Hoyle Playing Cards
The feel of paper playing cards is something that a lot of people are accustomed to. So, when I ran these decks of Hoyle paper cards through our tournametns, no one had anything bad to say about how the decks handled. they weren't too slippery, too thin, too thick, too much of anything to make notes about.
The cards themselves came in shrink-wrapped decks. I picked up a blue back and a red back deck so I could run them both in the tournament at the same time, and not worry about combined decks accidentally when I combined tables.
The blue used for the backs of the decks was intensely dark. They almost seemed black, kind of like the colors the New York Yankees use for their hats and uniforms.
New boxes of Hoyles
The cards I bought were not jumbo index. That's fine, and probably works much better for games where players actually handle the cards, like gin rummy. For our holdem games, I had become used to the large faces. They are easier to see from across the table, which is a good thing when you're playing community card poker games.
Out of the package, a deck of Hoyles measured .5768" tall. That puts them in the thinner category of the paper cards I've looked at. But, saying that makes it seem like they're something they are not. They aren't unusually thin by any means, they just aren't as thick as brands like Bee, that's all.
Blue Back - Standard Index - Red Face Card - Ace of Spades
The wax coating on the cards isn't something I would want to test against a spill. But, that's true of any paper card I've seen. They were, however, coated well enough to stand up to some serious time at the tables. They've just recently "lost their shuffle", and I had had them in play for maybe 12 hours of play time.
One deck did meet an early demise when a card was bent during a shuffling, but that is the difference between paper and plastic. It wasn't a defect in the Hoyle brand, any paper card would've bent in that situation.
Players have a habit of straining the cards to look at them, and these cards held up to that relatively well. Cards also tend to bow in the middle after repeated shuffling. I was able to reshape these decks and get a bit of extra life out of them by bending them back into shape, so to speak.
Overall, I'm pleasantly surprised by these decks. They are paper cards, so I don't look at them as miniature works of art. But, they lasted longer than I was expecting, and held their shuffle through many hours of use. I have to say that they are a good product in my eyes.
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