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Aces

Aces

:This article is about the playing card. For alternate uses see Ace (disambiguation). An ace is a playing card. In the standard deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade or club) located in the center of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the case of the ace of spades, which also often bears the name or emblem of the deck's printer. In most card games, aces have the highest value of all cards in a suit; in some, they have the lowest value, commonly representing a one. Many games, such as poker and blackjack, allow the player to choose whether the ace is used as a high or low card. When aces are high, spades are occasionally deemed to be trump cards, meaning that if it came down to a tie, the ace of spades would naturally win. The tradition of a "high" ace comes from the French Revolution where the lowest number card (the 1) was placed above the King to represent the victory of the common man over the monarchy. In French decks the ace commonly has the number 1 in the corners instead of the letter "A". Category:Anglo-American playing card games

Ace (disambiguation)

An ace is a playing card. Ace as a word may also refer to:

Culture and entertainment

- Ace (band), a former British rock music band
- Ace (Doctor Who) (aka Dorothy), a fictional companion of the Seventh Doctor in the British television series Doctor Who
- Ace the Bat-Hound, a fictional canine crime-fighting partner of Batman and Robin in DC Comics
- Ace Books, the oldest continuing publisher of science fiction & fantasy novels
- Ace Rimmer (aka Commander Arnold Judas Rimmer), a fictional alter ego of Arnold Rimmer in the British television series Red Dwarf
- Ace Comics, an early comic book series from the pre-Golden Age era
- Shonen Ace, a manga comic series published by Kadokawa Shoten
- Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, a 1994 film starring Jim Carrey
- Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, a 1995 film starring Jim Carrey
- Portgas D. Ace, a minor character in the anime One Piece, brother to the main character, Monkey D. Luffy

History and technology

- Flying ace, a military aviator who has shot down five or more enemy aircraft
- HMS Ace (P414), an Amphion-class submarine of the British Royal Navy
- AC Ace, a sports car from AC Cars
- ACE (file format), a data compression archive computer file format
- Ace (cars), the French car market

Sports and games

- Ace, the one-spot card in a deck of playing cards
- Ace (tennis), a single-stroke point won by the server who produces a service that his opponent cannot reach with his racket and thus fails to return
- A brand of jockstrap
- Hole in one, a phrase used for when a golf player hits the ball in the hole with one shot
- The most skilled pitcher on a baseball team See also: ACE (initialism)

Playing card

A playing card is a typically hand-sized rectangular (in India, round) piece of heavy paper or thin plastic used for playing card games. A complete set of cards is a pack or deck. Playing cards are often used as props in magic tricks, as well as occult practices such as cartomancy, and a number of card games involve (or can be used to support) gambling. As a result, their use sometimes meets with disapproval from some religious groups (such as conservative Christians). They are also a popular collectible (as distinct from the cards made specifically for collectible trading card games). Specialty and novelty decks are commonly produced for collectors, often with political, cultural, or educational themes. One side of each card (the "front" or "face") carries markings that distinguish it from the others and determine its use under the rules of the particular game being played, while the other side (the "back") is identical for all cards, usually a plain color or abstract design. In most games, the cards are assembled into a "deck" (or "pack"), and their order is randomized by a procedure called "shuffling" to provide an element of chance in the game.

History

Early history

The origin of playing cards is obscure, but it is almost certain that they began in China after the invention of paper. Ancient Chinese "money cards" have four "suits": coins (or cash), strings of coins (which may have been misinterpreted as sticks from crude drawings), myriads of strings, and tens of myriads. These were represented by ideograms, with numerals of 2-9 in the first three suits and numerals 1-9 in the "tens of myriads". Wilkinson suggests in [http://www.ahs.uwaterloo.ca/~museum/Archive/Wilkinson/Wilkinson.html The Chinese origin of playing cards] that the first cards may have been actual paper currency which were both the tools of gaming and the stakes being played for. The designs on modern Mahjong tiles and dominoes likely evolved from those earliest playing cards. The Chinese word p'ai is used to describe both paper cards and gaming tiles. The time and manner of the introduction of cards into Europe are matters of dispute. The 38th canon of the council of Worcester (1240) is often quoted as evidence of cards having been known in England in the middle of the 13th century; but the games de rege et regina there mentioned are now thought to more likely have been chess. If cards were generally known in Europe as early as 1278, it is very remarkable that Petrarch, in his dialogue that treats gaming, never once mentions them. Boccaccio, Chaucer and other writers of that time specifically refer to various games, but there is not a single passage in their works that can be fairly construed to refer to cards. Passages have been quoted from various works, of or relative to this period, but modern research leads to the supposition that the word rendered cards has often been mistranslated or interpolated. It is likely that the ancestors of modern cards arrived in Europe from the Mamelukes of Egypt in the late 1300s, by which time they had already assumed a form very close to those in use today. In particular, the Mameluke deck contained 52 cards comprising four "suits": polo sticks, coins, swords, and cups. Each suit contained ten "spot" cards (cards identified by the number of suit symbols or "pips" they show) and three "court" cards named malik (King), nā'ib malik (Viceroy or Deputy King), and thānī nā'ib (Second or Under-Deputy). The Mameluke court cards showed abstract designs not depicting persons (at least not in any surviving specimens) though they did bear the names of military officers. A complete pack of Mameluke playing cards was discovered by L.A. Mayer in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum, Istanbul, in 1939; this particular complete pack was not made before 1400, but the complete deck allowed matching to a private fragment dated to the twelfth or thirteenth century. There is some evidence to suggest that this deck may have evolved from an earlier 48-card deck that had only two court cards per suit, and some further evidence to suggest that earlier Chinese cards brought to Europe may have travelled to Persia, which then influenced the Mameluke and other Egyptian cards of the time before their reappearance in Europe. It is not known whether these cards influenced the design of the Indian cards used for the game of Ganjifa, or whether the Indian cards may have influenced these. Regardless, the Indian cards have many distinctive features: they are round, generally hand painted with intricate designs, and comprise more than four suits (often as many as twelve).

Spread across Europe and early design changes

In the late 1300s, the use of playing cards spread rapidly across Europe. The first widely accepted references to cards are in 1371 in Spain, in 1377 in Switzerland, and, in 1380, they are referenced in many locations including Florence, Paris, and Barcelona. A Paris ordinance dated 1369 does not mention cards; its 1377 update includes cards. In the account-books of Johanna, duchess of Brabant, and her husband, Wenceslaus of Luxemburg, there is an entry dated May 14, 1379 as follows: "Given to Monsieur and Madame four peters, two forms, value eight and a half moutons, wherewith to buy a pack of cards". An early mention of a distinct series of playing cards is the entry of Charles or Charbot Poupart, treasurer of the household of Charles VI of France, in his book of accounts for 1392 or 1393, which records payment for the painting of three sets or packs of cards, which were evidently already well known. It is clear that the earliest cards were executed by hand, like those designed for Charles VI. However, this was quite expensive, so other means were needed to mass-produce them. It is possible that the art of wood engraving, which led to the art of printing, developed because of the demand for implements of play. If the assumption is true that the cards of that period were printed from wood blocks, the early card makers or cardpainters of Ulm, Nuremberg, and Augsburg, from about 1418 to 1450, were most likely also wood engravers. Many early woodcuts were colored using a stencil, so it would seem that the art of depicting and coloring figures by means of stencil plates was well known when wood engraving was first introduced. No playing cards engraved on wood exist whose creation can be confirmed as early 1423 (the earliest-dated wood engraving generally accepted). However, in this period professional card makers were established in Germany, so it is probable that wood engraving was employed to produce cuts for sacred subjects before it was applied to cards, and that there were hand-painted and stencilled cards before there were wood engravings of saints. The German Brief maler or card-painter probably progressed into the wood engraver; but there is no proof that the earliest wood engravers were the card-makers. The Europeans experimented with the structure of playing cards, particularly in the 1400s. Europeans changed the court cards to represent European royalty and attendants, originally "king", "chevalier", and "knave" (or "servant"). Queens were introduced in a number of different ways. In an early surviving German pack (dated in the 1440s), Queens replace Kings in two of the suits as the highest card. Throughout the 1400s, 56-card decks containing a King, Queen, Knight, and Valet were common. Suits also varied; many makers saw no need to have a standard set of names for the suits, so early decks often had different suit names (though typically 4 suits). The cards manufactured by German printers used the suits of hearts, bells, leaves, and acorns still present in Eastern and Southeastern German decks today used for Skat and other games. Later Italian and Spanish cards of the 15th century used swords, batons, cups, and coins. It is likely that the Tarot deck was invented in Italy at that time, though it is often mistakenly believed to have been imported into Europe by Gypsies. While originally (and still in some places, notably Europe) used for the game of Tarocchi, the Tarot deck today is more often used for cartomancy and other occult practices. This probably came about in the 1780s, when occult philosophers mistakenly associated the symbols on Tarot cards with Egyptian hieroglyphs. The four suits (hearts, diamonds, spades, clubs) now used in most of the world originated in France, approximately in 1480. These suits have generally prevailed because decks using them could be made more cheaply; the former suits were all drawings which had to be reproduced by woodcuts, but the French suits could be made by stencil. The trèfle, so named for its resemblance to the trefoil leaf, was probably copied from the acorn; the pique similarly from the leaf of the German suits, while its name derived from the sword of the Italian suits. It is not derived from its resemblance to a pike head, as commonly supposed. In England the French suits were used, and are named hearts, clubs (corresponding to trèfle, the French symbol being joined to the Italian name, bastoni), spades (corresponding to the French pique, but having the Italian name, spade=sword) and diamonds. This confusion of names and symbols is accounted for by Chatto thus:

