S

Sandbag
(1) To check and then raise the opener. (2) To check or hold back raising to get more money in the pot (Check Raising).

Sanding
A system of marking cards by sanding the edges or ends of cards.

Sawbuck
Ten dollars.

Say
The turn of a player to declare what to do.

Scare Card
Makes a better hand more likely when it appears.

Scarne Cut
To cut by pulling cards from the center of the deck and placing them on top of the deck.

Schenck's Rules
First known rules of poker printed in England in 1872.

Schoolboy
Draw An unsound draw.

Scooping
See Shoot the Moon.

Scoot
Scooting is the practice of passing chips to another player after winning a pot.

Screwy Louie
Similar to Anaconda, except discards are passed to the player on one's left.

Seat Position
The position of a player relative to the other players.

Seat Shot
A bet or raise made from an advantageous seat position.

Seating
List If there is no seat available for you when you arrive in a card room, you can put your name on a list to be seated when a seat opens up.

Second
The second card from the top of the deck being dealt.

Second Best
The best losing hand.

Second Deal
To deal the second card from the top of the deck when cheating.

See
To call in the final round of betting.

Seed
An ace.

Selling a Hand
A strategy to get opponents to call.

Semi-bluff
Similar to a bluff except that the semi-bluffer has some chance of making a winning hand.

Sequence
Cards of consecutive value as in a straight (e.g., four, five, six, seven, eight).

Sequential Declaration
The last bettor or raiser being required to declare his hand in high-low poker.

Session
The period in which a poker game is held.

Set
Three or four of a kind.

Seven-Card Flip
Seven-card stud in which the first four cards are dealt down and then the player turns any two up.

Seven-Card Pete
Seven-card stud with all sevens as wild ... or one's low-hole card (or one's last card) and all like it as wild.

Seven-Card Stud or Seven-Toed
Stud poker played with three hole cards and four exposed cards.

Sevens Rule
A rule in low-ball in which anyone with seven low or better must bet or forfeit further profits from the pot.

Seven-Toed Pete
Seven-card stud.

Sharp Top
An ace.

Sharp, Sharper, or Sharker
A cheater (Cardsharp).

Shifting Sands
The same as Mexican stud except one's hole card and all matching cards are wild.

Shill
A house man or woman who actively plays in the game for the house, club, or casino.

Shiner
A tiny mirror or any reflecting device used by a cheater to see unexposed cards.

Shoe
A device from which cards are dealt.

Shoot the Moon
To declare both high and low in an attempt to win both halves of a high-low pot (Moon, Scooping, and Swinging).

Shootout
A format in which a single player ends up with the entire prize money in a tournament.

Short
Insufficient money or cards (Shy).

Short Call
To call part of a bet in table stakes with all the money one has on the table.

Short Pair
A pair lower than openers, such as a pair of tens in jackpots.

Short Stud
Five-card stud.

Shorthanded
A game is said to be shorthanded when it falls below a certain number of players.

Shotgun
Draw poker with extra rounds of betting that start after the third card is dealt.

Shove Them Along
Five-card stud in which each player has the choice to keep his first up card dealt to him or to pass it to the player on his left (Take It or Leave It).

Show
To expose one's cards.

Show Cards
The exposed cards in stud.

Show One Show
All Some card rooms have a rule that if a player shows their cards to anyone at the table they can be asked to show everyone else as well.

Show Tickets
(1) The third best hand. (2) Draw poker in which the third best hand wins.

Showdown
(1) The showing of cards at the end of a hand. (2) An open hand played for a predetermined amount.

Shuffle
To mix the cards prior to dealing.

Shy
See Short.

Side Arms
The second pair of two pair.

Side Bet
Any bet made outside the pot.

Side Cards
Cards that do not influence the value rank of a hand.

Side Money or Side Pot
The amount set aside from the main pot in table stakes.

Side Strippers
Cards tapered along the Sides for cheating.

Sight
To call for a show of hands after tapping out.

Signals
The system that collusion cheaters use to secretly exchange information about their cards and instructions about betting and raising.

Silent Partner
An innocent player used by a cheater as an unwitting partner.

Simultaneous Declaration
High-low poker in which everyone declares his hand at the same time.

Sixty-six
Six-card stud with sixes wild.

Skeet
See Pelter.

Skeet
Flush skeet in one suit.

Skin
A dollar.

Skin Game
A game having two or more collusion cheaters.

Skinning the Hand
A cheater's technique to get rid of extra cards.

Skip Straight or Skipper
See Alternate Straight.

Skoon
A dollar.

Sky's the Limit
A game in which no maximum is placed on any bets or raises.

Slicked-Aced Deck
A deck with chemically treated slippery aces that allows a cheater to locate the aces from within a deck.

Slow Play
Passively allowing opponents to bet while holding a strong hand.

