Glossary

House edge

The casino's long-run statistical advantage on a given bet, expressed as a percentage of each dollar wagered. Lower is better for you.

Expected value (EV)

Average outcome of a bet over many trials. Positive EV bets are rare; most casino bets are negative EV.

Bankroll

The money you've set aside for gambling. Treat it as lost on day one; anything returned is gravy.

Variance

How much your short-term results deviate from the expected value. High variance = wild swings.

Comp

Complimentary perks (rooms, meals, shows) the casino gives based on your theoretical loss, not actual loss.

Basic strategy

The mathematically optimal decision for every hand vs every dealer upcard. Memorize it; the chart reduces the house edge to ~0.5%.

Hard hand

A hand with no ace, or one where the ace must count as 1 to avoid busting.

Soft hand

A hand where the ace is still counted as 11. Soft 18 = A+7.

Stiff

A hard 12–16 — too high to hit safely, too low to stand comfortably against a strong dealer upcard.

Double down

Double your bet and take exactly one more card. Best against dealer bust cards when you have 9–11.

Split

When dealt a pair, separate the cards into two hands with a matching bet. Always split A-A and 8-8; never split 5s or 10s.

Surrender

Forfeit half your bet to abandon a bad hand. Late surrender is offered after the dealer checks for blackjack.

Insurance

A side bet that the dealer has blackjack when showing an ace. Mathematically bad unless you're counting cards.

True count

Running count divided by decks remaining. Drives bet sizing and index-play deviations.

Running count

Cumulative count from the start of the shoe using your chosen card-counting system (e.g., Hi-Lo).

Illustrious 18

The 18 most profitable basic-strategy deviations based on the true count. High-value upgrade for counters.

Penetration

How deep into the shoe the dealer deals before shuffling. Deeper = better for counters.

Pass line

Fundamental craps bet. Wins on 7/11 come-out, loses on 2/3/12, otherwise establishes a point to repeat. House edge: 1.41%.

Don't pass

Mirror image of pass line — wins on 2/3, pushes on 12, loses on 7/11 come-out. House edge: 1.36%.

Come-out roll

The first roll of a new round. Establishes the point or resolves pass/don't pass immediately.

Point

A come-out roll of 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, or 10. Pass wins if the shooter repeats it before rolling a 7.

Free odds

A supplemental bet behind your pass/don't pass wager. The only 0% house-edge bet in the casino — always take max odds.

Seven out

Rolling a 7 after a point is established. Pass bettors lose; dice pass to the next shooter.

Hardway

Betting a specific doubles roll (2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5) before a 7 or a non-double of that number. High house edge — avoid.

Jacks or Better

The most common VP game. Full-pay (9/6) returns 99.54% with perfect play.

Full pay

The best-available paytable for a given game. Sub-full-pay machines are mathematically worse — know the paytable.

Hold

The cards you keep after the initial deal. Optimal hold decisions are drilled on the trainer.

Royal flush

10-J-Q-K-A of one suit. Hits ~1 in 40,000 hands; typically pays 4000 coins on max bet — the reason to always bet max coins.

Deuces Wild

All 2s are wild. Different optimal strategy than Jacks or Better; full-pay NSUD returns 100.76%.

American wheel

38-pocket wheel with 0 and 00. House edge: 5.26%. Avoid when a European wheel is available.

European wheel

37-pocket wheel with single 0. House edge: 2.70%.

En prison

French-rules rescue: on even-money bets, a 0 imprisons your bet for the next spin instead of losing. Drops the edge to 1.35%.

Martingale

Doubling after each loss until you win. Sounds good; fails because of table limits and bankroll exhaustion.

Outside bet

Bets outside the number grid (red/black, odd/even, dozens, columns). Higher hit rate, smaller payouts.

Banker

Has the lowest house edge in baccarat (~1.06%) even after the 5% commission. Always bet banker.

Tie

Pays 8-to-1 but carries a ~14% house edge. Never bet the tie.

Natural

A two-card 8 or 9. Ends the round immediately — no third-card draw.

Position

Where you sit relative to the dealer button. Later position = more information = wider profitable range.

UTG

Under the Gun. First to act pre-flop. Tightest opening range (~15% of hands) because 5 players could still wake up with a better hand.

Button

The best seat at the table — acts last on every post-flop street. Opens ~50% of hands.

Small blind

Forced 0.5bb bet. Plays out of position all hand — raise-or-fold only. Never limp from SB.

Big blind

Forced 1bb bet. Closes action pre-flop; gets a discount on defending vs. raises. Defends wide vs. late-position opens.

3-bet

Re-raising a raise. The standard response to an opener with your value hands (QQ+, AKs) and some bluffs, usually to 9–11bb.

Cold call

Calling a raise without having previously invested in the pot (i.e., not a blind completing). Tighter than open-raising from the same seat.

C-bet

Continuation bet. Betting the flop as the pre-flop raiser. Bet dry boards wide, check wet boards without equity.

Barrel

Continuing to bet on later streets after c-betting. Double-barrel = bet flop + turn. Triple-barrel = all three streets.

Semi-bluff

Betting with a draw that has fold equity AND pot equity. Two ways to win — the highest-EV bluff there is.

Pot odds

The price a call offers: call / (pot + call). Break-even equity — call if your hand has more.

Implied odds

Extra money you expect to win on later streets if you hit your draw. Turns some losing pot-odds calls into winners.

Equity

Your share of the pot given your hand's chance to win by showdown. Compared against pot odds to decide calls.

Outs

Cards that complete your drawing hand. Flush draw = 9 outs (13 suited minus 4 seen). OESD = 8. Gutshot = 4.

OESD

Open-Ended Straight Draw. Two different ranks complete the straight — 8 outs.

Gutshot

Inside straight draw — only one rank completes the straight. 4 outs; ~8.5% on the turn.

Rule of 4 and 2

Outs × 4 ≈ equity from flop to river. Outs × 2 ≈ equity from turn to river. Subtract 1 per out above 8 for big draws.

Polarized range

A betting range made of very strong hands + bluffs with no medium-strength hands in between. Common in large-sizing 3-bets and river overbets.

Dry board

A flop without flush draws, straight draws, or connectivity. Example: K72 rainbow. Favors the pre-flop raiser's range — c-bet wide.

Wet board

A connected, two-tone or monotone flop that gives the caller's range many draws. Example: JT9 two-tone. Check more, bet less air.