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House of Cards continued <
Part 3 >
Variations of the Standard Deck
Certain games use a modified version of the Standard deck as described above. A few of the more common of these decks are described here.
Euchre Deck: This deck is used for the game Euchre and many of its variations. This deck has some of the lower denominations removed from the deck to reduce the stack to a 32 card deck. In the Euchre deck the following denominations are removed from the standard deck; 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6. Thus the deck will consist of all the remaining cards from A to 7, in ascending order. There are several games in addition to Euchre which will also use this standard deck and will refer to the deck needed for the game as an Euchre deck.
A Pinochle deck Pinochle Deck: The deck used for Pinochle and most of its variations is a sort of hybrid deck. It consists of TWO each of the following denominations in each of the four suits: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9. The usual ordering of the Pinochle deck for Pinochle is, in ascending order: 9, J, Q, K, 10, A. Thus, there are a total of 8 cards of each denomination making a total deck consisting of 48 cards. Pinochle decks are usually widely available, however a Pinochle deck can also be made from two standard decks that have the same back design: From both decks remove all the 8's and lower and then shuffle the remaining cards in both decks together. These Pinochle decks can often be purchased alongside standard decks at retailers of playing cards.
Double Pack Pinochle Deck: This is a deck which consists of two of the special Pinochle decks (described directly above) combined. Thus, a total of four standard decks are used with all of the 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 6's and 7's removed.
Skat Deck: This deck which is used for the German game Skat, Shafskopf and other related games is another deck in which certain denominations are removed. To create a Skat deck, the following card ranks are removed a standard deck of playing cards; 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. The remaining cards, shuffled together, comprise the Skat deck. This deck is also well known for its use in playing the games Piquet and Écarté. This Skat deck consists of 32 total cards. When International Skat is played in a tournament setting, special decks are sometinmes used. In these decks the colors of the suits are modified. The Spade suit pips are colored green, Diamonds are yellow, Hearts and Clubs retain the usual colors of red and black respectively.
Bezique: This deck is similar to the Pinochle deck in that two standard decks with the same back design are shuffled together. However, before doing so, all 2's, 3's, 4's and 5's are removed from both decks and set aside, not being used in this special deck. This deck is primarily used for Bezique (a forerunner of Pinochle) and several other related games.
Canasta: The Canasta deck consists of two full, standard decks shuffled together with the addition of four Jokers. Both decks (and the Jokers) should have the same back design. This deck is used for the popular game of Canasta and many of its variations.
Spanish Deck: The Spanish pack or deck is another deck which is made by removing cards form the standard 52 card deck. In this case, all eights, nines and tens are removed from the deck leaving a total of 40 cards. With these middle range cards removed, the normal ranking for this deck is as follows, from highest to lowest; Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The Spanish deck is used for such games as Conquian, Ombre and others.
Occasionally, players will construct a Spanish deck containing all the numbered cards but omitting the face cards instead. Thus, the ranking of the cards in this modified version of the Spanish deck would be as follows (from high to low); Ace, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Although this violates tradition with most games played using the Spanish deck, some players find this arrangement easier to work with.
Specialized Khanhoo Deck Khanhoo Deck: In 1891, Sir William Henry Wilkinson contracted cardmaker Charles Goodall to create a special pack of cards modeled after traditional Chinese Stick cards, also called gun pai or Chinese money cards (as many of the cards featured Chinese monetary symbols on the faces). These cards more closely resembled the French suited and European cards in size and style that Goodall and other Westerners were more familiar with. Goodall created this deck primarily to introduce the Chinese game of Khanhoo to Europe and the Western World. In addition to the Rummy like game of Khanhoo, this pack could also be used to play some of the other games commonly played with these Chinese stick cards.
Thie special 60 card Khanhoo deck can thus be created using two standard 52 card decks. Thus, this deck consists of all cards in the rankings of Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, from both decks in the suits of Diamonds, Clubs and Hearts. Add to this all the Jacks, Kings and Queens from the suit of Clubs. For some games (such as the game of Khanhoo itself) played using this deck, a Joker is added, enlarging this deck to 61 total cards. This very specialized deck is used for playing a variety of games from China and Indonesia, such as Khanhoo, Kowah, and Sampan.
See Part 4 >