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H
Hearts (the suit), in written text. Jh, for example, is the jack of hearts.
  
H.O.E.
A game or tournament format in which three forms of poker are played in rotation, usually either half an hour of each or one round of each. The games are limit hold 'em, Omaha/8, and seven-card stud high-low.
  
H.O.R.S.E
A game or tournament format in which five forms of poker are played in rotation, usually either half an hour of each or one round of each. The games are limit hold 'em, Omaha/8, razz, seven-card stud (high), and seven-card stud high-low (the e standing for 8-or-better).
  
H.O.R.S.E.L
A game or tournament format in which six forms of poker are played in rotation, usually either half an hour of each or one round of each. The games are limit hold 'em, Omaha/8, razz, seven-card stud (high), seven-card stud high-low, and lowball.
  
H.O.S.E
A game or tournament format in which four forms of poker are played in rotation, usually either half an hour of each or one round of each. The games are limit hold 'em, Omaha/8, seven-card stud (high), and seven-card stud high-low.
  
H/E
Shorthand, particularly in e-mail and Internet postings, for hold 'em.
  
Half a Bet
A bet equal to half the limit. Such a bet has significance only when a player has no more chips left than those with which to raise or call, in which case some establishments recognize it as a legitimate bet that can be reraised (on the side). For example, in some clubs, in, say, a $4-limit game, if I open the pot, and a few players call, and one player has $6 left, he can raise the pot. I can reraise, but to do so I need to put in two more full bets, that is, not a further $6, but a further $8. Some establishments do not even permit a player to call if he has less than a full bet. (He can play the hand through, but gets no action on his few remaining chips).
  
Half a Dollar
A $50 bill.
  
Half a Yard
A $50 bill.
  
Half and Half
Go half and half with a player on his buy-in to a game; usually preceded by go; sometimes followed by up. When the player quits, he splits with the person with whom he went cow. Sometimes the house goes cow with a player to enable him to get into a larger game than he could otherwise afford, generally with the no altruistic purpose of filling what would otherwise be a shaky game. At some point when the player (the house hopes) gets far enough ahead of the game, the house may split him out, that is, remove half of his chips and put him on his own. "Will you go half and half with me, so I can get into the $20 game?"
  
Half Kill
A game in which the winner of two pots in a row (or the winner of the whole pot over a certain size in a high-low game) must kill the next pot.
  
Half Smart
Partially aware of the workings of thievery, but not among the inner circle.
  
Half-and-Half Game
A game in which two forms of poker are played, usually for half an hour each. For example, a half-stud, half-hold 'em game would alternate half hours with seven-card stud and hold 'em. Such a game is likely be played at relatively high stakes.
  
Half-and-Half Tournament
A tournament format in which two forms of poker are played, usually for half an hour each. For example, a half-stud, half-hold 'em tournament would alternate half hours with seven-card stud and hold 'em, generally with the limits increasing hourly or half-hourly
  
Half-Century
A $50 bill
  
Half-Pot Limit
A form of poker (particularly common in England) in which the current betting maximum is equal to half the money in the pot at the moment the bet is made. When calculating a raise, it can include the amount required to call the previous bet. For example, the pot contains $100. You bet the maximum permitted, $50. If I call, the pot contains $200. I am now permitted to raise your bet by $100. If I do, your call brings the pot to $400, and you could raise my bet by another $200, and so on.
  
Hammer
Last position to bet in a particular hand; sometimes the person to put the last bet in; usually preceded by the. "You got the hammer" probably means "I'll check to you" (implying, "Since you made a large bet before the draw you will probably make one after so I will check and let you hang yourself").
  
Hand
1) A player's best five cards. 2) A hand is also everything that happens between shuffles - cards are dealt, betting is done, a winner is declared, and the pot is pushed.
  
Hand for Hand
The situation that arises near the end of a tournament in which, usually, two tables remain and a few players must bust out before the tables are combined for the final table, all of the players at which will finish in the money. Because some players might hope to guarantee a place in the money by playing slowly, hoping to outlast someone else who might go broke, the tournament director sometimes stipulates that whichever table finishes a hand first must wait for the other table before starting the next deal, and the tables play hand for hand.
  
