I love blackjack.  I love the simplicity of the game, it’s fast-paced speed and I enjoy playing it both at online casinos and regular casinos. Now I can even play mobile Blackjack on my smartphone, if I want to. I have found, however, that there’s not much variety in the game — it’s pretty much what you expect, every time. That’s what motivated me to take things to the next level and learn a little history and decide to increase my blackjack vocabulary. Here were some especially interesting terms that I encountered:

1.    “Rainbow” or “Barber” Pole: This refers to a stack of chips with different values that looks like a Rainbow or Barber pole.  This is considered poor etiquette as chips should be stacked together according to their denomination.

2.    “Break” or “Broke”:  This term refers specifically to a round of blackjack when the player hits and immediately loses.

3.    “Bust Out”: This term is used when a player leaves the game because they lose everything (otherwise known as “Shit Outta Luck”)

4.    “Cheque”: This is apparently another name for “chip.”  I had never heard it but I assume it’s something used in other countries.

5.    “Surrendering”:  This is something that’s exclusive to casino blackjack when a player has the option to forfeit his or her hand and get back half of the value that they bet when they decide that they don’t want to bet against the dealer. (If their cards are just not worth playing with.)

I just thought this was a fun way to increase my love of blackjack as I feel that the more you know about a given subject, the more enjoyable it is!