Betfair is well known to sports bettors but it also offers a robust poker environment. It is one of the top sports books in the world due to its infrastructure which also lends itself very well to a dependable and pleasant poker arena. Professionals the likes of Annette “Annette_15 Obrested, one of the top women tournament poker players in the world, along with Sorel “imper1um” Mizzi and Peter Jepson add substance to the site and vouches for its ability to draw top talent. Betfair is regarded highly for their thorough understanding of the minute details of online gambling and this knowledge has flowed very well into their poker software.

Betfair is the world’s foremost online gambling community and operates with proprietary software making all of its poker products and platforms dependable and smooth running. The company was established in 1999-2000 by Andrew Black and Edward Wray and has ever since out to develop one of the most cutting edge betting technologies in the industry. With its proprietary and robust software which includes some sweet multi-table media, and custom support, it is a fine complement to their cash game and tournament play.

Betfair partners with the World Series of Poker Europe so you can be sure it is serious about its tournament poker. The site offers free rolls and tournaments every day. Betfair is notorious for its aggressive players and loose funds from its sports book so there is money to be made here. Because it keeps European hours, non-Europeans will sometimes encounter off-hours where there will be limited games and players, but the avid poker player will always discover action at Betfair and be treated very nicely as well.

As pointed out earlier, Betfair is foremost a sports book so the poker can be rather soft. The good news for poker players though, is that sports bettors are true risk takers, no calculations required, so they make the perfect poker opponents.

The ever present bonus programs are a terrific advantage of Betfair poker. The most popular of which are Bankroll Booster, Poker points, and loads of tournament free rolls and specials. With a bias toward free roll players and drawing in those who seek tournament value, Betfair has some great tournament promotions going every day. Poker points can be swapped for many different items and occasionally can be traded for discounts in the sports book. No matter where you are on the site, the top notch support team is always around.

Players stay with Betfair because of its 24/7 support among many other features. Support can be had by email and phone and all issues are resolved promptly to the visitors satisfaction. The banking system offers many withdrawal options and boasts The Royal Bank of Scotland as its partner. There is no reason to feel unsafe on this site. Betfair can deal successfully with any gambling related issue whether technical or not because of its thorough understanding of both it’s software and the games offered on the site. However, the majority of players will find the application extremely easy to maneuver around and glitch-free.

Betfair is one of the top twenty online company’s in the world and has won several business awards including the coveted Queens Award for Enterprise making it the first choice of online poker players and gamblers of every persuasion. If you haven’t discovered this site yet, you are missing a great online experience.

For more poker room reviews like this one please check out reviews like our Poker Heaven Review, PKR Poker Review, or any of the other poker room reviews at Rakeback Solution.

If your name is Doyle Brunson, the veteran poker professional, your venture into the online world of poker is sure to be a successful one. If you anchor the site with such talented poker professionals as Barry Greenstein, Alec Torelli and the Two Months Two Million reality television star Dani Stern, you have further secured your future success. Add to all this celebrity sponsorship of Pamela Anderson, Nicky Hilton and Jamie-Lynn Sigler and you are sure to make your mark in online poker rooms. Doyles Room slogan is “real poker” and that is exactly what you will find here.

Before downloading the software you will be required to fill in some forms, but don’t let this stop you. Once the paperwork is completed, the download is very speedy and smooth and you will be up and running in a flash. The navigation on the site is tab-based and those of you familiar with Cake Room poker will find Doyles Room a piece of cake. Both Cake Room and Doyles Room are operating on the Cake Network. A nice bonus of Doyles Room is the casino, an option not usually found in online poker rooms. The site includes No Limit, Limit, and Pot Limit Holdem, Omaha and 7-card stud, all clearly accessible to players as are the cash games and tournaments.

The tournament buy-ins range from $.025 and go on up to $250. The stakes begin at $.02/.04 for cash games. There are many partners affiliated with Doyles Room which enables the site to offer tournament satellites for such thrilling events as the Irish Open. You will normally encounter a thousand busy tables with over six thousand players enthusiastically competing on Doyles Room every time you visit. There are also loads of tournaments available with some sweet guarantees and bounties and all the extra goodies online players die for.

Doyles Room offers a really peachy rewards program in its gold card and gold card race bonus program. The gold cards are strewn at random to players based on their hours of play and rake paid. Players are then rewarded at each month’s end with cash. There are several different types of gold playing cards that reward the players with some number of miles. Those in the top fifty of the mile earners can expect to receive from $150 to $1,000 each month. There are more really neat promotions as well like gold stacks, gold chips and gold card lotteries every day. Clearly loyal customers are handsomely rewarded on Doyles Room as they enjoy themselves while prospecting for gold.

