Playing Cards
Playing cards are the most important element in a game of poker. With no cards, there is no game. You can play without chips, without a table, without anything else, but cards are a must.
When it comes to choosing a deck of cards to use for your game there are more options than you might think at first.
The first thing to think about is whether you are interested in paper cards or plastic cards. Each has it's own strengths and weaknesses.
The choices continue with deciding on the size of the cards you want to use. Playing cards for American cards games come in two basic sizes. There are bridge-sized cards (2.25 x 3.5 inches)
and poker-sized cards (2.5 x 3.5 inches). The poker size cards are wider, but there is no reason that bridge-sized cards cannot be used to play poker.
The narrower bridge-sized cards may be a better fit for games where you will be holding your cards in your hands like gin or rummy 500.
Another choice you have when buying a deck of cards is the size of the printing on the face side of the cards. You can choose from standard index, which is the smallest, jumbo index which is a larger print, or magnum index which is the largest available.
Jumbo Index vs Regular Index
Standard Index |
Jumbo Index |
The smaller print is a better fit with games like gin or bridge while larger print is both easier on more tired eyes, and also a better fit for "board card" games like Omaha or Holdem.
Because plastic cards are more of an investment, I've begun my card reviews with several different setups of plastic cards. You can read the reviews to get a better idea of the qualities of the different plastic cards and see if they would fit your needs well by reading through the reviews.
