The number of cards in a poker deck differs depending on the type of game. Therefore, you can find several options, for example:
– Standard pokеr deck. It consists of 52 cаrds. It is used for the most popular types of poker, at the tables of poker rooms and in official “live” tournaments, including the WSOP and EPT. It traditionally has 4 suits, each with 13 cаrds. The hierarchy is from the smallest, deuce, to the largest, ace.
– There is an extended deck, in which from 53 to 57 cаrds due to the presence of one or more Jokers. This is a card that does not have a suit, it can replace others to make a profitable combination. The joker deck is only used in some variants of the game, mostly against the casino, but very rarely.
– For exotic varieties of poker, a truncated (shortened) deck of 20-44 cards may be required. The reduction is achieved by eliminating several lower merits. For example, in royal poker, aces, kings, queens, jacks and tens are used. Therefore, two dozen cards are enough. Such a deck is not found in classic poker.
Features of poker cards
Poker cards have a number of special requirements. First, an enlarged index is needed for convenience. Secondly, ordinary paper cards wear out very quickly when playing poker. If you plan to play often, it is better to choose with a plastic coating or completely plastic, which will withstand many hands.
Among the leading producers of poker cards, Bicycle, Copag, and Modiano occupy an honourable place. In their assortment, you will find cards with different colour shirts, including with Pokerstars logos.
Some interesting facts about poker cards
– 52 cards in a poker deck are very symbolic, for which we should thank the Chinese. That’s how many weeks there are in a normal year. The 4 suits are compared to the number of seasons, and the 13 virtues are compared to the lunar cycles.
– You can theoretically collect 2598960 combinations from a standard poker deck of 52 cards. This is what mathematicians claim, but no one has yet been able to test the formula in practice.
– At first, poker was played with a deck of 32 cards and only later switched to 52. There is an opinion that this happened at the initiative of gambling establishments that wanted to diversify the combinations in order to attract more visitors.
– Once upon a time, the king was the biggest card in the poker deck, and the ace played the most minor role.
So how many decks are used in poker? As for the deck of cards, it is most often used for 52 cards (four suits from deuce to ace). Although they can play with decks of 32, 36 or 54 cards.
