Verb

To determine the remaining number or chips or amount of cash available to a player in a table stakes game.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: This is most common in no-limit and pot-limit games, both in order to inform certain game decisions and to determine the amount required to call when a player has gone all-in.

EXAMPLE: "I counted my opponent down so I could make a raise large enough that it was a signifant portion of my opponent's stack but not such a large percentage that the player would have an easy decision to fold."

APPLIES TO: Online and Land-based Venues

RELATED TERMS: All-in, Chip Leader, No-Limit, Scared Money, Short Stack

Verb

To determine the winner of a hand that is decided based on a kicker.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: This is most commonly applied to situations in which multiple kickers must be compared. Example: If two players each had a King-high flush, one with Kc-Jc-10c-7c-3c and the other with Kh-Jh-10h-9h-2h, comparing the two hands would be counting them down. While this does occur in games played for high, it is most common in games played for low because of the increased chances of multiple players having similar hands.

EXAMPLE: "We were playing lowball and both had 8-7s, but I lost the hand when we counted down."

APPLIES TO: Online and Land-based Venues

RELATED TERMS: Kicker, Kicker Trouble, Split

Verb

To verify that the deck is not missing any cards; to tally the number of cards is a deck in order to ensure that none are missing.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: This is often done before starting a game or if the deck has been disrupted in some manner.

EXAMPLE: "A few cards slipped out of my hand onto the floor when I was shuffling, so I counted down the deck. That might have been cause to actually look for each specified card or to replace the deck entirely in a casino, but we were playing if a home game for fairly low stakes so counting was enough reassurance."

APPLIES TO: Land-based Venues