A curious question about cards

[bigbeardedbryan]

I've never played in a cardroom outside the Seneca rooms in NY and Niagara Falls, so please pardon my innocence.

Being visually impaired, I usually try to sit in the 5 or 6 seats when they're available for reasons that should be obvious. If I'm in 1 or 10, I can see half the board but inevitably wind up asking about the cards on the end opposite me.

The cardrooms I frequent switched over recently from Kems to Copags (both regular index, which did not help my cause). While I could squint at the Kems and read them from a fairly normal seated position, I find the Copags to be a lot more difficult to read, perhaps due to their thicker typeface. I've asked the hosts at these rooms if it's possible to use setups of jumbo index cards that I could see, but they claim they don't have any and wouldn't put them into play for me even if they did.

This surprises me, because I would expect that if they ever spread stud games (they usually don't), they would use a jumbo-index deck. Further, I'd expect jumbo-index cards to be preferred from a security standpoint--surely the cameras could read these easier. This brings me to my question: What style of cards do they use in other rooms? I am specifically curious as to brand and, more importantly, index; I assume most rooms use plastic cards for the cost savings. Am I the only going-blind player who wonders about this sort of thing? I'd like to expand my horizons and play some poker elsewhere, but obviously I won't be keen on traveling to play where I won't be able to read the cards.

[Photoc]

Almost everyone uses narrow cards with the normal sized print. The big print is for the poker games in the pits (carribean, let it ride, ect..) and those are paper cards anyways. If you aren't keen on traveling to places that use these, you're better off playing online since almost everyone uses them.

[crackhead]

BBB, if you ever get a chance to roll out here to Southern Calif., you can check out Agua Caliente in Rancho Mirage (Palm Springs area). They only use large index cards in their poker room.

[youtalkfunny]

Large indexes, er, indeces, um, "Cards that feature a large index" are frowned upon for the same reason as the four-color decks: don't want to make it too easy for someone to get a glimpse of your hole cards.

[Chipr777]

We have a regular player at our 10-20 game that's visually impaired. He has to sit in the 5 or 6 seat also and uses a small pen light that helps him look at his cards. Like youtalkfunnny said, large index cards are rarely used in card rooms because there's less of a chance of other players seeing your cards. [ QUOTE ]
Further, I'd expect jumbo-index cards to be preferred from a security standpoint--surely the cameras could read these easier.

[/ QUOTE ] In the pit this is true. In poker no. To be honest most casinos could care less about surviellance on a poker game. The bottom line is they care about protecting their money, not yours. [ QUOTE ]
I'd like to expand my horizons and play some poker elsewhere, but obviously I won't be keen on traveling to play where I won't be able to read the cards.


[/ QUOTE ] I wish I could be of more help but most cardrooms I know of use Kem or Copag small index cards.

[AngusThermopyle]

[ QUOTE ]
The bottom line is they care about protecting their money, not yours.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm shocked!

[Brom]

The only place that I ever visited that used large index cards in poker was at Turning Stone in NY. I really hated it because I had to lift my cards too high to see what the suits were. I noticed that I could see people's cards 2 or 3 tables over, so obviously some unwanted person(s) could see mine despite the fact that I go to extreme lengths to protect them.

[Jimmy The Fish]

I'm fairly sure (but not 100%, it's been awhile) that one of the Indian casinos in northeastern Oklahoma will occasionally use jumbos on their poker table.

Frankly, I can't think of a much better table image to present than "can barely see the cards". What's that? Diamond on the river? That makes three diamonds, right? Okay, I bet... [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Terry]

Surveillance operators don't often look at the index, they read the pattern of the spots on the cards. It doesn't take much time watching games on monitors to also learn to distinguish the face cards by their patterns.

Note that on Blackjack games, the dealers always arrange the players' cards so the center spot is showing; that allows surveillance and the floor people to read the cards from a distance.

And by the way, the cameras in casinos can zoom in close enough to count the hairs on your knuckles.

[ACPlayer]

Get a lawyer