The House of Cards – a painting by Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin, 1735.
A card game is any game using playing cards, either traditional or game-specific.
Seating of players
When a card game is played, the players arrange themselves in a circle around a horizontal surface on which the cards will be played. This surface is usually a table, although any flat surface can be used. The players face inwards, and are approximately evenly spaced (so that they cannot see each other’s hand of cards).
The pack or deck
A card game is played with a pack of cards intended for that game. The pack consists of a fixed number of pieces of printed cardboard known as cards. The cards in a pack are identical in size and shape. Each card has two sides, the face and the back. The backs of the cards in a pack are indistinguishable. The faces of the cards in a pack may all be unique, or may include duplicates, depending on the game. In either case, any card is readily identifiable by its face.
The set of cards that make up the pack will be known to all of the players using that pack.
Pack is British English; deck is U.S. English. They mean the same thing.
However, there are some card games that require multiple decks. In this scenario, a “deck” refers to a set of 52 cards or a single deck, while a “pack” refers to the collection of “decks” as a whole.
Types of card games
Trick-taking games
500
Cassino
Bridge
Écarté
Euchre
Hearts
Pinochle
Piquet
ROOK
Spades
Sixty-three
Sueca (game)
Whist
Wizard
Pairs(u/c)
Rummy-style games
500 Rum
Canasta
Concentration
Durak
Five Crowns
Gin rummy
Go Fish
Haihowak
Happy Families
Jolly
Kemps
Robbers’ rummy
Seven Bridge
Shanghai rum
Spoons/donkey
Tonk
Tri
Wyatt Earp
Steal the old man’s pack
Casino or gambling card games
Baccarat
Bingo
Blackjack
Blind Hookey
Bouré
Cribbage
Poker
Primero
Red dog
Texas hold ‘em
Thirty-one
Three card brag
Solitaire (or Patience) games
Ace of the Pile
Baker’s Dozen (solitaire)
Calculation
Concentration
FreeCell
Kings in the Corner (multi-player)
Klondike
Russian Bank
Solitaire Showdown
Shedding games
Bartok / Bartog
Bullshit
California Speed
Chase the Ace/Old Maid
Craits
Crazy Eights
Eleusis
Mao
President
Shichi Narabe
Shithead
Spit / Speed
Spite and Malice
Tien len
UNO
Accumulating games
Beggar-My-Neighbour
Egyptian Ratscrew
Seven Spades
Slapjack
Snap
Top Trumps
War
Multi-genre games
Eleusis
Poke
Skitgubbe
Tichu
Tripoli
Collectible card games (CCG’s)
Duelmasters
Magic: The Gathering
Pokémon
Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game
Other card games
1000 Blank White Cards
Blitz
Bohnanza
Chez Geek
Chrononauts
Flinch
Fluxx
GOLF
Gother Than Thou
Grass
Hanafuda
Illuminati
Karuta
Lucky Seven
Mille Bournes
Munchkin
Mus
Numero
Pens
Pit
Pits
Scopa
Scopone
Set
Sheepshead
LeCardo
Fictional card games
Cripple Mr Onion – from the Discworld book series
Diamondback – from the Cerebus comics
Double Fanucci – from the Zork series
Dragon Poker – from the MythAdventures novels
Fizzbin – from the original Star Trek
Pazzak – from the Knights of the Old Republic video game
Pyramid – from the Battlestar Galactica series
Sabacc – from the Star Wars universe
Tall Card – from the Firefly television series
Triple Triad – from the Final Fantasy VIII video game
Links
Card Games – contains detailed rules for a lot of card games, has an alphabetic and classified index of card games
The House of Cards – comprehensive directory of traditional and commercial card games
A game of skill is a game where the outcome is determined mainly by mental and/or physical skill, rather than by pure chance.
One benefit of games of skill is that they are a means of exploring one’s own capabilities. Games encourage people to look at, understand, and experience things. They teach people lessons about themselves and possibly the world, and allow such insights to be passed on to others.
Games may be classified and sub-classified according to many different criteria. Each scheme has its own advantages and disadvantages.
What sort of challenge / skill is involved (e.g. abstract calculation, anagramming, luck, bluffing, verbalizing, coordination, speed, etc.)?
This leads to the “Folk Model” theory of 4 categories: games of skill, games of chance, games of strategy, Simulation game propagated by Anderson/Moore and Brian Sutton-Smith. This scheme is probably most natural, and quite neatly separates billiards from chess from Tomb Raider. The main disadvantage is that too many games fall under more than one head. For example Scrabble relies a great deal on word knowledge and anagramming, but also has significant strategic aspects.
Games of skill can be further subdivided into physical-skill games and mental-skill games.