Hand Mucker
A thief who palms cards, which he holds out for later introduction into the game. This usage comes from a pan (panguingue) dealer, who, in the course of dealing the game, constantly shuffles cards that have been played (taking these cards from the discard pile, or the muck) and reinserts cards of similar rank and suit into various separated places of the remainder of the deck.
  
Hard
Pertaining to chips in a change transaction. For example, when requesting change in currency (as opposed to chips), a request made by a dealer to a floor man of "$20 hard, $80 soft" indicates a player has a $100 bill and wants only $20 of it in chips.
  
Hard-Play
Show no mercy in one's play against another player, that is, do one's best to beat the opponent; opposed to soft-play.
  
Hard-Way
A pair of something, usually used in lowball. A hard-way 8 is a pair of 4s. One player says, "I've got an eight," and some other player is likely to say, "I've got a hard-way eight" (that is, he paired 4s).
  
Hart, Schaffner, and Marx
Three jacks.
  
Have a Sign on One's Back
Be known to be a cheat.
  
Head Up
1) Pertaining to two players playing a game by themselves. "They're playing head up for a big one." (Two players are playing freeze-out for $1000.) Also, two-handed. 2) Head-to-head. When a house dealer says "Head up," he means that there are exactly two players in the current pot.
  
Head-to-Head
Pertaining to (only) two players in a pot.
  
Head-Up
Pertaining to playing head up. "They're in a head-up game."
  
Heads Up
1) Pertaining to two players playing a game by themselves. "They're playing head up for a big one." (Two players are playing freeze-out for $1000.) Also, two-handed. 2) Head-to-head. When a house dealer says "Head up," he means that there are exactly two players in the current pot.
  
Heads-Up
Play between only two players.
  
Heart
1) Guts; courage; the ability to flow with the tides of fortune in a poker game. "He doesn't play well, but he's sure got a lot of heart." 2) Any card in the hearts suit.
  
Hearts
1) One of the four suits in a deck of cards, whose symbol is shaped like a valentine. Originally, hearts may have represented the upper class, love being an abstract concept appreciated only by the rich and educated. In both the traditional and four-color deck, hearts are red. 2) A heart flush, that is, five cards of the same suit, all hearts. "I've got a straight; whadda you got?" "Hearts."
  
Heat
Attention being drawn to thievery or thieves by (usually) the management or (sometimes) other players; often preceded by draw. "I've been drawing too much heat at the Pasatiempo lately; I better stay away."
  
Heavy
In lowball, pertaining to a bad card. "I caught heavy" means I missed my hand by a mile.
  
Hector
The jack of diamonds. Probably a classical reference
  
Heef a Dooler.
50 cents.
  
Heel Peek
Back peek (A cheating maneuver that enables the dealer to see the face of the top card on the deck, accomplished by squeezing the top of the deck between thumb and little finger in such a way as to bow the top card in the middle so that its value can be surreptitiously viewed. This move is made prior to dealing seconds.)
  
Heinz
1) A wild card game, seven-card stud (usually) with 5s and 7s wild; so-called because of the Heinz slogan, "57 varieties." 2) In hold 'em, 5-7 as one's first two cards.
  
Help
To improve one's hand - Someone who says they need help means they need their hand to improve in order to have a chance at the pot. Or that they've just pawned their pacemaker to fund a few more hours of poker.
  
Hen
Queen (the card). Old, rare usage.
  
Here to There
A straight, sometimes shortened to here to there; itself shortened from from here to there without a pair.
  
Hi-Lo
Forms of poker in which the pot is split between the best hand and best lowball hand - In high-low split games, half the pot goes to the best hand (the high), half to the worst (the low). The criteria for deciding the low vary - see low. Split games are also often played with a qualifier that the low hand must be "8 or better." This means that the low hand must have five unpaired cards 8 or lower. Omaha and Seven Card Stud are the most popular high-low split games.
  
