Muck (gambling)

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Mucking is the discarding of cards in card games. Depending on the game, it may be a regular part of play or it may be considered cheating.

Contents

Poker

In poker, it most often refers to the discard pile into which players may throw their folded hands, and into which the dealer places burned cards. [1] It also refers to when a player is folding his hand (face down) without saying anything. In fact, the hand is not folded until it reaches the muck (it can be taken back and used if the dealer did not take the hand yet). The practice of mucking cards when discarding helps to ensure that no other player can reliably determine which cards were in the folded hand. [2]

In poker, the term may also refer to the action that a player who has not folded may take; he can have his hand "mucked" if another player attempts to discard but one or more cards end up in the live players hand. This is why many players will place a chip or other object on their cards: it helps to prevent errant cards from entering their hand. Sometimes they are referred to as card covers, card guards or card protector. [3]

Mucking as a strategy

In some variations of poker[ which? ] a player may "muck" their cards in order to reinforce a bluff while preserving their image on the table.

Other card games

Mucking or hand mucking may also refer to a form of sleight of hand, [4] and, if used in a card game, is cheating. A player conceals a card through sleight of hand, removing it from play so that it may later be inserted back into the game to the cheater's advantage. For example, in blackjack a cheating player might remove an ace from the table to use the next time he is dealt a ten to make a blackjack.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poker</span> Card game

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gin rummy</span> Two-player card game

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Betting in poker</span> Procedures of betting in poker

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Texas hold 'em</span> Variation of the card game of poker

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheating in poker</span> Overview of poker cheating

Cheating in poker is any behavior outside the rules of poker that is intended to give an unfair advantage to one or more players.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Badugi</span> Draw poker variant

Badugi is a draw poker variant similar to triple draw, with hand-values similar to lowball. The betting structure and overall play of the game is identical to a standard poker game using blinds, but, unlike traditional poker which involves a minimum of five cards, players' hands contain only four cards at any one time. During each of three drawing rounds, players can trade zero to four cards from their hands for new ones from the deck, in an attempt to form the best badugi hand and win the pot. Badugi is often a gambling game, with the object being to win money in the form of pots. The winner of the pot is the person with the best badugi hand at the conclusion of play. Badugi is played in cardrooms around the world, as well as online, in rooms such as PokerStars. Although it hasn’t had its own tournament per se at the WSOP, it is featured in the Dealers Choice events as well as in the Triple Draw Mix. The 2023 WSOP event does have a Badugi tournament scheduled.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poker dealer</span>

A poker dealer distributes cards to players and manages the action at a poker table.

Advantage gambling, or advantage play, refers to legal methods used to gain an advantage while gambling, in contrast to cheating. The term usually refers to house-banked casino games, but can also refer to games played against other players, such as poker. Someone who practices advantage gambling is often referred to as an advantage player, or AP. Unlike cheating, which is by definition illegal, advantage play exploits innate characteristics of a particular game to give the player an advantage relative to the house or other players. While not illegal, advantage play is often discouraged and some advantage players may be banned by certain casinos.

In card games, hole carding is the obtaining of knowledge of cards that are supposed to be hidden from view. The term is usually applied to blackjack but can apply to other games with hidden hole cards, like three card poker and Caribbean stud poker. So long as it does not involve the use of a device like a mirror, actions like touching the dealer's cards, or having another person read and signal the hole card, in most jurisdictions hole carding is a legal form of advantage gambling. In some games, like stud poker, casinos normally have rules against rubbernecking or having a confederate stand behind an opponent to signal hole cards.

The following is a glossary of poker terms used in the card game of poker. It supplements the glossary of card game terms. Besides the terms listed here, there are thousands of common and uncommon poker slang terms. This is not intended to be a formal dictionary; precise usage details and multiple closely related senses are omitted here in favor of concise treatment of the basics.

Draw poker is any poker variant in which each player is dealt a complete hand before the first betting round, and then develops the hand for later rounds by replacing, or "drawing", cards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Community card poker</span> Any game of poker that uses community cards

Community card poker refers to any game of poker that uses community cards, which are cards dealt face up in the center of the table and shared by all players. In these games, each player is dealt an incomplete hand face down, which are then combined with the community cards to make a complete hand. The set of community cards is called the "board", and may be dealt in a simple line or arranged in a special pattern. Rules of each game determine how they may be combined with each player's private hand. The most popular community card game today is Texas hold 'em, originating sometime in the 1920s.

References

  1. Lee Jones: Winning Low Limit Hold 'Em, 3rd Edition, page 263
  2. "The Rules to Mucking in Poker". 888 Poker Online. 2020-03-24. Retrieved 2024-03-05.
  3. Little, Jonathan. Secrets of Professional Tournament Poker, Volume 2: Stages of the Tournament. D&B Publishing. ISBN   978-1-904468-81-3.
  4. Joseph, George (1982). Hand Mucking: The Art of Switching Cards in Play. G & E Enterprises. ASIN   B0006Y28MS.