Common Gambling Terms

• Paint - A Jack, Queen or King. Picture card. Face card.
• Pigeon - An uneducated, naive, or unsophisticated gambler.
• Pit - An area of a casino in which a group of table games are arranged, where the center area is restricted to dealers and other casino personnel.
• Pit Boss - A supervisor who oversees a gaming area. Usually supervises more than one table at the same time.
• Pit Manager - A pit manager is in charge of all the table games, enforcing casino policy. He deals with any problems that may arise during the shift where a crucial decision must be made that may lead to a customer being dissatisfied or angry. Also, he handles Comps and dodges undeserving customers who are trying to get free Room, Food, Beverage (free RFB).
• Plug - A shuffling technique that is sometimes employed in card games like blackjack where the game is often dealt from a multi-deck shoe. When freshly shuffled cards are brought back into action a substantial portion of the cards are kept out of play by the insertion of a cut-card at the back of the deck or shoe. The placement of the cut card marks the place where play will be stopped and the cards are again shuffled. During the play, used cards are stacked in a discard tray. When the cut-card is reached, the game is stopped, and the remaining un-dealt cards are inserted somewhere into the middle of the cards that have already been stacked up in the discard tray. The cards so inserted are referred to as a 'plug'. Such action is called 'plugging' the deck.
• Pocket Cards - In poker where some of the player's cards are dealt to them face down. These cards are called pocket cards.
• Poker - Basically a card game. But poker isn't just a card game - it is many card games. The majority of poker games do share some common features, especially betting in rounds and the ranking of hands. Poker is commonly played in cardrooms (often within casinos) and in private home games. The games played in cardrooms seem to divide into stud games, draw games, and flop games. In home games, however, anything goes, including games that seem to have no reason to be called poker. The varieties played in home games probably number in the hundreds. Some common cardroom games include Texas Hold'em, Seven Card Stud, Omaha, Razz, Lowball, and Pineapple.
• Press a Bet - Adding the winnings over the current bet, to 'let it ride'.
• Pressing - A player is pressing the bet when they let winnings ride by wagering them along with the original bet.
• Probability - A mathematical calculation that establishes the likelihood that an event will occur. Probabilities are expressed as numbers between 0 and 1. The probability of an impossible event is 0, while an event that is certain to occur has a probability of 1.
• Progression Betting - A system of betting applied to many games where bet-size is systematically changed, up or down, across as series of rounds of play according to some predetermined formula.
• Progressive - A slot machine whose potential jackpot increases with each coin that is played. When the progressive jackpot finally hits, the amount resets to the starting number.
• Pull Tab, Pulltab - A game similar to the lottery game. Tickets sell for 25 cents or 50 cents or even more and typically offer prizes ranging from free tickets to $500. Each ticket has perforated windows which open revealing symbols similar to those found on slot machines or some lottery games.
• Punch Board - Another lottery-type game. The player punches out a slot on a board for a chance to win a merchandise prize. Punch boards offering cash prizes are also common.
• Push - A tie hand between a dealer and a player. A round of play where neither the player nor the casino wins.
• Qualifier - In poker, the minimum ranking a hand must have in order for it to be eligible to take part of the pot.
• Rack - A plastic container in which you can transport and count large-denominational coins, slot machine tokens, and casino plastic chips.
• Rake - The money that the casino charges for each hand of poker. It is usually a percentage (5-10%) or flat fee that is taken from the pot after each round of betting.
• Rank - In poker, the worth of a set of cards.
• Rated - Determination by the casino that a player's skill level is above average or on a professional level. A player's rating may be stored on computer and referred to the pit.
• RFB - Comped with free Room, Food, and Beverages.
• Riffling (Card Riffling) - A commonly used shuffling process. To accomplish a riffle, the deck is divided roughly in half and the two halves are interleaved by pulling the card corners up with the thumbs and letting the two halves 'riffle' together. Riffling is also sometimes called 'zipping' the cards. Like card Stripping (see below), the riffling process can span a range from a fine riffle to a coarse riffle.
• Round of Play - A round or hand of play can consist of a single wager or several wagers made during the time of a short wagering event. For example, in poker the round of play (wagering event) begins with the dealing of the cards and ends when the winning player takes the pot. In casino craps a round of play begins with the 'come out' roll and ends when the passline wagers are decided. This may take one or several rolls of the dice. In between, the player might have multiple wagers riding on several different numbers and other betting options. All wagers made between the time of the come out roll and the decision roll, are considered to be part of that round of play. In roulette each spin is counted as a round of play, no matter how many bets you place.
• RVP - Recreational Vehicle Parking.