Glasses That See Through Cards? Best 17 Answer

Ultimately it will depend on a lot more factors than the casino, but I think I can somehow answer the question

does this lack of reuse affect the build quality of the cards?

First, I should note that when I started googling for an answer to this, it’s perfectly clear that there isn’t a definitive answer to this. This answer assumes you are talking about plastic playing cards since paper playing cards have such a short lifespan that they probably couldn’t be resold.

There are also many discrepancies as to how long a casino even uses a deck before it is retired. I’ve seen hints that the Bellagio has been using a plastic deck of playing cards for poker for two months, but that’s not official or even endorsed. The same site has a user who said he saw on a TV show that cards are used anywhere from 2 to 24 hours depending on the game and how they are shuffled, a claim impossible to verify. This probably refers more to games like blackjack where the house’s money is at stake and they want to make sure no money is lost because players could identify cards.

The best information I could find regarding casino cards was on the COPAG Cards website. When they talk about using their cards in casinos, they say

The main use for 100% plastic playing cards in the casino is in the poker room. Because poker is a game where players handle the cards extensively, plastic cards are preferred due to the durability and added security they offer over their paper counterparts. COPAG cards are used in casinos around the world and are dealt in many of the top poker rooms in the United States.

Later in the same FAQ there is this question and answer:

How long are COPAG cards valid? The longevity of your COPAG cards depends on how they are treated during gameplay. Therefore, we cannot give an exact duration of how long they will last. However, playing cards made of 100% plastic last significantly longer than playing cards made of paper.

Here I’m going to do some fuzzy logic. Given that on the same site they a.) talk about their cards being used for poker in casinos and b.) they talk about the lifespan of their cards as if they were answering anyone who might buy their cards (and You can buy COPAG cards). from their website), I would think that the used cards you buy at a casino are no different in quality from the cards you might buy new at a store, other than that they have already been used.

I’m not sure how long a pack of plastic cards typically lasts, as that also depends on how often it’s used, how roughly it’s shuffled, and a myriad of other factors. If you knew this, you might surmise that any used package you buy at a casino either 1) months of almost constant play will take away from its lifespan if it has been used for poker, or 2) a much shorter time, possibly just a few hours of play reduced from their lives if used in games where the house’s money is at stake.

To edit:

Numbers I noticed shortly after posting this that there are separate purchase tabs for retail and casinos on the COPAG website so some clarification is needed. On the retail purchase tab, the plastic poker cards are measured at 63mm x 88mm. On the casino tab, the size of the plastic poker cards is 63mm x 88mm. They are the same size.

Also, I would think that for economic reasons there is no qualitative difference between the two. It wouldn’t be cost effective to have separate machines for different grades of plastic for different cards, but changing the pattern on the back would be fairly easy.

gaming guru

The playing cards used in casinos today are manufactured to a much higher quality than standard decks sold to the general public. However, since they are used at a much higher rate than cards played at home, they are also discarded at a much greater rate. Some casinos change a deck of cards every few hours, while changing decks in, say, a six-deck shoe game could take a full eight-hour shift. A question that arises is: how many decks of cards do casinos use? One answer is that the United States Playing Card Company, the largest manufacturer of playing cards in the world, sells more than 20 million decks to casinos every year. When decks are removed from a game, casinos take great measures to ensure they don’t reappear. Cards are “voided” to prevent one or more cards from later being reintroduced into a game. It is simply a security issue to stop cheating at the casino. Some casinos cancel the cards themselves, while others send them to companies who do the cancellation for them. Most Nevada casino cards are sent to one of the state jails where the “residents” cancel them. After being returned to a casino, decks are given away to customers, sold in gift shops or donated to charities, and sometimes sent to military organizations around the world. Removing or adding more to a deck changes the game’s odds of winning. This is certainly not only frowned upon by casino management, but also by the state. In fact, it is a crime in the state of Nevada to change the outcome of a deck of cards by changing the cards. If a person is convicted of this offense, even for the first offense, it is punishable by imprisonment for not less than one year in state prison. It should also be noted that many other states follow Nevada’s enforcement guidelines. The decks themselves are “cancelled” in a variety of ways. Some are trimmed at one or two of the corners of the deck, or diagonal corners are rounded, usually by an industrial cutter. Some are simply marked with a black ink marker across the side of the deck. Some decks are broken off by simply drilling a hole through the center of the entire deck. The cards are then sorted, bagged, resealed and sent back to the companies or casino. Regardless of what method is used to deform the deck, if a canceled card were reintroduced into a deck, it would be quickly recognized by a dealer. Players can obtain these decks and use them as souvenirs of casinos they have visited. They can also be used as a small but unique gift for a friend back home. There is also a need to get a deck so that one can practice to become a better player. How can you get one of these unique prizes? There are many ways that are inexpensive or sometimes even free. First, ask a pit boss in a blackjack pit. If he doesn’t have them to give away, he may send you to the Player Rewards Center, where decks are given away to customers who sign up for a player card. Another place where you’re almost certain to find a canceled deck is in the gift shop. You can expect to pay for these decks, but they’re usually inexpensive, ranging from 25 cents to two dollars. Pick up a deck of casino cards the next time you visit a casino. Owning your own personal casino deck can bring back fond memories of an exciting, entertaining, and maybe even profitable visit. There could also be a chance that a rich or famous person has won thousands of dollars at that casino you have a deck of and now you own these lucky cards. That would be a great story to tell people back home. BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW • In 1685, the supply ship for the French New World colony of Quebec was delayed by several months. The intendant (governor) of the colony had no money to pay his troops. He would take decks of playing cards, cut them into quarters, write a monetary value on each card, and use them until they could later be exchanged for French currency. • Each king in a deck of cards represents a great king in history. Spades – King David, Clubs – Alexander the Great, Hearts – Charlemagne and Diamonds – Julius Caesar. • The image of the king used in most standard playing cards today is said to be based on Charles I, the English monarch who was beheaded in 1649. • The modern four suit playing card system; Spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs originated in France around 1480.• The first woodcuts on paper were actually playing cards. The term Kartenmahler or Kartenmacher appears in German 1402.• For playing cards, a full written specification of a particular card should be given first by its rank, followed by its suit, e.g. B. “Ace of Spades”. The shorthand should also list the rank first: A?.

UV Invisible Inks, Pads & Pens Blacklight/Ultraviolet (UV) Visible – Isopropyl Alcohol Based Our invisible ink uses special high brightness UV (UV) blacklight visible compounds. The Invisible glows in bright blue and UV or black light, including our special UV flashlight. Under normal light, this ink is completely invisible. This ink is only visible when illuminated with a UV or black light emitting in the 350nm to 385nm light range. The ink is permanent and can be applied to paper, some plastics, skin, wood, and almost any substance. The ink does not wash off, but will eventually wear off when applied to the skin. Ink may smudge when rubbed on some shiny materials such as glass and some plastics. The ink will fade when exposed to sunlight for about 1 week. If the ink is not exposed to the sun, it will last indefinitely. If you’re marking plastic, you should try the acetone-based invisible red ink or the MEK-based invisible yellow ink. Different types of plastics and different types of surface finishes after an ink may be smeared when rubbed after drying. Depending on the light used, this ink will appear blue or white depending on the UV light used. Please see the images below for how the colors look. Applications Access control at parties, nightclubs, dances, special events Security codes For invisibly marking personal belongings Beverage hand stamps Permanently mark or sign documents to prevent forgery and fraud Ink can be seen by police departments under a UV lamp The ink used in our Ink used is a special invisible ink with slow evaporation pads. Because pads have a large surface area when open, we use a slower drying ink than our regular quick drying ink. Use our special UV ink pad to refill the ink pad. The ink pad comes in a sealed ziplock pouch. When the pad is not in use, the pad should be stored in a sealed bag to prevent the ink from evaporating. Small Invisible UV Ink Pen Jumbo Invisible UV Ink Pen – Available in regular, quick drying and slow drying ink. UV lamps, which cause invisible inks to fluoresce, are a popular method of allowing visitors back into amusement parks and other facilities where re-entry control is required. LDP High-Visibility Inks can be applied to the visitor’s hand upon exiting the park. Upon re-entering the park, the visitor places the stamped hand under the UV lamp to cause the ink to fluoresce. The quick-drying ink becomes invisible within seconds. The slow-drying ink leaves a visible mark for approximately 15 minutes. The slow-drying ink is useful when you want to temporarily see the mark to check its placement. Re-registration colors are designed for use in amusement parks, swimming pools, social gatherings, bars/nightclubs and sporting events. Inks are quick-drying and non-transferable. High Brightness Blue Inks are sold in the following bottle sizes: 1/4 ounce 1/2 ounce 1 ounce 2 ounce UV Ink Pad To order, click here! Ink pad with invisible ink. The microcellular pad holds a large amount of ink and lasts much longer than traditional sponge or felt pads. The block can be re-inked with our bottled UV ink. High Brightness Blue UV Ink We recommend that you also order replacement UV ink pad when you order the ink pad. The UV ink used is alcohol based and evaporates faster than traditional oil based visible inks. UV Stamping Ink is only available in 2 ounce size. Order Bottled UV Ink Here 1/4 oz Bottle High Vis Light Blue Invisible Ink Teflon Coated Glass Bottle Glass Bottle with Teflon Coated Cap Order Here 2 oz Bottle of High Vis Light Blue Invisible Ink Teflon Coated Cap Glass Bottle The 2 oz bottle with blue invisible ink is also available with stamping ink, which dries more slowly. Due to the slower drying process, ink pads do not dry out as quickly as normal UV ink. Order UV Pens Here Fiber Tip Pen Jumbo Marker Pen Order Here UV Powder Non-Toxic Invisible When Mixed Non-Reactive Long Term Stability Highly Fluorescent Order Here

Most invisible ink messages can be made visible by heating the paper they are written on. The ink weakens the fibers in the paper, causing the message to discolor (burn) before the rest of the paper.