"If cards were actually known in Italy and Spain in the latter part of the 14th century, it is not unlikely that the game was introduced into this country by some of the English soldiers who had served under Hawkwood and other free captains in the wars of Italy and Spain. However this may be, it seems certain that the earliest cards commonly used in this country were of the same kind, with respect to the marks of the suits, as those used in Italy and Spain."

Court cards have likewise undergone some changes in design and name. Early court cards were elaborate full-length figures; the French in particular often gave them the names of particular heroes and heroines from history and fable. A prolific manufacturing center in the 1500s was Rouen, which originated many of the basic design elements of court cards still present in modern decks. It is likely that the Rouennais cards were popular imports in England, establishing their design as standard there, though other designs became more popular in Europe (particularly in France, where the Parisian design became standard). Rouen courts are traditionally named as follows: the kings of spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs are David, Alexander, Caesar, and Charles (Charlemagne), respectively. The knaves (or "jacks"; French "valet") are Hector (prince of Troy), La Hire (comrade-in-arms to Joan of Arc), Ogier (a knight of Charlemagne), and Judas Maccabeus (who led the Jewish rebellion against the Syrians). The queens are Pallas (warrior goddess; equivalent to the Greek Athena or Roman Minerva), Rachel (biblical mother of Joseph), Argine (the origin of which is obscure; it is an anagram of regina, which is Latin for queen), and Judith (from Book of Judith). Parisian tradition uses the same names, but assigns them to different suits: the kings of spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs are David, Charles, Caesar, and Alexander; the queens are Pallas, Judith, Rachel, and Argine; the knaves are Ogier, La Hire, Hector, and Judas Maccabee. Oddly, the Parisian names have become more common in modern use, even with cards of Rouennais design.

Later design changes

In early games the kings were always the highest card in their suit. However, as early as the late 1400s special significance began to be placed on the nominally lowest card, now called the Ace, so that it sometimes became the highest card and the Two, or Deuce, the lowest. This concept may have been hastened in the late 1700s by the French Revolution, where games began being played "ace high" as a symbol of lower classes rising in power above the royalty. The term "Ace" itself comes from a dicing term in Anglo-Norman language, which is itself derived from the Latin as (the smallest unit of coinage). Another dicing term, trey (3), sometimes shows up in playing card games. Corner and edge indices appeared in the mid-1800s, which enabled people to hold their cards close together in a fan with one hand (instead of the two hands previously used). Before this time, the lowest court card in an English deck was officially termed the Knave, but its abbreviation ("Kn") was too similar to the King ("K"). However, from the 1600s on the Knave had often been termed the Jack, a term borrowed from the game All Fours where the Knave of trumps is termed the Jack. All Fours was considered a low-class game, so the use of the term Jack at one time was considered vulgar. The use of indices changed the formal name of the lowest court card to Jack. This was followed by the innovation of reversible court cards. Reversible court cards meant that players would not be tempted to make upside-down court cards right side up. Before this, other players could often get a hint of what other players' hands contained by watching them reverse their cards. This innovation required abandoning some of the design elements of the earlier full-length courts. The joker is an American innovation. Created for the Alsatian game of Euchre, it spread to Europe from America along with the spread of Poker. Although the joker card often bears the image of a fool, which is one of the images of the Tarot deck, it is not believed that there is any relation. In contemporary decks, one of the two jokers is often more colorful or more intricately detailed than the other, though this feature is not used in most card games. The two jokers are often differentiated as "Big" and "Little," or more commonly, "Red" and "Black." In many card games the jokers are not used. Unlike face cards, the design of jokers varies widely. Many manufacturers use them to carry trademark designs. In the twentieth century, a means for coating cards with plastic was invented, and has taken over the market, producing a durable product. An example of what the old cardboard product was like is documented in Buster Keaton's silent comedy The Navigator, in which the forlorn comic tries to shuffle and play cards during a rainstorm.

Alleged symbolism

Popular legend holds that the composition of a deck of cards has religious, metaphysical or astronomical significance: typical numerological elements of the explanation are that the four suits represent the four seasons, the 13 cards per suit are the 13 phases of the lunar cycle, black and red are for day and night, and finally, if the value of each card is added up - and 1 is added, which is generally explained away as being for a single joker - the result is 365, the number of days in a year. The context for these stories is sometimes given to suggest that the interpretation is a joke, generally being the purported explanation given by someone caught with a deck of cards in order to suggest that their intended purpose was not gambling ([http://www.snopes.com/glurge/cards.htm Urban Legends Reference Pages article]).

Playing cards today

:See also Suit (cards)

