Cheating at Blackjack — Show Resources · Dustin Marks
Show Resources

Cheating at Blackjack

A reference page for viewers of the podcast. The real industry vocabulary, drawn from Dustin and The Kaiser’s decades on both sides of the table.

♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

The Real Vocabulary

Glossary

Terms used inside the casinos — by dealers, by bosses, and by the people who cheated them. If you hear something on an episode you don’t recognize, it’s probably here.

1st Key Card. The first card of a stack that an agent receives. This is normally a high-value card.
2nd Key Card. The second card in the stack that an agent receives.
Agent. A cheater who plays against a dealer who is his partner. Together they cheat the casino.
Bad Card. Card that is palmed out during handmucking.
Bankroll. The money a player uses to gamble.
Barred. Being told you cannot play certain casino games. Normally Blackjack.
Basic Strategy. The optimal way of playing any hand in Blackjack based solely on the knowledge of the player’s cards and the dealer’s up card.
Blackjack. Also called 21. Casino game played with cards. From one to seven players wager against a dealer while trying to get a better point total than the dealer.
Blocker. Person who stands behind a mucker.
BP. The Big Player. The member of a cheating team who plays the big money. Also called “the take-off man.”
Built In. A player who is known to the casino personnel as a losing player.
Burn Card. The top card of the deck after the shuffle that is discarded.
Busting. To go over the point total of 21 in Blackjack. When this happens the hand is over and the player’s bet is taken by the dealer.
Casino Manager. Individual who oversees the entire casino operation. He may report directly to the owner of the casino.
Cheque. Casino term for a gambling chip.
Chop. Dividing the money after a play has been made.
Chopped Card. Card that is palmed and taken off the table during handmucking. Sometimes referred to as “bad card.”
Clean Up. Secretly returning a stolen card to the deck.
Color Up. Exchanging smaller denomination chips for larger denomination chips.
Comping. A casino practice that gives free rooms, dinners, or show tickets to preferred customers.
Cooler. A deck or number of decks that have been prearranged in a sequence that allows the cheaters to win every hand.
Cover Play. Playing on the square (i.e., without cheating). This is done to convince the casino that nothing out of the ordinary is happening.
Crack Out of Turn. To say something that does not fit the role a con man is assuming.
Crossroader. Cheater who specializes in cheating legal casinos.
Cut Into. To make contact with a person, usually to talk “business.”
Dead Game. Blackjack game with no players.
Deck Penetration. The percentage of the cards that are dealt to the players in a round.
Fishing. A stacking term that means the dealer is looking for a high card or cards during the shuffle. If a high card is found, the dealer will use these cards to stack the deck.
Flashing. Covertly showing the top card of the deck. Usually the dealer will flash his agent.
Floorman. A casino supervisor of one or more casino games. He works in the pit.
Front Loader. A dealer who accidentally exposes his hole card as he loads it under his up card.
GC. Gaming Control Board.
George. A player that tokes the dealers a lot of money.
Griffin Book. A book distributed by Griffin Detective Agency that lists known counters, cheats, and their associates.
Grift Sense. A sixth sense that good crossroaders obtain through experience. This is the sense that crossroaders use to determine if the play is a “go.”
Handmucking. The art of switching cards in play.
Heads Up. To play at the Blackjack table alone with the dealer.
Hit Card. To draw additional cards to better the hand.
Holding Out. To secretly hide a card on one’s person. The card will be switched for another card to better the cheater’s hand.
Hole Card. The face down card the dealer deals to himself.
Hopping the Deck. A method of nullifying the cut. The cards remain in the same order.
IBN. The number of cards that are between the key cards. This number must be the same as the number of bets on the table.
Index Dealer. A dealer who accidentally exposes the index of the hole card as he is taking it off the deck to load it under his up card.
Insurance. Optional side bet offered by the casinos. The player is betting the dealer has a Blackjack. Insurance pays 2 to 1.
Leaking. Exposing a palmed card between the fingers.
Marked Cards. Cards that have been secretly marked on the back. This lets the cheater know the value of the card.
Original Cards. The first two cards a player receives in Blackjack.
Pat Hand. A hand in Blackjack with a point value between 17 and 20.
Pit Boss. The person responsible for all gaming action in the pit. He reports to the shift boss. The floormen report to the pit boss.
Push. A tie or standoff. Neither side wins or loses.
Riffle Shuffle. Dividing the deck in half and interlacing the two halves together. This is the main shuffle in the casinos.
Shift Boss. Person who is responsible for the casino on his shift. He reports to the casino manager.
Shoe. Device that holds from four to eight decks of cards. It is used in Blackjack to help facilitate the dealing of the cards.
Shuffle Tracking. A method that predicts when the high cards will be dealt.
Side Jog. A cheating method that has a card or group of cards offset to the left or right of the deck. This secretly marks a spot in the deck where the agent cuts.
Slug. A group of cards controlled during the shuffle. Also known as “Stack” or “Stock.”
Snapper. Slang for a Blackjack.
Square. A member of the dominant culture; a noncriminal type.
Stacking. Shuffling the cards in a manner to create or preserve a certain sequence of cards that will result in a winning hand.
Stiff. A hand in Blackjack with a point value between 12 and 16.
Stranger Card. A card stolen from one Blackjack game and used at another Blackjack game. It is an extra card that belongs to a different deck.
Tell. A particular mannerism, habit, or characteristic, verbal or nonverbal, that indicates a person’s real intentions when he is trying to hide those intentions. A tip-off to a person’s actual intentions.
The Bend. A method of secretly marking cards by bending them.
Work. The action of marking cards by various methods.
Zukes. An old-timer’s term for “tokes” (i.e., tips).
♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

Reference

Basic Strategy — 1980s Single Deck

The mathematically optimal way to play any hand against the dealer’s up card. This chart is for the single-deck Blackjack games that were standard in 1980s Las Vegas — the same games this podcast covers. Modern Vegas charts (multi-deck, dealer hits soft 17) differ from this one in several cells.

1980s single-deck Blackjack basic strategy chart
♠ ♥ ♦ ♣
♠ ♥ ♦ ♣

The full story is in Dustin’s memoir How I Did It and Got Away With It.   Read more ›