Message aside, the real secret is how to reveal it without setting your paper on fire.

Tip: Do not use a lighter, match or open flame to reveal your message with invisible ink. You can place the paper over a lightbulb with pretty good results, but it’s hard to tell if your paper is hot enough so you may not know if your paper is blank or you just can’t see the message.

Better Methods

You can iron your paper, but don’t use steam. This is probably the best method. A hot iron on your hair will also work.

Another easy method is to swirl the paper over a hot stove. If you have a secret message written in invisible ink, you’ll start to see the paper warp when it gets hot.

As you continue to heat the paper, the message will darken to a gold or brown color.

It’s still possible to ignite your message if you use a stove, but it’s much less likely than if you use fire.

writing instrument, ink

Try using a broken toothpick as the pen and saliva or lemon juice as the ink. You can even use pure water to write the message.

The message doesn’t get any darker, but when you first heat the paper, the fibers that were moved when the paper absorbed the water bulge out a bit.

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Our IR inks and pens are a new class of high security inks. These inks are completely invisible to the human eye, but can be seen with a device that can see in the infrared range – such as a B. our modified cameras and camcorders. These inks do not fluoresce in the visible range, cannot be seen with ultraviolet light, and cannot be seen by the human eye alone.

IR1 ink has excitation and emission peaks very similar to indocyanine green (ICG), but IR1 ink is much more stable. Once mixed with water, ICG has a shelf life of less than 24 hours. The IR1 ink in the pen lasts for months, although it does fade after about 1 week in sunlight.

The human eye can see from about 400 nm (violet) to about 700 nm (red). The human eye cannot see below 400 nm or above 700 nm. Below 400nm is the ultraviolet range and above 700nm is the infrared range. For more information, see our Vision FAQ.

The nm stands for nanometer and is a measure of length. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter. The measurement is made for a full wavelength of light.

Properties of the IR1 ink

Ink color invisible on white paper. Faint green at the pen tip. Stimulation (Absorption) Frequency 793 nm Emission Frequency 840 nm Ink Solvent Alcohol (Ethanol)

Properties of IR2 ink

Ink color invisible on white paper. Faint blue on the pen tip. Stimulation (Absorption) Frequency 824 nm Emission Frequency 885 nm Ink Solvent Alcohol (Ethanol)

Order here

Our IR1 ink fluoresces at 840nm and has a maximum stimulation frequency (absorption) of 793nm. That means if you want to see the writing on this pen, you can do it in two ways

1: Look at where the ink absorbs light

The easiest way is to look at where the ink absorbs light. Since the ink absorbs light at 793nm and emits light at 840nm, you want to filter out the 840nm light and look at the 793nm part. If you use one of our XNite 715nm filters on an IR sensitive camera or camcorder you can see the writing as dark spots.

We use a fairly concentrated form for the IR ink, which can result in a very light green mark that is just about visible to the human eye when the mark is on white paper. With our 630nm filter, the human eye can see the IR ink fairly well unaided. Some customers have used these filters to make custom glasses to make the ink easier to view. You can also use the FG600 forensic glasses to see the IR1 ink and the FG490 glasses to see the IR2 ink.

FG600 Forensic Goggles

FG490 Forensic Goggles

Our IR reader can see our IR ink. Learn more about the IR Reader here.

2: Look at where the ink fluoresces

Another way to see this ink is to look at the fluorescence of the ink. The ink fluoresces in the same way that our UV inks fluoresce, but IR1 ink fluoresces outside of the human visible range.

You can use visible or invisible light to excite the IR ink to fluoresce. The fluorescence of the ink is always in the infrared range.

Visible Light / IR Fluorescence Stimulation: Using an ordinary red laser pointer, illuminate the spot with the IR ink. If you are using an IR camera with a 780nm filter you will see the IR ink as a bright white dot. The camera cannot see the laser pointer.

IR stimulation / IR fluorescence: This method has the advantage that both the stimulation source and the emission are invisible to the human eye. However, the equipment is more difficult to set up. You can illuminate with an infrared laser or narrow band IR source in the 715nm to 800nm ​​range while viewing with an IR camera with an 830nm filter. It is important that the IR illumination is limited to below 800nm, otherwise the IR camera will see the illumination source.

The easiest way to see the ink is to use a 715nm filter like our XNite715 with an infrared sensitive camera or camcorder.

Normal view. IR writing inside the box is invisible.

Viewing IR ink absorption with a modified Fuji F30 camera and XNite715 filter.

Viewing IR ink fluorescence with a modified Fuji F30, XNite780 filter, 16LEDRed flashlight with concentrating lens.

Pen model: IR1PenSm:

IR1 ink lettering on white copy paper Normal view.

These images were taken under normal light on standard white copy paper with writing from our IR1PenSm. The paper appears completely white.

IR1 ink on white photocopy paper viewed in infrared.

These images are under normal light with an XNite 715nm filter in conjunction with one of our IR enabled digital cameras.

The best way to see this writing from the IR1PenSm is using external IR sensitive devices. On white paper you may notice a very faint green mark from the pen. A 630nm filter allows you to see the writing with the human eye.

You can use or IR1 ink to mark objects invisible to the human eye. We are the sole manufacturer of this ink and we do not know anyone who sells such a product. Since you need special equipment to see the writing from the ink, it’s highly unlikely that a casual or even curious person will figure out how to see the ink, let alone find a way to duplicate it.

The IR1 ink degrades under the sun’s UV rays in approximately 1 week. If the marked object is covered or kept out of the sun, the ink will last much longer.

Another way to see the IR1 Ink is using our Dual Cam which has a visible camera and an IR camera equipped with an internal 850nm bandpass filter and using our XNiteFlashF780 780nm IR flashlight and covering the 850nm IR LEDs with black tape. When you illuminate the ink with the 780nm flashlight, the IR1 ink glows in the infrared camera.

Visible camera side. IR1 ink written on yellow paper.

IR camera side. 850nm IR LEDs covered. Ink illuminated with our XNiteFlash780 780nm IR Flashlight.

Used

The title of “World’s Rarest Trading Card” is split between two quite different cards: the 1996 World Champion and the Shichifukujin Dragon. There is only one copy of each map worldwide. The 1996 World Champion was presented to Tom Changpheng (Australia) in 1996 and all other copies of it were ceremoniously destroyed along with the printing plates at the end of that year’s World Tournament. The Shichifukujin Dragon, created to celebrate the opening of the DCI Tournament Center in Tokyo, Japan, is also the only one of its kind in existence. In Japanese mythology, “Shichifukujin” is the name given to the seven gods of fortune.

All records listed on our website are current and up to date. For a full list of record titles please use our record application search. (You must register/login to access)

The comments below may refer to the previous holders of this record.

The history of playing cards is in some ways the same as the history of the hammock. Beginning, depending on who you ask, sometime around the ninth century, or the 11th or 13th century, the deck of cards spread because everyone who saw them for the first time immediately realized how much fun they could be, just tried to get some for herself and introduced them to everyone who knows them. This is how the hammock spread out.

But playing cards, unlike hammocks, have something mysterious about them. The amount of things, basic things that no one knows about the card game is amazing. For something that is itself a document, playing cards are impressively undocumented.

For much of the world, clues to these mysteries are invisible. One deck dominates the modern playing card industry: 52 cards, four familiar suits, two suits, inflexible dimensions. But it’s not the only deck. In other decks there are bells and acorns and swords, cards that are round or incredibly tall and thin, decks that are over a hundred or under 25 cards. Given how much time we’re all spending at home these days, the idea of ​​a massive selection of playing card variations, each with their own game world, is incredibly enticing. But where they all came from, well, that’s one of the mysteries.

An 1843 illustration of women in China playing cards. public domain

The most fundamental question in the history of playing cards – where were they invented and by whom – has no conclusive answer. “There are various theories about this,” says Peter Endebrock, playing card historian, scholar and collector from Germany. “They’re from Asia, that’s the only thing that’s pretty clear, but where exactly they came from and how they got to Europe isn’t clear.” Historians of playing cards generally assume that playing cards originated in either China or Persia possibly in India, but again documentation is scarce.

Some sources cite a Chinese game called Yezi ge, which translates to “game of hands,” as the first game to use playing cards. There is evidence that Yezi ge was being played as early as the 8th century. But a 2009 study found that there is no evidence that the “hands” actually referred to playing cards, and suggests that the “hands” may actually have been the pages of the game’s instruction book – and that the game how other Chinese dice used games of the time did. In fact, no one seems to have even suggested that Yezi ge was a card game until the 15th century, which is about the time card playing really took off around the world. This 2009 study cites a police file from 1294 as the earliest clear record of playing cards. A few gamblers in Shandong, China were arrested and their cards and printing blocks confiscated.

This is a recurring problem with candidates for the world’s oldest playing cards: it’s unclear whether they are playing cards at all. There are fragments of card-sized parchment from the 13th century in some museums, including the Keir Collection of Islamic Art in Dallas, but it is not certain whether they were actual playing cards or simply scraps of parchment that look like playing cards.