Anglo-American

The primary deck of fifty-two playing cards in use today, called Anglo-American playing cards, includes thirteen ranks of each of the four English suits, spades (♠), hearts (♥), diamonds (♦) and clubs (♣), with reversible Rouennais court cards. Each suit includes an ace, depicting a single symbol of its suit; a king, queen, and jack, each depicted with a symbol of its suit; and ranks two through ten, with each card depicting that many symbols (pips) of its suit. Two (sometimes one or four) Jokers, often distinguishable with one being more colorful than the other, are included in commercial decks but many games require one or both to be removed before play. Modern playing cards carry index labels on opposite corners (rarely, all four corners) to facilitate identifying the cards when they overlap. The fanciful design and manufacturer's logo commonly displayed on the Ace of Spades began under the reign of James I of England, who passed a law requiring an insignia on that card as proof of payment of a tax on local manufacture of cards. Until August 4, 1960, decks of playing cards printed and sold in the United Kingdom were liable for taxable duty and the Ace of Spades carried an indication of the name of the printer and the fact that taxation had been paid on the cards. The packs were also sealed with a government duty wrapper. Though specific design elements of the court cards are rarely used in game play, a few are notable. The jack of spades and jack of hearts are drawn in profile, while the rest of the courts are shown in full face (the exception being the King of Hearts), leading to the former being called the "one-eyed" jacks. When deciding which cards are to be made wild in some games, the phrase, "acey, deucey, one-eyed jack," is sometimes used, which means that aces, twos, and the one-eyed jacks are all wild. Another such variation, "deuces, aces, one-eyed faces," is used to indicate aces, twos, the jack of hearts, the jack of spades, and the king of hearts are wild. The king of hearts is shown with a broadsword behind his head, leading to the nickname "suicide king". The King of Diamonds is armed with an ax while the other three kings are armed with swords. The king of Diamonds is sometimes referred to as "the man with the ax" because of this. The Ace of Spades, unique in its large, ornate spade, is sometimes said to be the death card, and in some games is used as a trump card. The Queen of Spades appears to hold a scepter and is sometimes known as "the bedpost queen." There are theories about who the court cards represent. For example, the Queen of Hearts is believed by some to be a representation of Elizabeth of York - the Queen consort of King Henry VII of England. However the Kings, Queens and Jacks of standard Anglo/American cards do not represent anyone. They stem from designs produced in Rouen before 1516 and by 1540-67 these Rouen designs show well-executed pictures in the court cards with the typical court costumes of the time. In these early cards the Jack of Spades, Jack of Hearts and the King of Diamonds are shown from the rear, with their heads turned back over the shoulder so that they are seen in profile. However the Rouen cards were so badly copied in England that the current designs are gross distortions of the originals. Other oddities such as the lack of a moustache on the King of Hearts also have little significance. The King Of Hearts did originally have a moustache but it was lost by poor copying of the original design. Similarly the objects carried by the court cards have no significance. They merely differentiate one court card from another and have also become distorted over time. The most common sizes for playing cards are poker size (2½in × 3½in, approx. 63mm × 88mm) and bridge size (2¼in × 3½in, approx. 56mm × 87mm), the latter being more suitable for games such as bridge in which a large number of cards must be held concealed in a player's hand. Interestingly, in most casino poker games, the bridge sized card is used. Other sizes are also available, such as a smaller size (usually 1¾in × 2⅝in, approx. 44mm × 66mm) for solitaire and larger ones for card tricks. Some decks include additional design elements. Casino blackjack decks may include markings intended for a machine to check the ranks of cards, or shifts in rank location to allow a manual check via inlaid mirror. Many casino decks and solitaire decks have four indices instead of the usual two. Many decks have large indices, largely for use in stud poker games, where being able to read cards from a distance is a benefit and hand sizes are small. Some decks use four colors for the suits in order to make it easier to tell them apart: the most common set of colors is black (spades ♠), red (hearts ♥), blue (diamonds ♦) and green (clubs ♣). When giving the full written name of a specific card, the rank is given first followed by the suit, e.g., "Ace of Spades". Shorthand notation may list the rank first "A♠" (as is typical when discussing poker) or list the suit first (as is typical in listing several cards in bridge) "♠AKQ". Tens may be either abbreviated to T or written as 10.

German and Austrian

German and Austrian suits may have different appearances. Many southern Germans and Austrians prefer decks with hearts, bells, leaves, and acorns (for hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs), as mentioned above. In the game Skat, Eastern Germany players used the German deck, while players in western Germany mainly used the french deck. After the reunification a compromise deck was created, with french symbols, but german colors. Therefore, many "french" decks in Germany now have yellow or orange diamonds and green spades. example [http://www.spielkarten.com/Content/altenburger/products/handel/traditionelle/4/index.html Old German playing cards] as produced by [http://www.spielkarten.com Altenburger Spielkartenfabrik]

Italian

Italian playing cards most commonly consist of a deck of 40 cards. Hundreds of different designs are in use in different parts of the country (about one per province). The suits are coins (sometimes suns or sunbursts), swords, cups and clubs (sometimes batons), and each suit contains an ace (or one), numbers two through seven, and three face cards. The face cards are:
- King - a man standing, wearing a crown
- Knight - a man sitting on a horse
- Jack - a younger man standing, without a crown Unlike Anglo-American cards, Italian cards do not have any numbers (or letters) identifying their value. The cards' value is determined by identifying the face card or counting the number of suit characters. Example: [http://www.modiano.it/en/catalogo/prodotto.php?db_000=635 "Triestine" playing cards] manufactured by [http://www.modiano.it/en/index.php Modiano]

Spanish

The traditional Spanish deck (referred to as baraja española)is organized into four palos (or suits). Like traditional tarot cards these consist of bastos (clubs), oros ("golds" or coins), espadas (swords) and copas (cups). Unlike in the standard Anglo-American deck, there is no card 10, so each suit has only twelve cards. The three face cards in each suit are as follows: el rey (the king), el caballo (the horse or horseman) and la sota (the jack, knave, or page.) Many Spanish games involve forty-card decks, with the 8s and 9s removed. This deck is used not only in Spain but in other countries where Spain maintained an influence, (eg. Philippines, Puerto Rico)[http://www.pagat.com/class/latin.html 1].

Japanese

The standard 54-card deck is also commonly known as a poker deck or—in Japan—a Trump deck, to differentiate it from "dedicated" card games such as UNO ,or other dynamic card decks like Hanafuda and Kabufuda.

Playing card symbols in Unicode

The Unicode standard defines 8 characters for card suits, from U+2660 to U+2667:

♠ ♡ ♢ ♣ ♤ ♥ ♦ ♧

Reference

- Parlett, David. The Oxford Guide to Card Games. 1990. ISBN 0-19-214165-1.

Card magicians and gambling authorities

- aladin
- Allan Ackerman
- Michael Ammar
- David Blaine
- Mike Caro
- Daryl
- Alex Elmsley
- S. W. Erdnase
- Lennart Green
- Brother John Hamman
- Guy Hollingworth
- Ricky Jay
- Larry Jennings
- René Lavand
- Ed Marlo
- Jeff McBride
- Darwin Ortiz
- John Scarne
- Juan Tamariz
- Dai Vernon
- Jeff Wessmiller

External links

References and further information

- [http://www.pagat.com/ Information on card games at www.pagat.com]
- [http://trionfi.com/0/s/ Online Tarot and Playing Card Museum]
- [http://playing-cards.us/ Playing Cards Online]
- [http://www.woodenhorsebooks.com/Playing-Card-Names.html Names of the court cards]
- [http://www.wopc.co.uk/cards/courts.html History of the design of the court cards]
- [http://www.eleves.ens.fr:8080/home/madore/misc/cards.html Courts on playing cards]
- [http://a_pollett.tripod.com/ Andy's Playing Cards]
- [http://www.cs.man.ac.uk/playing-cards/ Manchester University research]

Major manufacturers

- [http://www.cartamundi.com/ Carta Mundi]
- [http://www.usplayingcard.com/ United States Playing Card Company]

Resources

- [http://david.bellot.free.fr/svg-cards/ Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) playing cards. Licensed under the LGPL] ja:トランプ
-

Suit (cards)

In playing cards, a suit is one of several categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several symbols showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or in addition be indicated by the color printed on the card. Most card decks also have a rank for each card, and may include special cards in the deck that belong to no suit.

Traditional Western playing cards

playing cards Although many different types of deck have been known and used in Europe since the introduction of playing cards around the 14th century (see playing cards)—and several different ones are still used in various regions for various games—almost all of them have in common that:
- there are exactly four suits (possibly with the addition of some non-suited cards, see below);
- the cards within each suit are distinguished from one another by bearing different numbers or names, known as ranks;
- the ranks serve the explicit purpose of indicating which cards within a suit are "better", "higher" or "more valuable" than others, whereas there is no order between the different suits; and
- there is exactly one card of any given rank in any given suits. The differences between European decks are mostly in the number of cards in each suit (for example, thirteen in the commonly-known Anglo-American deck, fourteen in the French Tarot, eight in most games in Germany and Austria, five in Hungarian Illustrated Tarock) and in the inclusion or exclusion of an extra series of (usually) twenty-one numbered cards known as tarocks or Major Arcana, sometimes considered as a fifth suit, but more properly regarded as a group of special suitless cards, to form what is known as a Tarot deck. The Spanish-style suits are the original suits, the suits found on the divinatory Tarot deck, and the suits found in the oldest surviving European decks. The French style suits became popular after they were introduced, largely because cards using those suits were less expensive to manufacture; the traditional suits required a woodcut for each card, while with the French suits the "pip" cards—the cards containing only a certain number of the suit objects—could be made by stencils, and only the "court" cards, the cards with human figures, required woodcuts. The following table shows the original equivalence between various names and designs used for the suits in traditional decks in different parts of Europe. It does not show every country individually (for example, France and Denmark have 78-card Tarot decks, but they use the familiar hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs), although Anglo-American decks are known in every country, and would be used for imported games such as bridge.

