How Many Cards in a Deck

A deck of cards is one of the most versatile items you can own. Playing cards and card games are universally enjoyed throughout the world. But how many cards are there in a deck, what different decks are there and how many decks are used in poker?

Here’s everything you need to know, as we give you the definitive answer to how many cards there are in a deck.

How Many Cards are in a Standard Deck of Playing Cards?

There are 52 cards in a standard deck of playing cards - not including jokers. With jokers, there are 54 cards in a deck.

A deck is composed of four different suits; Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts and Spades. There are 13 cards of each suit, running from a two to an Ace. This means in a standard deck of playing cards, there are four different cards of equal value - E.g. Four Aces A♣A♠A♥A♦.

Additionally to the standard values and suits, a deck of cards includes two (non-suited) jokers. While these aren’t frequently used, some card games do utilise jokers in their play.

Playing Cards in Poker

In almost every poker variant, you will use all 52 playing cards, with jokers mostly being obsolete. Suits tend to not have rankings and all have the same value. For instance, a flush with Hearts and a flush with Spades both have the same value, but the winner will be determined by the numerical value of the cards rather than the suit.

The poker variant will often decide on the values of the cards themselves, though. For instance, in some games, Ace is high while in others it can be low.

One notable exception that doesn’t use all 52 in a deck is 6+ Hold’em, otherwise known as Short Deck. The game had recently gained popularity, in Asia in particular, largely down to the intensified-action it brings. Short Deck poker plays with just 36 cards rather than the standard 52, with (4x) twos, (4x) threes, (4x) fours and (4x) fives being removed from the game.

How Many Decks of Cards are used in Poker?

In terms of the number of decks used in poker, for most, if not all, games, only one deck is needed. This can be a problem when it comes to large-ring games in, for example, a Stud format. With Stud dealing seven cards to each player, it limits the number of players that can be at a table. Althoug unlikely, if every player remains in the hand until 7th street, then only a maximum of seven players can be at a table without running out of cards to be dealt.

Some casinos, in this instance, will deal the seventh card as a community card, while the players’ other six are still hole cards. This allows for eight players to be in a hand, using a total of 49 of the 52 cards in a deck (max 6 per player x 8 players + one community card).

In live casinos, it’s customary to frequently change the deck of cards that is being used at a table. Typically, each table will have two decks, with only one being used in the game at a time. While the hand is taking place, the dealer might use an automatic card shuffler to shuffle the dormant deck while the hand is playing out. At the end of the hand, the dealer will take the newly shuffled deck from the shuffler and use that for the next hand. In turn, they will replace the used deck into the shuffler, ready to be shuffled for the following hand.

What are the Different Decks of Playing Cards?

While English and American players will be familiar with a certain type of cards, across the world, each country might have its own style or version of a deck. The basic concept is the same, but they might contain niche differences like having a differently named suits with different imagery.

WATCH: Phil Ivey confused by ‘irregular’ playing cards in France.

Read more about the different types of decks of playing cards below.

French Suited Deck of Playing Cards

French Suited decks are the most commonly used decks of cards in the world. Historically, Ace used to strictly be a low card - with an effective value of a 1, whereas a King would be the highest-valued card. More recently, the Ace has been considered to be a high card and a low card.

Normally, you’ll find the standard 52 cards in a French Suited deck, plus two Jokers. However, some packs will come with anywhere between one and four Jokers to accommodate the play of specific card games.

German Suited Deck of Playing Cards

German Suited decks are slightly different, and have more similarities with the 6+ Hold’em deck. They only contain cards from the value of six up to an Ace, meaning there are 36 cards in the deck in total.

The suits, while acting in the exact same way as a French Suited deck, are also different. The four suits are Hearts, Acorns, Bells and Leaves.

These packs of cards for the most part are only found in Southern Germany and in Austria.

Swiss Suited ‘German’ Deck of Playing Cards

A variant of the German Suited deck, which is known as German Cards in the local areas in which they’re used, is the Swiss Suited deck. In a Suiss Suited deck there are 36 cards, but the only difference with German Suited is that the suits are: Hearts and Shields, Roses, Bells and Acorns. This type of deck is even rarer than the German Suited, only being found in (German-speaking) Switzerland and Lichtenstein.

Standard Spanish Suited Deck of Playing Cards

A Standard Spanish Suited deck is very different to all of the above examples. They usually do include two Jokers, like the standard deck, however there are only 48 cards in a Stadard Spanish Suited deck.

The values of the cards range from 2-9. The Jack card is a 10, the next card is called a Cavalier (replacing a Queen) and then comes the standard King and an Ace, making just 12 value cards instead of 13.

The suits are also different. Clubs are the same, but you also have Coins, Cups and Swords.

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