To be clear, we make a distinction between maps and tiles. Mahjong, for example, uses colors and numbers and symbols on individual tiles, but these are traditionally tiles and not cards. Maps are printed; Tiles are formed. The line can get a little blurry since you can play mahjong with cards, and I suppose you could make a solid non-shuffleable deck of wooden poker cards, but scholars disagree. Tile games probably predate card games, with craps and board games being as old as recorded history.

A fragment of a mid-13th century playing card (from the series of cups) from Egypt. The Keir Collection of Islamic Art/Dallas Museum of Art

The oldest complete deck of playing cards in the world is called the Cloisters Deck, named for the museum — the medieval Cloisters site of the Metropolitan Museum of Art — where it was identified and dated. Dating to the late 15th century, it was probably made in the Burgundian Netherlands and is very recognizable by modern standards. There are 52 cards in four suits, with both numbered and face cards. The other most famous very old deck is called the Mamluk cards and is in the Topkapı Palace Museum in Istanbul. It’s not entirely complete, dating from around 1500. (Some of the cards in the deck are probably much younger, as it seems someone snagged one from another deck to replace something missing, like using a chess piece as a hotel in Monopoly .)

Most sources agree that playing cards appeared quite suddenly in Europe sometime before these well-known decks. Michael Dummett, a prominent philosopher, academic, and one of the founders of the International Playing-Card Society (to which the most prominent card scholars today belong), suggests that it was in the last quarter of the 13th century. This occurs around the time of a major interaction between Christian Europe and the Islamic powers in the form of the Crusades. Huge groups of Christian and Muslim soldiers fought during the Crusades, but that’s probably not all they did. “If soldiers have nothing to do, which is usually the case, what do they do? Today they play video games, but back then they played cards,” says Emilia Maggio, historian, translator and board member of the International Playing-Card Society. Maggio grew up in Sicily and mainly focuses on Italian maps.

It seems entirely possible, albeit unproven, that playing cards were introduced to Europe during the Crusades by bored soldiers. These Mamluk maps in Istanbul, for example, are essentially identical in arrangement to modern Spanish maps, which makes sense since Granada was literally an emirate until 1492.

However playing cards got into their hands, Europeans loved them. At first they were primarily for the wealthy because they had to be hand painted and could be very elaborate, with exotic colors and beautiful designs. The Mamluk cards, for example, are so thoroughly ornate that it can be difficult to tell which card it is. Even before Gutenberg’s printing press, other less sophisticated printing machines could produce playing cards because they require far fewer variations than, say, a book. Individual countries or regions within Europe created who knows how many different decks. A wealthy son of a Florentine family might come home after playing cards on his Grand Tour and ask a local painter to create a set of cards for himself in order to have a whisper-down-the-lane collection of various decks create.

Cards from the 15th century Cloisters deck. The Metropolitan Museum

The Cloisters deck uses hunting-themed suits, which were fairly common. The suits could be hounds, deer, decoys and the like. Some had suits that represented the ruling families of Europe like a lily to France. But towards the end of the 15th century, as the printing press and the popularity of maps reached a critical mass, design and layout began to be standardized. There are some obvious advantages to such standardization of leisure time. You can play the same games with different decks because these decks all contain the same cards, the same number, and the same suits.

But there wasn’t a single dominant standard, at least not yet. Four different decks became widespread in Europe: the German, the Swiss, the French and the Latin (the latter is used in Spain and Italy and has very slightly different designs of the same suits). These have been described since the late 15th century. It is believed that the Latin deck came first as it is pretty much the same as the Islamic Mamluk cards, followed by the Swiss, German and then French.

The Mamluk cards, as well as modern Italian and Spanish decks, use a deck of typically 40 cards, although decks of 48 or 52 cards sometimes exist. They are divided into four colors: cups, coins, swords, and batons (the latter sometimes called sticks or clubs). A 40-card deck has “pip cards,” or number cards numbered one through seven, along with three face cards for each suit. The face cards are fante (jack or jack), cavallo (knight) and re (king). These words are Italian; The Spanish versions are similar as many words are in Italian and Spanish.

German decks typically have 32 or 36 cards in four suits: acorns, leaves, hearts, and bells. The closely related Swiss deck has 36 cards in four suits, with roses instead of leaves. None of these three decks—Latin, German, or Swiss—further subdivide these suits by suit. Only the French do that. The German maps also differ in their composition; To get these 32 cards, each of the four suits has “pip cards” or number cards from seven through ten. ” Senior Officer), könig (king) and ace (ace). These pip and face cards are essentially the same in the Swiss deck.

A reproduction of some Mamluk maps (coins, scimitar, mug and polo mallet) alongside a modern map for the size. Courtesy of Heather Rocchi

The French deck is by far the most popular playing card deck in the world. The French deck is also often used in countries with their own standardized decks, such as Italy or Germany. It has 52 cards of four suits (hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades) in two suits (red and black). The popularity of the French deck is due to a few factors. For one, the suits are simply the simplest in design, making them easy and cheap to print. Second, this deck has been the favorite of the most aggressive imperialist powers of the past few centuries: France, Great Britain, and the United States. It is also the deck used for some of the most popular games in the world, including bridge and poker, although the popularity of these games owes more to the deck’s widespread use than any cause.

These four decks are the most cited in the west, but they’re not the only decks out there. Aside from decks printed for specific games like Uno, there are tons of them. We also need to put aside tarot decks, which are kind of their own thing.

Just because it’s fascinating, here’s the deal with tarot. Researchers, particularly Dummett (who is somewhat of a legend in the community of playing card scholars), have made it their mission to demystify tarot decks. Tarot decks came later as matching decks and were simply new cards added to existing playing card decks, first in Italy in the mid-15th century where they were called “triumph cards”. (This later mutated to “Trump.”) They were not, according to all research, intended for any occult divination, but for some fun new games, versions of which are still played today. Tarot decks are annoyingly complicated trump decks, much like bridge. The occult cartomancy trend only dates from the late 17th century and was created by a French pastor who believed (completely wrong, but very seriously) that the cards were a compendium of ancient Egyptian wisdom, that of Thoth, the Egyptian god of knowledge , was passed on. This pastor provided no documentation of his beliefs, and scholars are fairly convinced they are not true, which makes using tarot cards for divination a bit like trying to predict the future with a deck of Uno cards see. But tarot cards are artful and cool, so the card legend took off.

However, there are many decks of cards outside of Europe. In Japan, before European contact, matching games were played with painted shells. Interacting with Portuguese traders prior to Japan’s isolationist period resulted in playing cards that eventually evolved into a more Japanese style. One deck, Uta-Garuta, is a matching deck of cards on which classical poetry was written. Later versions of Japanese playing cards include hanafuda, or flower cards, which have 12 flower-themed suits, one for each month, and 48 cards in a deck. Nintendo was originally founded to sell Hanafuda cards, and in fact still does.

Hanafuda playing cards used in Japan. ICHIRO/Getty Images

In China, a deck called “money-suit cards” is believed by some to be an ancestor of Islamic and European four-suit decks. This deck contains 38 cards in four suits, all money-based: Coins, Chains of Coins, Myriads of Strings, and Myriads (of Strings, of Coins). China, befitting a gigantic and diverse country that may or may not have invented playing cards at all, has many more decks of playing cards than that. In some games, non-card pieces, such as dominoes or Chinese chess, have been converted into cards.

India has its own older style of playing cards, although it’s much less standardized than other decks. Most, if not all, of these decks, called Ganjifa in most of the country and Ganjapa in the state of Odisha, are circular. Designs, number of cards and number of suits vary enormously – from eight to twelve suits and 48 to 120 cards. And some cards were printed in circular Indian style but with French suits and card designs.

There are many, many smaller or recently extinct decks out there. One of my favorites is the card deck of the Galician Jews who made their own cards to avoid using the European cards which are full of Christian imagery. The deck and the blackjack-like game played with it is called Kvitlech, and the deck contains only 24 cards. It’s mostly dead now, but was played on Hanukkah, where it must have been a lot more fun than playing Dreidels.

There are many stories behind the suits in the modern standard deck. Amanda Jones/Unsplash

With European decks, no one really knows how and why their special suits evolved. “There are many theories about this, but I don’t really believe in any of them because they can’t be proven,” says Endebrock. These theories all feel like conjecture, just stories that just kind of fit the evidence. Perhaps some suits are meant to indicate aristocracy and others peasantry (diamonds and spades). Perhaps some were for peace and others for war (Cups and Swords). What’s most likely is coincidence: a rich count in Italy or Bavaria or wherever decided to print some maps for fun and asked his painter to make some acorns because he loved oaks.

Today, the popularity of the French deck and the games that use it has had a strangling effect on most other decks out there. “At the beginning of the last century there was a clear separation between where French and where German was spoken,” says the German Endebrock. “But these days they use French suit cards everywhere in Germany.” That’s the story worldwide. But maybe it shouldn’t be. I have never thrown down an Unter of Bells in triumph. It seems worth it.

Playing card with increased rank

“No trump” redirects here. For movements against Donald Trump, see Anti-Donald Trump Protests

A trump is a playing card that is raised above its usual rank in trick-taking games. Typically, a whole suit is nominated as the trump suit; these cards then rank higher than all cards of plain (non-trump) suits. In other contexts, the terms trump card or trump card refer to any type of action, authority, or policy that automatically takes precedence over all others.