Doyles Room is supported by one of the oldest and most venerated names in poker. Its customer service is among the best in the business and security is paramount at the site. The customer support is run on a 24/7 basis and is accessed by both email and telephone. An unusual support feature at Doyles Room is the live chat support. With Doyle Brunson as its ambassador, you will find depositing and withdrawing from the banking system quite simple to do in a totally secure environment.

Because of Doyle Brunson’s ambassadorship and an ever-expanding group of sponsors and celebrities, Doyles Room has become and will continue to be a trusted establishment with something for every player now and for years to come.

For more poker room reviews like this one please check out reviews like our Poker Nordica Review, Poker Heaven Review, or any of the other poker room reviews at Rakeback Solution.

Bodog Poker has been around since 1994. Founded by Calvin Ayre, it was one of the first of the online poker sites, and is really less of a poker room and more of a lifestyle. The site is known for its sports book, boxing, mixed martial arts, music, video games, brand licensing and casino among others. At some point in its life, Bodog Poker has touched upon just about every facet of gambling and entertainment.

The two veteran poker professionals, David Williams and Evelyn Ng have been a part of representing the Bodog brand stalwartly throughout all the vicissitudes and innovations that have come to pass over its lifetime. The company is licensed by the Morris Mohawk Gaming Group which also owns its main product and the company is presently turning their focus on building player confidence, giving players an enjoyable experience and on software that meets the highest expectations.

The foggy grey and black borders lend an air of mystery to the software which, along with the extensive gaming platform, makes for a very appealing product. The download is fast and seamless. The players can play up to four tables simultaneously, a feature any multitasker will adore. There is a way cool preferences tab in the upper right corner of the screen that can be used to leap to the sports book in a flash and also allows for an easy scan through the site’s resources.

Right next to the preference tab is a quick seating feature that allows for easy software customization. Something rarely seen in online poker venues is a horse racing book that is a selection under the preference tab. Another nice feature is that the table settings and game details are very clear and easy to sort through. Whether your aim is to change felt colors or alter avatars, you can make the appearance of the cash games and tournament play here look like your very own design.

There is not a table and player count meter per se and you cannot see the player pool, but if you meander to the poker homepage, you will discover a count of current players and this will number around six to ten thousand. There are all sorts of holdem games on the site as well as Omaha, Omaha hi-lo, five card stud, seven card stud and seven card stud hi-lo. The blind structure is a bit unusual with low limits of $.02/.05 and a ceiling of $30/60.

Add tournaments into the mix and you have a total gamete of card playing activities. Tournaments start in the Fleers double bubble gum range of a quarter with prize pool guarantees of up to 200,000.00 big ones and buy ins up to $200.00. With all the action on the site, bonuses are ripe for the taking.

There are Royal Flush and bad beat bonuses available to all players and players are allowed to exchange their poker points for cash, giving you an idea of how much Bodog Poker values its customers. Add to the bonuses the special promotions of giving double points, and you can see that a player’s loyalty and diligence will be rewarded. There are loads of daily freerolls, point buy in tournaments and awesome tournament prizes to encourage everyone to come the site.

Bodog poker can reach out and touch fifteen countries with their international phone numbers making this a global organization. The company is licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission which adds to its credibility and player confidence. Bodog Poker also has specialized brands in Europe and in Asia with such industry moguls as Haydock Sports, so there are enough resources to keep even the most persnickety customer happy. Support is deftly handled through forms and email. Axolotl Online Inc is responsible for website security and client privacy and with licensing associations with Patrik Selin, you can be sure Bodog is on top of support, resources and security for its large customer base.

The company is now led by Alwyn Morris, the Olympic gold medalist, Order of Canada recipient, noted Canadian sportsman, First Nations leader and former Associate Director for the Mohawk Council of Chiefs in Kahnawake. There is no way the company can go wrong with such a high achiever at the helm. Bodog Poker is based in the Caribbean island paradise of Antigua. Players don’t have to travel to Antigua to find paradise however. They can find it right on the world wide web at Bodog Poker where 15 years of experience has proven their motto of “It’s better in our book.

For more poker room reviews like this one please check out reviews like our Tower Poker Review, Red Star Poker Review, or any of the other poker room reviews at Rakeback Solution.

