CUE. Is a calculation which confirmed gamblers are guided altogether by in playing. They know that after three cards of one denomination have gone out, they can not be split.
CUE-BOX. The cue-box is an exact representation of the lay-out of the cards on the table. The player, by looking at the cue-box, can instantly see what cards have been drawn from the box, thus relieving him of the trouble of keeping the run of the cards in his head. For instance if four jacks had been drawn from the box, and a player should place his money on the jack, they being all drawn, he could not win or lose.
CUE-KEEPER. The man who keeps the cues or marks, so that a player knows by looking at it, which card is in and which is out.
DEALER. The party who deals out the cards, receiving generally for his services from ten to twenty per cent of the profits of the game from the banker.
DOUBLE CARD. Two cards of the same denomination.
EVEN. The player who trys to make up what he has lost. Having lost $50, he stakes another $50, perhaps his last, for the purpose of getting back what he had lost, to be even with the bank, or get broke in the attempt.
FLAT. One who has no knowledge, or an imperfect knowledge, of gambling. No matter how much a man may know of all the sciences in the world, if he is ignorant of gambling, and should enter a gambling-room, the players would smile and say, "There's a flat," a man who did not know any thing.
GAFF. The gaff is a ring worn on the fore-finger of the dealer. It has a sharp point on the inner side, and the gambler, when dealing from a two-card box, can deal out the card he chooses; some, however, are smart enough to do this trick without the gaff. It is now out of date, and the only city in which it is now in use, is Baltimore. The gaff has been the initiative idea of tricks of this character, and many improvements, of which it is the foundation, have been discovered by sharpers.
HOCK. The last card in the box. Among thieves a man is in hock when he is in prison; but when one gambler is caught by another, smarter than himself, and is beat, then he is in hock. Men are only caught, or put in hock, on the race-tracks, or on the steamboats down South. In a hock-game, if a man hits a card, he is obliged to let his money lie until it either wins or loses. Of course there are nine hundred and ninety-nine chances against the player, and the oldest man living never yet saw him win, and thus he is caught in hock.