Hidden Hand
Concealed hand (A hand played in such a way that you would not suspect it of being very good, but that turns out to be so. For example, if, in lowball, two players kept raising each other back and forth, and a third just kept calling all the bets, you might suspect that he was drawing one to a good hand. If he turned out to have a pat wheel, that would be a concealed hand. In any poker game, if one player lets the others do all the betting for him, usually because the situation allows him to just keep calling without ever having to make a raise or leading bet of his own, and that player actually holds a hand that cannot lose, he is said to have a concealed hand. Also called hidden hand.).
  
Hidden Pair
Concealed pair (In stud, a pair, both cards of which are among a player's first two down cards.).
  
Hidden Trips
Down cards containing three of a kind, or, less commonly, a concealed pair matching one of the up cards.
  
High
The high hand is simply the best hand. When playing a high-low split game, one is said to "win the high" when one has the best hand, while another player wins the low. In seven card stud, the player with the strongest up cards is said to be high, and is usually first to act on fourth and subsequent streets.
  
High Belly Strippers
A deck marked by shaving the long edges of some cards (making the ends narrower than the middles) so that a thief can tell by feel the values of certain cards, usually certain high or low cards, such as the aces.
  
High Breeze Hummer
A tight player. "So tight he hums in a high breeze."
  
High Card
1) In a stud game, the exposed card with the highest rank, usually the one who must initiate the first round of betting. 2) At the showdown, a hand that wins when two no-pair hands or two flushes are in contention by virtue of containing a card of higher rank than any in the other hand.
  
High Chicago
This games plays the same as Seven Card Stud with the exception that the highest spade in the hole gets half the pot. This adds some interesting variation to the game, because if you are dealt the ace of spades in your first two down cards then you have guarenteed half the pot. Even if you start betting and raising like a maniac, chances are people won't fold because they will hope to get the other half of the pot. You might want to hold on until fourth street before you start betting heavily so that it isn't totally obvious that you have the ace.
  
High Draw Poker Dictionary
1) Any form of draw poker played for high. 2) California draw (High draw poker as most often played in limit games: pass-and-back-in before the draw, jacks or better to open, each player antes, and there are no blinds.).
  
High Hand
In high-low split, a hand that wins the high half, or is in contention for it.
  
High Limit
Big limit.
  
High Mambo
A combination between stud and a widow game, in which players use three cards in their hands plus one community card, played high-low. Each player is dealt one down card and one up card, followed by a round of betting, one more up card, one more round of betting, and then a community card, with a final round of betting. Players use any combination of three of their four cards for high hand and any three for low. hand rankings differ from "ordinary poker." The highest ranking low hand, A -2 -3, is called a Low Mambo, and the highest ranking high hand, Q - K - A suited, is called a High Mambo. The remaining high hands rank this way: straight flush, three of a kind, straight, flush, one pair, highest card rank. There is a qualifier for low: to win the low half, a hand must be 6-high or better. One worse than a Low Mambo is A-2-4, and so on. If there is no low, the entire pot goes to the high hand.
  
High Man
1) In a stud game, the player whose board currently has the highest card combination. 2) In high-low split, the holder of the hand that wins high.
  
High Roller
Someone who likes to play for large stakes, or in the biggest games.
  
High Society
High society chips (Chips of the largest denomination in a particular establishment. In a small game, in which dollar chips are used for most bets, and $5 chips are termed society chips, $20 or $100 chips would be considered high society chips; in a $20 game, with most bets made with $5 chips, high society chips would probably be $100 chips.). "Gimme a stack of high society."
  
High Society Chips
Chips of the largest denomination in a particular establishment. In a small game, in which dollar chips are used for most bets, and $5 chips are termed society chips, $20 or $100 chips would be considered high society chips; in a $20 game, with most bets made with $5 chips, high society chips would probably be $100 chips.
  
High Spade
1) A side bet in which two or more players (usually in a draw or lowball game) agree that whoever has the highest card in the spade suit on the next hand (or, if no one has a spade that hand, on the following hand or hands) wins something, usually a prearranged bet, or a free drink bought by the loser or losers. 2) To play for the high spade. "I'll high spade you for the drinks" means that if, for example, I get the seven of spades on the next hand and you get no spades or a spade lower than the seven, you're supposed to buy me a drink, if you agree to the proposition. Sometimes called just spade.
  
