How Many Cards in a Deck?

Whether game-specific or traditional, a card game is any game played using cards. There are so many card games available, including exciting games related to poker. This article will answer the question: How many cards are there in a deck?

Card varieties keep coming up, to an extent where traditionally played games have found their way to international contests. Cards are played with a pack or deck, identical in shape and size. Each of these cards has two sides; the back and the face. When playing cards, the backside is supposed to be indistinguishable. 

While the faces in poker can be unique, some can be duplicates. Each player knows what comprises their deck of cards.

Here, we’ll take you through all matters playing cards as we answer how many cards are in a deck?

The 52 cards deck is the most commonly played poker game. Made up of four suits, each containing 13 cards, there are 52 cards in a deck.

These cards are usually ranked from the lowest to the highest as numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, to Ace. 

When playing cards, suits are all of the equal value with the Ace being the only playing card that can be used both as low cards (as the deuce or 1, below 2) or as a high card (ahead of the King).

The player’s overall card value in a 52 cards deck is determined by the individual’s ranking hand (for standard poker, it is 5 cards)

A standard 52 cards deck usually has four suits: hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs. Each of these suits has 13 cards, which would mean that there are 13 diamonds, 13 hearts, 13 clubs, and 13 spades. Hearts and diamonds are red, while suit clubs and spades are black. 

Each rank in a standard deck of poker playing cards is made up of 4 cards, one in each suit. There are 4 tens, four nines, and the list goes on like so.

The Jack Queen King cards are all face cards, which would mean that each suit contains 3 face cards, with the deck having 12 face cards altogether.

Let us look at the different suits to detail:

♠️ Spades

Spades are one out of the four suits in a standard 52-card game. The card symbol is an upside-down black heart with a stalk down at its base.

The spade symbolizes the halberd or pike, two weapons from the medieval era. Taking a closer look, you will notice that the spade is quite stylized in shape, almost looking like a spearhead facing up as the bottom widens two arcs sweeping towards the middle to form some foot.

In the 52 cards game, spades are usually black. However, some modern decks like Skat feature green spades

♣️ Clubs

Also known as clovers, clubs are another suit used in playing cards in the standard 52 cards deck. This suit corresponds to Acorns in the German Deck Bay.

The symbol has its original name as ‘Trefle’, which means clubs in French. The card symbol features a lover leaf that is three-leafed. Clubs, the English word, is derived from the Italian-Spanish card suit Bastoni.

Different game varieties rank clubs differently; in Bridge, they are the lowest-ranked suit, while in Doppelkopf and Skat, they are the highest suit in value. In addition, clubs are black in the 52-card game.

♥️ Heart

While playing cards, the Hearts feature as a key suit in both the German Deck and French Deck.

The heart is an exciting suit invented back in the fifteenth century in Germany as a supervisor from a vast pool of trial suit symbols o replace the Latin suits.

The symbol is shaped as a cardioid type, with its bottom ending in a sharp point. The suit is drawn with the tip coming down as the cardioid faces up. Generally, 52 card decks have red-colored hearts.

♦️ Diamonds

Diamonds are the only suit that was not derived from the German deck. The diamond symbol is usually a tablet in shape, looking like a parallelogram sitting with one of its tips.

The four equal sides are usually rounded, with the vertices placed like a square, which makes the symbol appear like an asteroid. Diamonds in a 52-card deck are typically red, unlike in a game like Bridge.

While a regular 52 cards deck has four suits, each with thirteen cards, other cards are usually referred to as extra cards. A common one here is the joker. Let us delve into deeper details about the joker:

🃏 Joker

Standard 52 cards decks usually contain at least one additional card other than clubs, diamonds, and hearts.

When playing cards, designated jokers depict the traditional court jester. There are very few cards that employ jokers, and in instances where they are used, they differ from game to game.

For instance, in Canasta, the joker is used as a wild symbol, replacing any natural card. The joker was invented to act as the highest valued trump in Euchre as a sort of glorified jack and not as the descendant of the ‘fool’s Card’ in Tarot.

For a millennium, cards have existed in numerous forms right from their Far East origin. As trading spread globally, decks of cards got to the West, as the French-owned the 52 cards 4 suits game that are enjoyed today.

While different nations and cultures apply other systems to play games, the 52 cards game is the one that is widely used. 

For centuries, friends, strangers, and families have convened over campfires, around bar tops and dinner tables to play some of the world’s most adored card games, such as:

• Texas Hold ‘Em
• BlackJack
• Hearts
• Gin Rummy
• Solitaire

Blackjack

As a popular card game globally, BlackJack deserves a slot here. BlackJack happens to be the most widely enjoyed casino game, especially given that it is pretty easy to learn and fast to play.

In BlackJack, a player plays against the dealer instead of competing against other players. While there is more nuance to it, the deal is to get as close as possible to 21 without going past that.

Any player who gets closer to number 21 compared to the dealer ends up winning. If the dealer gets there first, the player loses. 

In poker, the players must form sets of playing cards, with the collection containing 5 cards. Each hand has its unique rank.

When playing cards, the hands are compared against other hands in the game to decide the pot’s winner. In high-value games such as Seven-Card Stud and Texas Hold ‘em, the winning one is the highest in rank.

The opposite is true for low-value games such as Razz, where the winning hands are the lowest-ranked. When it comes to high-low split games, both the lowest-ranking and highest-ranking hands win. However, the rules apply differently in ranking the poker cards—various combinations such as clubs, diamonds, and hearts or diamonds, hearts, and spades.

Below are the different ranks of poker hands:

• Flush
• Straight
• Royal-Flush
• Straight-Flush
• Five-of-a-Kind
• Full-House
• Four-of-a-Kind
• Two-Pair
• High-Card
• Pair

Let us look at some of these ranks in detail:

Five of a Kind

This is made up of five cards, all from one rank. One great example is the five-of-a-kind threes (3♥ 3♦ 3♣ 3♠ 3). The five-of-a-kind hand ranks higher than the straight flush, but it can only be used when you add a wild, as there are only 4 cards from each suit per deck.

A Straight Flush

A straight flush has 5 playing cards in a sequential rank. Therefore, it ranks above four-of-a-kind and below a five-of-a-kind. One example here is the (Queen♥ Jack♥ 10♥ 9♥ 8♥) Queen-High Straight Flush.

Four of a Kind

Also known as quads, the four-of-a-kind has 4 cards from one rank and another from a different rank. It ranks above the Full House and below the Straight Flush decks. A good example here is the four-of-a-kind nines (9♣ 9♠ 9♦ 9♥ Jake♥).