What equipment is used to play the game (e.g. a computer, a board, cards, tiles, dice, etc.)?
This categorization is also very natural and common, but sometimes problematic. For example, Balderdash is a commercial board game, whereas Fictionary is almost identical but uses no board.
This scheme seems odd since it forces similar games to be listed under completely different headings.
Other distinctions are less important, and apply more or less well to different major headings.
For example, the difference between team and individual sports is fundamental, whereas team board games are so rare as to hardly merit a category. The remaining distinctions apply mostly to non-physical games.
How many players does the game accommodate?
The most important division is between two-player and multiplayer games, because nearly all multiplayer games involve negotiation or coalition-building to some degree. Among multiplayer games it is also important (particularly to whoever is organizing the party) what range in the number of players can be accommodated. One disadvantage of this distinction is that a few games such as Titan are equally good two-player or multiplayer.
To what extent to which chance is a factor?
Games run the gamut from having no chance whatsoever (checkers, Pente) to being entirely determined by chance (roulette, Chutes and Ladders).
How deep is the strategy?
Some games (bridge, Go) can be studied for years without exhausting what there is to learn, whereas others (Three Men’s Morris) can be mastered relatively easily.
How easy is it to learn the rules of the game?
Chess and Go are often compared for their depth and abstraction, but chess has considerably more difficult rules. This consideration is particularly important for family games, where ideally children should be able to play along easily, without making the game so simple it holds no interest for adults.
Is the game relatively abstract or does it attempt to simulate some aspect of reality (e.g. stock market, war scenarios)?
For some simulation games, the realism is more important than all other factors, whereas some games (Set) are so abstract that the names and shapes of all the pieces could change without affecting playability. However, most games lie somewhere in between, with a balance between abstraction and simulation.
Are players eliminated as the game progresses, or can everyone play along until the end?
This is most important socially, as a host may wonder how to entertain guests who have been knocked out of the main event.
What is the objective of the game?
This is most useful as a sub-subheading, because different types of games tend to have different types of objectives. For example, card games have natural categories of trick-taking and shedding games, which don’t apply to board games, whereas board games have categories of capture, racing, and immobilization which don’t apply to card games.
Many people have formulated staking systems in an attempt to “beat the bookie”, but most still accept that no staking system can make an unprofitable system profitable over time. Widely-used systems include:
Fixed stakes – a traditional system of staking the same amount on each selection. This method suits conservative punters if the stake remains below 5% of the bank.
Fixed profits – the stakes vary based on the odds to ensure the same profit from each winning selection. This method suits conservative punters well, although if the profitability of one’s bets varies independently of the odds the bettor simply reduces his or her cash flow.
Due-column betting – A variation on fixed profits betting in which the bettor sets a target profit and then calculates a bet size that will make this profit, adding any losses to the target. For example, to make a target of $100 profit a bettor would wager $50 at odds of 2 to 1. If the bet loses, the target becomes $150. If the next bet is also at odds of 2 to 1, the wager therefore becomes $75. This type of wagering can prove ruinous in the long run.
Kelly (optimal) – the punter needs to estimate fair odds (in the European/decimal format) and then calculate the stake using :
Stake= (Odds/(Fair odds-1))/(Odds-1) Many times used with a divider (most commonly 4 or depending on your bankroll (for betting)
Martingale – A system based on staking enough each time to recover losses from previous bet(s) until one wins. It is usually applied to even-money bets such as red/black on roulette. The Martingale guarantees failure in the long run – it would only work if the bettor has an unlimited bankroll, the bookmaker has no limit on the size of bets and neither party ever dies. However, it can usually be used to gain a small win in the short run, given a bankroll large enough to survive a streak of five or six losses.
A scratchcard is a small piece of card where an area has been covered by a substance that cannot be seen through, but can be scratched off. Under this area are concealed the items/pictures that must be ‘found’ in order to win.
The generic scratchcard requires the player to match three of the same prize amounts. If this is accomplished, they win that amount. Other scratchcards involve matching symbols, pictures or words.
Scratchcards are a very popular form of gambling due to their low cost. However, the low cost to buy a scratchcard is offset by the smaller prizes, compared to casino jackpots or lottery wins.
Betting on team sports has become an important service industry in many countries. For example, millions of Britons play the football pools every week. At sports betting, players may beat the bank.
Most jurisdictions in Canada and the United States regard sports betting as illegal (Nevada offers full sports betting and the Canadian provinces offer Sport Select – government-run sports parlay betting). However, millions engage in sports betting despite its illegality.
