Poker Slang: ‘cold Deck’ or ‘cooler’
One of the causes or precursors to the idea of the ‘bad beat’ in poker, a ‘cold deck’ is termed such when it seems that the cards the dealer is giving out are in some designed to hurt a particular player, ie: that improbable acts happen. A cold deck becomes particularly cold when against vast odds you get set into a situation where you were essentially designed to go broke, such as getting dealt pocket kings against pocket aces, or having your opponent hit a 2 outer on you.
The opposite of being ‘on a rush’ or a ‘card rack,’ there’s not much worse for a poker player than when it seems he’s getting cold decked, and though no matter what he does he’s going to lose. Often times in these kind of spots it’s best to get up and take a stretch, though other kinds of players like to try to sit through their cold spells and wait for the cards to come back to them.
A ‘cooler’ is another term in the same camp as a ‘cold deck,’ specifically referring to a situation where the cold deck nailed you. Having three Jacks on the turn against your opponent’s three nines only to see them spike that final nine of the river, well, that may be the ultimate kind of example of a cooler in poker.
