Blackjack Terms: A Plain-English Glossary
Blackjack has its own vocabulary, and most of it is simple once someone explains it. Below are the terms you'll hear at a table or read in strategy guides, in alphabetical order, each in a sentence or two. Where a term deserves more, we link to the full guide.
New to the game? Start with how to play blackjack, then come back here as words come up.
A to B
Ace. The most flexible card in the deck: it counts as 1 or 11, whichever helps your hand.
Anchor. Another name for third base, the last seat to act before the dealer.
Bankroll. The total chips you've set aside to play with. A common rule is to bet about 1% of it per hand. See bankroll management.
Basic strategy. The best play for every combination of your hand and the dealer's up card, worked out mathematically. It cuts the house edge to about 0.5%. Our basic strategy chart has it all.
Blackjack. An ace plus a 10-value card as your first two cards. It usually pays 3 to 2. Also called a natural.
Burn card. The first card taken off a freshly shuffled shoe and discarded unseen. It's a casino tradition and doesn't change the odds.
Bust. Going over 21. A bust loses immediately, even if the dealer busts afterwards.
Bust card. A dealer up card that makes the dealer likely to bust: 4, 5 or 6, from which the dealer busts about 40% of the time. See bust odds.
C to D
Card counting. Keeping track of high and low cards already dealt to judge whether the remaining shoe favors the player. Legal, but it only works in games dealt deep into a shoe. See does card counting work online?
Continuous shuffling machine (CSM). A machine that shuffles used cards back in after every round, which makes counting useless.
Cut card. A plastic card placed in the shoe that marks when to reshuffle.
Dealer. The house's hand. The dealer has no choices: hit to 16, stand on 17 or more.
Dealer peek. When the dealer shows an ace or a 10, they check the hidden card for blackjack before anyone plays, so you lose only your original bet to a dealer blackjack.
Deck penetration. How much of the shoe is dealt before reshuffling. Deeper penetration helps card counters.
Discard tray. Where used cards go until the shuffle.
Double after split (DAS). A rule that lets you double down on a hand you've just split. It helps the player by about 0.14%.
Double down. Doubling your bet in exchange for exactly one more card. Allowed on your first two cards. See when to double down.
E to H
Even money. An offer to take a guaranteed 1 to 1 payout on your blackjack when the dealer shows an ace. It's the same as taking insurance, and it costs you about 4% over time. See blackjack insurance.
Face card. A jack, queen or king. Each counts as 10.
First base. The first seat to act, on the dealer's left.
H17 / S17. Short for "dealer hits soft 17" and "dealer stands on soft 17". S17 is better for the player by about 0.2%.
Hand signals. In land casinos, tapping the table means hit and waving your hand over your cards means stand, so cameras can see every decision.
Hard hand. A hand with no ace, or with an ace that must count as 1. A 10 and a 7 is hard 17.
Hi-Lo. The most widely taught card counting system: low cards count +1, high cards -1, 7 to 9 count 0.
Hole card. The dealer's face-down card.
House edge. The share of each bet the house keeps over time. About 0.5% in blackjack with basic strategy, 2.70% in European roulette.
I to P
Insurance. A side bet, offered when the dealer shows an ace, that the dealer has blackjack. It pays 2 to 1 and loses about 7.6% of what you put on it. Basic strategy never takes it.
Natural. Another word for blackjack.
Pat hand. A starting hand of 17 to 21 that you'd stand on without thinking.
Push. A tie with the dealer. Your bet is returned.
R to S
Resplit. Splitting again when a split hand receives another card of the same rank. Not allowed at every table; House21 allows one split per hand.
Running count. The card counter's raw tally of every card seen since the shuffle.
Shoe. The box that holds several decks for dealing. House21 uses a 6-deck shoe and reshuffles when 52 cards remain.
Shuffle. Mixing the cards. Online, a fair game shuffles the whole shoe before dealing; is online blackjack rigged? explains how.
Side bet. An optional extra wager on something besides your hand, such as insurance. Side bets usually carry a much higher house edge than the main game.
Six to five (6:5). A blackjack payout of 6 to 5 instead of 3 to 2. It costs the player about 1.4% of every bet; avoid tables that use it.
Soft 17. A 17 that includes an ace counted as 11, such as ace and 6. You should never stand on it. See what is a soft 17?
Soft hand. Any hand with an ace counted as 11. It can't bust on the next card.
Split. Turning a pair into two separate hands, each with its own bet. See when to split pairs.
Stand. Keep your hand and end your turn.
Stiff hand. A hard 12 to 16: too low to win often, high enough to bust with one card.
Surrender. Giving up half your bet to end the hand early. Offered at some tables, not at House21.
T to W
Ten-value card. Any 10, jack, queen or king. There are 16 in each deck, which is why so many hands end on 20.
Third base. The last seat to act before the dealer. It doesn't change your odds; card counters like it because they see more cards first.
Three to two (3:2). The standard blackjack payout: a 10-chip bet wins 15.
Toke. Casino slang for a tip to the dealer.
True count. The running count divided by the number of decks left. It tells a counter how strongly the remaining shoe favors them.
Unit. A base betting amount. Strategies are written in units so they work at any stake.
Up card. The dealer's face-up card. Most basic strategy decisions depend on it.
Variance. How much your results swing around the average. In blackjack the typical swing of a single hand (its standard deviation) is about 1.15 bets, which is why short sessions are mostly luck.
Wonging. Watching a table without playing and joining only when the count is high. Named after the author Stanford Wong.
Want to see the words in action? Play a hand at a free table in the House21 lobby. For the habits that matter most, read how to win at blackjack.