Etymology[ edit ]

The English word trump derives from trionfi, a type of 15th-century Italian playing card, from Latin triumphus “triumph, triumphal procession”, ultimately (via Etruscan) from Greek θρίαμβος, the term for a hymn to Dionysus, performed in processions in his honor was sung.

Trionfi was the 15th-century card game for which tarot cards were designed. Trionfi were a fifth suit in the deck that acted as permanent trumps. As late as the 15th century, the French game Triomphe (Spanish triunfo) used four suits, one of which was chosen at random as a trump. This game became extremely popular in Western Europe in the 16th century and is the ancestor of many modern card games.

The English word is first documented in 1529 as the name of a deck of cards that would evolve into Ruff and Honor and eventually whist.[1] In German the term 1541 is attested as triumph; the modern German spelling Trumpf is documented from 1590.[2] Triomphe remained the name of the game in French, while the trump suit was called atout, from à tout (so to speak, “all-in”).[3] Some European languages ​​(Hungarian, Greek) have adopted the French term. Russian козырь kozyr’ is of unknown etymology, possibly on loan from a Turkic source. Polish uses atut, trumf, and kozer in various ways, borrowed from French, German, and Russian, respectively.

Trump in card games[ edit ]

In most games, the relative rank of cards within a suit is the same in trump and plain suits, but they can sometimes differ, for example in Klabberjass, Euchre or Eighty Points.

The trump suit may be fixed as in spades, rotate on a fixed schedule, or depend on the outcome of the previous hand as in ninety-nine, be determined by the random drawing of a card as in bezique, the last card dealt to a specific player like in Whist, by the first card played as in Nine Card Don, by a particular player as in Barbu, or players may bid for the right to choose the trump suit as in Contract Bridge or Skat.

In most games, trump cards cannot be played if the player has cards of the suit that led to the trick. the demand for a “follow suit” has higher priority. In some games trumps can be played at any time. Playing the first trump to a trick already in progress is called trumping or ruffing. If another player played a higher trump, that would be an overruff or overtrump.

The tarot deck contains a fifth suit, known in games as Atouts or Honors and in occult circles as the Major Arcana, which serves as the permanent trump suit in games using the tarot deck. The suit consists of twenty-two cards, including a jester, which serves as the highest trump (in Central Europe) or excuses players to follow the suit elsewhere.[5]

Primarily due to the prevalence of trumps in card games, the term used in Japan for the standard 52-card deck is toranpu (トランプ), derived from the English word “trump”.[6]

See also[edit]

Appreciation of old playing card decks

How much are these playing cards worth?

Every once in a while—and much more often when I’m busy—a reader will email me describing an old deck of cards and asking how much the deck is worth.

Putting monetary value on an old deck of cards is like putting monetary value on an antique or collectible. The short and most accurate answer is that your old deck of cards is worth whatever someone else is willing to pay you for it.

As I don’t wish to pursue a career as an appraiser of old playing cards, and since I doubt that anyone would actually want to pay me reasonable money for such an appraisal, I will instead offer some advice on how you and other mailers can save time and be free to choose how much the old deck is worth.

Factors affecting the value of a deck of playing cards are: attractiveness, scarcity, completeness and condition. Of these, desirability ranks first. Your deck may be scarce, complete, and in great condition, but if no one else wants it, it’s worth nothing. On the other hand, a coveted deck that is rare, complete, and in great condition could be worth a lot. I recently received an auction catalog from a German company listing some such games (very old, very popular) with estimates of one, two, three thousand euros and more.

Your deck probably isn’t worth it; but then I can’t tell.

What you need to do is identify your deck, determine if it’s desirable, and honestly assess the condition of the deck.

Let’s talk about conditioning for a moment, because now you can. Is the deck complete, or at least complete as far as you know? If it’s a standard 52-card deck, is there 52 cards? Are there additional cards, including jokers? (These extra cards add value to a deck.) Is the deck in the original packaging? Do the cards appear as good as new or are they bent, worn, cracked? Do they smell like mold? Do they smell a bit musty? How about the box? Does this look new or is it in shambles? These issues are important because if you’re trying to sell the deck to someone, be honest about it.

I have bought decks of cards from eBay which were described as in great condition and when I received them they were in terrible condition. Don’t be someone who does this. If you are unsure how to describe playing cards, obtain an auction catalog of playing cards from a reputable company and use that as a guide.

Now what about the identification of the cards themselves? This is of course the part everyone is interested in. Resources for this are few, but they are there. The most important of these sources when speaking of American playing cards is the Hochman Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards, edited by Tom and Judy Dawson. It is a great work and card collectors owe a huge debt of gratitude to the Dawsons for their excellent work on this encyclopedia. Editor’s quote: “This 332-page volume (plus 24 in color) is based on Gene Hochman’s The Encyclopedia of American Playing Cards, originally published in six parts between 1976 and 1981. A complete cataloging of American playing card manufacturers as well as details, types and brands of late 17th century to early 1930’s playing cards. 2,700 black and white illustrations, 324 color illustrations.” Of course, if you’re a playing card collector, you’ll want a copy for yourself. If not, ask your local library for a copy.

Another book I would recommend is Catherine Perry Hargrave’s A History of Playing Cards: And a Bibliography of Cards and Gaming. This is a reprint of an older work, so it contains no current information; but it is a very informative work and has the added benefit of being remarkably inexpensive.

Armed with both of these works, you have a solid understanding of the historical development of playing cards (did you know they used to have square corners?) and a reasonable chance of identifying your deck.

Of course you can also research on the internet. If your deck says “Dondorf Spiel”, search Google for Dondorf Spiel. And use eBay to see if anything like your deck is currently listed. (I like eBay; I just don’t like eBay sellers who don’t accurately describe their wares.)

Now for the last step; join (or at least contact) a group of playing card collectors. There are two in the United States and two in the UK, with the most prestigious of all groups being the International Playing-Card Society.

I hope this information is helpful to you. Finding a rare and truly valuable deck doesn’t happen every day, but it does happen; and it would be great if it happened to you!

Playing cards are known and used all over the world – and almost every corner of the world has laid claim to their invention. The Chinese claim the longest pedigree for the card game (the “game of hands” was played as early as the 9th century). The French profess their standardization of the carte à jouer and its ancestor, the tarot. And the British claim the earliest mention of a deck of cards in an authenticated register.

Today the public may know how to play blackjack or bridge, but few consider that a deck of cards is a marvel of engineering, design and history. Cards have served as amusing pastimes, high-stakes gambling, tools of occult practices, magic tricks, and mathematical models of probability – sometimes even as currency and as a medium for secret messages.

Card games reveal peculiarities of their origin. Card names, colors, emblems and designs change according to their origins and the whims of the card players themselves. These graphics tablets are not just toys or tools. They are cultural imprints that reveal folk customs.

* * *

The birthplace of common playing cards is shrouded in obscurity and conjecture, but – like gunpowder, tea or china – they almost certainly have Eastern origins. “Scientists and historians disagree about the exact origins of playing cards,” explains Gejus Van Diggele, chairman of the International Playing-Card Society (IPCS) in London. “But they generally agree that maps are propagated from east to west.”

Scrolls from China’s Tang Dynasty mention a game of paper tiles (although these resembled modern dominoes more than cards), and experts consider this to be the first written documentation of the card game. A handful of European literary references in the late 14th century point to the sudden arrival of a ‘Saracen game’, suggesting that cards originated in Arabia rather than China. Another hypothesis is that nomads brought divination cards from India, giving the card game an even longer age. In any case, commercial opportunities likely allowed the card game to be transmitted between the Far East and Europe as printing technology accelerated its cross-border production.

In medieval Europe, card games led to alcohol, gambling, and a host of other vices that lured swindlers and charlatans to the table. Card playing became so widespread and disruptive that authorities banned it. In his book The Game of Tarot, historian Michael Dummett explains that a 1377 ordinance banned card games on weekdays in Paris. Similar bans were enacted across Europe as preachers tried to regulate the game of cards, believing that “the devil’s picture book” led only to a life of depravity.

Counterfeiting an ace was a crime punishable by death.

Everyone played cards: kings and dukes, clergymen, monks and nobles, prostitutes, sailors, prisoners. But the players were responsible for some of the most notable features of modern decks.

Today’s 52-card deck preserves the four original French suits of centuries ago: clubs (♣), diamonds (♦), hearts (♥), and spades (♠). These graphical symbols or “pips” bear little resemblance to the items they represent, but they were much easier to copy than more elaborate themes. Historically, pips have been highly variable, giving way to different symbol sets rooted in geography and culture. From stars and birds to chalices and sorcerers, pips held symbolic meanings, much like the trumps of older tarot cards. Unlike the tarot, however, pips were certainly intended as a distraction rather than divination. Nonetheless, these maps retained much of the iconography that had fascinated 16th-century Europe: astronomy, alchemy, mysticism, and history.

Some historians have suggested that suits in a deck were meant to represent the four classes of medieval society. Cups and chalices (modern hearts) may have represented the clergy; Swords (spades) for the nobility or the military; coins (diamonds) for the merchants; and batons (cudgel) for peasants. But the disparity in pips from one deck to the next resists such categorization. Bells were found, for example, in early German “hunting cards”. These pips would have been a more fitting symbol of German nobility than spades, for in falconry, a sport reserved for the richest of the Rhineland, bells were often attached to a falcon’s jesses. In contrast, diamonds could have represented the upper class in French decks, as cobblestones used in church choirs were diamond-shaped, and such stones marked the graves of the aristocratic dead.