High Spade in the Hole
A poker game played only in private or home games, a form of seven-card stud in which the pot is split between the holder of the highest hand and the holder of the highest spade in the hole. Also known as Black Maria, Chicago.
  
High Stakes
High-stakes game (Any game played for larger amounts than the other games in a particular establishment, or one in which big bets are permitted and common. Also called a big bet game.).
  
High-Low
A poker game in which the highest and lowest hands share the pot. Also called High-Low Split.
  
High-Low Poker Dictionary
Forms of poker in which the pot is split between the best hand and best lowball hand - In high-low split games, half the pot goes to the best hand (the high), half to the worst (the low). The criteria for deciding the low vary - see low. Split games are also often played with a qualifier that the low hand must be "8 or better." This means that the low hand must have five unpaired cards 8 or lower. Omaha and Seven Card Stud are the most popular high-low split games.
  
High-Low Split
Forms of poker in which the pot is split between the best hand and best lowball hand - In high-low split games, half the pot goes to the best hand (the high), half to the worst (the low). The criteria for deciding the low vary - see low. Split games are also often played with a qualifier that the low hand must be "8 or better." This means that the low hand must have five unpaired cards 8 or lower. Omaha and Seven Card Stud are the most popular high-low split games.
  
High-Low Split Game
Forms of poker in which the pot is split between the best hand and best lowball hand - In high-low split games, half the pot goes to the best hand (the high), half to the worst (the low). The criteria for deciding the low vary - see low. Split games are also often played with a qualifier that the low hand must be "8 or better." This means that the low hand must have five unpaired cards 8 or lower. Omaha and Seven Card Stud are the most popular high-low split games.
  
High-Roll
Try to increase the stakes in a game, or try to run over the game by constantly betting more than the other players feel comfortable with. "We were happy playing $2-to-go until you came along jacking up every pot; quit trying to high-roll the game
  
High-Stakes
Pertaining to a game played for larger amounts than the other games in a particular establishment, or one in which big bets are permitted and common.
  
High-Stakes Game
Any game played for larger amounts than the other games in a particular establishment, or one in which big bets are permitted and common. Also called a big bet game.
  
Highball
High draw poker. This term is rarely used.
  
Hill to Climb
Obstacle to overcome. "You're stuck $100? That's no hill to climb for a stepper."
  
Hit
1) To make a hand or catch a card or cards that improves one's hand. 2) Arrive. "The ace of hearts hit on the river." 3) The needed card that makes a particular hand.
  
Hit and Run
A player who has only been at the table a short amount of time and leaves after winning a big pot.
  
Hit it!.
1) "Let's go." That might be, depending on the situation, "I'll call your large bet," "I'll draw cards," "I'll play in this pot." 2) "I raise."
  
Hit the Brief
A cheating maneuver in which the deck is cut at a prearranged spot, often managed by shuffling in a brief. Also, force the cut.
  
Hit the Cage
Cash out.
  
Hit the Deck
1) Draw one or more cards. "When he stood pat, I knew I had to hit the deck." In lowball, usually implies a one-card draw. 2) Make a hand. "Things have been running so bad for me the only time I can hit the deck is when I'm drawing dead
  
Hit the Kicker
1) In draw poker, draw two to a pair, or one to three of a kind, with a kicker, instead of drawing three to the pair alone or two to the trips, and catch another card of the same rank as the kicker. If you draw to a pair of kings with an ace and make two pair, aces and kings, you hit the kicker.2) In hold 'em, catch a card of the same rank as your unpaired card. 3) In seven card stud, catch a card of the same rank as one of your side cards, when you already have a pair.
  
Hit the Table
Stand pat (To decline an opportunity to draw cards.). So called because a player often hits the table with his hand when it is his turn to announce his draw if he has a pat hand. Also, knuckle, rap
  
Hit the with Deck
Be in a situation of making every hand or having good hands in crucial pots, particularly when large pots are involved.
  
