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| S17 |
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An abbreviation for the casino rule which requires the dealer to stand on all soft 17s.
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| Safe Jack |
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A high-tech version of blackjack. Card values and bet sizes are read by sensors built into the table.
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| Sba |
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The acronym for Statistical Blackjack Analyzer, blackjack software by Karel Janecek.
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| Sd |
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1. The acronym for Single Deck. 2. The acronym for Standard Deviation.
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| Seconds |
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Dealing seconds is a cheating move by the dealer. Through a sleight of hand maneuver, the dealer peeks at the top card on the undealt deck and determines when he will deal the card and to whom. The rest of the players are dealt seconds, that is the second card rather than the top card. A dealer can use this move to help a confederate at the table or to cheat the players at the table.
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| Sequencing |
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An advanced shuffle-tracking, team technique. The players identify certain cards (usually Aces, hence "Ace Sequencing") in the shuffle and by controlling the table attempt to subsequently steer these cards to the team's hands.
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| Session |
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A short period of time for recording results. A session might be the time you spent at one table, or the time you spent in one casino, or the time you spent playing blackjack between breaks away from the game.
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| Settlement |
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The resolution of the bet. The dealer either collects the player's chips, pays the player or leaves the chips on the table in the case of a push.
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| Sharpe Ratio |
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A method of comparing risk and ruin, named after Nobel prize winner William Sharpe. It compares the difference in return and investment may have over a risk-less investment to the risk of the original investment.
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| Shill |
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A casino employee, usually hired to be a "starter" in casino games. This employee may play at otherwise empty tables in order to attract players. Typically they have a large amount of chips in front of them giving players the idea that the table is hot.
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| Shoe |
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This is the shoe box shaped transparent or wooden device that holds up to eight decks used in blackjack. It allows the dealer to deal one card off the top quickly and efficiently. Two, four, and six deck shoes are common.
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| Shoe Game |
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A reference to blackjack games which use a shoe to hold the cards.
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| Short Shoe |
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A shoe from which certain cards have been removed, usually as a means of cheating players. For instance, ten valued cards or aces may be removed from the shoe, which would give the house an unbeatable advantage. Sometimes, the reverse occurs, wherein cards are added to the shoe which would be detrimental to the player, such as five's and sixes.
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| Shuffle |
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To thoroughly mix the cards before dealing them to the players.
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| Shuffle Card |
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A plastic card, usually the same as the cut card, which is inserted into a deck, pack or shoe to indicate when to break the deck and reshuffle the cards.
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| Shuffle Master |
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The trademarked name of a mechanical device that some casinos use to shuffle the cards in multi-deck games, in order to speed up the game and defeat cheating and shuffle tracking.
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| Shuffle Tracking |
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A sophisticated technique that requires a player to count the cards, observe where groups of high or low cards are placed in the discard tray, follow them through the shuffle, and then cut the cards in such a way as to bring excess high cards into play. It is a proven way to get an edge at shoe games.
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| Shuffle Up |
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Premature shuffling by the dealer to discourage card counting or to harass a player who is usually suspected of being a counter. Also preferential shuffle.
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| Side Bet |
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A bet in blackjack that may be made in addition to the primary bet placed in the betting circle. It is similar to the proposition bets in craps, in that the player is betting that a certain circumstance will occur, such as receiving a pair or two cards of the same suit. Almost all side bets carry a large house advantage.
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| Side Count |
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An additional count to track certain cards. Common side counts include an ace or five count.
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| Slug |
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A small number of cards, bunched together in the deck. Usually used to identify the cards that a cheating dealer pre-identifies, controls in his shuffling action and deals out accordingly.
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| Snapper |
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A colloquial term for a natural or blackjack.
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| Sof |
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An abbreviation for Slots A Fun, a casino.
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| Soft / Soft Hand / Soft Total |
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A hand that contains an Ace which is counted as 11. E.g. Ace-9 is soft 20. "Soft" denotes that the value can be changed. If later valued at 1, it becomes a "hard" hand.
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| Soft Double |
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To double down on a hand with an ace as part of the original hand.