Anglo-French suits	Hearts (♥) (Cœurs, Hearts)	Diamonds (♦) (Carreaux, Squares)	Clubs (♣) (Trèfles, Clovers)	Spades (♠) (Piques, Pikes)
German suits	Hearts (Herz) Image: herz1.gif	Bells (Schellen) Image: schellen1.gif	Acorns (Eichel) Image: eichel1.gif	Leaves or Grass Image: laub1.gif (Laub or Gras)
Swiss German suits	Shields (Schilten)	Bells (Schellen)	Acorns (Eicheln)	Flowers (Rosen)
Italo-Spanish suits	Cups (coppe / copas)	Coins (denari / oros)	Clubs (bastoni / bastos)	Swords (spade / espadas)
Tarot suits	Cups	Pentacles, Coins	Wands, Rods	Swords

Suits in games with traditional decks

A huge number of card games have been invented for the Anglo-American deck, and as such the general statement that "suits are usually equal" now has countless exceptions.

Trumps

In a large and popular category of trick-taking games, traditionally called whist-style games although the best-known example may now be bridge, one suit is designated in each hand of play to be trump and all cards of the trump suit rank above all non-trump cards, and automatically prevail over them, losing only to a higher trump if one is played to the same trick. In most such games, trump cards cannot be played if the player can follow suit to the card led to the trick; in a few, trumps can be played at any time. The result of this is that trump cards are more likely to win tricks than cards of a non-trump suit of the same value. The "Major Arcana" of the Tarot cards are used as a permanent suit of trumps in the game of tarocchi or tarock. It is unclear whether the word "trump" derives from "triumph", documented as the name of a card game in 1529, or from "trump", meaning to deceive or cheat, from the French tromper.

Special suits

Some games treat one or more suits as being special or different from the others. A simple example is Spades, which uses spades as a permanent trump suit. A less simple example is Hearts, which is a kind of point trick game in which the object is to avoid taking tricks containing hearts. With typical rules for Hearts (rules vary slightly) the queen of spades and the two of clubs (sometimes also the jack of diamonds) have special effects, with the result that all four suits have different strategic value.

Ordering suits

Whist-style rules generally prevent the necessity of determining which of two cards are different suits has higher value, because a card played on a card of a different suit either automatically wins or automatically loses depending on whether the new card is a trump. However, some card games also need to make a definition of which suit is intrinsically the most valuable. An example of this is in auction games such as bridge, where if one player bids to make some number of heart tricks and another bids to make the same number of diamond tricks, there must be a mechanism to determine which takes precedence. As there is no truly standard way to order the four suits, each game that needs to do so has its own convention; however, the ubiquity of bridge has gone some way to make its ordering a de facto standard. Typical orderings of suits include (from highest to lowest):
- Bridge: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs (for bidding and scoring);
- Five Hundred: hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades (for bidding and scoring);
- Ninety-nine: clubs, hearts, spades, diamonds (supposedly mnemonic as they have respectively 3, 2, 1, 0 lobes; see article for how this scoring is used);
- Skat: clubs, spades, hearts, diamonds (for bidding and scoring and to determine which Jack beats which in play).

Ignoring suits

In some games, such as blackjack, suits are completely meaningless and are ignored. In a few games, especially solitaire games such as the Klondike game popularized by Windows 3.1, only the color (red or black) is important—thus, hearts and diamonds are equivalent to each other, but not to spades or clubs. This, at least notionally, creates problems with four-color decks (see below). Bridge players constructing complex signaling systems have found it useful to give names to every possible pair of suits (so that they can agree that a particular bid means, for example, that they hold "five of a red suit".) There are three ways to divide four suits into pairs, and they are known as red (hearts and diamonds) versus black, major (spades and hearts, a reference to the suit order as above) versus minor, and pointy (diamonds and spades, which visually have a sharp point uppermost) versus round. In the event of widespread introduction of four-color decks, it has been suggested that the red/black distinction could be replaced by pointy bottoms (hearts and diamonds visually have a sharp point downwards, whereas spades and clubs have a blunt stem).

Suits and colors

It has frequently been observed that printing the four different suits in four different colors would be visually less confusing than the traditional system of using just two (which in any case probably arose from a printing economy no longer necessary—see Playing cards). Indeed, most European languages simply call the suit of a card its "colour". Four-color decks are in use in specific games (such as Barry's & Les's) or in places where visibility may not be ideal (or on a computer screen). In these, most commonly diamonds are blue cards, hearts are red cards, spades are black cards and clubs are green cards—see main article.

Adding extra suits to the Anglo-American deck

Various people have independently suggested expanding the Anglo-American deck to five, six or even more suits, and have proposed rules for expanded versions of popular games such as rummy, hearts, bridge, and poker that could be played with such a deck (see external links).

Commercial decks

Commercially available five-suit (65-card) decks include Stardeck, which introduces "stars" as a fifth suit, and Cinco Loco, which introduces "5"s. (In both decks the fifth suit is colored a mixture of black and red.) Commercially available six-suit (78-card) decks include the Empire Deck (which has three red suits and three black suits) and Sextet (which has two red suits, two black suits, and two blue suits).

Home-made decks

If extra-suited decks are not readily available or are too expensive, an easier way to create a deck with up to eight suits is to buy two identical decks and modify the suit symbols throughout one of them with a marker. R. Wayne Schmittberger in New Rules for Classic Games originated the idea of drawing an arrow through each heart to create "valentines" and a cross through each diamond to create "kites". Erick Flaig suggests that clubs could have their stem rounded to create "cloverleaves" and spades could have horns and tail added to become "devils".

Other modern suited decks

Suit-and-value decks

A large number of games are based around a deck in which each card has a value and a suit (usually represented by a color), and for each suit there is exactly one card having each value, though in many cases the deck has various special cards as well. Examples include Tichu, Mü und Mehr, Lost Cities, Sticheln, Rage, Schotten Totten, Wizard and ROOK.

Other suited decks

Decks for some games are divided into suits, but otherwise bear little relation to traditional games. An example would be the game Taj Mahal, in which each card has one of four background colors, the rule being that all the cards played by a single player in a single round must be the same color. The selection of cards in the deck of each color is approximately the same and the player's choice of which color to use is guided by the contents of their particular hand. In the trick-taking card game Flaschenteufel (The Bottle Imp) players must follow the suit led, but if they are void in that suit they may play a card of another suit which can still win the trick if its value is high enough. For this reason every card in the deck has a different number to prevent ties. A further strategic element is introduced since one suit contains mostly low cards and another, mostly high cards. A special mention should be made of the card game Set. Whereas cards in a traditional deck have two classifications—suit and rank—and each combination is represented by one card, giving for example 4 suits × 13 ranks = 52 cards, each card in a Set deck has four classifications each into one of three categories, giving a total of 3 × 3 × 3 × 3 = 81 cards. Any one of these four classifications could be considered a "suit", but this is not really enlightening in terms of the structure of the game.

Fictional decks

Several people have invented decks which are not meant to be seriously played. The Double Fanucci deck from Zork takes the most imaginative licence with the suits: it has no fewer than fifteen, with the names Mazes, Books, Rain, Bugs, Fromps, Inkblots, Scythes, Plungers, Faces, Time, Lamps, Hives, Ears, Zurfs, and Tops. The Cripple Mr. Onion deck uses eight suits, combining the standard Anglo-American ones with the traditional/Tarot/Spanish ones. The Discordian deck is a parody of the Tarot deck, its five suits corresponding to the five Discordian elements.

