Cooler
In poker, especially in games at homes and casinos, people were known to cheat especially when in the dealer’s position. Since they would deal the cards, they would normally replace the deck with a stacked deck and deal themselves an unbeatable hand.
To counter this, dealers began replacing the main deck with another deck, known as the cold deck, which none of the players would be familiar with. The cold deck is called so mainly cards have been known to experience slight rises in temperature mainly due to handling by other people. At times, the difference is quite noticeable and as a result, a new “cold” deck is brought in.
Cooler, on the other hand, is a term that comes into play when cold deck is not used in a negative sense. If in a game of poker, a player gets a rare hand, such a four-of-a-kind while another player gets a straight flush, another rare hand, it is not uncommon to see them make large bets and raise the pot as much as they can. However, at the end of it all, when the cards are revealed, it is the straight flush that takes the pot while the player with the four-of-a-kind may complain about being cold decked. This doesn’t mean that there is has been cheating involved of any kind, it just means that the person felt as helpless as those, in the early days of poker, who would get robbed of their money by players who cheated with a stacked deck.
The player’s hand, i.e. the four-of-a-kind hand is the one that is known as a cooler, as despite being a rare and strong hand, it was beaten by a player who, in a way, “cold decked” the player.
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