When you sit down at any blackjack table, regardless of if you actually know what you are doing or not, you’re always going to want to at least look like you know what you’re doing. The best way to do so is by looking over some basic blackjack language to know. You’ll also want to know what are different blackjack hand signals as well. Knowing these could help you not look like a beginner whether its just you against the dealer or you are at a full legal blackjack table.
Blackjack Sayings To Know
There are a few phrases that you’ll need to listen for throughout the table or even from the dealer so that you could know what’s next to come at the table. Just know that if you hear any of these, they are blackjack terms and you shouldn’t question what’s being said.
Monkey
This is one of the most popular and most common words said at a blackjack table. If you hear the dealer say “monkey” as he is flipping over a card, he is wishing good luck on the table by hopefully pulling a face card and busting so the whole table wins. You could also hear this being said by others sitting at the table trying to speak the dealer busting into existence.
Stiff
If you hear the word stiff being thrown around, it means that the dealer is holding between a 12 and 16 which means they have a good chance of paying out the table for going over 21. You could also use this if you have a 12-16 meaning you have a high chance of going over as well.
Charlie/Painted
If you hear people calling for “Charlie” or “Painted” it is referring to cards that hold a 10 value. “Charlie” is often used for cards 10, jack, queen, king while “Painted” is for all face cards. If your name is Charlie, don’t be alarmed, it's just a part of the game unfolding.
Burn Card
The burn card is the first card that the dealer burns after the deck is shuffled as well as when a new dealer arrives to the table. That said, when you see a dealer take one card face down from the deck and put it in the trash pile, don’t be alarmed, it is customary at the table in those two instances.
Cold Deck
If you ever hear someone at the table say that this is a “cold deck” or “the deck is cold,” run. It means that the dealer is beating everyone at the table and it could heavily impact not only when to hit and stand, but your overall style of play and force you to play uncomfortably if you are not careful with your hand. You could even find yourself losing multiple hands in a row in some cases.
Color Up
When you tell the dealer you want to color up, it means you are exchanging your smaller valued chips for larger ones. Dealers often do this so that they do not run out of their smaller chips which are the most often used at tables. It also helps the dealer with the tables bankroll management that way they could keep the game rolling without having to worry about the chip count.
Hand Signals At The Blackjack Table
When it comes to hand signals, you could literally go through an entire blackjack run without saying one word and only using your hands to call for action on the table. The main thing to remember with any hand signal is that you’ll never touch the cards in front of you.
Hit:
There are different hand signals for hitting in blackjack. Some of the most common include tapping your finger in front of you on the table where the dealer can see it. You could also tap your hand lightly in front of the cards. You can also simply just nod yes to the dealer.
Split:
In any situation where you want to split your cards, all you need to do is simply hold out two fingers down on the table in front of your cards. Once the dealer sees this, he’ll split your hands and wait for your additional bet for the other card.
Double Down:
When you want to double down in blackjack, you don’t do any hand signals per say, however, what you’ll do is take the chip(s) that equal the amount of your original bet and simply just place it on the side of your original bet. From there, the dealer will know what you are doing and lay a card down horizontally on top of your first two cards.
Stand:
There are two main ways that you could tell the dealer that you are going to stand on your hand. If you are content with your cards and/or your book tells you when to stand in blackjack and it is one of those moments, you’ll simply hold your hand up indicating that you do not want to take a third card. Lastly, you could just shake your head no and the dealer will get the point that you are not taking another card.