Casino Glossary

• Basic Strategy

  BlackjackCasino

  A relatively simple strategy designed to improve a player's chances, particularly in blackjack.

  See also: Aggressive Play

• Bust Card

  Blackjack

  The card that causes a blackjack hand to go over 21.

  See also: Bust

• Hard Hand

  Blackjack

  Any hand where an ace cannot be valued as 11, e.g. A95. The opposite of a soft hand, e.g. A6.

  Antonym: Soft Hand

• Face Up

  Blackjack

  A variation on blackjack where all cards are dealt face up. The rules are somewhat different to compensate for this player advantage.

• Anchor

  Blackjack

  The player seated at the dealer's furthest right at a blackjack table, and therefore the last to act before the dealer. Also called third base.

  See also: Dealer

• Split Hand

  Blackjack

  A hand formed by splitting two cards of the same rank into two separate hands (allowed when they are the player's first two cards).

• Perfect Pairs

  Blackjack

  A side bet that is won when a player's first two cards are a pair. Various payouts are offered, the highest being when they are a perfect pair, i.e. the same card in a multi-deck game.

• Spread Limit

  Blackjack

  The minimum and maximum amount a player can bet at a table.

• Settlement

  BlackjackCasino

  When a dealer pays a winning bet, takes away losing ones or does nothing with ties.

• Single or Double Decks

  Blackjack

  A blackjack game which uses one or two decks, respectively. Fewer decks favors the player.