Glossary
A
Ace: A card with one spot.
Ace high: Poker hand with ace as highest card.
Ace in the hole: An ace as down-card in Stud Poker.
Ace kicker: An odd ace retained with a pair of another value in Draw Poker.
Ace up: A hand with two pair including aces.
Active player: One participating in bidding, betting, or actually play.
Adversary: An opponent.
Age or edge: Player at dealer’s left.
Agreement: Acceptance of specified options in any game.
Albany lead: In Whist, a lead indicating that a player holds four trumps.
Alone: Playing without a partner’s aid as in Euchre.
Alternate straight: A term for a Dutch straight in Poker.
American leads: Special leads in Whist showing length of trump suit.
Announce: To name a trump or a game.
Ante: A preliminary bet or a pool of such bets.
Ante up: To make a preliminary bet.
Approach bid: In Bridge, an early bid of an informative type.
Apres: Term denoting a tie in Trente et Quarante.
Around the corner: A sequence of cards in which an ace links the lowest with the highest, as 3-2-A-K-Q.
Ask: To make a legitimate inquiry in games like Canasta or Skat.
Asking bid: In Contract Bridge, a bid seeking a response that may lead to a slam.
Assist: To order up trump in Euchre.
Auction: Continuous bidding toward making a trump.
B
Back in: To bet after having checked in Poker.
Back to back: A hole card and up-card of same value in Stud Poker.
Bait: Another term for bate.
Balk: In Cribbage, giving cards to the crib that may be useless to the dealer.
Banker and Broker: Player who takes all bets or buys and sells chips to others.
Basta: The third highest trump,
Q in a more modern version sometimes termed German Solo.
Bate and Bete: Failure to win a bid in Pinochle.
Beg: In All Fours. a proposal by first player that each be dealt three more cards and a new trump be turned up.
Below the Line: Entries of trick scores in Bridge.
Best Bower: The joker as highest trump in Euchre or Five Hundred.
Bet: A stake placed on a coming play or showdown.
Bete: Same as bate.
Bet the Spot:To make a wager equal to the amount in the pot or kitty.
Bezique: The
Q and
J (or similar combination) in the game of Bezique.
Bicycle: 5, 3, 2, A, the lowest hand in Lowball.
Bid: To agree to take a certain number of tricks or points in a hand. Common to many games.
Bidder: Any player making a bid, but, more specifically, the highest bidder after bidding is concluded and play begins.
Big Cassino: The
10 in Cassino.
Big Cat: A freak poker hand, ranging from king down to eight.
Big Dog: A freak poker hand, ranging form ace down to nine.
Big Tiger: Another term for the big cat.
Binage: A term for the
Q and
J in a half-pack variant of Bezique.
Binochle: Another term for Pinochle, now practically obsolete.
Black Jack: In Hearts, the
J when used as a penalty card in hearts.
Black Lady: The
Q, practically as a 13-point card in Hearts.
Black Maria: Another name for Black Lady.
Black Queens Partnership: In Sheepshead, a rule making holders of the black queen (
Q and
Q) partners for that deal.
Blackwood Convention: In Bridge, a method of using cue bids to reach a slam.
Blank suit: A suit totally absent from a player’s hand; a void.
Blaze: In Poker, a special hand consisting entirely of face cards.
Blind: A preliminary ante; also another term for widow.
Block: Anything that prevents one or more players form continuing to play the hand.
Blucher: An additional bid in Napoleon.
Bluff: Betting a weak Poker hand as if it were strong one; also an early term for the game itself.
Bobtail flush: In Poker, four cards of a single suit.
Bobtail straight: In Poker, four cards of mixed suits in a sequence, excluding an ace.
Bonus cards: In Hearts, cards (as the
J) that deduct points.
Bonus meld: In Pinochle, special melds in games with extra packs.
Boodle cards: Payoff cards in games of the Boodle type.
Book: In Whist or Bridge, the quate of six tricks that a team must win before it can score.
Boost: In Poker, to raise a bet.
Borrow: In some forms of Rummy, the privilege of moving a card from one meld to another.
Bourre (pronounced "boor"; sometimes misspelled "Boure"-pronounced "booray").
Bower: In Euchre, each jack of the same color, providing that one of their suits is trump.
Box: A won hand in Gin Rummy.
Box the pack: Inadvertently gather face-up cards with face-down cards before or during shuffling.
Boys form Brooklyn: In Pinochle, a nickname for a meld of four jacks.
Brisque: An ace and a ten in Bezique.
Buck: An object used in Poker to designate the dealer.
Buck the tiger: Play against a Faro bank.
Bug: The joker, when used in Poker as an extra ace or a wild card with a flush or straight.
Build: Adding a card to one on the table, as in Cassino.
Bump: To raise, as in Poker.
Bumper: A score of 8 points, the largest possible in English Whist.
Bunch: To give up a deal by mixing the hands together.
Burn: To put a card on the bottom of the pack, usually face up.
Bury: To put a card deep in the pack.
Bust: To overdraw in Blackjack or similar games; also, a worthless hand in any game.
Buy: To draw or call for cards; to pay for a privilege such as the right to deal in certain games.
Bye: To pass a chance to bet or bid.
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