Casino Glossary

• Hand

  Casino

  
  

  1) A player's cards;

  Examples:

  I had the worst hand in Texas Hold'Em last round.

  Pocket Rockets (AA) is not exactly the worst hand in poker.

  In Blackjack, you need to achieve a hand as close to 21 as possible.

  2) A round of play in a card game.

  Examples:

  Let's make a break after this hand.

  Wait till the end of the hand to exchange money for chips.

  
  
   

• Handle

  Casino

  The total amount of money bet in a casino.

• 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

• Hard Total

  Blackjack

  The count of a hand in which any ace (if present) must be valued as a 1 to avoid busting. E.g. A86, K7. In a soft hand, an ace can be either 1 or 11.

• Hardways Bet

  Craps

  Betting that a number will be rolled with matching dice (e.g. each die showing 2 to make a 4), before the number is rolled another way (e.g. a 3 and a 1) or a 7 comes.

• Hedge

  Casino

  A bet placed against a player's original wager to reduce risk. E.g. the insurance bet in blackjack to lock in a sure profit.

• High Bet

  Roulette

  A bet on the numbers 19-36, which pays 1 to 1.

  Antonym: Low Bet

• High Card

  Video Poker

  An ace or a face card (but not the 10) in video poker.

• High Roller

  Casino

  
   

  Also known as Casino Whale. A player who bets large amounts of money and plays high table limits. High rollers get large amounts of comp points from the casinos. Brick-and -mortar casinos attract high rollers with charter plane transfers, limousine drives and best suites in the casino hotels. There are special rooms with high stake tables in some casinos exclusively for high rollers. Online casinos may offer special bonuses and big prizes to high rollers such as trips to some nice destinations and casino cruises.

  Some people open large credit lines in a brick-and-mortar casino to make it look like they are high rollers. Casino hosts know about these tricks. They watch how much these people bet and then decide whether they are high rollers and deserve all the perks. Many high rollers bet black chips only.

  Examples:

  After a big loss, the casino staff started treating me like I was a high roller.

  High rollers occupied all the best suites in this casino hotel.

  Antonym: Grinder

  See also: VIP

• High Society

  Casino

  $10,000 in chips.