So to Sz - Glossary of Terms
SOF. An abbreviation for Slots A Fun, a casino.
Soft. Any hand in blackjack in which the ace counts as 11.
Soft double. To double down on a hand with an ace as part of the original hand.
Spanish 21. A proprietary version of blackjack in which the actual tens are removed from play. It carries a variety of favorable rules, but is considered to be an unbeatable game by most standard counting methods.
Split. To split a matched pair of cards in blackjack and play each card as a separate hand. Usually, any pair of ten valued cards may be split as if they were a natural pair.
Spooking. The use of a spotter located somewhere away from a blackjack table to identify the dealer's down card, who then signals the value of the card to a player at the table. It is considered to be cheating.
Spotter. 1. The member of a blackjack team that identifies, through counting, an opportunity at a table and signals in the Big Player. 2. A person who spooks the cards; also known as a spooker.
Stakes. The normal bet levels of a particular player. There is no exact definition, but a scale of normal bet levels that is commonly accepted is:
Maximum bet of under $100 = tiny stakes
Maximum bet of at least $100 but less than $300 = low stakes
Maximum bet of at least $300 but less than $500 = moderate stakes
Maximum bet of $500 and above = high stakes
Stand. To refuse to take another card in blackjack. For example, a person dealt two tens would normally stand and refuse another card.
Standard deviation. A term which describes how far one may stray from the expected value of a game in either direction. It is determined by finding the square root of the variance of a game.
Statistical Blackjack Analyzer. Counting software designed by Karel Janacek which can analyze counting systems and simulate play.
Steam. Usually used as a term to describe a person who begins to overbet in an attempt to recoup his losses.
Stiff. 1. Any hand with a card total of 12 through 16. 2. A reference to any dealer upcard of 2 through 6, as in "The dealer was showing a stiff."
Stop loss. An pre-set limit to the amount of money a player is willing to lose in any given session.
Strategy number. The count number used to determine the point at which a variation from basic strategy may be made in the game of blackjack.
Streak. A series of wins or losses. A whole sector of blackjackpseudo-theory is devoted to the quest of identifying streaks before they occur, in violation of all natural & scientific laws.
Strip. See Las Vegas Strip.
Stripping. The dealer's shuffling action whereby he holds a pack of cards in one hand and with the other he picks up ("strips") a small number of cards from the top and places them on the table, successively, one on top of the other until a new pack is formed but with the order of cards grossly reversed. The smaller the number of cards he picks ("strips") from the original pack, the stronger the reversal. Of course, the perfect reversal would be achieved by picking up ("stripping") the cards one by one, but that is not desirable by the casino since it eliminates the action's randomness.
Strip rules. A set of rules, once prevalent in Las Vegas Strip casinos, where A. Dealer stands on soft 17 (S17), B. Player is allowed to DOA, ie double on anything, C. Player is not allowed to DAS ie no double down after split, D. Pair splitting is allowed upto 4 hands, E. No RSA (ie no resplitting of aces) allowed. It is of course assumed that the other common rules also apply: Insurance offered, Dealer collects only original bets, Split aces receive only 1 card, Ace-Ten after splitting aces counts as simple 21. "Strip rules" can be used for brevity when describing a casino's distinct rules, as in "Casino X has Strip rules with DAS".
Surrender. See late surrender and early surrender.
SW. 1. The acronym for Steve Wynn, casino owner. 2. The acronym for Stanford Wong, author. 3. Software, in a computer context.
Swing shift. This is the busiest shift in casinos. Swing-shift workers generally come to work at 6 PM, but may start a couple of hours earlier or later than 6.
S17. An abbreviation for the casino rule which requires the dealer to stand on all soft 17s.