But how to explain the use of clovers, acorns, leaves, pikes, shields, coins, roses and countless other symbols? “It’s part of the folklore of this issue,” Paul Bostock, an IPCS council member, told me. “I don’t think the early cards were that logically planned.” A more likely explanation for suit brands, he said, is that they were commissioned by wealthy families. The choice of cores, therefore, reflects in part the tastes and interests of the nobles.

* * *

While pips have been highly variable, courtesan cards – now called “court cards” – have remained largely unchanged for centuries. British and French decks, for example, always feature the same four legendary kings: Charles, David, Caesar, and Alexander the Great. Bostock notes that queens have not enjoyed similar reverence. Pallas, Judith, Rachel, and Argine ruled each of the four suits in different ways, with frequent breaks. When the Spanish adopted playing cards, they replaced queens with mounted knights, or caballeros. And the Germans excluded queens from their decks entirely, dividing face cards into König (King), Obermann (Obermann), and Untermann (Untermann) — today’s Jacks. The French reintroduced the queen, while the British loved theirs so much that they introduced the “British Rule,” a variant that swaps the values ​​of the “King” and “Queen” cards when the reigning monarch of England is a woman is.

According to IPCS, the ace became known in 1765. That year England began taxing the sale of playing cards. The ace was stamped to show that the tax had been paid, and forging an ace was a crime punishable by death. To date, the ace is boldly designed to stand out.

The humble playing card becomes an important historical document.

The King of Hearts offers another oddity: the only king without a mustache, he appears to be killing himself with a sword to the head. The explanation for the “suicide king” is less dramatic. As printing spurred the rapid reproduction of decks, the integrity of the original artwork declined. As the printing blocks wore out, Bostock explained, card makers would create new sets by copying either the blocks or the cards. This process reinforced previous mistakes. Finally the very edge of our poor king’s sword disappeared.

Manual labor and high taxation made every deck of cards an investment. This is how maps became a feast for the eyes. Imaginative, highly specialized decks offered artists the opportunity to create a collectible visual essay of sorts. Playing card manufacturers produced decks intended for purposes other than simple card play, including teaching, propaganda, and advertising. Perhaps because they were so valuable, cards were often repurposed: as invitations, tickets, obituaries, wedding announcements, sheet music, bills – even as notes between lovers or from mothers who had abandoned their babies. In this way, the humble playing card sometimes becomes an important historical document, offering both scholars and hobby collectors a glimpse into the past.

While collectors preferred elaborate designs, players insisted on standard, symmetrical cards, as any variety or gimmicks served to distract from the game. For almost 500 years, the backs of cards were unprinted. But in the early 19th century, Thomas De La Rue & Company, a British stationer and printer, introduced lithographic designs such as dots, stars, and other simple prints to the backs of playing cards. The innovation offered advantages. Smooth backs easily pick up stains that “mark” the cards and make them unusable for players. In contrast, cards with patterned backs can stand up to wear and tear without revealing a cardholder’s secrets.

Years later, Bostock told me, card manufacturers added corner indices (numbers and letters) that told the cardholder the numerical value of each card and its suit. Patented during the Civil War, this simple innovation was revolutionary: indices allowed players to hold their cards in a tightly diversified hand. A furtive glance offered the experienced player a quick count of his holdings so he could bet or fold or raise, all the while sending out the most determined poker faces.

Standard decks typically contain two additional “joker” cards, each representing a traditional court jester that can be used to trump any natural card. Jokers first appeared in printed American decks in 1867, and by the 1880s British card makers had followed suit, so to speak. Oddly enough, few games use them. Because of this, the Joker is perhaps the only card that lacks an industry standard design. He appears alternately as a cunning trickster, a seducer, and an evil leprechaun – a true calling card for the debauchery and pleasure that the card game promises.

How card counting in Las Vegas can lead to an arrest

Counting cards is a legal activity; No federal or state law states that card counters are committing a criminal offense. Police officers cannot arrest you for counting cards in a casino, nor can they convict you of any criminal offense. However, before you hit the Las Vegas Strip and try counting cards, you should be aware that counting cards can land you in jail in a number of ways.

Casino burglary:

While the police can’t arrest you for counting cards, they can arrest you for trespassing. Casinos are technically private property and casino-goers must respect house rules. Many casinos have high tech cameras and security measures in place to detect and prevent card counting as this process costs money that the casino could otherwise win. If a guard has reason to believe a customer is counting cards, the guard may ask a customer to leave the table, stop playing that particular game, or leave the casino.

Most casinos will ask card counters to vacate the property once spotted. Casino security personnel may urge you to leave the table, ask you to pause a game for a period of time, or ban you from the casino altogether. If you are banned from a casino you are not allowed to come back. If you return anyway, you can expect to be charged with trespassing.

Using electronics or machines to count cards:

While the law says nothing about restricting intellectual means of counting cards, it does contain a provision against the use of electronic and mechanical means. This type of card counting is cheating as you gain an unfair advantage over the other players at the table. It’s your prerogative to use your brain to count cards as a natural advantage, but as soon as you use other means, the police can arrest you.

Non-mechanical cheating:

This brings us to cheating by non-mechanical/electrical means during a deck of cards. In Nevada, gambling control agencies prohibit cheating in casinos. Cheating during a card game is a criminal offense. Using your intellect to count cards can help you win, but it doesn’t change the game and is therefore not technically considered cheating. If you cheat, alter the outcome of the game by trading cards with other players, or add cards to the deck, a casino can arrest you.

Physical Assault on Casino Employees:

If a member of the casino team admonishes or arrests you for counting cards, you will probably feel angry, frustrated or embarrassed. Chances are you’ve been drinking and now the casino has stopped you from playing your favorite game of the night. Many people accused of counting cards make the mistake of bumping or touching security guards or other casino employees. The casino can then have you arrested for physical assault or harassment.

Misconduct:

Casinos don’t need a reason to ask you to leave. You can ask any patron to leave at any time for any reason or no reason. If you refuse to leave the casino and start acting argumentative, aggressive or just plain rude, casinos can have you arrested for disorderly conduct. If you’re asked to leave the casino, it’s best to apologize, leave the casino, and keep a low profile for a while. If the casino took your picture while holding you, they will file your face and share it with sister casinos.

If you need a Las Vegas criminal defense attorney about casino fees, contact De Castroverde Law Group for expert help. We can come to your defense if you are arrested for false ID, assault, assault, theft, disorderly conduct, trespassing and more. Call us today for a free consultation at (702) 222-9999.

Blackjack strategy used to determine the edge in upcoming hands

“Card counter” redirects here. For the film, see The Card Counter

A blackjack game is in progress

Card counting is a blackjack strategy used to determine whether the player or the dealer has an advantage in the next hand. Card counters are advantage players who try to overcome the house edge of the casino by keeping a running count of the high and low value cards dealt. They generally bet more when they have an advantage and less when the dealer has an advantage. They also change game decisions based on deck composition.

Basics[edit]

Card counting is based on statistical evidence that high cards (aces, 10s, and 9s) benefit the player, while low cards (2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, 6s, and 7s) benefit the dealer. High cards benefit the player in the following ways:

They increase the player’s chance of hitting a natural, which normally pays at odds of 3 to 2. Doubling increases the expected value. The increased ratio of tens and aces increases the likelihood of doubling down.[1] They offer the player additional splitting options. You can make the insurance bet profitable as it increases the chances of a dealer blackjack. They also increase the chances of the dealer busting. This also increases the chances of the player busting, but the player may choose to stand on lower totals based on the count.

Low cards, on the other hand, benefit the dealer. The rules require the dealer to hit stiff hands (12-16 total), and low cards are less likely to exceed those totals. A dealer holding a stiff hand will bust if the next card is a 10.[2]

Card counters don’t need unusual mental skills; They don’t track or remember specific cards. Instead, card counters assign each card a score that estimates the value of that card. You keep track of the sum of these values ​​with a “running count”.[3] The myth of counters tracking every card was depicted in the 1988 film Rain Man, in which scholar Raymond Babbitt counted through six decks with ease and a casino employee commented that it was impossible.[4][5]

Systems [ edit ]

Simple card counting systems assign each card a positive, negative, or zero value. When a card is dealt, the count is adjusted by that card’s count. Low cards increase the count; They increase the percentage of high cards in the deck. High cards decrease the count for the opposite reason. For example, the Hi-Lo system subtracts one for every 10, jack, queen, king, or ace and adds one for every card between a 2 and a 6. 7s, 8s, and 9s count as zero and have no effect on the hand Count. 6]

A card counting system aims to assign point values ​​that roughly correlate to a card’s removal effect (EOR). The EOR is the estimated effect of removing a specific card from play. Counters measure the effect of removal for all dealt cards and how it affects the current house edge. Larger ratios between scores create better correlations to actual EOR and increase the efficiency of a system. Such systems are classified as Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, etc. The level corresponds to the relationship between values.

The Hi-Lo system is a Tier 1 count; the running count never increases or decreases by more than one. A multi-level count such as Zen Count, Wong Halfs, or Hi-Opt II further differentiates card values ​​to increase accuracy. An expanded count includes values ​​such as +2 and -2 or +0.5 and -0.5. Advanced players can also count certain cards, such as aces, on the side. This happens when betting accuracy differs from game accuracy.

There are many side count techniques, including special counts used for games with non-standard profitable game options, such as: B. an over/under side bet.[7]

Tracking more data with higher counts can affect speed and accuracy. Some counters make more money playing a simple count fast than playing a complex count slowly.

