Blackjack Glossary

Ace – one of the most powerful cards in blackjack, worth either 1 or 11, depending on the player’s choice

Bankroll – the amount of money the player has to play from

Base – your position (or seat) at the blackjack table, from first (first to be dealt a card) to third (last to be dealt a card)

Basic blackjack strategy – a mathematical strategy choosing the best call for a given hand, based on years of statistical analysis and research

Betting progression – raising and lowering bets in increments, based solely on the outcome of the previous hand

Betting spread – the range of bets a player makes over the course of a game

Blackjack – the name of the game (also known as Twentyone); a blackjack is also the best hand in the game, containing one Face, one Ace, and nothing else (also known as a natural)

Bust out – losing the hand as a result of having a hand total worth more than 21

Cash out – to exchange your chips for cash at the end of a play session

Casino bonus – the incentives an online casino offers, including free games and extra cash when you top up your account

Chips – the plastic tokens used in place of cash in most casino games

Comps – the incentives that land-based casinos offer their highest-paying patrons Cut card – the opaque plastic card placed in the deck (or shoe) to mark how many cards will be played before the dealer shuffles next

Dealer – the casino employee running the game, collecting and distributing the cards and chips, and shuffling the cards between rounds

Deck penetration – the number of cards left in a deck (or shoe), usually as a fraction

Double down – one of your four play options; the player can double their bet in exchange for just one more card

Face – Face cards are the Jacks, Queens and Kings, and one half of the blackjack combination with an Ace

First base – the first position (or seat) moving clockwise around the table; the first player the dealer deals to

Hand game – a game played from the dealer’s hand, usually with just one or two decks

Hard – a hard hand is a hand where there are either no Aces present, or the Ace is worth just 1

Hit – one of your four play options; hitting is a request for an additional card from the dealer

Hole card – the face-down card dealt to the dealer at the beginning of the game

Insurance – an optional side-bet that the dealer has a blackjack

Martingale system – a betting progression where you double your bets with each loss, and return to the minimum table amount after a win

Parlay system – a betting progression where you double your bets with each win

Push – a tie with the dealer where no chips change hands

Random number generator – the tool an online casino uses to randomly choose the next card a player sees in a game of blackjack; often abbreviated to RNG

Rule of 10’s – the assumption that every third card dealt, along with the dealer’s hole card, are all 10-value cards

Shoe – a plastic device used to hold up to eight decks which have been shuffled together; the dealer will draw cards directly from the shoe, one at a time

Shoe game – a game of blackjack where the dealer draws cards directly from a shoe

Soft – any hand where the Ace is worth 11

Stand – one of your four play options; to stop asking for cards

Split – one of your four play options; when a player receives two cards of the same value, they can pay extra chips to separate (split) the pair into two separate bets

Third base – the last position (or seat) moving clockwise around the blackjack table; the last player the dealer deals to

Unit bet – the smallest bet that a player will make during a game of blackjack; all bets are essentially multiples of this Up card – the face-up card dealt to the dealer at the beginning of the game

Up card – the face-up card dealt to the dealer at the beginning of the game