Hit-and-Run Artist
One who plays briefly in each of several games, usually with the intention of having a short winning session in each. This kind of a player is usually disliked, because he takes money out of the game, leaving the remaining players trying to win from a reduced pool of chips. Also, chopper.
  
Hitchhiker
1) An unexpected participant in your pot; usually preceded by pick up a. "I was trying to win all Jim's chips, but I picked up a hitchhiker, and she drew out on both of us." 2) An expected participant, generally someone you're trying to trap. "Looks like I got a hitchhiker" could be heard from someone who raised a lot and probably will win the pot, including many chips from the fool (that is, the hitchhiker) who elected to trail along. 3) Someone who comes in cold to a pot, that is, someone who has not yet had the opportunity to call any bets and, when a pot has already been raised, calls the initial bet plus the raise. For example, you open the pot in a limit game. I make it two bets, that is, I raise. Now the action comes around to the player to the right of the dealer, who calls the two bets. That player is called a hitchhiker. Also called fence hopper
  
Hockey Sticks
In hold 'em, two 7s as one's first two cards. (That's what they look like. Sort of.)
  
Hog
In a high-low split game, use chips or voice to indicate you're going for both high and low simultaneously.
  
Hog it
In a high-low split game, use chips or voice to indicate you're going for both high and low simultaneously.
  
Hogger
1) A hand that wins both ways in any high-low pot. 2) The player holding the hand that wins both ways in any high-low pot. 3) The player who declares both ways in a high-low poker game that has a declare.
  
Hogier
The jack of spades. May have been a cousin of Charlemagne.
  
Hold 'em
Generic name for a class of poker games where the players receive a certain number (2 to 4) of hole cards and 5 community cards. Usually there are betting rounds after dealing the hole cards, then after dealing 3 up cards (Flop), after dealing a 4th up card (Turn) and finally after dealing a 5th up card (River).
  
Hold 'em 8
High-low split hold 'em, with an 8-or-better qualifier for low.
  
Hold 'em Player
Someone who plays hold 'em poker (usually exclusively, or in preference to other forms of poker).
  
Hold Dead
1) In lowball, cause another player to stand pat on a hand that is a loser, and not draw a card to a hand that might otherwise win. "John acted like he was going to draw two cards, and that held Henry dead on his 9-5, but in actuality John had an 8-7." Also, hold someone dead . 2) In lowball, decline to draw cards based on another player's actions with respect to his hand. "Sarah drew two cards, which held me dead on my 10-nothing."
  
Hold me Darling
An obsolete name for hold 'em.
  
Hold Out
Perform a cheating maneuver in which a player removes one or more cards from play for later introduction. A held-out card can be concealed in a sleeve, in a vest, in a shoe, under the table, etc.
  
Hold Over
Consistently have better cards (than another player). "I can't beat him; he always holds over me."
  
Hold Someone Dead
Play a lowball hand in such a way as to keep another player pat on a worse hand, with the effect of keeping the player from drawing to a better hand, thus preventing the other player from winning the pot.
  
Holding
Your cards. "What are you holding?" or "What is your holding?" means "What is your hand?"
  
Holdings
Your cards. "What are you holding?" or "What is your holding?" means "What is your hand?"
  
Holdout
1) A card or cards being held out. 2) Holdout machine.
  
Holdout Artist
A thief who holds out (Perform a cheating maneuver in which a player removes one or more cards from play for later introduction. A held-out card can be concealed in a sleeve, in a vest, in a shoe, under the table, etc.).
  
Holdout Device
A mechanical device enabling thieves to surreptitiously hold out. Holdout machines used to be more popular many years ago, but are not often seen now, probably because thieves are becoming more sophisticated, and also because being caught with one is dangerous. Also called a string.
  
Holdout Machine
A mechanical device enabling thieves to surreptitiously hold out. Holdout machines used to be more popular many years ago, but are not often seen now, probably because thieves are becoming more sophisticated, and also because being caught with one is dangerous. Also called a string.
  