External links

- [http://www.pagat.com/ Pagat.com—site with comprehensive card games information]
- [http://www.thegamesjournal.com/articles/GameSystems2.shtml The Games Journal article on card decks]
- [http://a_pollett.tripod.com/cardpgal.htm Playing Card Picture Gallery] (warning: Tripod page, popups)
- [http://www.stardeck.com/ Stardeck (with rules for 5-suited Poker and Spades)]
- [http://rightfast.com/empire/CAcards.htm Empire Deck (with rules for 5- and 6-suited Rummy and Hearts)] Category:Card games ja:スート

Poker

Poker is a card game, the most popular of a class of games called vying games, in which players with fully or partially concealed cards make wagers into a central pot, which is awarded to the remaining player or players with the best combination of cards. Poker can also refer to video poker which is a single-player game seen in casinos much like a slot machine. video poker.]] In order to play, one must learn the basic rules and procedures of the game, the values of the various combinations of cards (see hand), and the rules about betting limits (see betting). Some knowledge of the equipment used to play (see poker equipment) is useful. There are also many variants of poker, loosely categorized as draw poker, stud poker, community card poker (a.k.a. "widow game"), and miscellaneous poker games. The most commonly played games of the first three categories are five-card draw, seven-card stud, and Texas hold 'em, respectively; each being a common starting point for learning games of the type. Dealer's choice is a way to play poker where the dealer chooses what type of poker to play.

History

The history of poker is a matter of some debate. The name of the game likely descended from the French poque, which descended from the German pochen ('to knock'), but it is not clear whether the origins of poker itself lie with the games bearing those names. It closely resembles the Persian game of as nas, and may have been taught to French settlers in New Orleans by Persian sailors. It is commonly regarded as sharing ancestry with the Renaissance game of primero and the French brelan. The English game brag (earlier bragg) clearly descended from brelan and incorporated bluffing (though the concept was known in other games by that time). It is quite possible that all of these earlier games influenced the development of poker as it exists now. English actor Joseph Crowell reported that the game was played in New Orleans in 1829, with a deck of 20 cards, four players betting on which player's hand was the most valuable. Jonathan H. Green's book, An Exposure of the Arts and Miseries of Gambling (G. B. Zieber, Philadelphia, 1843), described the spread of the game from there to the rest of the country by Mississippi riverboats, on which gambling was a common pastime. gambling Soon after this spread, the full 52-card English deck was used, and the flush was introduced. During the American Civil War, many additions were made, including draw poker, stud poker (the five-card variant), and the straight. Further American developments followed, such as the wild card (around 1875), lowball and split-pot poker (around 1900), and community card poker games (around 1925). Spread of the game to other countries, particularly in Asia, is often attributed to the U.S. military. The game and jargon of poker have become important parts of American culture and English culture. Such phrases as ace in the hole, beats me, blue chip, call the bluff, cash in, pass the buck, poker face, stack up, up the ante, when the chips are down, wild card, and others are used in everyday conversation even by those unaware of their origins at the poker table. Modern tournament play became popular in American casinos after the World Series of Poker began in 1970. It was also during that decade that the first serious strategy books appeared, notably The Theory of Poker by David Sklansky (ISBN 1880685000), Super System by Doyle Brunson (ISBN 0931444014), and The Book of Tells by Mike Caro (ISBN 0897461002). Poker’s popularity has experienced an unprecedented spike in recent years, largely due to the introduction of online poker and the invention of the hole-card camera which finally turned the game into a spectator sport. Viewers can now follow the action and drama of the game, and broadcasts of poker tournaments such as the World Series of Poker and the World Poker Tour have brought in huge audiences for cable and satellite TV distributors.

Game play

World Poker Tour The game of poker is played in hundreds of variations, but the following overview of game play applies to most of them. Depending on the game rules, one or more players may be required to place an initial amount of money into the pot before the cards are dealt. These are called forced bets and come in three forms: antes, blinds, and bring-ins. Like most card games, the dealer shuffles the deck of cards. The deck is then cut, and the appropriate number of cards are dealt face-down to the players. In a casino a "house" dealer handles the cards for each hand, but a button (any small item used as a marker, also called a buck) is rotated among the players to determine the order of dealing and betting in certain games. In a home game, the right to deal the cards typically rotates among the players clockwise, but a button may still be used. After the initial deal, the first of what may be several betting rounds begins. Between rounds, the players' hands develop in some way, often by being dealt additional cards or replacing cards previously dealt. During a round of betting, there will always be a current bet amount, which is the total amount of money bet in this round by the player who bet last in this round. To keep better track of this, it is conventional for players to not place their bets directly into the pot (called splashing the pot), but rather place them in front of themselves toward the pot, until the betting round is over. When the round is over, the bets are then gathered into the pot. After the first betting round is completed (every participating player having called an equal amount), there may be more rounds in which more cards are dealt in various ways, followed by further rounds of betting (into the same central pot). At any time during the first or subsequent betting rounds, if one player makes a bet and all other players fold, the deal ends immediately, the single remaining player is awarded the pot, no cards are shown, no more rounds are dealt, and the next deal begins. This is what makes it possible to bluff. At the end of the last betting round, if more than one player remains, there is a showdown in which the players reveal their previously hidden cards and evaluate their hands. The player with the best hand according to the poker variant being played wins the pot.

Computer players

The game of poker (or at least most of the variants) is considered to be computationally intractable. However, methods are being developed to at least approximate perfect strategy from the game theory perspective in the heads-up (two player) game, and increasingly good systems are being created for the multi-player or ring game. Perfect strategy has multiple meanings in this context. From a game-theoretic optimal point of view, a perfect strategy is a minimax one that cannot expect to lose to any other player's strategy; however, optimal strategy can vary in the presence of sub-optimal players who have weaknesses that can be exploited. In this case, a perfect strategy would be one that correctly or closely models those weaknesses and takes advantage of them to make a profit. Some of these systems are based on Bayes theorem, Nash equilibrium, Monte Carlo simulation, and Neural networks. A large amount of the research is being done at the University of Alberta by the GAMES group led by Jonathan Schaeffer who developed Poki and PsOpt. A major part of the skill of live poker games, however, is guessing at the strength of a player's hand by identifying tells made by other players, while concealing one's own, unlike, for example, chess, where all information about the game's current state is public. As a computer would not make any tells, playing against a computer would fundamentally change the nature of the game far more than in games like chess. Although you cannot read a computer opponent, playing against computer opponents can still help you sharpen your skills by learning how to count outs and play the percentages. With the advancing technology of artificial intelligence, computer players can be created to incorporate bluffs and other human-like decisions.

Quotations

Poker is a microcosm of all we admire and disdain about capitalism and democracy. It can be rough-hewn or polished, warm or cold, charitable and caring or hard and impersonal. It is fickle and elusive, but ultimately it is fair, and right, and just. — Lou Krieger If you can't spot the sucker within the first half hour at the table, then you are the sucker. — common poker saying, as spoken by Matt Damon in Rounders; originally attributed to Amarillo Slim Whether he likes it or not, a man's character is stripped bare at the poker table; if the other players read him better than he does, he has only himself to blame. Unless he is both able and prepared to see himself as others do, flaws and all, he will be a loser in cards, as in life. — Anthony Holden (from Big Deal) There are few things that are so unpardonably neglected in our country as poker... Why, I have known clergymen, good men, kindhearted, liberal, sincere, and all that, who did not know the meaning of a 'flush'. It is enough to make one ashamed of one's species. — Mark Twain Nobody is always a winner, and anybody who says he is, is either a liar or doesn't play poker. — Amarillo Slim They anticipate losing when they sit down and I try my darnedest not to disappoint one of them. — Amarillo Slim Poker is a game of people... It's not the hand I hold, it's the people that I play with. — Amarillo Slim Hold em is to stud what chess is to checkers. — Johnny Moss The guy who invented poker was bright, but the guy who invented the chip was a genius. — Big Julie Last night I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died. — Steven Wright Cards are war, in disguise of a sport. — Charles Lamb, Essays of Elia (1832) Poker is a godless game, full of random pain. — Andy Bloch You call this one and it's all over, baby. — Scotty Nguyen, during the 1998 World Series of Poker. Down to him and one other player, he said this to his opponent who called, and it was all over. Mae West: Is poker a game of chance? W.C. Fields: Not the way I play it. — My Little Chickadee

References

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External links

- [http://dir.yahoo.com/Recreation/Games/Card_Games/Poker/ Yahoo Poker Directory]
- [http://directory.google.com/Top/Games/Gambling/Poker/ Google Poker Directory]
- [http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.gambling.poker Rec.Gambling.Poker Newsgroup] Category:Card games ja:ポーカー simple:Poker

Blackjack

:For other uses of the word see Blackjack (disambiguation) Blackjack (disambiguation) Blackjack, also known as twenty-one and pontoon in British English , is one of the most popular casino card games in the world. Its precursor was "vingt-et-un" which originated in French casinos around 1700, and which did not offer the 3:2 bonus for a two-card 21. Much of blackjack's popularity is due to the mix of chance with elements of skill and decision making, and the publicity that surrounds the practice of card counting, a skill with which players can turn the odds of the game in their favor by making betting decisions based on the values of the cards known to remain in the deck.

