P - Glossary of Terms

Pack. A reference to the total collection of cards in play. Usually, this is used to refer to more than one deck of cards, with it's most common reference being use to describe a two deck game.

Paint. The face cards, ie; Jack, Queen and King.

Pair. In blackjack, this can refer to a true pair of cards, such as a 3-3, or any two ten valued cards, like Jack-Ten.

Parlay. Usually this is a reference to increasing the size of one's bet by the amount won on a previous bet. It can also refer to increasing one's overall bankroll in a session or number of sessions, such as, "He parlayed his $1000 bankroll to $4000 after two months of play."

Past post. To cheat by placing or adding to a wager after the time that no new bets or bet changes are allowed due to there being information about the possible result, such as the player already having a card at blackjack.

Pat hand. Any hand in blackjack which is a hard 17 or greater and would not require a hit.

PB. The acronym for pit boss.

PBA. The acronym for Professional Blackjack Analyzer, blackjack software by David Smith.

PBJ. An abbreviation for the book, Professional Blackjack.

PC. 1. An abbreviation for "percentage". 2. The acronym for "personal computer". 3. The acronym for "pit critter".

PE. The acronym for "playing efficiency".

Penetration. How deeply into the pack or shoe a dealer goes before shuffling. In CBJN, penetration is expressed as number of decks left when the shuffle point is reached. Penetration is sometimes expressed as the number of decks dealt out of the total (eg 5½/6, which means 5½ decks out of six) or as percentage of cards dealt out (eg 60%, 75% etc).

Per hour. [aka "Hourly winnings (or losses)"] The expression (in dollars) of winnings or losses "per hour" is often encountered. This assumes "100 hands per hour" played, a figure arrived at through observation of dealers' dealing & shuffling speed, combined with player's speed in playing their hands etc. The win rate (or loss rate) per hour is straightforwardly calculated as W per hour = number of hands per hour * EV * average bet It is admittedly on the arbitrary side but helps to give a good approximation of an expected win rate (or conversely, loss rate) in money.

Pip. The spots on the cards that correspond with the value of the card.

Pit. The area in the casino surrounded by table games. While it is often confined to one specific type of game, it can include any of the table games. It is the area where casino personnel track the games and the players, among other duties and is where employees such as pit bosses and floormen can be found. Casino patrons are not allowed access to the pit.

Pit boss. The person in charge of the pit and the employees working in the pit and at it's tables.

Pitch game. Expression referring to most single deck or double deck games. Because the cards in these games are usually dealt face down, the dealer doesn't place them down on behalf of the players as he does in shoe games but, rather, throws them, ie pitches them to the players.

Pit critter. A colloquialism which usually refers to a pit boss or a floorman.

Pivot point. The point in an unbalanced count where the player advantage remains the same no matter how many cards remain to be dealt.

Play all. Term for staying in a game through all the negative as well as the positive expectation situations. The term is mainly used for multideck games. The opposite of Wonging.

Playing efficiency. A description of the accuracy of any card counting system, usually expressed as a percentage or fraction. The closer to 1 the number is, the more accurate the system is in terms of indicating the proper strategy decision to be made.

Ploppy. A term coined by gambling author Frank Scoblete to describe a typical uninformed gambler. A ploppy often is ignorant, offensive, and sometimes tries to influence other patrons' actions through superstition or stating as fact his or her misunderstanding of the games or odds. (See also: Civilian)

Plug. Usually describes the action of placing a portion of the unplayed cards in the stack of discards prior to shuffling the cards. Can also be used to describe the clump of unplayed cards themselves as they are placed in with the discards.

Plus/minus. A commonly used term to describe the Hi-Lo counting system.

POM. An abbreviation for Post of the Month.

Pontoon. A social card game with rules similar to Blackjack but with many important differences. Played mostly in the UK.

Post of the Month. A monthly award given by Stanford Wong to the Green Chip poster who makes the best post in a calendar month, as determined by fellow Green Chip posters.

Preferential shuffle. The act of intentionally shuffling the cards early in order to remove any possible advantage which may have been gained by the players. It is used to discourage counters and to eliminate their playing advantage.

Press. To increase one's bet after a winning hand.

Progression betting. A form of betting which requires one to change the size of his bet based upon the results of the last hand or series of hands. Progressions can be negative, which usually means a bet is raised after a loss, or positive, which usually means the bet is raised after a win. No progression has ever been devised which can change the actual expectation in any given game.

Promotion. A special marketing device used by casinos to encourage play. It may take the form of a special rule, such as paying 2:1 for blackjacks or a special offer in conjunction with play, such as offering free show tickets or meals if a player makes a specified bet on certain games.

Proportional betting. See Kelly betting.

PS. The acronym for preferential shuffle.

Pumpkin. Usually means a $1000 chip, orange in color and often oversized. It can mean other denominations, but the chip is always orange and the denomination is always relatively high.

Purple chip. A $500 chip.

Push. A tie between the player and the dealer. In a normal blackjack game, the player's bet is returned to him when a push occurs. In double exposure games and in many charity games, the player loses on a push with the dealer.

P21. A rule whereby you push if the dealer has a natural and you have 21 in three or more cards.