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| Spanish 21 |
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A version of blackjack in which the actual tens are removed from play. It carries a variety of favorable rules, but is considered to be an unbeatable game by most standard counting methods.
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| Split / Splitting Pairs |
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To split a matched pair of cards in blackjack and play each card as a separate hand. Usually, any pair of ten valued cards may be split as if they were a natural pair. You place an additional bet equal to your original bet on the separated card. In most casinos if the second card on either or both of these 'new' hands make another pair, you can split that hand as well. Some casinos do not allow Aces to be resplit. When splitting pairs, as with "Doubling Down", if the dealer gets a "Blackjack", only the original bet will lose.
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| Splitting Aces |
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If you receive a pair of aces on your first two cards, you may choose to split the aces. When you split aces, you will receive only one card on each ace. However, if you receive a second ace after you split, you may choose to re-split the aces.
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| Spooking |
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The practice of standing somewhere away from a blackjack table to identify the dealer's down or hole card and then secretly signaling the value of the card to a player at the table. An illegal form of cheating. A court has ruled however that a seated player may use hole card information if obtained because of a dealer error or mishandling.
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| Stand / Stay |
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The decision not to draw any further cards, or hits. For example, a person dealt two tens would normally stand and refuse another card. The dealer will proceed to the next player.
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| Stand-Off |
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Both player and dealer have the same hand total. Player keeps bet Also tie or push.
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| Standard Deviation |
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A term which describes how far one may stray from the expected value of a game in either direction. It is determined by finding the square root of the variance of a game.
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| Steam |
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Usually used as a term to describe a person who begins to over-bet in an attempt to recoup his losses.
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| Stiff / Stiff Hand |
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1. Any hand that could bust if drawn to. For example a hard 12-16. The stiff hands are hard totals of 12 through 16. 2. A reference to any dealer up card of 2 through 6, since we always assume a 10-value card in the hole. "The dealer was showing a stiff."
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| Stop Loss |
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An pre-set limit to the amount of money a player is willing to lose in any given session.
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| Strategy Number |
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The count number used to determine the point at which a variation from basic strategy may be made in the game of blackjack.
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| Streak |
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A series of wins or losses. A whole sector of blackjack-theory is devoted to the quest of identifying streaks before they occur, in violation of all natural & scientific laws.
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| Strip |
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See Las Vegas Strip.
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| Strip Rules |
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A set of rules, once prevalent in Las Vegas Strip casinos, where a Dealer stands on soft 17 (S17), Player is allowed to DOA ( double on anything), Player is not allowed to DAS ( no double down after split), Pair splitting is allowed up to 4 hands, No RSA ( no re-splitting of aces) allowed. It is of course assumed that the other common rules also apply: Insurance offered, Dealer collects only original bets, Split aces receive only 1 card, Ace-Ten after splitting aces counts as simple 21. "Strip rules" can be used for brevity when describing a casino's distinct rules, as in "Casino X has Strip rules with DAS".
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| Stripping |
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The dealer's shuffling action whereby he holds a pack of cards in one hand and with the other he picks up ("strips") a small number of cards from the top and places them on the table, successively, one on top of the other until a new pack is formed but with the order of cards grossly reversed. The smaller the number of cards he picks ("strips") from the original pack, the stronger the reversal. Of course, the perfect reversal would be achieved by picking up ("stripping") the cards one by one, but that is not desirable by the casino since it eliminates the action's randomness.
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| Surrender |
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Surrender is the only option of not playing a hand after receiving your first two cards. When you exercise the option of surrender, the dealer will pick up your cards, and you will lose one half of your bet. This is done before the dealer plays out his hand. Shooting Star Casino is the only casino in Minnesota to offer surrender. The surrender option offered at Shooting Star Casino is called "late surrender", which means you may surrender only after the dealer has checked for Blackjack. Also Late Surrender and Early Surrender.
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| Sw |
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1. The acronym for Steve Wynn, casino owner. 2. The acronym for Stanford Wong, author. 3. Software, in a computer context.
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| Swing Shift |
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This is the busiest shift in casinos. Swing-shift workers generally come to work at 6 PM, but may start a couple of hours earlier or later than 6.
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