Teen Patti Terms: Blind, Chaal, Pack, Show and Sideshow

Teen Patti's vocabulary is short but load-bearing: five or six terms carry the whole betting structure. Apps sometimes relabel them in English, which adds confusion rather than removing it. Here is the working glossary — and for the same terms with Hindi script alongside, see our Teen Patti in Hindi guide.

Boot

The compulsory starting stake every player pays before cards are dealt. It seeds the pot and sets the scale of the round — everything that follows is priced relative to the current stake, which begins at the boot amount. Apps may call it the ante or entry.

Blind and seen

A blind player bets without having looked at their cards and pays the current stake to stay in. A seen player has looked and pays double. Playing blind is cheaper and applies psychological pressure, but you are betting on nothing. You can convert from blind to seen at any time simply by looking; there is no way back.

Chaal

The regular bet a seen player makes to continue — literally 'move'. The chaal is twice the current stake if the previous bettor was blind, or matches the seen stake otherwise. When apps show a 'Chaal' button, it means 'pay the required amount and stay in the round'.

Pack

To fold: drop your cards, give up the round, and forfeit whatever you have already put in the pot. Packing early and often is the least glamorous and most effective habit in the game — most dealt hands are not worth backing against rising stakes.

Show

The showdown, available only when two players remain. The requester pays for the privilege (one stake if blind, two if seen), both hands are revealed, and the higher hand takes the pot. House rules decide ties, most commonly in favour of the player who did not ask for the show.

Sideshow

A private hand comparison a seen player can request with the seen player who bet just before them. If accepted, the loser packs immediately and the game continues without revealing anything to the table. The other player may refuse, at no cost. Apps sometimes call this a 'compromise' or 'back show' — labels vary across the apps in our games directory, but the mechanic is the same.