Holdout Man
A thief who holds out (Perform a cheating maneuver in which a player removes one or more cards from play for later introduction. A held-out card can be concealed in a sleeve, in a vest, in a shoe, under the table, etc.).
  
Hole
1) In stud and hold 'em-type games, the position for the card or cards dealt face down. From this comes the term in the hole. 2) Hole card (A card concealed in a player's hand.). 3) Losing; usually preceded by in the.
  
Hole Card
1) A card concealed in a player's hand. 2) In stud and Hold'em, the face-down cards dealt to each player.
  
Hole Card Stud
A form of five-card stud with an extra betting round, immediately after the first card, the hole card, is dealt. Usually played only in home games. Also called pistol stud or pistol Pete.
  
Hollywood
1) Acting. "Quit the Hollywood; we know you've got the Holy City." 2) In a showoff manner. When a player has only a few chips left, and someone bets him $1000, knowing that he can't call even 1% of that bet, that's a Hollywood move.
  
Holy City
The nuts (The best possible hand of a given class. The "nut flush" is the highest possible flush, but might still lose to, e.g., a full house. Usually used in Hold'em games.); usually preceded by the. "Get in a pot with him and he'll show you the Holy City
  
Home
The deal, or where the deal is. "A round from home" means one round in which each dealer over blinds.
  
Home Chowaha
A hold 'em variant invented in a private game by RGPer Mike Chow, and popularized at BARGE, in which each player gets two down cards, the dealer flops nine cards, arranged in three rows of three, then turns two cards vertically at the ends of the "corridors" between the preceding rows, and rivers one card in the middle and to the right of the two, the whole arrangement forming a large arrow-like structure. Players form their best five-card hand using their two plus any three cards from the four possible five-card board combinations: top row of three plus top card of two plus river card, bottom row of three plus bottom card of two plus river card, middle row of three plus either one of the two turn cards plus river card.
  
Home Game
A private game played at someone's home, often one regularly scheduled, perhaps weekly. Players might refer to such a game as "the Friday-night game."
  
Home Run Hitter
A player who makes big plays that require maximum risk.
  
Honest
Not bluffing, with respect to calling a bet, and usually part of the phrase keep someone honest. "Well, I know you're not bluffing, but I've got trips, so I'll keep you honest." Related to pay off.
  
Honest Reader
A deck that has not been trimmed, or otherwise deliberately marked, but that, nonetheless, contains irregularities or factory defects, which permit observant players to identify some (or, rarely, all) of the cards from the back. Also called imperfect deck.
  
Honor Card
Any card 10 or higher. This usage comes from bridge (the game)
  
Hook
A Jack. So named because the "J" resembles a hook
  
Hooker
Queen (the card).
  
Hoop
1) A worthless ring. This has card room relevance, because you will often encounter a broker trying to sell you a hoop or a block. 2) Someplace to do something unspeakable to yourself, as an insult, and part of the expression, "Ah, stick it in yer hoop."
  
Hop
1) Remarkable draw; usually part of the phrase, two-card hop or three-card hop. "I thought I had a lock on the pot with a pat 7, but he made a three-card hop on me" means another pat hand just got beat by a three-card draw. Also called cathop. 2) Replace the cards in the same order as they were prior to the cut. This is a slSeven-of-hand maneuver by a card mechanic to negate the effect of the cut. Also called elevator the cut, jump the cut, make a pass, shift the cut.
  
Hop the Cut
Replace the cards in the same order as they were prior to the cut. This is a slSeven-of-hand maneuver by a card mechanic to negate the effect of the cut. Also called elevator the cut, jump the cut, make a pass, shift the cut.
  
Hop the Fence
Come in cold (Call a bet and one or more raises without yet having any money in the pot.); often followed by for. "He hopped the fence for three bets, drew two cards, and beat my pat 7," is often heard in a lowball game. Also jump the fence.
  
Horn
A drink. "How about a horn?" is a suggestion to join someone in a libation.
  
Horse
Someone playing for you, with your money, or with money owed you. "I'm losing, but I've got a horse in the 20 who's way ahead" means that I have a part (or all) of someone's action in the 20-limit game.
  
