Face Cards In A Deck Of Cards: How Did They Evolve?

• Author: Thomas Kearns
• Filed under: Poker
• Date: Jan 30,2010

A military commander in the French army, who was in combat along with Joan of Arc was also an artisan who designed and crafted cards. His name was Etienne de Vignolles, AKA La Hire. Saint Joan so impressed him with her courage and heroic deeds that he removed the knight in the deck in favor of a dame. Decorating cards with religious motifs, or those depicting human forms were not a problem to the Catholic Church. King David was symbolized in the deck with the king of spades with sword in hand and quiver at his feet. Charles the Great was represented by the king of clubs, Julius Caesar became the king of diamonds, and Alexander the Great, the king of hearts. The four sources of western civilization were thus represented by the four kings.

The depiction of what we would call today Queens and Jacks was not as consistent. The queen of spades was drawn in the form of Athena, meant likewise to remind of the warlike Joan of Arc. The queen of diamonds was the beautiful Rachel that Jacob waited for 14 years before be able to take her as wife. The queen of hearts stood for Judith, the heroine who had beheaded Holofernes. While the queen of clubs was a collective image and represented a certain abstract favorite of kings, named Argine, which was apparently an anagram of “regina” (queen), or which possibly meant to suggest Joan of Arc again, since the king of clubs was Charles the Great, the distinguished French Catholic leader.

The jack of spades was the symbol for one of Charlemagne’s knights of the court. Hector stood in for diamonds; La Hire himself for hearts, while clubs were represented by Judas Maccabeus. For the sake of variety, the four jacks depicted four famous knights: Lancelot, Ogier, Roland and Valery. Each knight’s name appeared below their picture on the cards. They were long-haired, clean-shaven youths, warriors wielding battle axes. All of them buy Valery had at their feet a dog similar to a bloodhound. This may have occurred because Valery was also the lead craftsman of the deck.

Still lower on the scale came the cards from 10 to 2, marked by the appropriate number of suit symbols, greatest value accorded to the greater number. The English word “Ace” first meant “unit,” and had French, Spanish, German and other equivalents: as, aas, ass, etc. The Ace stood lower on the scale than 2. However, the medieval Catholic Church viciously opposed such a classification. God was “one,” and hence any game or numeric system which defined His number as the lowest was blaspheme and Satan’s work. Anyone who would not agree had to be convinced by an array of means which were difficult to argue with down at the basement.

Today, the Ace symbolized a kind of quintessence – associated freely with anything from the exposed essence of woman to what the physicists call the “naked singularity” – which is greater in value than any single influential personage. But can a single and the simplest of the cards in the deck stand for anything at once and should one privilege its scientific baseness or metaphysical elevation?

This amorphous debate has been argued for centuries. There are many countries in this world of ours that consider spirit and matter as one and as an important facet of our self-awareness. In these modern times more than ever before, the rational, mystical, quasi-physical and sometimes, sexual elements of a deck of cards are greatly admired. The Ace remains the essential entity of all or nothing, or something of an indeterminate element in the game of cards and life.

More down-to-earth, the cards have always served their utilitarian function – that of an object with which to play games. The hierarchy from King to two to Ace, and the innumerable possible combinations of cards of varying values according to their rarity give much fodder for anyone to project onto the deck whatever social or spiritual aspirations they may have.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Cake Poker Rakeback as well as Rakeback at Poker Heaven.

categories: playing cards,poker,gambling,card games,art,history,recreation,entertainment,art history

Poker: How To Improve Your Game

• Author: Thomas Kearns
• Filed under: Poker
• Date: Jan 29,2010

If you wish to improve your game, ditch the arrogance and ego involvement, and don’t depend on the constant repetition of a few rules you learned to get you safely by. The basic step to improvement is to recognize the need for it. Introspection is at the core of every good player as much as technique, luck or insight into their opponents’ minds. Perfectionism is not the answer. The answer lies in the ability to be self-critical and correctly and precisely define your strengths and weaknesses.