This table shows some example counting systems.[8][9]

Card Strategy 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10, J, Q, K A Count Level Hi-Lo +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 0 0 0 −1 −1 1 Hi-Opt I 0 +1 +1 +1 + 1 0 0 0 −1 0 1 Hi-Opt II +1 +1 +2 +2 +1 +1 0 0 −2 0 2 KO +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 0 0 −1 −1 1 Omega II +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +1 0 −1 −2 0 2 red 7 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 0 or +1 0 0 −1 −1 1 halves +0.5 + 1 +1 +1.5 +1 +0.5 0 -0.5 −1 −1 3 zen count +1 +1 +2 +2 +2 +1 0 0 −2 −1 2 10 count +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 −2 +1 2

Design and selection of systems[ edit ]

The primary goal of a card counting system is to assign point values ​​to each card that roughly correlate to the card’s “removal effect” or EOR (i.e., the effect a single card has on the house edge when it is removed from play). allows the player to estimate the house edge based on the composition of the remaining cards to be dealt. Larger ratios between scores may correlate better with actual EOR, but increase the complexity of the system. Scoring systems may be labeled “Level 1”, “Level 2”, etc., according to the number of different point values ​​that the system requires.

The ideal system is one that can be used by the player and offers the highest average dollar return per epoch when dealt at a fixed rate. With this in mind, systems aim to achieve a balance of efficiency in three categories:[3]

Betting Correlation (BC) If the sum of all permutations of the undealt cards gives a player with optimal playing strategy a positive expectancy, there is a positive expectancy for a player placing a bet. A system’s BC measures how effectively a system informs the user of that situation. Game Efficiency (PE) Part of the expected profit comes from changing the game strategy based on the known changed composition of the cards. For this reason, a system’s PE measures how effectively it informs the player to change strategy according to the actual makeup of the undealt cards. The PE of a system is important when the effect of the PE has a large impact on the overall win, as in single and double deck games. Insurance Correlation (IC) Part of the expected gain from counting cards comes from assuming the insurance bet, which becomes profitable at high counts. An increase in IC will add value to a card counting system.

Some strategies count the ace (ace billing strategies) and others don’t (ace neutral strategies). Including aces in the count improves betting correlation since the ace is the most valuable card in the deck for betting purposes. However, since the ace can be counted as either one or eleven, including an ace in the count reduces the accuracy of game efficiency. Since PE is more important in single and double deck games and BC is more important in shoe games, counting the ace is more important in shoe games.

One way to deal with tradeoffs like this is to ignore the ace to get higher PE while maintaining a side count, which is used to detect an additional change in EV that the player will use to get additional Identify betting opportunities that would not normally be displayed by the primary card counting system.

The most commonly counted card is the Ace, as it is the most important card in achieving a balance between BC and PE. In theory, a player could keep a side count on each card and achieve a PE close to 100%, however, methods involving additional side counts for PE become exponentially more complex as you add more side counts and the human mind’s ability to quickly become overwhelmed and unable to perform the necessary calculations. Without page counts, PE can reach 70%.[3]

Because there is the potential to overwhelm the human mind when using a card counting system, another important design consideration is ease of use. Higher level systems and systems with side counts are obviously getting more difficult, and in an attempt to make them easier, unbalanced systems usually eliminate the need for a player to keep track of the number of cards/decks that have already come into play reduce costs of PE.[8]

Running counts versus true counts in balanced counting systems[edit]

The running count is the running total of the assigned value of each card. When using a balanced count (such as the Hi-Lo system), the running count is converted to a “true count” that accounts for the number of decks used. For Hi-Lo, the true count is the running count divided by the number of decks not yet dealt; This can be calculated by division or approximated as an average number of cards dealt per round multiplied by the number of rounds dealt. However, there are many variations of the true count calculation.[10]

Back-counting or “Wonging” consists of standing behind a blackjack table and counting the cards as they are dealt. Stanford Wong first proposed the idea of ​​counting backwards, hence the name.[11]

The player enters the game, or “Wong in”, when the count reaches a point where the player has an advantage. The player can then increase their bets as their edge increases or decrease their bets as their edge decreases. Some back counters prefer to flat bet and only bet the same amount once they enter the game. Some players remain at the table until the game is reshuffled, or they may “Wong out” or leave when the count reaches a level where they no longer have an advantage.

Counting backwards is generally done in 4, 6, or 8 deck shoe games, although it can be done in 1 or 2 deck pitch games. The reason for this is that the count in a shoe game is more stable, so a player is less likely to sit down for a hand or two and then have to get up. Additionally, many casinos do not allow “mid-shoe entry” in single or double deck games, making wonging impossible. Another reason is that many casinos go to more lengths to thwart card counters in their pitch games than in their shoe games since a counter has less of an edge in the average shoe game than in a pitch game.[12]

Benefits [edit]

Counting backwards differs from traditional card counting in that the player doesn’t play every hand they see. This offers several advantages. For one, the player does not play hands without a statistical advantage. This increases the player’s overall advantage. Another benefit is that the player doesn’t have to change their bet size as much (or at all). Big swings in the bet size is one way casinos spot card counters.

Disadvantages[edit]

Counting backwards also has disadvantages. One is that the player often does not stay at the table long enough to earn comps. Another downside is that some players may get irritated when players join in the middle of a game. They believe that this breaks the “flow” of the cards. However, their grudges cannot be just superstitions, as this practice will negatively affect the other players at the table; with one player less at the table when card composition becomes unfavorable, the other players will play through more hands under these conditions because they use fewer cards per hand. Likewise, they will play fewer hands in the rest of the shoe if the advantage player slips in mid-shoe when the cards get cheap; With another player, more of these cheap cards are used per hand. This affects the other players negatively, regardless of whether they count cards or not. In addition, a player entering and exiting games can attract unwanted attention from casino staff and be recognized as a card counter.

Group count[ edit ]

While an individual player can maintain their own advantage by counting backwards, card counting is most commonly used by teams of players to maximize their advantage. In such a team, a few players, referred to as “spotters,” sit at a table and play the game at the table minimum while counting (basically the “counting down”). When the count is very high, the spotter discreetly signals that the count is high (the table is “hot”) to another player known as the “Big Player”. The big player then “Wong in” and bets much larger sums (up to the table maximum) while the count is up. When the count “cools off” or the shoe is shuffled (resets the count), the big player will “Wong out” and look for other counters signaling a high count. This was the system used by the MIT Blackjack Team, whose story was in turn the inspiration for the Canadian film The Last Casino, which was later remade as Hollywood Version 21.[13]

The main advantage of group play is that the team can count multiple tables, while a single countdown player can usually only keep track of one table. This allows big players to move from table to table and maintain the high count advantage without being out of action for very long. It also allows for redundancy while the big player is seated, as both the counter and big player can maintain the count (as in Movie 21, the spotter can discreetly tell the big player the count while they are seated). Disadvantages include the need for multiple spotters who can do an accurate count, sharing the “take” among all members of the team, requiring spotters to play at a table regardless of the count (if they’re just using basic strategy, these players lose money in the long run). , and requires signals that can alert pit bosses.

A simple variation eliminates the loss of letting spotters play; The spotters simply watch the table instead of playing, signaling Wong to fold in and fold big players as usual. The disadvantages of this variant are the reduced ability of the spotter and the big player to communicate, reduced comps because the spotters are not seated, and greatly increased suspicion because blackjack is not generally considered a spectator sport in casinos except among those who actually play ( as opposed to blackjack). craps, roulette and wheels of fortune which have larger displays and therefore tend to attract more viewers).

Ranking stake sizes and the Kelly criterion[edit]

A mathematical principle called the Kelly Criterion states that bet increases should be proportional to the player’s advantage. In practice, this means the higher the count, the more a player should bet in order to take advantage of the player. Using this principle, a counter can vary the size of the bet in proportion to the advantage dictated by a count. This creates a “race ramp” based on the principles of the Kelly criterion. A betting ramp is a betting plan with a specific bet size tied to each true count in such a way that the player wagers proportionately to the player’s advantage in order to maximize bankroll growth. In summary, the Kelly Criterion requires that a player not bet unless the deck offers positive expectation; “Wonging” implements this.[14]

Expected Profit[ edit ]

In the past, blackjack played with perfect basic strategy offered a house edge of less than 0.5%. As more and more casinos switched to dealer hits soft 17 and blackjack pays 6:5, the average house edge in Nevada has increased to 1%. A typical card counter who spreads his bets fairly in a six-deck game has an edge of about 1% over the casino. Up to 2.5% advantages are possible on normal penetrations from counting 6-deck Spanish 21 for the S17 or H17 with redoubling games.[15] This amount varies based on the counter’s skill level, penetration (1 – a fraction of the cut pack), and bet range (player’s max bet divided by min bet). The variance in blackjack is high, so it can take hundreds of hours of play to hit a sizeable win. The deck will only have enough positive count to allow the player to raise the bets 10% to 35% of the time, depending on rules, penetration, and strategy.[16]

At a table where a player wagers an average of $100, a 1% edge means a player wins an average of $1 per spin. This equates to an average hourly profit of $50 if the player is dealt 50 hands per hour.

In certain circumstances, a player with a 1-15 unit bet spread with only one deck cut off from a six-deck game enjoys an edge of up to 1.2% with a standard deviation of 3.5 an average of 2.1 units bet.[17] Therefore, it is highly advisable for counters to set aside a large dedicated bankroll; A popular rule of thumb dictates a bankroll of 100 times the max bet per hand.[18][19]

Another aspect of card counting probability is that with higher counts, the player’s probability of winning a hand changes only slightly and is still less than 50%.[20] The player’s advantage over the house in such hands does not derive from the player’s probability of winning the hands. Instead, it comes from the increased probability of blackjacks, the increased win and benefits of doubling down, splitting and surrendering, and the insurance side bet that becomes profitable on high counts.