Got that lucky feeling? Head on over to the site that “Lets You Win on Anything” and that would be BetSafe Poker. BetSafe is a sports book, casino and poker room all in one spot. You can place a live in-game bet at the sports book so you have the option of playing poker while you watch the game for you multitasking types. You will find on the homepage a tab that is labeled “almost anything” that is a fun read even if poker is not your game at the moment. You will find youtube videos, facebook links, twitters to information on donating to global catastrophes. Truly a site that will not be a waste of time to explore.

BetSafe runs on the OnGame Network and partners with such organizations as Parspro, a major deliverer of total betting solutions and related services for companies operating, or will operate, on an electronic media format. Net Entertainment is another partner, the forerunner in the market of browser-based gaming software. These are some of the many reasons why they can offer so many gaming options and such reliable software.

Running on both Windows XP/Vista and Mac OS X, everyone can take advantage of the fast and flexible application that can be downloaded in a flash and smoothly as well. Registration is mandatory so get ready to fill out some forms prior to downloading. The pro view feature is an excellent one that lets you manage up to a dozen poker tables at once. BetSafe uses a button, drop down and panel based platform that is intuitive and easily navigated. The opening page is slick and is also your player screen where you will encounter chat, news and a rapid seating function. The panel bars can be clicked so you can manipulate various things like minimizing the news box allowing you to customize your view.

There are buttons along the top and bottom bars that are extremely useful and self explanatory. They include all the website based help links and contacts in plain view so you can easily travel throughout the site. There is a settings button in the upper right that is a neato pop up window that lets you detail your set up in a flash. The mini view feature is popular with the players and allows them to highlight windows a table at a time to get a good look at the competition and what variation of poker they are playing so you know what it is you are up against. All of these options are what gamers hungers for.

No-limit, fixed limit, and pot limit holdem are some of the ring games you will find at BetSafe, along with Omaha, five card draw and seven card stud. There is a player counter that tells you how many are playing poker at a particular time. That number is normally around 25,000.

Blind levels in cash games begin at $02/04 and zoom to $50/100 in no-limit holdem and $500/1000 in fixed limit holdem. If the furor and excitement of cash games is too much for you, try one of the many tournaments on the site to enthuse your poker genes. You can buy into tournaments beginning at $.52 and the high rollers can do the $500 buy in. The endless variety of tournaments is a big draw to the site and one in particular is the Grand Series of Poker IV. All of this is proof of BetSafes love of its customers.

If you are into bonuses, begin with the VIP rewards club “where cash is king” and take a chance at earning points which can be traded for awesome deals and cash prizes. The BestSafe Poker Gumball 3000 is a special promotion in which the winner receives a travel package to Stockholm for the event and VIP treatment as he attends many prestigious parties and events. Players are also rewarded with points and tournament races to be turned in for an array of valuable goods. And all this in a pleasant and secure environment.

The level of support at BetSafe Poker is superior to any other site. Players can pose a question on anything via email, phone or live chat, whatever the preference. One feature truly unique to BetSafe is the 15 minute guarantee. The site guarantees to all players that all emails will be responded to within 15 minutes or $10 will be transferred to their accounts. This is offered by no other site and is one awesome feature. Each business branch also has an email address so a player can go to the proper place for a proper answer from the proper source.

BetSafe Poker cares very much about responsible gaming and partners with companies the ilk of GamCare to make sure players are not going overboard. The company seeks the approval for all their activities from The Lotteries and Gaming Authority, a regulatory body with the task of governance of all gaming activities in Malta. With their secure platform and overseers, the Safe in the name of BetSafe is eminently deserved.

For all of you sports fans and poker nuts, this is the place for you to spend some enjoyable time at your preferred leisure activity.

For more poker room reviews like this one please check out reviews like our Poker Stars Review, Poker Kings Review, or any of the other poker room reviews at Rakeback Solution.

Just recently the Poker Players Alliance has unveiled a new iPhone application that is a bargain to download at just 99 cents..  Unlike many other poker-related iPhone programs, the application offered by the PPA has nothing to do with playing poker games or teaching people poker strategy.  Instead, this iPhone program was created with the intention of promoting internet poker worldwide, and convincing governments in countries such as the United States to pass favorable poker laws.

Some features of the PPA’s new iPhone app is that it alerts players about starting times for various poker tournaments, delivers messages from pro poker player Twitter accounts, and offers the latest poker news.  You may even find some great rakeback deals by using this iPhone program! A really important feature of the application is its ability to allow people to contact US Government Officials and in turn lobby for much better poker legislation.

