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H

H. 1) See hit. 2) See hole-card.

H-17. Acronym for dealer hits soft 17.

HA. See house advantage.

Halves Count. See Wong's Halves.

hand. The cards dealt to or held by the players. Also called the deal.

hand-held. A reference to a hand held single- or double-deck game.

handle. The total amount of money exchanging hands between a player and the house.

hanger. Paper money that hasn't dropped completely into the drop box and usually due to a bent corner. See earring.
[80 Solkey Dummy Up and Deal 112]

hard. As in hard hand. A hand without an ace that can be counted as 11. A hard count would be the value of a hard hand.

Harris, Brett. See BRH count.

HC. Acronym for high card as in a ten, jack, queen, king, or ace.

HCS. Acronym used in this book to refer to a hole-card strategy.

head-on. See head-up.

head to head. See head-up.

head-up. As in a head-up game. Also called head-on. To play alone with the dealer. Card counters generally find it significantly more advantageous to play head-up in single-deck games. The game is faster and you tend to get deeper penetration than when several players are being dealt to.

healing. To stand a stack of checks on the end of another check.

heart. The red figure marking one of the four suits of playing cards. See suit.

heat. 1) The actions or comments by casino personnel that lead a player to believe that he is suspected of cheating or card counting. 2) A form of harrassment from casino personnel.  See game control.  See camouflage.

Hecher System. {PCS/L2}. (Hecher ?).

Heller, Steven. Developer of Clump Card Blackjack.

HP. Acronym for Huntington Press. Publisher Anthony Curtis is the author of the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter. 

hidden blackjack computers. See computers (concealed).

Hi-Lo. {PCS/L1}. (Originally proposed by Harvey Dubner in 1963 and later refined by Julian Braun and Stanford Wong). Also called the High-Low or Plus-Minus count. See Dubner High-Low, Braun High-Low, Wong High-Low, and Thorp Complete Point-Count.

high-low pickup. {CHS} Picking up high cards and low cards separately for the purpose of cheating.  A dealer may pick up all the high cards and then all the low cards and then attempt to control these cards through the shuffle.  Since the dealer knows where the different slugs of high and low cards are he can control who gets them. 

Hinton, Joe. See Canfield Expert.

Hi-Opt I. {PCS/L1}. (Charles Einstein / Lance Humble). A card counting system originally devised by Charles Einstein in 1968 and refined and further developed by Lance Humble (1974) and Julian Braun. The Hi-Opt strategies were very popular during the late 70's and early 80's. Multi-parameters were added in 1976. See Einstein Count.

Hi-Opt II. {PCS/L2}. (Lance Humble) (c1976).  This count, introduced a few years after Hi-Opt I, was considered by many to be the most powerful card counting system on the market at the time. In addition to the regular count, players were advised to keep a side count of 8's and 9's in addition to aces. See Steppine Count.

Hi-Opt Multi-Parameter. {PCS/U}. (Lance Humble) TBD
[87 Humble World's Greatest Blackjack Book]

high card. Typically a reference to a ten-valued card, however, occasionally a 9 is considered a high card. An ace can be considered a high card for betting purposes and a low card for playing purposes. See low card. See neutral card.

high-card clumping. When high cards clump together. See clumping.

high roller. A player who wagers large amounts of money. See big player.
[87 Casino Ratings For High Rollers BJF]
[87 A High Roller Gets Rolled BJF]
[12/89 Hound Tips for High Rollers BJF]

hit. To draw additional cards beyond the original two cards in an attempt to improve the hand. Hit cards are typically dealt to the player face up and on the layout such that both digits and the center spot are exposed.

hit and run. {CS}. To enter a game, play a hand or two, and leave. A strategy of playing only those games where the count indicates a player advantage. See Wonging. See back counting.

hit-card. See hit.

Hit-Me BJ. {BS}. (c1980?). Warcy Cards, Vista, CA. A $10 plastic coated deck of playing cards on which the basic strategy is printed in as many as 8 colors for 10 different situations.
[80 Casino & Sports Vol.10,30]

hit soft 17. (H-17). A rule requiring the dealer to hit all soft 17's. This rule is prevalent in Reno and downtown Las Vegas. See soft 17.  PA = -.2%

hold. A casino term for the percentage of the drop which is retained by the casino. The hold or the drop should not be confused with the theoretical percentage edge (house advantage) that a casino has on an individual play.

WIN/DROP = HOLD %

hole-card. The face down card that the dealer deals to himself. In most casinos the dealer will peek at his hole-card if his up-card is an ace. In Nevada some casinos will also peek under their tens but this practice is becoming rarer due to casino awareness of tell play strategies. In Atlantic City and on most cruise ships the dealer will wait until all the players have finished their hands before revealing it. In Europe, no hole-card is drawn until all the players have finished with their hands.  See Rules of the Game.

hole-card play. {HCS} A play that is based on the knowledge of the dealer's hole-card. Techniques to acquire this knowledge include front loading and spooking. See basic strategy section for exposed hole-card basic strategy charts.
[81 Uston Million Dollar Blackjack]
[9/85 Snyder Hole Card Play Now Legal BJF 28]
[90 Zender Card Counting for the Casino Executive 90]

home run table. A hot table. A table that has just previously been very favorable for the players.
[85 Patterson TARGET Manual]

hopping the deck.   {CHS} The dealer action of nullifying a player's cut of the cards and thus returning them to their original pre-cut order.
[99 The Blackjack Glossary bj21.com]

hot. As in a hot deck. 1) A deck or shoe that has just previously been very favorable. 2) A deck or shoe that is favorable to the player, that is, with a high plus count. See cold.

house. The casino or bank. The establishment running the blackjack game.

house advantage. (HA). Also called the house edge, house odds, cut, take, or P.C. The theoretical advantage that the casino has on a bet. Usually represented as a positive (+) percentage value. The HA can also be defined as the ratio of the gambler's expected net loss to his expected amount of action. See advantage.   See hold.  See expectation.
[81 Ethier The House Advantage]
[87 Clark The Dictionary of Gambling & Gaming 105]

house dealer. A dealer who wants to win every hand for the casino.

house shuffle. The shuffle designated by casino policy. Often, house shuffles are predictable and can be exploited by individuals knowledgeable in the intricacies of shuffle tracking.

HSA. Acronym for hit after splitting aces.

Humble, Lance.  (a.k.a. Igor Kusyszyn) Co-author of the book World's Greatest Blackjack Book and developer of the Hi-Opt I and Hi-Opt II card counting systems.

hustling. See toke hustling.

HWR. An NBJ acronym for hands won ratio.

Last Update 12/30/03