Many factors affect the expected profit, including:

The overall effectiveness of a card counting system in detecting player advantage; affects how often per period the player actually plays a hand with an advantage

The overall efficiency in creating a player advantage as a whole; A system may display a small benefit when in fact the benefit is much larger – this reduces the overall ROI of the system while it is in play.

The rules of the game.

Penetration affects almost directly the amount of player advantage that can be exploited and the rate at which hands with a player advantage are dealt.

The number of players seated at a table slows the pace of play and reduces the number of hands a player can play in any given time frame.

Speed ​​of play, tables with side bets are dealt slower than tables without them, reducing the number of hands dealt over time.

The use of an automatic shuffling machine, or in rare cases a dealer dedicated solely to shuffling a new shoe while another is in play, eliminates the need for the dealer to shuffle the shoe before dealing a new one, thereby increasing the speed of play is increased.

Legal status [ edit ]

Card counting is not illegal under UK law, nor under any federal, state or local law in the United States provided that no external card counting device or person assists the player in counting cards. However, casinos oppose this practice and try to prevent it[21][22] by banning players who are assumed to be counters. In an effort to identify card counters, casinos sometimes identify and ban players suspected of counting cards even when they are not.[23]

Atlantic City, New Jersey casinos are barred from banning card counters by a New Jersey Supreme Court ruling. In 1979, Ken Uston, a member of the Blackjack Hall of Fame, filed a lawsuit against an Atlantic City casino, claiming that casinos had no right to ban experienced players. The New Jersey Supreme Court agreed, ruling that “so complete is the state’s control of Atlantic City’s casinos that only the New Jersey Casino Control Commission has the authority to make rules to disqualify skillful gamblers.” The Commission has not enacted card counting regulations, so casinos in Atlantic City are not permitted to ban card counters. Unable to ban counters even when identified, Atlantic City casinos have increased the use of countermeasures.[25]

Macau, the only legal gambling location in China,[26] does not technically prohibit card counting, but casinos reserve the right to exclude or ban customers, as is the case in the US and UK.[27] However, the use of electronic devices to support such strategies is strictly prohibited and may result in arrest.[28]

Casino reactions [ edit ]

Detection[ edit ]

Monitoring player behavior to aid in detecting card counters falls into the hands of casino staff on the floor (“pit bosses”) and casino surveillance staff who may also use video surveillance (“the eye in the sky”) and computer analysis to to try to recognize playing behavior that indicates card counting. Early counter-strategies involved dealers learning to count the cards themselves to see the patterns in players. Many casino chains maintain databases of players they consider undesirable. Casinos can also subscribe to advantage player databases provided by agencies such as Griffin Investigations, Biometrica and OSN (Oregon Surveillance Network).[29] Griffin Investigations filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2005 after losing a defamation suit brought by professional gamblers.[30] In 2008, all Chapter 11 payments were said to be up to date and all requirements met, and information would be provided using data encryption and secure servers.[31] [vague] If a player is found in such a database, they will almost certainly be stopped from playing and asked to leave regardless of their play at the table. Therefore, for successful card counters, the ability to “cover” behavior to hide the count and avoid “drawing heat” and possibly getting banned can be just as important as the ability to play. [original research?]

Card counter detection is confirmed after a player is first suspected of counting cards; When looking for card counters, casino employees, regardless of their position, could be made aware of many things that are most common in card counting but not common to other players. These include:[32][33][34]

Big buy-ins.

Dramatic betting variations, especially when bigger bets are only placed at the end of a shoe.

Playing only a small number of hands during a shoe.

Refusal to play rated.

table hopping.

Play multiple hands.

Lifetime Wins.

Card counters can make unique game strategy deviations not typically used by non-counters. Plays like splitting tens, doubling down on soft 18/19/20, standing at 15/16, and surrendering at 14 when basic strategy says otherwise can be a sign of a card counter.

Extremely aggressive plays like splitting tens and doubling down on soft 19s and 20s are often called into the pit to alert them as they are telltale signs not only for card counters but also for hole carding.

Card counter detection technology[edit]

Several semi-automated systems have been developed to aid in card counter detection. The MindPlay system (now discontinued) scanned card values ​​as the cards were dealt. The Shuffle Master Intelligent Shoe System also scans card values ​​as cards leave the shoe. Software called Bloodhound and Protec 21[35] allows card and bet values ​​to be entered by voice to determine the player’s advantage. A more recent innovation is the use of RFID signatures embedded in casino chips, allowing the table to automatically track bet amounts.[36]

Automated card reading technology has a known potential for abuse because it can be used to facilitate the practice of preferential shuffling – letting the dealer reshuffle the cards whenever the odds are in players’ favour. To comply with licensing regulations, some blackjack protection schemes have been designed to delay access to real-time data on the remaining cards in the shoe.[37] Other vendors consider real-time notification to the monitor that a shoe is “hot” to be an important product feature.[38]

With card values, game decisions, and betting decisions conveniently accessible, the casino can analyze betting variations, game accuracy, and game variations.

betting variant. The easiest way for a card counter to make money is to bet more when they have an advantage. While playing tapes from a recent gaming session, the software can create a scatterplot of bet amount versus count at the time of the bet and find the trend line that best fits the scatter points. If the player doesn’t count cards, there is no trend; Your bet variation and count variation will not correlate consistently. If the player counts and bets vary according to the count, there will be a trend whose slope reflects the player’s average advantage from that technique.[39]

play variant. When card counters deviate from basic strategy, they do so in response to the count to gain an additional advantage. The software can check if there is a pattern variation to play. Of particular interest is whether the player sometimes (when the count is positive) takes insurance and stands at 16 against a dealer 10, but plays differently when the count is negative.

Countermeasures[ edit ]

Casinos have put a lot of effort and money into trying to thwart card counters. Countermeasures used to prevent card counters from profiting at blackjack include:[40][41][29][42]

Decreasing penetration, the number of cards dealt before a shuffle. This reduces the advantage of card counting.

Prohibiting known counters, blackjack, playing all games, or entering casino property (trespassing).

Shuffle when a player raises their bet or when the casino deems the remaining cards advantageous to the player (preferential shuffling).

Changing the rules for splitting, doubling down or playing multiple hands. This includes changing a table’s stakes.

Do not allow entry into a game until a shuffle occurs (no mid-shoe entry).

Flat betting by a player or making it so they cannot change the amount they bet during a shoe.

Cancel comps earned from counters.

confiscation of chips.

Detention (back room).

Some jurisdictions (e.g., Nevada) have few legal restrictions on these countermeasures. Other jurisdictions such as New Jersey limit the countermeasures a casino can take against experienced players.[43]

Some countermeasures lead to disadvantages for the casino. For example, frequent or complex shuffling reduces game time and consequently house wins.[44][45] Some casinos use automatic shuffling machines to counteract the loss of time, with some models of machines shuffling one deck while another is in play. Others, known as Continuous Shuffle Machines (CSMs), allow the dealer to simply return used cards into a single shoe for uninterrupted play. Because CSMs essentially enforce minimal penetration, they significantly reduce the advantage of traditional counting techniques.[46] At most online casinos, the deck is reshuffled at the start of each new round to ensure the house always has the edge.

history [edit]

The American mathematician Edward O. Thorp is the father of card counting.[47] Sein 1962 erschienenes Buch „Beat the Dealer“ skizziert Wett- und Spielstrategien für ein optimales Spiel. Obwohl mathematisch einwandfrei, gelten einige der Techniken nicht mehr, da die Casinos Gegenmaßnahmen ergriffen haben (z. B. nicht mehr mit der letzten Karte umgehen). Das Zählsystem in Beat the Dealer, der 10-Count, ist schwieriger zu verwenden und weniger profitabel als spätere Systeme. Eine Geschichte der Entwicklung des Zählens ist in David Laytons Dokumentarfilm The Hot Shoe zu sehen.

Vor Beat the Dealer schlug eine kleine Anzahl professioneller Kartenzähler Blackjack-Spiele in Vegas und anderswo. Einer war Jess Marcum, der das erste vollwertige Punktezählsystem entwickelte. Ein weiterer Pre-Thorp-Kartenzähler war der professionelle Spieler Joe Bernstein. Er wird 1961 in I Want To Quit Winners von Reno-Casinobesitzer Harold Smith als ein in ganz Nevada gefürchteter Ass-Zähler beschrieben. Und in dem Buch Playing Blackjack to Win von 1957 veröffentlichten Roger Baldwin, Wilbert Cantey, Herbert Maisel und James McDermott (bekannt als „The Four Horsemen“) die erste genaue Blackjack-Grundstrategie und ein rudimentäres Kartenzählsystem, das ausschließlich mit dem entwickelt wurde Hilfe grobmechanischer Rechenmaschinen – früher „Addiermaschinen“ genannt.[48]

Von Anfang an wurden einige erfolgreich, darunter Al Francesco, der Erfinder des Blackjack-Teamspiels und der Mann, der Ken Uston beibrachte, wie man Karten zählt, und Tommy Hyland, Manager des am längsten bestehenden Blackjack-Teams der Geschichte. Ken Uston, vielleicht der berühmteste Kartenzähler durch seinen 60-Minuten-Fernsehauftritt und seine Bücher, neigte dazu, seine Gewinne zu übertreiben, wie von Spielern dokumentiert wurde, die mit ihm zusammengearbeitet haben, darunter Al Francesco und Teammitglied Darryl Purpose.