To get this 99 cent application, you need to do a search for the Poker Players Alliance and complete the poker download once you find it.  While you’re downloading the poker software, you will notice that it’s only 2.1 MB, which really saves room on one’s iPhone.  When the download is finished, you will be able to browse through the various sections such as News, Tweets, Contact Congress, and the Poker Tournament Schedule.

The tournament schedule is especially important because you will be able to find out when different online and casino poker events take place.  This beats having to sift through every online poker room just to find out the information you need.  If you need help to learn how to play poker or find some poker training, you can look for other poker-related applications on the iPhone.  This is also a great way to find online poker deals that will earn you lots of money.

If you are not yet in possession of an iPhone, then you can still enjoy Full Tilt Poker and Littlewoods Poker from the comfort of your home.  You never know you could win enough money to get your hands on an iPhone.

Aced Poker is one internet site you should explore. The website is a wealth of information about all things poker including strategy tips, rules and hand rankings of several poker games. It is a small interface but is loaded with nifty items like gamete buttons and animated objects of all varieties. It has a very natural feel which makes you want to stick around.

It has all the usual features of the standard online poker rooms like blogs, a bad beat jackpot meter, news section, and swagger barometer plus some exhilarating bonus offerings. The application is easy to navigate with its straightforward color coded keys and tabs. Ever in search of ways to rise above the competition, Aced Poker lets a player rabbit hunt, get two-time deals and reveal single cards. There are many other games besides poker that you can play on the site, including Euchre of all things. The site is easy to maneuver about and the transition between games and the level of the games is very smooth, both of which drive many a player to the site for cash and tournament play.

Here you will find games to play such as triple draw and badugi, not easily found elsewhere proving that Aced Poker is not your everyday poker company. The cash games begin at $.02/.04 and go on up to $50/100 so regardless of a players risk aversion, he can find a game here. If you are some kind of Evel Kneivel, they’ve got your game in the flipament feature where each player is all in, every hand, until the bitter end when the victor stands alone way on top. Considering that there are around 4,000 players on site at any time you visit it, there is no way you can’t find a game at Aced Poker. Add to this the mixed games offered of RASH (razz, draw, stud and holdem) and HAR (holdem, draw and razz) and any player looking for an adventure away from his usual routine will find it here. All in all, Aced Poker is a site that delivers games and excitement way beyond the average site and one that values its customers highly.

Aced Poker also features the amazing bonus that if any player is dealt four aces they get a prize of 40 times the big blind. Wow! Taking it even further there is the awesome Royal Flush promotion where 100 times the big blind goes to the lucky winner. Then there is the Swagger VIP campaign. This is a program where a points-per-play device is used for trade-ins for merchandise, tournament credits and cash. To appeal to the love of mystery in all of us, there are Aced Junkets for those special people who can go on lavish vacations and discuss the factors that would improve the online poker scene. To handle all this, Aced Poker is based on a solid business foundation.

Aced Poker is also interactive in its live chats, 24/7 email service and numerous help options to aid in the solution of any players problem whether it be technical with the site or a question of poker technique or method of play or whatever. There is a separate support website that can be accessed from a button on the main site that offers a FAQ section. Aced Poker goes well out of its way to the successful resolution of its clients problems, no matter how big or small.

So, get to this site if you are craving a variety of games played by a large population of happy poker folks and enjoy your visit.

For more poker room reviews like this one please check out reviews like our Titan Poker Review, Power Poker Review, or any of the other poker room reviews at Rakeback Solution.

To earn as much money as you possibly can during your play in online poker rooms, you should look into what is known as a rakeback.

Most poker rooms online charge what is known as a rake. This is how online poker rooms commonly make their money when they offer tables for players to use. Many tables also offer what is known as a rake payout to their players. This benefit is similar to comps in a regular casino. Players who play large sums of money can greatly benefit from tables that give back large sums through rake paybacks.

When playing in online poker rooms, you should look into the rooms that give you the largest benefits from their bonus payouts. When you are receiving large payouts from a casino, you will have an advantage when competing with players online who are not receiving the same returns from their casino benefits.

With a little bit of research, you will discover that not all rooms offer the same type of returns. This is why it can be a good idea to shop around for the poker room that gives large sums of money to players through payouts. The easiest way to find the best poker payouts online is through the use of rakeback review websites. These websites show the percentage of money paid out from pots played at the most popular poker rooms in order to help you find the tables that will save you the most money.

When you play at a table that offers a great fee return, you will be increasing the amount of money you earn from your poker play.