Rules

Blackjack hands are scored by their point total. The hand with the highest total wins as long as it doesn't go over 21, which is called a bust. Cards 2 through 10 are worth their face value, and face cards (jack, queen, king) are also worth 10. An ace counts as 11 unless it would bust a hand, in which case it counts as 1. The goal of each player is to beat the dealer, by having the higher, unbusted hand. Note that if the player busts, he loses, even if the dealer also busts. If the player's and the dealer's hands have the same point value, this is known as a "push", and neither player nor dealer wins the hand. After initial bets are placed, the dealer deals the cards, either from one or two hand-held decks of cards, known as a "pitch" game, or more commonly from a shoe containing four or more decks. The dealer gives two cards to each player, including himself. One of the dealer's two cards is face-up so all the players can see it, and the other is face down. (The face-down card is known as the "hole card". In European blackjack, the hole card is not actually dealt until the players all play their hands.) The cards are dealt face up from a shoe, or face down if it is a pitch game. A two-card hand of 21 (an ace plus a ten-value card) is called a "blackjack" or a "natural", and is an automatic winner. A player with a natural is usually paid 3:2 on his bet, although in 2003 some casinos started paying only 6:5 on blackjacks, a move decried by longtime blackjack players. This is the summary of how the play proceeds after the deal.
- If the dealer has a blackjack and the player doesn't, the dealer wins automatically.
- If the player has a blackjack and the dealer doesn't, the player wins automatically.
- If the player and dealer both have blackjack, it's a tie (push).
- If neither side has a blackjack, then the first player completely plays out his hand, followed by the next player, and so on.
- When all the players have finished the dealer plays his hand. The player's options for playing his hand are:
- Hit (take another card)
- Stand (take no more cards)
- Double down (double the wager, take exactly one more card, and then stand)
- Split (when the player has identical value cards, such as 8,8, place an additional wager and have each card be the first card in a new hand)
- Surrender (forfeit half his bet and give up his hand. Surrender is not offered at most casinos.) The player's turn is over after any of the following happens:
- He decides to stand.
- He busts. (in which case he loses even if the dealer subsequently busts, this is the source of the house advantage)
- He doubles down and receives exactly one more card. After all the players have finished making their decisions, the dealer then reveals the hidden hole card and plays his hand. House rules say that the dealer must hit until he has at least 17, regardless of what the players have. In most casinos a dealer must also hit a soft 17 (such as an Ace and a 6). The table felt will indicate whether the dealer hits or stands on soft 17. If the dealer busts then all remaining players win. Bets are normally paid out at the odds of 1:1. Some common rules variations
- one card split aces: one card is dealt on each ace, players turn is over.
- early surrender: player has the option to surrender before dealer checks for BlackJack.
- late surrender: player has the option to surrender after dealer checks for BlackJack.
- double-down restrictions: double-down allowed only on certain combinations. There are more than a few blackjack variations which can be found in the casinos, each has its own set of rules, strategies and odds. it is advised to take a look at the [http://www.luckyblackjack.com/blackjack-rules.html blackjack rules] of the specific variation before playing.

Insurance

If the dealer's upcard is an Ace, the player is offered the option of taking Insurance before the dealer checks his 'hole card'. The player who wishes to take Insurance can bet an amount up to half his original bet. The Insurance bet is placed separately on a special portion of the table, which usually carries the words Insurance Pays 2:1. The player who is taking Insurance is betting that the dealer's 'hole card' is a 10-value card, i.e. a 10, a Jack, a Queen or a King. Because the dealer's upcard is an Ace, this means that the player who takes Insurance is essentially betting that the dealer was dealt a natural, i.e. a two-card 21, a blackjack. Insurance is a side-bet that pays off 2:1 if it wins. Example: The player originally bets $10 and the dealer shows an Ace. The player takes Insurance by betting an additional amount of $5. Suppose the player's hand is 19. The dealer turns up his 'hole card' after the Insurance betting period is over -- and it's a 10-valued card. The player loses his $10 bet. But the Insurance bet wins, so the player gets 2:1 on his $5 Insurance wager and receives $10 (on top of the $5 which are returned to him). Note that the player came out even (i.e. did not lose any money) on that round. Conversely, a player may win his original bet and lose his Insurance bet. Example: The player originally bets $10 and the dealer shows an Ace. The player takes Insurance by betting an additional amount of $5. Suppose the player's hand is 19. The dealer turns up his 'hole card' after the Insurance betting period is over -- and it's not a 10-valued card. Suppose the 'hole card' is a 7. The player instantly loses his $5 Insurance wager. (All Insurance wagers are settled as soon as the dealer turns over his 'hole card', before all else.) But the player wins his $10 bet. Note that the player made a net profit on that round. Of course, a player may lose both his original bet and his Insurance bet. Insurance is considered a bad bet for the player who has no direct knowledge nor estimation (e.g. through card counting) of the dealer's 'hole card' because Insurance is a bet with negative expected value for the player. It is a bad bet even for a strict follower of Basic Strategy. Insurance is a bad bet even for the player who has been dealt a natural (a two-card 21) to take Insurance. In such a case, the dealer usually asks the player "Even money?" This means that instead of 3:2, the player with the natural accepts to be paid off at 2:2. Which is exactly the same thing as betting on Insurance, losing the Insurance bet and getting paid 3:2 on the natural -- all at the same time. (If the player with the natural refuses to be paid "Even money", and the dealer turns over a natural, it is a tie.) The reason Insurance is a bad bet for the player is that by paying 2:1 when his bet wins, the casino is underpaying the Insurance bettor.

Basic strategy

As in all casino games, the house has a statistical advantage over the players that will play itself out in the long run. But because blackjack, unlike other games, has an element of player choice, players can actually reduce the casino advantage to a small percentage by playing what is known as basic strategy. This strategy determines when to hit and when to stand, and also determines when doubling down or splitting is the correct action. Basic strategy is based on the player's point total and the dealer's visible card. There are slight variations in basic strategy depending on the exact house rules and the number of decks used. Under the most favorable conditions (single deck, downtown Las Vegas rules), the house advantage over a basic strategy player can be as low as 0.16%. Indeed, casinos offering special rules like surrender and double-after-split may actually be offering a positive expectation to basic strategy players; they are counting on players making mistakes to make money. The following rules are beneficial to the skilled player: # Doubles are permitted on any two-card hand except a blackjack. # Doubles are permitted after splitting. # Early surrender; the ability to forfeit half your wager against a face or ace before the dealer checks for blackjack. # Normal (aka "late") surrender. # Resplitting Aces. # Drawing more than one card against a split Ace. # Five or more cards with the total still no more than 21 as an automatic win ("Charlies") The following rules are detrimental to the skilled player: # Less than 3:2 payout on blackjacks (as is the case with Las Vegas Strip single-deck blackjack, paying out 6:5) # Splitting a maximum of once (to two hands) # Double down restricted to certain totals, such as 9-11 or 10,11 # Aces may not be resplit # No-Peek (European) blackjack—player loses splits and doubles to a dealer blackjack # Player losing ties

Basic strategy tables

The above is a basic strategy table for the most common 6- to 8-deck, Las Vegas Strip rules. Specifically: dealer hits on soft 17, double after split allowed, multiple split aces, one card to split aces, blackjack pays 3:2, and (optionally) late surrender. Key: :S = Stand :H = Hit :D = Double :SP = SPlit :Rh = suRrender if allowed, otherwise hit :Rs = suRrender if allowed, otherwise Stand :Rsp = suRrender if allowed, otherwise SPlit In some LV Strip casinos you may still be able to find the older version of the multi-deck shoe game, where dealer stands on soft 17; those are usually high minimum ($50 or more) tables. This version is much more advantageous to the player, but requires a slightly modified basic strategy table. Basic strategy for other decks and rules can be found at http://www.wizardofodds.com/blackjack. Or download a printable PDF [http://www.casinoscompared.co.uk/blackjack_variations.asp strategy table] . Interactive strategy tables for each possible card-distribution in the shoe can be generated using a JavaScript based [http://www.bewersdorff-online.de/black-jack/ blackjack calculator].

