Common Card Game Terms Every Beginner Should Know (A Glossary)
Half of feeling lost at a card table is vocabulary. Here are the terms dealers actually use, in plain English.
By Dana Reyes, Games editor · Published Jun 25, 2026 · Updated Jul 28, 2026 · 6 min read
Card game terms are the quiet barrier to entry at a casino table. The rules are usually simple; the language around them is not. This glossary covers the words you are most likely to hear in your first few sessions, grouped so you can skim.
General table terms
- Ante — a small forced wager made before cards are dealt.
- Burn card — a card discarded from the top of the deck before dealing, used to deter card tracking.
- Shoe — the box holding multiple shuffled decks that the dealer deals from.
- Cut card — the plastic card used to cut the deck and to mark where the shuffle happens.
- Pit — the area of the floor a group of tables sits in, supervised by a pit boss.
- Comp — a complimentary perk given for tracked play, such as a drink or a meal.
Blackjack terms
- Hard hand — a hand with no Ace, or where the Ace must count as 1.
- Soft hand — a hand where an Ace can count as 11 without busting.
- Double down — doubling your wager in exchange for exactly one more card.
- Split — separating a pair into two hands, each with its own wager.
- Surrender — forfeiting half your wager to end the hand early, where the table allows it.
- Insurance — a side wager offered when the dealer shows an Ace; generally poor value.
Poker terms
- Blinds — forced wagers posted by two players before cards are dealt.
- Flop, turn, river — the third, fourth, and fifth community cards in Hold'em.
- Position — where you sit relative to the dealer button, which decides when you act.
- Pot odds — the ratio between the current pot and the cost of calling.
- Nuts — the best possible hand given the community cards.
- Showdown — revealing hands at the end to determine the winner.
- Tilt — playing worse than usual because of frustration.
Baccarat and general table-game terms
- Natural — a two-card total of 8 or 9 in baccarat, which ends the hand.
- Commission — the small percentage the house takes from winning banker wagers.
- Push — a tie between player and dealer where the wager is returned.
- Side wager — an optional extra wager, almost always with a higher house edge.
- Toke — a tip for the dealer, often placed as a wager on their behalf.
Money and odds terms
- Bankroll — the total amount you have set aside to play with.
- House edge — the casino's built-in mathematical advantage on a wager.
- RTP — return to player, the same idea expressed as a percentage returned.
- Variance — how widely real results swing around the long-run average.
- Even money — a wager that pays 1:1.
Where to go next
With the vocabulary in place, the rules pages become much easier reading. Start with how blackjack works, then move to poker hand rankings — both use most of the terms above.
About the author
Dana Reyes, Games editor
Dana has spent a decade writing rules explainers and probability breakdowns for beginners. She learned craps standing at a table with a printed cheat sheet and has been translating game maths into plain English ever since.
Share
