Doubling Down - A betting option in blackjack where the player's opening two-card hand is turned face up and player's original wager is doubled. The player is then dealt one additional card only, to complete the hand. In the event that the player beats the dealer's hand or the dealer busts, then the player wins twice the amount of their original wager. If the player loses, then the player loses twice the amount of their original wager.

Doubling-up - The basis of some widely used systems. After a loss the player doubles the size of his previous bet hoping to win back the money lost and make a profit. Also known as the Martingale System.

Down Card - A face down card.

Down to the Felt - Totally out of money, broke.

Draw - Relates to the poker games. Basically it means to draw a card (e.g. if you need a card to make a straight, you are on a 'straight draw' or are 'drawing to a straight'. In 'draw poker' game, it means the second round of cards that are dealt. The word draw has slightly different meanings in different contexts, although generally it has something to do with receiving more cards, with the hope of improving your hand. Draw games are games where at some point during the hand you are allowed to discard some or all of your cards, to be replaced from the deck. Drawing two is thus exchanging two of your cards. 'The draw' is the point during the game at which players may do this. By default, when someone asks you if you want to play some draw, they usually mean five card draw. In other poker games, drawing simply means staying in the game with the hope of improving your hand when more cards come. When you stay in a hand with the hope of improving, you are said to be 'on a draw'.

Drop - Money lost.

Drop Box - On a gaming table, the box that serves as a repository for cash, markers, and chips.

Edge - An advantage over an opponent.

En Prison - (French word) The stake left on the table in roulette for another spin after backing an 'Even-money' bet and the outcome was zero or double zero. It is like a bonus, offered in some casinos.

Even Money Bet - A bet with odds of 1:1. A bet that pays you back the same amount that you wagered, plus your original wager.

Expected Win Rate - In slot machines, the percentage on the total amount of money wagered that you can expect to win back over time.

Eye in the Sky - Slang for video surveillance cameras used by casinos, usually placed on the ceiling above the gaming area.

Face Cards - The Jack, Queen, and King of any suit of cards.

Fifth Street - In seven-card stud, the third round of betting is called fifth street because players have five cards. In Texas Hold?em poker, fifth street is the fifth card on board and the final round of betting.

Fill - In poker, to draw a card that makes a five-card hand (straight, flush, full house, straight flush).

Fill up - In poker, to fill a full house.

Firing - Betting a lot. A player who is Firing is wagering large sums.

First Base - At the blackjack table, the position on the far left of the dealer is considered to be first base and is the first position dealt with.

Fish - A player who loses money. (It is said that "If you can't spot the fish at the table, you are the fish.) See also "Shark".

Flat Betting - A way of betting where the same amount is bet on each wager. For example, if a player always bets $10 on each hand or spin and never raised or lowered their bet, they would be said to be flat betting.

Flat Top - A slot machine whose jackpot is always a fixed amount, as opposed to a progressive.

Flop - In poker games, such as hold'em and omaha, where five community cards are dealt. The first three of these cards are dealt all at once, face up, and are called the flop. Games with a flop can be called flop games.

Foul - In Pai-Gow Poker, a hand is fouled when the two-card low hand is set higher than the five-card high hand, or when the hands are set with the wrong number of cards. A fouled hand is a losing hand.

Fourth Street - In Seven-card Stud poker, the second round of betting is called fourth street because players have four cards. In Texas Hold?em poker, fourth street is the fourth card on board and the third round of betting.

Front Money - Cash or bank checks/cheques deposited with the casino to establish credit for a player who bets against that money.

Going All-In (Also known as "All-In") - In cardroom poker, to call with (to bet) all your chips. If another player bets more chips than you have in a No Limit game, you can go All-in and stake your total stack against an equivalent amount of your opponent's stack.

Grease - A bribe.

Gross Winnings - The total payout (including your stake).

Hand - Refers to the cards that you hold, or to everything that happens in a card game between shuffles of the deck.

Hard Count - Activity in which coin (hard) currency is counted. It is usually done in a special room under tight security. Counting the change from slot machines.

Hard Hand - In blackjack, any hand that does not contain an Ace valued at 11. (You can value an Ace 1 or 11 to suit you).

Hard Way Bet (or The Hardway Bet) - In the game of Craps making a hard way bet means going for the total of the two dice on doubles. Say you wanted to go for a hard six, the only way to do it is with two threes. It is called the hard way because it is not easy to hit. There are only four hard way combinations: hard 4 (2x2), hard 6 (3x3), hard 8 (4x4), and hard 10 (5x5). These are not anytime one-roll wagers. Hard ways win if the selected hard way is rolled before a seven appears or before an "easy way" combination of the hard way total is hit. So if you have a bet on a hard 4 and a 3 and 1 (easy 4) comes up before two twos (hard 4), you lose your hard way bet.