Card counting

Unlike casino games such as roulette and craps, where the outcome of one play has no effect on any future play, a hand of blackjack depletes the deck of the cards used in that hand, and this can alter the probability of certain events occurring on the next deal. In proper statistics terms, this is known as the Law of Independent Trials - past events have no effect on future probabilities. Specifically, if the remaining cards have a higher proportion of 10-count cards and Aces than normal, it is more likely that a player will be dealt a natural, which is to the player's advantage (yes, it's also more likely for the dealer to get a natural—but the dealer wins only even money, while the player is paid 3:2). When the deck has more small cards such as 4s, 5s, and 6s, it is more likely that the player will be dealt a bad hand and bust, favoring the dealer (likewise, it increases the chance of a dealer busting as well, but when the player busts, the dealer wins even if he later busts himself). Because the house advantage in blackjack is so small to begin with, it is quite common for a deck that happens to be "rich" in remaining 10 count cards and Aces to offer a positive expectation to the player on the next hand. By keeping track of the cards played, a player can take advantage of these situations by betting larger amounts when the deck is in his favor and smaller amounts when it is not. In the long run, the deck will be unfavorable to the player more often than it is favorable, but it is the amount bet under each condition that counts. The player can also use information about the deck's composition to alter strategy. For example, basic strategy calls for hitting a 16 when the dealer's upcard is a 10, but this is a very close play; one loses less by hitting than standing, but not by much. If it is known, however, that the deck is depleted of small cards such as 4s and 5s, and rich in 10s, that may alter the odds in favor of standing. It is difficult for most people to remember what cards have already been dealt, particularly from a multiple deck shoe. Therefore, most card counting schemes assign a positive, negative, or zero point value to each card in the deck. Normally, low-value cards, such as a 2 or 3, are given a positive value, and 10s are given a negative value. The exact number assigned to the cards depends on the specific card-counting method. The card counter mentally keeps a running tally of the point values as they are dealt. To make the count an accurate representation of the percentage of "good" cards left in the deck, this running tally must normally be divided by a factor based on the counter's estimate of the number of undealt cards that are left (so-called unbalanced counts do not require this additional adjustment, because that is factored into the count). Highly skilled counters have an expectation of 1 to 1.6% gain; and number perhaps a few hundred. It is probably safe to say that the best counters earn in the very low six figures of US dollars, comparable with those in other mentally exacting fields. Other counters may use counting on occasional vacations, allowing the vacation to more than pay for itself (especially since, like other big players, they are often comped heavily by casinos). If the tally is sufficiently high, the counter can increase his or her bet, and also may make modifications to basic strategy. All of these calculations must be accurate, at the same time that the dealer and other players may be talking to him, and it must be done in such a way that the casino does not notice that any counting is taking place, to avoid facing casino countermeasures. In practice, the vast majority of people who attempt to count cards lose money through errors; casinos who notice a counter will often check to see if the counter is good enough to have a positive expectation, and ignore them otherwise. This detection process is mistake-prone. In addition, a card counter can play the Insurance bet if the count of faces is sufficiently high with potentially an advantage over the house; this bet is in general almost always disadvantageous. Counting schemes that assign point values of –1, 0, or +1 are called level one counts and are considered the easiest to perform. Slightly greater accuracy, at the cost of increased difficulty and likelihood of making mistakes, involves the use of multi-level counts, which assign point values of –2, +2, or greater to the various cards. This greater range of point values adds to the complication of keeping an accurate tally in one's head. A final complication in card counting involves the issue of how to treat aces. While playing out hands, Aces are slightly disadvantageous for the player, which implies that they should have a positive point count; but for purposes of getting a blackjack, they are extremely valuable when they remain in the deck. Most counting schemes give aces a negative count, recognizing that there is a compromise involved in this process. Some schemes actually assign a zero value to aces, and require the counter to keep a separate side count of aces. The theory of card-counting, and the first counting scheme, was published in 1962 by American mathematician Edward O. Thorp in his book Beat the Dealer, which is now regarded as a classic in the gambling literature genre. Much of the specific detail in the work, however, is no longer up-to-date— end play, for example, has practically disappeared because the casinos no longer deal to the last card, in a (somewhat panicked, some say) response to the book. Also, the counting system described (10-count) is harder to use and less profitable than the point-count systems that have been developed afterwards. The most commonly used system by most professionals (both players and surveillance) is Hi-Lo. It assigns -1 to 10's and Aces, +1 to 2 through 6. Higher level counts theoretically generate higher profits, but for most players, decreased playing speed and increased fatigue and error rates argue against their use. K-O, an unbalanced count (7's are also +1) developed by Ken Fuchs and Olaf Vancura (Knock Out Blackjack), is only modestly less effective than Hi-Lo, but is substantially less error-prone. In the early days of card-counting, it is undoubted that a few players were hugely successful. Ken Uston recounts his early successes—and court battles with the casinos—in his book Ken Uston on Blackjack. In reality, Ken Uston, though perhaps the most famous card counter through his 60 Minutes television appearance and his books, was overall only a small winner. The most financially successful card counters have made their fortunes in other businesses. Ed Thorp, for example, runs a successful fund. There have been several MIT Blackjack Teams, made up of MIT students who team up to use a combination of card counting and group play to attempt to beat the house. The most successful independent team is the one founded by Thomas Hyland in 1979. Dubbed by some as the "King of Card Counting," Hyland personally trained the members to work individually and later in teams to win millions at Atlantic City, Las Vegas, Caribbean and Canadian casinos. When the casinos caught on to them, Hyland developed the "ace locating" technique. This made it more difficult for casinos to detect when the players were card counting. In 1994, members of the team were arrested for card counting at Casino Windsor in Ontario, Canada. However, the judge ruled that the players' conduct was not cheating, but merely the use of strategy as it did not physically alter the game.

Shuffle tracking

There exist techniques other than card counting that can swing the advantage of casino 21 towards the player, at least in theory. (It must be noted, however, that almost all of these techniques are based on the value of the cards to the player and the casino, as originally conceived by Edward O. Thorp.) One such technique, mainly applicable in multi-deck games (aka shoes), involves tracking groups of cards (aka slugs, clumps, packs) during the play of the shoe, following them through the shuffle and then playing and betting accordingly when those cards come into play from the new shoe. This technique, which is admittedly much more difficult than straight card counting and requires excellent eyesight and powers of visual estimation, has the additional benefit of fooling the casino people who are monitoring the player's actions and the count, since the shuffle tracker could be, at times, betting and/or playing opposite to how a straightforward card counter would. Arnold Snyder's articles in Blackjack Forum magazine were the first to bring Shuffle Tracking to the general public.