There are also poker rooms that have removed their rake fee entirely. These rooms do not have a rakeback, because they do not charge any fees for you to play at their tables. These casinos generate their income by encouraging players to utilize the other services they offer. You can save a great deal of money when you play in rooms that do not charge a fee.

Some people find it difficult to win when they are constantly bombarded by rake fees. To win at a table when you are paying out rake fees, you not only have to compete with other players, but you have to stay ahead of the rake fees draining your poker account. If you do not want to have this additional challenge when you are playing poker online, then you should certainly look into rooms that do not have large fees.

If you play poker in online tournaments, then you pay out a rake through your entrance fee. Standard rooms charge their fee every hand. When playing games like Texas hold’em, the rooms only charge players when there is a flop though. There are other tables that charge their players based on the elapsed time occurring during play. These charges will generally be taken every half hour.

There are some tables that charge a fee based on the amount of time that elapses during play. These rakes are commonly taken every half hour.

To decrease the drain from the casino fees on your poker account, you should choose the rooms that take the least amount of money per hand. You should also go with the casinos that offer the largest fee payouts to their customers.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Power Rakeback and Victory Poker Rakeback.

Action Poker comes with an exclamation point in its logo and the motto “Get some” which gives you a clue that this site is out to keep you alert and focused. The company is owned and operated by Ecom Enterprises, a fully owned subsidiary of Playsafe Holding AS. You can be sure that this company knows what its doing.

Action Poker is regulated by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission and operates out of Norway (OTC). The company can definitely make the claim that it is a well-informed international poker establishment. Action Poker got its start in 1999 and is licensed by the Action Poker Network (APN). It is a site that has won the blessings of poker players for many years and will do all it can to make the players experience more enjoyable.

The software, however, runs only on Microsoft Windows version 98 or later, so MAC users are left out in the cold, poor dears. Upon opening the software you will be welcomed by a message that will normally give you the latest bonus, a very nice greeting.

The update tool, found under options at the top bar of the screen, is a dandy feature that lets you download the latest version of the software at anytime that is convenient to you. The software is drop-down and button-based making it intuitive and easy to navigate. You will also get a news ticker and flashing ads to keep you apprised of the latest in poker information and events. There are other nifty features of the application like links to the minutiae of all game rules under the help menu as well as a display of the casino and blackjack games right smack in front of you. The customer is king here.

Action Poker as a rule is running 300 tables with 3,000 players at any given time. Players can expect to find the usual games of no limit, fixed limit and pot limit holdem, Omaha and seven card stud, but Action Poker goes way beyond the standard games and offers some really unusual varieties. Games such as Guts poker, Monte Carlo Guts and Survivor guts are some of the games that will challenge even the most experienced player. Then there is Pan, which is played in California and is a rummy based game fit for the true gambling man or woman.

Stakes are as low as $.01/.02 climbing all the way up to $50/100 keeping players happy at all levels of wallets and skills. You will not find a significant number of tournaments played here, but the freerolls and interesting structures make up for the deficit in numbers. You can get into a tournament with one thin dime and work that into some real cash or plunk down 1,400 big ones for the World Series packages and really make a statement. On Action Poker, you have ample opportunity to try your hand at cash games and tournaments to get yourself some great bonuses along with your game.

A high point of the promotions is the satellites to the Winter Games in Vancouver which comes with tickets to the 2010 Men’s Hockey Gold Final. The bonuses are primarily tournament based on Action Poker so the site fronts guarantees that are very appealing to its customers. Do not forget the Stanley and Frieda tournament which is a bounty tournament happening on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays in which a player receives an extra 30 bucks for doing in Stanley or Frieda. The site also has satellites to the World Series of Poker so you can be sure this site isn’t going to go away any time soon.

Longevity fosters security and at Action Poker and with companies like the International Gaming Council, (IGC) and the random number generator tester ITECH Labs Australia, players will feel secure and cared for well into the future. An unusual aspect of the site is that it gives contact information to three gambling help agencies: GamCare, Gamblers Anonymous and The National Council on Problem Gambling. This is a company that cares for its players and wishes them success.

Help is via email which is up and running 24/7 so the company can be contacted any time for any questions that the players may have and all will be answered promptly and to the player’s satisfaction. The support site is extremely secure so a player need never feel their privacy is compromised and can focus on enjoying themselves at the site.

So go “get some” and enjoy yourself and your winnings.

For more poker room reviews like this one please check out reviews like our Minted Poker Review, Interpoker Review, or any of the other poker room reviews at Rakeback Solution.

