Gambling Words We are Using in Everyday Life

Some words or phrases have long passed the boundaries of gambling tables and began to be used to describe things that have nothing to do with gambling. This is the list of most commonly used gambling words.

Poker face

This phrase is in use when wanting to tell that we don’t know what someone thinks or feels. “Poker face” is an inscrutable face that reveals no hint of a person’s thoughts or feelings. Word poker started to be used for the game with cards in the 1830s. It didn’t take long before we began to use “poker face” to describe the expressionless aspect of a person’s face when trying to not give away any details of what is in their hand.

Jackpot

Big success or reward, often unexpected we call jackpot. This word is a long usage in the world of gambling. The Earliest sense of the word was a somewhat literal one, as it was used in reference to a pot and jacks. The pot was the accumulated bets made in a poker game, and the jack came from the provision that a pair of jacks was necessary to begin betting.

Aboveboard

This means that someone told or doing something directly, in a straightforward manner. The term “aboveboard” is very old and it gamblers used from the late 16th century. It is believed that word origin has become of the playing card. It means that was more difficult to cheat when the player held cards over the table (above the board), rather than under.

Blue chip

Nowadays “blue chip” is used for a business that is very profitable. It was no surprise if we know that a blue chip in card games like poker has the highest value.

Gimmick

In current use gimmick is perhaps most often used to describe some form of marketing or attention-gathering trick. Although it also may be found referring to a physical item, such as a gadget. In gamblers world since the early 20th-century “gimmick” was a mechanical device by which a roulette wheel can be secretly controlled.

 

 

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