Slow Roll
To reveal one's hand slowly one card at a time at showdown.

Smooth
The lowest lowball hand of a given value, such as seven, four, three, two, ace, for a seven low.

Smooth Call
Making a call with a raising hand.

Snap Off
To beat a bluffer with a weak hand is to snap them off.

Snarker
A player who wins a pot and then ridicules the loser.

Snatch Game
A casino or house game in which pots are excessively cut or raked, often covertly.

Snow
To fake or bluff.

Snowing Cards
See Fuzzing.

Sorts
A deck of cards made up of irregular or imperfect cards sorted from many normal decks of cards.

Southern Cross
A variation of Cincinnati with nine up cards arranged in a cross.

Speed
Refers to the level of aggressiveness with which you play.

Speeding
You are said to be caught speeding when you are caught bluffing.

Spider
A hold-out device attached to the cheater's coat or vest.

Spike
(1) An ace. (2) A pair in lowball.

Spinner
A winning streak (Hot Streak).

Spit Card
A card turned up that is used in every player's hand.

Spit in the Ocean
A draw game in which an exposed card and all matching cards are wild.

Splash (the pot)
To throw your chips into the pot instead of placing them in front of you.

Split Openers
To break up the hand required to open.

Split Pair
A pair in stud with one card in the hole and the other exposed.

Split Pot
A pot equally divided between two winners.

Spot
An ace.

Spot Card
Any card from the deuce to the tell.

Spots
The printed marks on the face side of a card.

Spread
(1) A hand. (2) An illegal exchange of cards between two collusion cheaters.

Spread Limit
For each betting round there is a fixed minimum and maximum bet.

Squared Deck
An evenly stacked deck ready for cutting or dealing.

Squeeze
To look at cards by slowly spreading them apart (Sweat).

Squeeze Bet or Raise
To bet or raise against another strong hand in order to extract more money from a third player holding a weaker hand.

Squeezed Player
A caller who is being bet into and raised by players on both sides of him (Whipsaw).

Squeezers
Cards with suit and value indicators printed at the corners.

Stack
(1) A pile of chips. (2) To cheat by prearranging cards to be dealt.

Stacked Deck
A deck with prearranged cards for a dishonest deal.

Stake
The money with which a player enters a game.

Stand
To decline a draw.

Stand Pat
To play the original hand without drawing.

Stand-off
A tie.

Stay
To remain in the hand by calling the bet or raise.

Steal
To make a bet when it appears no one else has anything.

Steam
A player who is on tilt is sometimes said to be steaming.

Steel Wheel
A straight flush, five high.

Stenographers
Four queens.

Step
See Jog.

Still Pack
The deck not in play when two decks are used.

Stinger
A sequence.

Stock
(1) The cards remaining in the deck after dealing. (2) The stacked portion of a deck.

Stonewall
One who calls to the end with a poor hand.

Stormy Weather
Similar to Spit in the Ocean, except three cards are dealt in the center.

Straddle
(1) A forced or a compulsory raise (Blind Raise). (2) The right to buy the last-bettor position.

Straight
Five cards in sequence, such as three, four, five, six, seven.

Straight Draw
Draw poker not requiring openers.

Straight Flush
Five cards of the same suit in sequence.

Stranger
A new or unfamiliar card in a hand after the draw.

Streak
A run of winning or losing hands.

Street
The cards that come out one at a time are referred to as different numbered streets.

String Bet
A hesitating bet made in segments to lure giveaway reactions from other players, especially those on one's left-- not allowed in most casinos and poker clubs.

Stringer
A straight.

Strip Poker
A game in which the loser of each pot must remove an article of clothing.

Stripped Deck
A deck used with certain cards purposely removed, such as the deuces.

Stripper Deck
A dishonest deck with slightly wedge-shaped cards (usually one thirty-second of an inch tripped off the card's edge or side) allowing the cheater to pull certain cards \nfrom the deck. (See Belly Strippers, Side Strippers, End Strippers, Brief.)

Structure
Refers to the details about the betting. This will include antes, blinds, and the amount that may be bet on any round.

Stud Poker
One of the two basic forms of poker (the other is draw) and played with open or exposed cards (up cards) and with one or more concealed hole cards (down cards).


Substitution
An exchange of a card for one from the deck (Twist).

Suck
To call when the proper play is to fold.

Sudden Death
High-low five-card stud.

Suicide King
The king of hearts ... the king with a sword pointed at its head.

Suit
Any of the four sets (clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades) in a deck of cards.

Super Seven-Card Stud
A game starting with five cards to each player, then after discarding two, the game proceeds as in seven-card stud.

Sweat
To watch them play from the rail in order to lend your support.

Sweeten
To add more money to a pot such as an extra ante.

Swinging
See Shoot the Moon.