Poker terminology - Terms with a "C"
California - Draw poker, open on anything.
California Lowball - Low-ball in which ace, two, three, four, five is the best hand.
Call - Money put in the pot to match a bet or raise.
Calling Station - A player who calls almost any bet (Telephone Booth).
Cap - In table limit games, the cap is the limit on the number of raises in a round of betting.
Card Odds - The probabilities of being dealt or drawing to various hands
Carding - Noting of exposed cards during a hand.
Cardroom - Card rooms are the rooms in which poker is played.
Cards Speak - A rule that the value of a hand is based on what the cards are rather than on what a player declares.
Cardsharp - A cheater.
Case Card - The last available card of a particular value or suit.
Cash In - To exchange poker chips for cash and then to quit (Cash Out).
Casino Poker - Public poker played in gambling casinos.
Cat - Any big or little tiger or cat hand.
Catbird Seat - A position in high-low poker that assures a player at least half the pot.
Catch - To be dealt a certain card or hand ... usually a desirable card or hand.
Chalk Hand - An almost certain winner.
Chase - To stay against a better hand.
Cheater - A player who intentionally violates the rules to gain advantage unavailable to others.
Check - To pass without betting.
Check Blind (Check in the Dark) - To check without looking at one's own cards.
Check Cop - A paste palmed in a cheater's hand and used to steal poker chips or to hold out cards.
Check Copping - To steal poker chips.
Check Raise - To check and then subsequently raise in the same round of betting.
Chicago - Seven-card stud in which the hand with the highest spade wins half the pot.
Chicago Pelter - A kilter.
Chicken Picken - A game with eleven cards
Chink Ink - A special ink used by cheaters to mark the edge of cards.
Chip - Money represented by a plastic disc.
Chip Along - To bet the smallest amount possible.
Chip Declaration - To use chips in declaring for high or low.
Chip In - To call a small bet.
Chip Race - The lower denomination chips in tournaments are taken out of circulation as the limits go up.
Chipping - Betting.
Choice Pots - Dealer's choice.
Chop - When the blinds are returned to the players who posted them and then the next hand is played.
Cinch Hand - A certain winner (A Lock, an Immortal).
Cincinnati - A ten-card game with five in each hand and five face-up for everyone's use (Lame Brains).
Cincinnati Liz - Like Cincinnati, except the lowest face-up card is wild.
Clam - A dollar.
Class - Rank of a poker hand.
Close to the Chest - To play tight (Close to the Belly).
Closed Card - A concealed card in one's hand.
Closed Game - A game barred to newcomers or outsiders.
Closed Hand - The concealed cards in one's hand as in draw poker.
Closed Poker - Any form of poker in which all cards are dealt face-down.
Club Poker - Poker played in public card clubs. (See Gardena, California.)
Coffee Housing - To act oppositely to one's emotions or situation.
Cold Call - When one player bets, another player raises, and a third player calls the two bets, this is a cold call.
Cold Deck - (1) A deck from which poor hands are being dealt. (2) A prestacked deck.
Cold Feet - A description for a player wanting to quit the game early.
Cold Hands - (1) Showdown hands. (2) A run of poor hands.
Cold Turkey - A pair of kings, back to back, on the first two cards in five-card stud.
Collection or Axe - See Time Cut.
Collusion - Two or more players working together to cheat other players.
Color Up - In order to reduce the number of chips one has on the table, a player will exchange his chips for one’s of a greater value.
Come - See On the Come.
Come In - To call.
Come Off - To break up a lower-value hand to draw for a higher-value hand.
Commerce - A three-card game with three cards in the widow.
Common Card (Communal Card) - An exposed card for use in every player's hand.
Connector - Cards of consecutive ranks.
Consecutive Declaration - A rule for declaring high-low hands in consecutive order.
Contract - To declare for high or low at the conclusion of split-pot poker.
Contract Poker - High-low split-pot poker with oral declarations.
Cop - To steal chips from the pot.
Corner Card - An eight-card game
Corner Flash - To tear off a corner of a foreign card and to flash it as a real card in one's hand.
Cosmetics - Preparations such as ashes, waxes, abrasives, aniline pencils, and luminous inks used by cheaters for marking cards (Daub).
Count Cards - The jack, king, and queen (Court Cards, Face Cards, Picture Cards).
Counter - (1) One chip. (2) A player who continuously counts his chips.
Counterfeit - When your great hand is subsequently made less powerful because of cards that hit the table during flop games.
Coup - A brilliant play.
Cowboy - A king.
Crack - A powerful hand is cracked when it is beaten.
Crank - To deal.
Crazy Otto - Five-card stud with the lowest card as wild.
Crimp (Bridge) - To bend and hump the upper or lower section of the deck to make a false or an illegal cut. (See Debone)
Crisscross - Same as Southern Cross except five cards are laid out with the center one wild.
Crooked-Honest System (C-H System) - The system of two cheaters in partnership: One catches a strong hand, and he signals the other to raise, thus squeezing all callers (Cross Life, Crossfire).
Cross (The Cross) - Like Cincinnati, except the five cards are in a cross formation with the center card and all similar cards as wild.
Crosscards - A ten-hand poker solitaire game (Patience Poker).
Crossfire - See Crooked-Honest System.
Crossover - A combination of draw and stud poker involving wild cards.
Crying Call - A call by someone who is certain they will not win the pot.
Cull - To arrange or cluster good cards together for cheating.
Curfew - The agreed-upon quitting lime.
Curse of Mexico - The deuce of spades.
Curse of Scotland - The nine of diamonds.
Customer - An opponent who calls.
Cut the Cards - Putting the bottom cards of a deck on top of the deck.
Cut the Pot - Money withdrawn from pots for a purpose, such as to pay for refreshments.