PK111 — Sabong Arena Terms Every Bettor Should Know

Sabong arena terms outlive whatever the law is doing that year. Live, remote e-sabong betting has been suspended nationwide since 2022, and nothing on this page changes that fact. What survives is the vocabulary itself: words shouted across an arena floor, typed into a forum thread, or said at a barangay fiesta long before anyone livestreamed a match. Ten terms, defined plainly, Taglish included where that is how people actually say them.

Legal status is covered in full on PK111’s online sabong pillar and its online sabong legal-status breakdown; this page sticks to the words.

Sabong Arena Terms at a Glance

Term	Rough meaning	Where you’ll hear it
Meron	“There is” — one betting side	Shouted by kristos and bettors alike
Wala	“There is none” — the other betting side	Called out to balance the pool
Llamado	The favorite	Callboard chatter before a match
Dejado	The underdog	Same callboard, opposite side
Sentensyador / Koyme	The ruling official	Only when a result is unclear
Kristo	The bet caller on the floor	Constantly, throughout a card
Tari	The blade on the rooster’s leg	Before the match, at the weigh-in
Ruweda	The ring or pit	Named on any arena floor plan
Pustahan	Betting itself	The umbrella word behind all of the above
Odds shorthand	Numeric calls like nine-to-ten	Between kristos, matching bets

Meron

Aspect	Detail
Literal Tagalog	“There is”
In the arena	The side of a bet, called out to signal a wager on that rooster
Paired with	Wala, its direct opposite on the callboard

A bettor doesn’t say which rooster; they say meron or wala, and the kristo already knows which bird each word points to that round. The word is a betting side first, a rooster’s name a distant second.

Wala

Aspect	Detail
Literal Tagalog	“There is none”
In the arena	The other side of the same bet, opposite meron
Paired with	Meron, forming the two-sided call every match runs on

Wala does not mean “no bet.” It means the other bet, shouted just as loudly as meron across the same floor.

Llamado

Aspect	Detail
Origin	Spanish, “the called one”
Meaning here	The favored rooster, drawing heavier action
Contrast	Dejado, the underdog on the same card

Llamado status changes match to match. A rooster favored in one bout can be the dejado in the next, depending on who it’s paired against.

Dejado

Aspect	Detail
Origin	Spanish, “left behind”
Meaning here	The underdog, drawing lighter action and longer odds
Contrast	Llamado, the favorite on the same card

Betting the dejado is a smaller, riskier pool by definition; fewer bettors take that side, which is exactly what makes the odds longer.

Sentensyador (Koyme)

Aspect	Detail
Role	Match official
Called in when	The visible result of a bout isn’t clear-cut
Distinct from	The kristo, who calls bets, not verdicts

Most matches never need a sentensyador at all; the tari usually settles things before anyone has to rule on it.

Kristo

Aspect	Detail
Role	The bet caller working the arena floor
Named for	The arms-out, cross-like pose taken while calling odds
Distinct from	The sentensyador, who rules on results, not bets

A single card can run through several kristos over an afternoon, each one working a section of the crowd.

Tari

Aspect	Detail
What it is	A blade fixed to a rooster’s leg before the match
Function	The instrument that decides most bouts, quickly
Checked	At the weigh-in, before betting opens

Weight class, blade length and the fit of the tari all get checked before a card starts, which is part of why weigh-ins take longer than the matches themselves.

Ruweda

Aspect	Detail
Origin	Spanish “rueda,” wheel
Meaning here	The ring or pit where the match is fought
Also covers	The circular arrangement of seating around it in older arenas

Pustahan

Aspect	Detail
Origin	Tagalog, from “pusta,” bet
Meaning here	The act of wagering itself
Sits behind	Every other term on this page, one way or another

Pustahan is the umbrella word; meron, wala, llamado and dejado are all just ways of describing which pustahan a bettor has made.

Odds Shorthand

Aspect	Detail
Form	Short numeric calls, such as nine-to-ten
Used by	Kristos, matching one bettor’s stake against another’s
Purpose	Signal a proposed split before a bet is locked in

No two arenas run this identically, and no published, standardized table exists for it; it is oral shorthand, learned by listening, not read off a sheet.

How These Terms Fit Together at a Live Match

1. A kristo raises the odds shorthand for the round, signaling a rough split between the two sides.
2. Bettors answer with meron or wala, staking on the llamado or the dejado as they see fit.
3. The tari usually decides the bout outright; a sentensyador only steps in when it doesn’t.
4. Every step above is a form of pustahan, the single word that covers the whole transaction.

None of this vocabulary describes an active, legal betting channel today. PK111’s own lobby lists a Sabong category using some of these same words; what that category actually does, if anything, is a question for PK111’s own legit-or-not page, not for a glossary. The regulatory side of all ten terms sits on PAGCOR’s own casino licensing record instead.