The PokerStars “Big Game” debuted on the FOX television network earlier this week in what was considered a very successful first episode.

Probably one of the main reasons for the success was due to the fact that a great deal of the world’s best live and internet poker contestants attended the Big Game. Some of the players who sat down for the Big Game included phil Hellmuth, Tony G, Doyle Brunson, Phil Laak, Daniel Negreanu and Ernest Wiggins who is only an amateur player.

Wiggins, who hails from Washington D.C., was especially interesting since he qualified for the show through a “Loose Cannon” poker tournament at PokerStars. And Wiggins certainly didn’t look like an amateur since he played his poker hands just as good as any of the pros; he even took down a big pot against Phil Hellmuth! The win by Wiggins had the Ultimate Bet pro Hellmuth visibly upset as the other pros joked around about the loss.

Tony G had the biggest afternoon out of any of the players as he made 95,000 US Dollars after playing just 32 holdem poker hands. For Doyle Brunson, who is the face of Doyles Room and their amazing 33% rakeback deals, it was a tough start as he lost his entire stack by the end of Episode 1.

With the success of the Big Game’s first episode, you can be sure that lots more people will be tuning in to see how these pros fare in future episodes. There will be stack more people hoping to quality for the show through the Loose Cannon games of poker. Anybody who manages to qualify for the show will have their buy-in paid along with a guaranteed seat in the nationally televised poker show.

Even if you don’t win the Loose Cannon event and earn a spot on the Big Game, you can still earn lots through the VIP program at PokerStars.

Whatever you choose to do, you can enjoy plenty of games of Online Poker including perhaps a game of Party Poker, or maybe PKR Poker – you decide.

Cards were not introduced into Medieval Europe until the second half of the 14th century. At this time they were referred to as “Saracen Cards,” and were brought to Europe by merchants. Cities were burgeoning with rural folk who had survived the Plague and moved to the urban centers. Here, they became a new group of middle class merchants and craftspeople. With the easing of the poverty and ignorance that marked the middle ages, new trade groups, guilds, and universities began to emerge once again, and science was no longer relegated to sorcerers. There was more time for the pursuit of pleasure, leisure, and play.

In the early days of the Renaissance, books, cards and prints were created by hand. Card games were spread across Italy by a society of art appreciators formed at this time. At the end of the–th century many key cities in Europe including Viterbo near Rome, Paris and Barcelona, were able to obtain illuminated manuscripts of card manuals. Traveling artists and scholars spread these manuscripts across the continent and their popularity flourished. Early in the 15th century, a lone artisan was enough to satisfy the demand of a city. By mid-century, however, there became a need for several shops devoted to their creation.

Because this was a somewhat foreign form of amusement, not everybody embraced it. Some felt it threatened the fabric of society’s mores and morals. They saw it as a game where gamblers and bettors were in cahoots with the devil. During the protestant Reformation cards were rather dramatically referred to as “devil pictures.”

Nonetheless, the fashion persisted. Mary, Queen of Scots liked to bet big even on Sundays and by late 17th century London published The Compleat Gamester, describing over a dozen game types and the basic strategies for all of them. In Venice, special facilities – casini – admitted privileged aristocrats for card games and courtesans. From there, a game called primero spread to Europe and later transformed into poker.

In fact, soon not only the male court enjoyed cards, but also women, farmers, craftsmen, and merchants gained access to the game and found their realities symbolically reflected there. A popular Swedish deck had these suits in order of significance: sun, king, queen, knight, dame, valet, and maid. Florentine cards depicted nude dames and dancers (the latter being lowest).

Interestingly, the number of cards in a deck at the time was not standard, consisting of 30-40 or 52 cards. The designs also varied considerably. The suits most preferred were symbolic of wealth, food, military security as well as popular sports of the court:, coins, cups, sabers and clubs. Some of the symbols familiar to us today were typical of those in France: in red, Coeurs (hearts) stood for the church, and correaux (a rectangular floor tile) was a sign of the merchant class; in black, piques (spear and arrow heads) represented state authority, and trefles (trefoil clover leaf) denoted farmers. Somewhere along the line, a brave artisan exchanged the vice-royals symbol with queens.

Eventually a deck of cards made it to the form that we all recognize and understand today. 52 cards of- different ranks make up 4 different suits. Clubs, Spades, Diamonds and Hearts make up the suits, while Ace, King, Queen, and Jack make up the card ranks rounded out by ten through two.

The author is a successful limit cash game player. He plays poker online and receives Betfair Rakeback as well as Red Star Rakeback.