cold deck

English

Etymology

From the metaphor that the deck (of cards) is cold, in the sense "heartless, emotionless".

Noun

cold deck (plural cold decks)

1. (poker) A hand where two or more players have very strong hands and one or more of them loses a lot of chips despite the strength of the hand(s) involved.
2. (gambling) A pre-shuffled deck of cards substituted for the real deck in order to cheat.
   • 1991, A. D. Livingston, Poker Strategy and Winning Play, page 84:

     The cold deck can be run into play by the cheat himself or by his accomplice […]

Synonyms

• cooler

Verb

cold deck (third-person singular simple present cold decks, present participle cold decking, simple past and past participle cold decked)

1. (nonstandard) To inflict a cold deck situation on an opponent.

Usage notes

• Almost always used in the passive voice to be cold decked.