cold deck

noun

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.

Similar
cooler
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Meanings

nouncold deck (plural cold decks)

plural cold decks

  1. card gamesA 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. gamblingA pre-shuffled deck of cards substituted for the real deck in order to cheat.

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

    1991, A. D. Livingston, Poker Strategy and Winning Play, page 84

    Synonyms: cooler

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

present singular third person cold decks · participle present cold decking · participle past cold decked · past cold decked

  1. nonstandardTo inflict a cold deck situation on an opponent.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA pre-shuffled deck of cards substituted for the real deck in order to cheat.

Similar
cooler

Origin

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

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

cold deck. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cold%20deck

MLA

“cold deck.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cold%20deck. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “cold deck,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/cold%20deck.

Source: cold deck on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.