In Canada and the United States the most popular sports bets include:
against the spread – the bettor wagers either that the favoured team will win by a specified number of points or that it will not. Giving the points involves betting the favourite, and taking the points means betting the underdog. See point spread. A team covers the spread if it wins the game with the score modified by the spread. If Dallas and Washington are playing and the spread is (Dallas -7), then Dallas has to win by at least 8 points to cover. Half-point spreads are also possible and the spread may not change.
against odds – the most popular types of bets against odds comprise simple bets that a team will win and over-under (bets on the total points, runs, or goals scored by both teams). In making an over-under bet, the bettor wagers that the total will exceed or fall short of a total specified by the bookmaker.
against a combination of odds and spread
In sports betting, a parlay involves a bet that two or more teams will win. In the United States gamblers have made the parlay card one of the most common forms of sports betting: here bettors wager on the outcomes of two or more games. If all their picks win, they collect. Most such betting occurs in workplaces.
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One of the most widespread forms of gambling involves betting on horse races, most commonly on races between thoroughbreds or between standardbreds.
Wagering may take place through parimutuel pools; or bookmakers may take bets personally. Parimutuel wagers pay off at prices determined by support in the wagering pools, while bookmakers pay off either at the odds offered at the time of accepting the bet; or at the median odds offered by track bookmakers at the time the race started.
In Canada and the United States, the most common types of bet on horse races include:
win – to succeed the bettor must pick the horse which wins the race.
place – the bettor must pick a horse which finishes either first or second.
show – the bettor must pick a horse which finishes first, second, or third.
exacta, perfecta, or exactor –the bettor must pick the two horses which finish first and second and specify which will finish first
quinella or quiniela – the bettor must pick the two horses which finish first and second, but need not specify which will finish first.
trifecta or triactor – the bettor must pick the three horses which finish first, second, and third and specify which will finish first, second and third.
superfecta – the bettor must pick the four horses which finish first, second, third and fourth, and specify which will finish first, second, third and fourth.
double – the bettor must pick the winners of two successive races; most race tracks in Canada and the United States take double wagers on the first two races on the program (the daily double) and on the last two (the late double).
triple – the bettor must pick the winners of three successive races; many tracks offer rolling triples, or triples on any three successive races on the program. Also called pick three.
sweep – the bettor must pick the winners of four or more successive races. In the US, this is usually called pick four and pick six, with the latter paying out a consolation return to bettors correctly selecting five winners out of six races, and with “rollover” jackpots accumulating each day until one or more bettors correctly picks all six winners.
Win, place and show wagers class as straight bets, and the remaining wagers as exotic bets. Bettors usually make multiple wagers on exotic bets. A box consists of a multiple wager in which punters bet all possible combinations of a group of horses in the same race. A key involves making a multiple wager with a single horse in one race bet in one position with all possible combinations of other selected horses in a single race. A wheel consists of betting all horses in one race of a bet involving two or more races. For example a 1-all daily double wheel bets the 1-horse in the first race with every horse in the second.
People making straight bets commonly employ the strategy of an ‘each way’ bet. Here the bettor picks a horse and bets it will win, and makes an additional bet that it will show, so that theoretically if the horse runs third it will at least pay back the two bets. The Canadian and American equivalent is the bet across (short for across the board): the bettor bets equal sums on the horse to win, place, and show.
In Canada and the United States punters make exotic wagers on horses running at the same track on the same program. In the United Kingdom bookmakers offer exotic wagers on horses at different tracks. Probably the Yankee occurs most commonly: in this the bettor tries to pick the winner of four races. This bet also includes subsidiary wagers on smaller combinations of the chosen horses; for example, if only two of the four horses win, the bettor still collects for their double. A Trixie requires trying to pick three winners, and a Canadian or Super Yankee trying to pick five; these also include subsidiary bets. The term nap identifies the best bet of the day.
A parlay (US) or accumulator (UK) consists of a series of bets in which bettors stake the winnings from one race on the next in order until either the bettor loses or the series completes successfully.
(Similarly, greyhound racing offers a popular betting alternative to horse racing in many countries.)
Fixed-odds gambling and Parimutuel betting frequently occur at or on the following kinds of events:
Horse racing
Greyhound racing
Jai alai
Football matches (particularly on Association and American football)
Golf
Tennis
Cricket
Baseball
Basketball
Ice hockey
Rugby (League and Union)
Snooker
Motor Racing
Boxing
Darts
In addition many bookmakers offer fixed odds on a number of non-sports related outcomes, for example the direction and extent of movement of various financial indices, whether snow will fall on Christmas Day in a given area, the winner of television competitions such as Big Brother, and so forth. Interactive prediction markets also offer trading on these outcomes, with “shares” of results trading on an open market.
The House of Cards – a painting by Jean-Baptiste Siméon Chardin, 1735.
depending on your bankroll (for betting) 