High Poker - Standard poker, as compared to low poker or lowball. In high poker, high hands win.

High Roller - A player that wagers big bets.

Hit - In blackjack, to take another card. The card received is also called a hit.

Holding Your Own - Neither winning nor losing, just breaking even.

Hole Card - In blackjack, the facedown card that the dealer gets. In stud and hold?em poker, the facedown cards dealt to each player.

Hot - A player who is on a winning streak, or a slot machine that is paying out.

House - A casino or gambling center/centre. Also the operators of a gambling game.

House Edge - The casino in-built advantage, usually gained by paying less than the odds.

Inside Bets - A roulette bet placed on any number, or small combination of numbers.

Insurance - In blackjack, a side bet that the dealer has a natural. Insurance is offered only when the dealers up card is an ace. The insurance bet wins double if the dealer has a natural, but loses if the dealer does not.

Jackpot - A big win on a slot machine.

Jacks or Better - In videopoker games the payout starts at a certain level ranking of hands. When playing Jacks or Better, if you get a pair of Jacks or a higher ranking, you win. You don't win anything on a pair of tens or lower.

Joker - The 53rd card in a deck, sometimes used as a wild card.

Juice - (USA) Vig. or Vigorish. Commission taken by the house

Kicker - In a draw poker game, an odd high card held that doesn?t contribute to a straight or a flush, usually an ace or a king.

Ladderman - Casino employee who oversees the baccarat game. Personnel working this game are two dealers seated together at the center of the table, a caller standing at the table across from the dealers, and the ladderman, supervising the action from a chair above the table.

Laying the Odds - There are two fundamental forms of wagering, 'taking the odds' and 'laying the odds'. In most forms of sports betting, some odds are so high in favour of the likely winner that winning wagers get paid an amount less than the amount wagered by some percentage, and this is what is meant by 'laying the odds'. In most casino games the player is 'taking the odds' by wagering an amount that is less than they will receive if they win, that is; if you wager $1 you would win more than $1.

Layout - Cloth on a gaming table. Markings tell you where you can place your bets.

Load up - To play the maximum number of coins per spin that a slot machine or video game will allow.

Long Run - The number of rounds of play, hands or spins, needed for the ratio of wins to losses to reach a point where they are changed very little by the cumulative effect of outcomes.

Loose - Referred to slot machines that have a generous payout.

Low Poker - Also called lowball, is poker in which the pot is awarded to the hand with the lowest poker value.

Marker - A check/cheque that can be written at the gaming tables by a player who has established credit with the casino. An IOU.

Martingale - Betting system based on doubling-up after each loss. See the Martingale System on this site.

Match Play - The competition system used in tournaments (usually card games) in which two participants play a series of games which ends when one player accumulates a required number of points. Each game could be worth one, two, or more points.

Mechanic - Slang meaning a dealer who cheats.

Mini-Baccarat - The scaled-down version of baccarat, played with fewer players, dealers, and formality but following the same rules as baccarat.

Money Put In Action - This is not the actual dollar amount of money you bring to the table to play with. Suppose that you sat down at a roulette table with a $100 and proceeded to play 90 spins over, say, three hours, betting $10 on each spin of the wheel. If you multiply 90 spins by $10 totals $900. This would be the amount of 'money you put into action' even though your actual bankroll was only $100. This is one of the criteria some casinos use to assess your rating and eligibility for comps.

Natural - In blackjack, a natural is a two-card hand of twenty-one points. In baccarat a natural is a two-card total of eight, or nine.

Negative Expectation - The long-run disadvantage or loss of a given situation without reference to any particular outcome; that is, what you figure to lose on average after a considerable time of play, or after a large number of repetitions of the same situation.

Net Winnings - Total payout less your stake.

Non-value Chip - A gaming chip which the dollar value is determined by the amount of the buy-in and the amount of chips taken (example: in roulette). Thus, a buy-in of $300.00 for 60 chips equals a value of $5.00 per chip. In roulette, this is uaually established by the "Table Minimum Bet" amount displayed on the table.

Number Pool - The range of numbers from which you select the ones you want to play. A typical lottery pool ranges from 1 to 60, and the keno pool is 1 to 80.

Nut - Either the overhead costs of running a casino, or the fixed amount that a gambler decides to win in a day.