Casino counter-measures

Casinos can counter card counting by using large quantities of decks in dealing cards. "Shoes" consisting of 6 or 8 decks are common. Increasing the number of decks decreases the tendency of the count to vary widely, offering the card counter fewer opportunities to take advantage of a player-advantageous count. Player advantage can also be decreased by more frequently shuffling the cards. The shallower the "penetration" (the proportion of the shoe consumed before reshuffling), the less opportunity there is for the count to vary. However, for the casinos there is a downside to frequent shuffling: It reduces the amount of time that the noncounting players are playing and consequently losing money to the house. It has become common for casinos to use automatic shuffling machines to compensate for this. Some models of shuffling machines shuffle one set of cards while another is in play. Others, known as Continuous Shuffle Machines (CSMs) allow the dealer to simply return used cards to a single shoe to allow playing with no interruption. Because CSMs essentially force minimal penetration, they remove almost all possible advantage of traditional counting techniques. As a result, some blackjack players call for a boycott of tables using CSMs. Many casual card counters make small mistakes that cost the advantage they gain by counting. Two or three mistakes per hour may give back all of the counter's advantage. Even if you can count perfectly when practicing at home, it is much more difficult in an actual casino. The loud, distracting environments of most casinos, and even the availability of complimentary alcoholic beverages, play roles as casino counter-measures. Casinos also look out for known card counters, who may be banned from play depending on regulatory commission rules. They also look for suspicious actions such as a long series of small bets followed by large one. Monitoring player behavior to assist in this identification falls to on-floor casino personnel ("pit bosses") and central security personnel who may use video surveillance ("the eye in the sky") as well as computer analysis to try to spot playing behavior indicative of card counting; early counter-strategies featured the dealer learning to count the cards themselves to recognise the patterns in the players. In addition, many casinos employ the services of various agencies who claim to have a catalog of advantage players. If a player is found to be in the Griffin Book or Biometrica, he will almost certainly be stopped from play and asked to leave regardless of his table play. For successful card counters, therefore, skill at "cover" behavior to hide counting to avoid "drawing heat" and possibly being barred, may be just as important as playing skill. Casinos may alter the game's dynamic against card counters by raising the minimum or lowering the limit on a table with a suspected counter, or by reshuffling sooner than the normal end of the shoe if they think that the player is offering a large bet on a positive count. There have been some high-profile lawsuits involving whether the casino is allowed to bar card-counters. Essentially, card-counting, if done in your head and with no outside assistance with devices or additional people, is not illegal, as working figures within one's own mind is not an arrestable offence. Using an outside aid, though, is illegal. However, the casinos despise counters and, if permitted by their jurisdiction, may ban counters from their casinos; in Nevada, where the casinos are ruled to be private places, the only prerequisite to a ban is the full reading of the Trespass Act to ban a player for life. Some skilled counters try to disguise their identities and playing habits; however, some casinos have claimed that facial recognition software can often match a camouflaged face with a banned one. Whether this is true is unknown. Most casinos now hire consulting firms to help them track card counters. Finally, the simplest countermeasure the casinos use in order to thwart card counting is simply to offer an inferior blackjack payoff of 6:5 instead of the standard 3:2. 6:5 blackjack is over eight times worse mathematically for the player than in a typical game with a regular payoff, expert player and novice alike cannot beat the game as a practical matter. The casinos offer this game using a single deck, which attracts players who think this gives them an advantage, when in fact the benefit of a single deck is outweighed several times over by the short blackjack payoff. Modern technology is also providing some advantage in monitoring for card counters, for example the MindPlay system. CSMs (Continuous Shuffle Machines) dispense with the need to manually shuffle the cards. This increases the number of rounds played per hour (which, in turn, increases the casino's profits), but casinos use CSMs also to foil card counters and shuffle trackers. In the case of online casinos, the deck is shuffled at the start of each new game, insuring the house always has the advantage. Although some online casinos periodically animate the dealer shuffling the cards to give the illusion otherwise.

Variants

Spanish 21 provides players with many liberal blackjack rules, such as doubling down any number of cards (with the option to 'rescue', or surrender only one wager to the house), payout bonuses for five or more card 21's, 6-7-8 21's, 7-7-7 21's, late surrender, and player blackjacks always winning and player 21's always winning, at the cost of having no 10 cards in the deck (though there are jacks, queens, and kings). With correct basic strategy, a Spanish 21 game has a lower house edge than a comparable blackjack game. Certain rules changes are employed to create new variant games. These changes, while attracting the novice player, actually increase the house edge in these games. Double Exposure Blackjack is a variant in which the dealer's cards are both face-up. This game increases house edge by paying even-money on blackjacks and players losing ties. Double Attack Blackjack has very liberal blackjack rules and the option of increasing one's wager after seeing the dealer's up card. This game is dealt from a Spanish shoe, and blackjacks only pay even money.

Other casino games with opportunities

Casino games in which a player can get an advantage with sufficiently skilled play and game selection include poker tables, video poker machines, and a few video slot machines. For other games, such as roulette and craps, it can be mathematically proven that no advantageous betting strategies exist (however, experts have claimed that both games are beatable - roulette through the use of "bias tracking" and craps through dice influencing or dice control).

References

- Beat the Dealer : A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One, Edward O. Thorp, 1966, ISBN 0394703103
- Ken Uston on Blackjack, Ken Uston, 1986, ISBN 0818404116
- Professional Blackjack, Stanford Wong, 1994 (1975), ISBN 0935926216
- Blackbelt in Blackjack, Arnold Snyder, 1998 (1980), ISBN 0910575053
- The Theory of Blackjack, Peter Griffin, 1996 (1979), ISBN 0929712129
- Knock-Out Blackjack, Olaf Vancura and Ken Fuchs, 1998, ISBN 0929712315 Mathematics of blackjack
- Luck, Logic, and White Lies: The Mathematics of Games, Joerg Bewersdorff, 2004, ISBN 1568812108, 121-134
- The Theory of Gambling and Statistical Logic, Richard A. Epstein, 1977, ISBN 012240761X, 215-251

Online Blackjack Encyclopedia

The Encyclopedia of Casino Twenty-One by Michael Dalton: http://www.bjrnet.com/member/bjapr/Contents.htm Category:Anglo-American playing card games Category:Gambling ja:ブラックジャック

Category:Anglo-American playing card games

Category:Card games

Proprietà del Vaticano

Le Proprietà della Santa Sede, come concordato nei Patti Lateranensi del 1929 sono (tutte con privilegio di extraterritorialità):
- proprietà della Santa Sede a Roma, ma al di fuori della Città del Vaticano:
- Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano;
- Palazzo del Laterano
- Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore;
- Basilica di San Paolo fuori le mura, incluso il monastero;
- Palazzo di San Callisto;
- Immobili sul Colle del Gianicolo appartenenti al Sacro Collegio della Propaganda Fide;
- Palazzo dei Santi Apostoli affiancato alla Basilica dei Santi Apostoli;
- Palazzo contiguo alla Chiesa di San Carlo ai Catinari;
- Palazzo del Datari presso il Palazzo del Quirinale;
- Palazzo della Cancelleria tra Corso Vittorio Emanuele e Campo de' Fiori;
- Palazzo della Propaganda Fide a Piazza di Spagna.
- Palazzo del Sant'Uffizio adiacente a Porta Cavalleggeri, accanto a piazza San Pietro;
- Palazzo della Congregazione della Chiesa Orientale, già Palazzo dei Convertendi in Piazza Scossacavalli - ora non più in essere, e spostato ad un palazzo vicino;
- Palazzo del Vicariato in Via Della Pigna, alla fine di Corso Vittorio Emanuele e vicino a Piazza del Gesù;
- Università Gregoriana in Via Del Seminario, vicino alla Chiesa di Sant'Ignazio.
- Università Gregoriana alla Pilotta, di fronte a Piazza di Pilotta;
- Istituto Biblico in Piazza di Pilotta;
- Istituto Archeologico, Istituto Orientale, Collegio Lombardo e Collegio Russo in Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore;
- I due Palazzi di Sant'Apollinare tra Piazza Sant'Apollinare e Via della Serola;
- La Casa di Riposo per il Clero dei Santi Giovanni e Paolo, compreso il Nympheum di Nerone, sul Colle Celio.
- proprietà della Santa Sede al di fuori di Roma:
- Palazzo Pontificio e Villa Barberini nella città di Castel Gandolfo (vedi Castel Gandolfo (Palazzo Pontificio)).
- Area di Santa Maria di Galeria, che ospita gli impianti della Radio vaticana. Questa superficie, concessa dall'Italia alla Santa Sede negli anni Cinquanta, è molto più estesa del territorio dello Stato (44 ettari).
- proprietà cedute alla Santa Sede e non extraterritoriali:
- Basilica della Santa Casa a Loreto, in provincia di Ancona;
- Basilica di San Francesco ad Assisi, in provincia di Perugia.
- Basilica di Sant'Antonio di Padova a Padova.

Voci correlate

- Santa Sede
- Città del Vaticano
- Stato Pontificio categoria:Vaticano

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