gaming chips worth 500 dollars in a game of blackjack. |
| Red Chip | This refers to a gaming chip with a monetary value of 5 dollars. |
| Risk of Ruin | This refers to the calculated probability of losing one’s entire bankroll during a gaming session. |
| RSA | Re-Split Aces. This refers to a rare gaming rule that allows the respiting of a pair of Aces and is mostly seen in Late Surrender games. |
| Soft Total | This refers to the total number of cards in any hand containing an Ace that can use its 11 value and doesn’t exceed 21. |
| Split | In basic blackjack terms, Split refers to a gaming decision that is conditionally available to a player when the first two cards dealt are of equal value. They have the option to split their hands and can do so up to four times. |
| Shoe | Keeping blackjack phrases in mind, a ‘shoe’ refers to a gaming device used by casinos to hold multiple card decks. |
| Stand | During a game of blackjack, “Stand” denotes a gaming move where you indicate to your dealer that you do not want any more cards. |
| Stand 17 | This is a gaming condition applied to the dealer. They require to stand (i.e. not deal cards) when they possess a soft 17. |
| Stand-Off | This refers to a gaming situation when the player and dealer have the same hand value. |
| Up Card | During a game, the first card that is dealt by the dealer is known as the Up Card. This is because all players are privy to its face-up position, unlike other cards in the game. This is an influential card as it has an impact on your gaming strategies. |
| Surrender | In blackjack lingo, Surrender refers to an option during a game round where the player can give up their hand and can, in turn, receive half of their bet back. |
| Yellow/Orange/Pumpkin Chip | Yellow/Orange/Pumpkin Chips refer to high denomination chips. Each chip is of a value that is equal to 1,000 dollars. |
| Wonging | Named after Stanford Wong, Wonging, the last entry in our list of blackjack key terms refers to the practice of back counting and betting only when the player assumes a favourable position in the game proceedings. |
Do Blackjack Gambling Terms Differ Depending on the Blackjack Type?
Just as we mentioned at the outset, Blackjack is available in today’s world in many formats. You can play Blackjack games in land-based casinos or go for online options. While the traditional structure of the game remains the same, some casinos and game formats may alter some gaming rules and impose certain restrictions. Some formats, such as Pontoon versions, change the names of basic blackjack gaming moves. Our list is a comprehensive one comprising important concepts and basic blackjack terms that’ll help you surf through diverse gaming platforms with confidence and make your gaming experience more comfortable.
Do Terms for the Game Blackjack Change With Time?
The Game Blackjack, in recent times, has been adopted in various formats. While the basic components of the game remain the same, new innovative technologies and software are changing the way the game is conducted, bringing in slight variations for the player and dealers of today compared to people who came before them and engaged in such activities. For instance, in online formats especially, this game, which was actually supposed to be a social affair with group participation, has become a more private experience where the player is left to interact with virtual presences on their screen. Time changes, situations evolve, and with them, humans adapt themselves to these changes and reformulate their activities. Living with change is the way of the world, after all!
Closing Word
Blackjack essentially might be a very easy game, but it’s surely enraptured in complicated jargon you don’t see in other casino games or any other board game. So keep these terms for the game blackjack we listed in mind because they stood the test of times, and we are very confident that it’ll help you feel at ease as you unleash the Don Johnson within you!