Horsing
Passing a small amount of money to another player after winning a pot.
  
Hot
1) Doing well; catching good cards. "Don't get in his way; he's hot tonight" means "Stay out of his pots; you can't beat him because he's making every hand he draws to." 2) Angry. "I'm hot enough to eat fried ice cream." 3) With reference to a deck, one that has recently produced a series of good hands.
  
Hot Babe
An attractive, well-dressed female in or near a casino. The term is a trademark of rec.gambling.
  
Hot Deck
A deck that has recently produced a series of good hands.
  
Hot One
To burn (To set aside a card which has been inadvertently revealed.). When the person dealing the cards (usually in a player-dealt game) takes the burn card off the deck prior to dealing the draw cards, he might say, "There's the hot one."
  
Hot Seat
A seat or position at the table that has recently had a run of good hands.
  
Hot Streak
Winning streak.
  
House
The establishment; the casino or card room - The card room (management, owners, etc.) is the house.
  
House Chips
Chips being played for the establishment, that, is those belonging to a dealer while he is working, to a shill, or perhaps a stake or proposition player, as opposed to live chips.
  
House Cut
Generic term for how the house profits from hosting the game.
  
House Dealer
A house employee who deals the cards, sells chips, settles arguments, makes minor rulings in case of irregularities, and generally runs the game.
  
House Player
1) A shill (A card room employee who plays with House money, and does not share in any of his (her) winnings or losses. Shills are used to facilitate starting games, and keeping them going.) 2) A stake player (A player given house chips to play for the purpose of starting a game that would otherwise be short, or to keep a game that is becoming short from breaking up. A stake player keeps half his profits (after returning to the house the amount given him when he was first put in), usually at the end of a shift, but absorbs none of the losses. When he receives his share of the profits, this is the split-out. ). 3) Sometimes a proposition player (An employee of the gaming establishment whose primary purpose is to keep enough players at a table to prevent breaking up the game for lack of players. Unlike shills "props" make a small hourly wage but play with their own money, winning or losing based on their skill.).
  
House Rule
Rules and interpretations (e.g., use of wild cards, or rules on having to show beaten hands) that are specific to an establishment or even tables within the establishment.
  
House Rules
The rules by which a house runs its games, usually including establishing of betting limits, number of raises, what causes a hand to become dead, how to handle violations of playing conventions, and so on.
  
Houseman
1) A card room employee, often working on the floor; floor man. 2) House dealer. Players often address the dealer as houseman. "What's it cost me, houseman?"
  
Hoyle
Edmond. (1672-1769). English barrister and codifier of rules of games, author, in 1742, of A Short Treatise on the Game of Whist, which set down the rules of the game. Subsequent editions of the book contained treatments of quadrille, piquet, and backgammon. Hoyle wrote other books about games, and earned a reputation as an expert on rules. Over the years, the phrase "according to Hoyle" came to be synonymous with "by the highest authority." Although Hoyle never wrote a word about poker--in fact, the game was probably not played in his time--his name has nonetheless come to be associated with the rules of poker. Since Hoyle's death, several rules books on card games in general have had his name in their titles.
  
Huey, Dewey, and Louie
Three deuces.
  
Human Card Rack
Someone who gets a lot of good hands; usually used facetiously or humorously.
  
Humps
A deck marked by shaving the long edges of some cards such that they are wider towards their middles, so that a thief can tell by feel the values of certain cards, usually certain high or low cards, such as the aces.
  
Hung
Awaiting someone's action. "Where's it hung?" is asked when it seems the player whose action is next is either dreaming and aware it's her turn or the player is taking her time making a decision.
  
Hurricane
Two-card poker.
  
Hustle
1) To make your living playing cards. 2) To take unfair advantage of others, particularly of newcomers.
  
Hustler
1) Someone who makes his living playing cards. 2) A player who takes unfair advantage of others, particularly of newcomers. 3) Thief; this usage is rare.
  
Hustling
1) To make your living playing cards. 2) To take unfair advantage of others, particularly of newcomers.
  
Woodside Bottom
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