Besides bad amateurs and those playing by a fixed set of simple rules, there are those players who discover they actually have a talent, but who do not then try to improve much in any direction. These are rather lazy and uninspired players who prefer to hope that they will eventually knock their opponents out cold every time with one or two great moves.

Hardly anyone excels in every aspect of a complicated process, but to depend on just a few skills is perilous and likely to bring you down over time. Your weaknesses must be acknowledged and tended to. You are not alone at the table and not the only player with insight. Your opponents will discover that you do a few things well and often, and can bypass your play with maneuvers of their own. In the end, they will consistently apply these tactics, and take you by surprise. Why? Because they have taken the time and effort to improve all their poker skills and have the confidence to make a number of creative moves.

No boxer ever boxed with just one hand. Hone your best qualities, but do keep sharpening as many of the other required abilities as you can. The next step towards progressive improvement after you recognize your weaknesses is to learn to do that which, as Bartleby the scrivener would say, “you would rather not to.”

The first step to enlightenment is to understand that the game isn’t worth playing if you don’t play to win. Secondly, improvement is based on acquiring the discipline to form a habit of undertaking tasks you would rather not do. This is not a mechanical exercise, you must understand why it is you are doing it, otherwise you will give up. Following a routine without knowing why and relying on only one or two skills in the hope that the stuff you don’t like will just go away, is not realistic and not playing an engaging game of poker.

Get a vision in your mind of what it would like to be a totally competent player, the rush you get when inspired, the thrill of winning, then you can decide for yourself whether this is a feeling worth pursuing or not. If the imagination to perceive this is lacking or if you do perceive it but find it not worth the battle, you need to be honest with yourself and admit that you haven’t a clue how to be successful at poker. Maybe you don’t even want to be. On the other hand if this vision inspires passion, begin the hard work it requires to see successful results. Just possibly, the energy required to force yourself to work on things you don’t want to work on will give you the confidence you have been seeking. This is rewarding all by itself.

The author of this article plays online poker and gets Rakeback at True Poker where they offer the highest True Poker Rakeback.

categories: improving at poker,poker strategy,poker,games,gambling,recreation,sport

Rush Poker – Strategies For Full Tilt\’s New Poker Format

• Author: Billy Kernow
• Filed under: Poker
• Date: Jan 28,2010

There\’s a new form of poker online and it\’s causing a storm in the online world. Rush poker as it\’s known is a creation of Full Tilt poker and is designed from the ground up to make online poker more fun, with less waiting. and more action.

Rush poker can be Holdem or Omaha, and Stud will be coming soon. The game is played exactly as normal, on 6 or 9 seat tables, but with one huge difference. As soon as a player is no longer in contention to win a pot, they are instantly reseated and dealt a new hand at a new table. This means you can fold preflop, and rather than wait five minutes for the hand to play out, you get right back into the action straight away. This difference means that players don\’t get bored, and can play 3oo or more hand per hour!

Rush poker strategy requires aggressiveness. Since most players will be folding all the time, waiting for a hand like pocket kings, you can raise preflop and steal the blinds. While you won\’t get much chance to read your opponents, since the table keeps changing, the fact is that most players will be folding low hands so you see a flop of 3, 4, 6 and don\’t have to worry too much about someone making a straight. However, the same reasoning means that if you come in with pocket sevens and make trips, your opponents won\’t have a clue and you\’ll probably win a huge pot!

Since players know that a new hand is only seconds away they are more likely to fold marginal or drawing hands, so aggressive raising and reraising pre and post flop and be very effective. Raising pre-flop also prevents the big blind from seeing the flop for free.

Rush poker is not only great fun, but can be really profitable too. You\’ll refine yorru strategy over time, but these tactics outlined here should give you a great start. And the best thing about playing rush is, when you\’re playing 300 or more hands per hour you\’ll be learning and building up that experience fast!

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