A - Glossary of Terms

A. Common shorthand for an Ace.

AC. 1. The acronym for Atlantic City, NJ, the city. 2. The acronym for Anthony Curtis, author and publisher.

Ace adjustment. Usually refers to a side count of aces kept in addition to the main count. An ace adjustment is commonly used to vary strategy and bets based upon both the main count and the number of aces counted.

Ace neutral count. Any counting system which does not assign a value to aces.

Ace poor. A point where more aces than normal expectation would dictate have been dealt. The deck, pack or shoe is then considered to be ace poor.

Ace reckoned count. Any counting system which includes aces as a part of the main count. For example, hi-lo is an ace reckoned count, but Hi-Opt I is not.

Ace rich. Whenever there are more aces in the deck, pack or shoe than normal expectation would dictate.

Act. Your act is the persona you portray in a casino, what you do to make the people watching you think you are a gambler and a loser.

Action. The total amount of money a player bets in a game, during a specific period of time. A player buys in for $1000 at the Blackjack table and starts betting. The player alternates between wins and losses, and after an hour he has made bets totaling $2500, including double and splits. Then he gets up from the table with $500 in chips left, which he cashes for money at the cashier. The player's buy-in of $1000 represents the Drop for the casino, the $2500 of his Action represents the Handle for the casino and his loss of $500 represents the Win for the casino. [See Drop. See Handle. See Win.]

Advanced Omega II System. A Level 2 card counting system described in Bryce Carlson's book, Blackjack for Blood. It is a balanced count which assigns the values of plus one to 2s, 3s and 7s, plus two to 4s, 5s and 6s, minus one to 9s and minus two to ten valued cards.

Advanced Point Count Strategy. A level four count developed for Lawrence Revere by Julian Braun. It was sold as a proprietary system for many years. It assigns the point values of plus one to 7s, plus two to 2s, 3s and 6s, plus three to 4s, minus two to 9s and minus three to tens. It is a balanced count.

Advantage. Generally used to describe a player's expected value in a game, it can also be used to describe the casino's expected value as well. It is most often expressed in terms of percentage. A player may be said to have a 1% advantage in a certain game. This means that the player can expect to have a 1% return on all of the money bet in that game.

Advantage player. A player who seeks to wager money only when he has a mathmatical edge over the opponent.

AFK. An abbreviation for "away from the keyboard"; used during chat.

Anchorman. See third base

AO II. An abbreviation for the Advanced Omega II System.

AOL. An abbreviation for "America Online", the company.

APC. The acronym for "advanced point count", a counting system associated with Ken Uston.

AS. The acronym for Arnold Snyder, author and publisher.

Automated Shuffling Machines A machine used by some casinos in Blackjack games to shuffle the cards after the shoe is finished. A Card Counter can still identify advantageous situations in such games. The Shuffle Tracker, however, cannot. The casinos benefit from the absence of down time associated with regular, dealer shuffling, since, in most cases, two shoes are used: one is dealt while the other one is being shuffled by the machine. [Not to be confused with an Continuous Shuffling Machine - see entry]