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Here at Everygame Casino Red, we are amazed every day when we come across yet another idiom in English that derives from gaming. English is certainly the language of idioms. An idiom is a turn of phrase that, taken literally, might be difficult or impossible to fathom. When we understand the origin of the idiom, we can much better understand it.
A classic example is the phrase “an ace in the hole”. In modern English, this means having something up your sleeve (another idiom, this one from the world of magic) that you can bring out when the time is ripe to overwhelm an opponent. Of course, the ace in the hole comes from poker, where we might have two cards in the hole, and if one is an ace, we would win the hand.
Let’s take a happy ride through some other gaming-based English idioms.
Gaming Originated as Gambling
We all know that people have gambled since the dawn of time. It is really only in the last few decades, since online casinos came on board in 1994, that we can truly say that online casino play is gaming and not gambling.
That’s because no player absolutely has to spend endless hours at Everygame Casino Red or any other good online casino. Even though Las Vegas would like you to think that playing at their casinos is also gaming, the long hours and much money lost in Vegas demonstrate that casino play there is true gambling.
We offer over 400 games for your enjoyment. We encourage gamers to play in frequent, short sessions. Then, even when you play for real money, you can say that you are gaming.
We sweeten the pot with bonuses for deposits. We often add free spins to the bonuses. So, you can “game” with Everygame’s own money!
What Does it Mean to "Up the Ante"?
The ante is the amount of money we put in the pot before the cards are dealt. This was the prevailing way to begin to build a pot before the advent of Texas Hold’em. In Hold’em, the pot starts when the blinds put in their money. But in all other forms of poker, players ante up.
Now, we have the term to “up the ante”. This term means to increase the risk an opponent must take in order to further his or her claim to a prize of sorts.
We can up the ante in any context. Politics, of course, might top the list of ante-upping, but what about a restaurant that opens in competition to other restaurants and then lowers prices? This is a great example of upping the ante.
When a supermarket puts turkey on sale before Thanksgiving Day, it is upping the ante for all other area supermarkets.
An airline will up the ante when it increases the number of frequent flyer points its customers get.
There are just so many examples of people or businesses upping the ante!
Sometimes the Cards are "Stacked Against You"
If you are playing a card game and you lose consistently, you might think that someone, somehow, has stacked the deck against you. Card magicians stack the deck against the people they are entertaining because that is the only way they can pull off their amazing tricks.
The cards might be stacked against you if you are interviewing for a job and your primary competition is a relative of the boss.
The cards might be stacked against you if you have a complaint against the city for a parking ticket but they say that you have to pay anyway.
Let’s "Sweeten the Pot"
This means putting more money into the pot. It can also mean a number of other sweeteners.
Let’s say that you are negotiating a price for a house you want to buy. If you are at an impasse, the sellers might sweeten the pot by leaving something in the house that they would normally take with them. It could be the refrigerator, the dishwasher, an oven, the wall-mounted air conditioners, or all of the light fixtures.
You might sweeten the pot on a car sale by adding the cost of the next license renewal.
"Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is"
This one is straight from the Daniel Negreanu school of poker. Daniel Negreanu is known for having a motor mouth at the poker table. He talks a great game, often speculating on an opponent’s cards in the hole. So, an opponent who wants to see just how brave he is will raise, forcing Negreanu to put his money where his mouth is.
In everyday speech, this idiom simply challenges someone to prove the truth of anything he or she has said. Once again, it is commonly used in political discourse, but it can be used in any discussion where one side makes what seems to be an outlandish claim and is challenged to put his money where his mouth is.
The Term “No Dice” Works Even when There Are No Dice
No dice simply means “NO”. It is usually a response to a negotiation offer. It implies that the offer was very far from what they might have accepted as a compromise. In that sense, it sometimes conveys a sense of being insulted by a very bad offer.
This can happen in any negotiation. Americans who go to a country where there are open markets, where the local sellers want to negotiate, the asking price for an item might be ridiculously high. It might not be wise to say “no dice,” but you might think that thought and make your own very low offer.
In Politics Sometimes "All Bets are Off"
There are some sites that take bets on political elections. If the prevailing wisdom has candidate X way ahead and then he or she goes very badly, a site might say that all bets are off, meaning that they will take no more bets on that race. Things are too unsure.
We Hope Gamers Never "Bet the Farm"
This means to bet all of your assets on a single game, hand, or race. Responsible gaming at Everygame Casino Red, and at all good online casinos, means never betting the farm on any single game.
The use of the word 'farm' is a relic of the time, not so very long ago, when the USA and the entire world was agrarian rather than urban. Even in a fully urban setting, two competing players would use the idiom betting the farm, instead of the more modern and accurate betting one’s permanent parking space!
Some Contests Go "Down to the Wire"
This originated in horse racing, where a wire across the track was used to determine a winner. This term, today, often refers to political races. It can also refer to sports events. A competition that will be decided only at the last minute.
"In the Cards" and "Luck of the Draw"
This is a clear reference to card games. 'In the cards', today, simply means that we expect a given outcome because it is clearly right there, 'in the cards', in full view. 'Luck of the draw' derives from draw poker, and it generally refers to a lucky outcome that simulates, to some degree, getting a winning card on the last card of a game.
When You Join Everygame Casino Red, You Will "Hit the Jackpot"
We do not mean this literally. You still need a lot of luck of the draws to win a big jackpot. But Everygame Casino Red offers such good online casino gaming that we feel quite secure saying that by joining us, you will have hit the jackpot.
The best use of this idiom is when both people in a couple say that by winning the other’s hand, they hit the jackpot.