In den 1970er und 1980er Jahren, als die Rechenleistung zunahm, wurden fortschrittlichere und härtere Kartenzählsysteme bevorzugt. Viele Kartenzähler sind sich jedoch einig, dass ein einfacheres und weniger vorteilhaftes System, das stundenlang fehlerfrei gespielt werden kann, insgesamt eine höhere Rendite erzielt als ein komplexeres System, das anfällig für Benutzerfehler ist.

Team[edit]

In den 1970er Jahren schrieb Ken Uston als erster über eine Taktik des Kartenzählens, die er Big Player Team nannte. Das Buch basiert auf seinen Erfahrungen als „Big Player“ (BP) in den Teams von Al Francesco. In Blackjack-Teams mit großen Spielern werden eine Reihe von Kartenzählern, sogenannte “Spotter”, an Tische in einem Casino geschickt, wo ihre Aufgabe darin besteht, die Zählung zu verfolgen und dem großen Spieler zu signalisieren, wenn die Zählung einen Spielervorteil anzeigt. Der große Spieler nimmt dann am Spiel an diesem Tisch teil und platziert maximale Wetten auf einen Vorteil des Spielers. Wenn der Spotter anzeigt, dass die Zählung gesunken ist, signalisiert er dem BP erneut, den Tisch zu verlassen. Indem er von Tisch zu Tisch springt, wie von Spottern angerufen, vermeidet BP jegliches Spiel zum Nachteil. Da das Spiel von BP zufällig und irrational erscheint, vermeiden sie außerdem die Entdeckung durch die Casinos. Die Spotter, die das eigentliche Zählen durchführen, ändern selbst weder ihre Einsatzgröße noch ihre Strategie, sodass sie relativ unauffällig sind.

Mit diesem Spielstil haben eine Reihe von Blackjack-Teams im Laufe der Jahre Millionen von Dollar gewonnen. Zu den bekannten Blackjack-Teams mit dokumentierten Gewinnen in Millionenhöhe gehören die von Al Francesco, Ken Uston, Tommy Hyland, verschiedenen Gruppen des Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) und zuletzt ein Team namens “The Greeks”. Ken Uston schrieb über Blackjack-Teamplay in Million Dollar Blackjack (ISBN 0-89746-068-5), obwohl viele der Erfahrungen, die er in seinen Büchern als seine eigenen darstellt, tatsächlich anderen Spielern widerfahren sind, insbesondere Bill Erb, einem BP, mit dem Uston zusammengearbeitet hat im Team von Al Francesco. Ben Mezrich behandelt auch Teamplay in seinem Buch Bringing Down The House ( ISBN 0-7432-4999-2 ), in dem beschrieben wird, wie MIT-Studenten es mit großem Erfolg eingesetzt haben. Siehe auch den kanadischen Film The Last Casino und den amerikanischen Film 21, der auf Mezrichs Buch basiert.

Die Veröffentlichung von Ken Ustons Büchern und seiner wegweisenden Klagen gegen die Casinos stimulierten beide das Wachstum von Blackjack-Teams (Hylands Team und das erste MIT-Team wurden kurz nach der Veröffentlichung von Million Dollar Blackjack in Atlantic City gegründet) und erhöhten das Bewusstsein der Casinos für das Methoden von Blackjack-Teams, wodurch es für solche Teams schwieriger wird, zu agieren. Hyland und Francesco wechselten bald zu einer Form des Shuffle-Trackings namens “Ace Sequencing”. Diese Technik wird auch als „Cutting to the Ace“ bezeichnet und umfasst verschiedene Methoden, um die unterste Karte während eines Mischens (idealerweise ein Ass) zu erkennen und das Deck fachmännisch zu schneiden und zukünftige Hände zu spielen, um den Spieler zu zwingen, das Ass zu erhalten. Dies machte es für Casinos schwieriger zu erkennen, wenn Teammitglieder mit einem Vorteil spielten. 1994 wurden Mitglieder des Hyland-Teams wegen Ass-Sequenzierung und Blackjack-Teamspiel im Casino Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Kanada, verhaftet. It was documented in court that Nevada casinos with ownership stakes in the Windsor casino were instrumental in the decision to prosecute team members on cheating charges. However, the judge ruled that the players’ conduct was not cheating, but merely the use of intelligent strategy.[49]

Shuffling machines [ edit ]

Automatic shuffling machines (ASMs or batch shufflers), that randomly shuffle decks, interfere with the shuffle tracking variation of card counting by hiding the shuffle. Continuous shuffling machines (CSMs), that partially shuffle used cards back into the “shoe” after every hand, interfere with card counting. CSMs result in shallow penetration (number of seen cards), reducing the effectiveness of card counting.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

quotes[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Further Reading[edit]

Find out if you can be caught counting cards at blackjack and if casino security officers and the police can officially arrest you.

Blackjack players, once they have mastered basic blackjack strategy, try to learn how to count cards and eventually improve their chances of winning at a casino. However, there is always a question about the legality of card counting, which is covered in detail here.

Legality of card counting in blackjack

Before we get into the legality of card counting, it’s important to understand that blackjack card counting is a technique that gives players a theoretical edge of anywhere from 0.5% to 1.5% over the casino, and sometimes even more offers. Card counters typically assign values ​​to decks and then keep a running count and a true count to estimate how many cards are left in the deck and how many have been dealt.

Card counting is not a form of cheating. It is not illegal under US federal, state and local law unless players are using some sort of external card counting device or people are helping them count cards. Because it’s not illegal, a card counter, even if caught, can never end up in jail.

Aside from that, casinos can certainly employ means to prevent card counters from gaining an advantage over the casino. Some of these possibilities include using eight decks of cards or continuous shuffling machines and so on. Some casinos may also ban consistently winning card counters, but cannot arrest them as such.

Why do casinos discourage counting cards in blackjack?

The technique of card counting actually increases the blackjack odds in players’ favour.

When using card counting systems, players assign values ​​to decks of cards and keep a running count as the game progresses and the cards are dealt. Well, this method, when done correctly, gives the players a complete idea of ​​the cards that are still in the deck. They can adjust their bet sizes and amounts accordingly. For example, if the count is positive, bet more and if the count is negative, bet less. This significantly reduces the casino advantage.

How Casinos Stop Blackjack Card Counting?

Casinos try their best to stop blackjack card counting in the following ways:

Continuous mixing machines

Continuous shuffling machines or CSMs allow dealers to return the dealt cards to the shuffling machines for reshuffling. This shuffling of cards greatly minimizes deck penetration and makes it virtually impossible for players to count cards. There is no pause or break in the game, so players can become completely confused and unfocused trying to assign values ​​to cards and somehow keep a running count.

RFID chips

RFID technology is used by casinos to determine exactly what a player is wagering. The RFID technology is built into the chips that are linked by sensors under each table. The RFID chips allow the casino to accurately determine the average bet score. This real-time betting data gives a clear idea of ​​players’ betting patterns. If these patterns turn out to be suspicious because they are well calculated and identical, the casino can identify the card counters.

security monitoring

Numerous surveillance cameras are installed throughout the casino. They are placed in more places than players are even aware of. These cameras help casinos keep a close eye on players and spot any cheating or manipulation activity that is taking place. Similarly, card counters can also be detected by these surveillance cameras based on their body language, betting patterns, etc.

Actual Risks for Blackjack Card Counters

While there’s no way blackjack card counters can end up in jail, there are certain risks they must take when attempting to count cards in a casino. Casinos may, at their discretion, ban players for counting cards. This is mainly because casinos are privately owned and deal with entertainment and not gambling to be precise. They offer the entertainment of gambling to the players because they have an advantage in such games from which they can make profits. Card counters can disrupt this balancing mechanism and leave them vulnerable enough to be banned from a casino.

So card counting is not illegal and cannot arrest a card counter. But given the strict measures casinos take to prevent card counters from winning, executing the technique in a casino is getting harder by the day.

You choose the casino. How many card games does a casino process daily/yearly?

A:

Thank you for letting us choose. And for not asking us to list every casino in Nevada and how many card games they use annually.

So we went to… the Cromwell, where we have an insider source in Andrew Uyal, author of our book The Blackjack Insiders.

Andrew first points out that the number of card games played in a casino depends on how many tables it has and what types of games are played at those tables. The main factor, however, depends on the number of card changes, i.e. how often used decks are taken out of circulation and replaced with new decks.

But at his joint, one of the smaller casinos on the Strip with 29 table games, he estimates around 60 individually wrapped decks on an average day. That adds up to a little less than 22,000 decks, or 1.14 million individual cards, per year.

He warns: “The reality is probably a bit higher. We use more for extra games on weekends. The annual number of decks is probably somewhere between 23,000 and 27,000.”

He adds that what they call “bricks,” or pre-shuffled eight-deck decks of cards, is different from individual decks. Bricks require far less maintenance and don’t need to be replaced nearly as often. So that skews the count a bit.

But the bottom line is, even in a smaller casino like the Cromwell, that’s one big closet full of playing card inventory. Most strip casinos have multiples of this; The MGM Grand, with 160 table games and maybe 140 decks, uses nearly four times that, or about 90,000 decks per year. That’s a lot of cards, almost five million year after year.