Our current poker cards usually have 54 cards, two of which are JOKER, the two cards known as the big and small kings. In fact, these two poker cards did not exist at the beginning.
The traditional cards with spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds as their suits were invented by the French in the 14th century, and there were only 52 cards at the beginning. Around 1850, some poker manufacturers began to add the 53rd card to the cards. At that time, this card was only used as a replacement card or card. The 53rd card mainly had the following forms:
1 , Blank card, that is, a card without any printing on the front. This card is mainly used as a replacement card. When a card in the card is lost, it can be replaced with this card.
2. Trademark card. This card is printed with the trademark of the poker factory. It can be used as a replacement card and also plays a role.
3. Cards, a pair of ordinary playing cards plus one product. This card may be the predecessor of poker today. Cards of this form can still be seen today.
4. Rule cards. Whist bridge was already very popular at that time. The scoring method printed on this card was very popular among players. Many foreign poker cards today also have this card.
The card at that time was not called JOKER, but called: "Extra card", which means extra card.
Since many cards have 53 cards, there are many card games played with 53 cards. Among them, a card game using 53 cards appeared in Mississippi in the United States and soon became popular throughout North America. At that time, poker produced in the United States usually had 53 cards.
The names of the 53rd card are not unified. There are many names such as "Extra card", "Wild card", "Best card", "Best Bower", "Life card", etc. The title is printed on the card. From these names, we can see that this card has the functions of replacement card, wild card and trump card.
The traditional poker cards in the UK are the same as those in France, with 52 cards. Around the 1870s, in order to expand sales in North America, some manufacturers in the UK officially produced a deck of 53 cards.
According to research by some foreign experts, the title "JOKER" appeared between 1860 and 1880. As for where this title came from? Some people say that this is related to the 0 card in the main card of the Tarot. This card is called "Fool" and its pattern is a homeless man. This card is also quite special in the Tarot. Some people say that this title is related to a kind of card game at that time. Regardless, this designation eventually became the standard.
After 1900, most poker manufacturers produced JOKER.
The "JOKER" mark on the early JOKER card was not printed on the corner of the card. It was usually printed below the clown image. The most commonly used text was: "The Jolly Joker", which means the happy clown. , gradually simplified to "The Joker" and "Joker", and this word was printed on the corner of the card. Some cards were even simplified to the letter "J".
Not all JOKERs are printed with the word "JOKER". Another common marking method is a circled five-pointed star on the corner of the card. We still habitually call it JOKER.
The development of card games promoted the development of cards. In the early 20th century, the second JOKER appeared in poker. The now popular 54-card poker game was formed.
Poker cards produced in Asia and North America have two JOKERs, but in poker cards produced in Asia, the two JOKERs are usually divided into small and large ones, that is, a red JOKER is used to mark the king. This card is usually a colored card. Another JOKER pattern called Xiao Wang is usually the same as the big king, but it is a black and white pattern. In the poker cards we bought back from Europe and the United States, we sometimes find that the two JOKERs are not necessarily different. This is because the popular card games in the two places are different.
After World War II, with the development of card games, more JOKER pokers appeared in Europe. According to reports, Zwicker, a card game now popular in Denmark and Germany, requires 6 JOKERs. Among the cards I have ever seen, the largest deck even has 8 JOKER.
The pattern of JOKER is not static. Although the JOKER of traditional standard poker has changed a lot, the card usually has the image of a clown. Nowadays, the JOKER in some standard cards is no longer necessarily a clown, but has various variations, such as cartoons, animals, etc., which greatly enriches the content of JOKER.
Here, I have to mention the so-called relationship between poker and astronomical calendar. Some people have studied that in poker, the big king represents the sun and the small king represents the moon. If the big and small kings are counted half a point, it means exactly 265 days in a year, and if counted a little, it means 366 days in a year. I have always disagreed with these statements. Although I dare not deny that poker is related to the astronomical calendar, judging from the development history of JOKER, some of the above statements are problematic.
JOKER is mainly divided into three categories:
1. Standard JOKER. That is the standard poker JOKER (note 1). This is the most traditional JOKER and the most popular category among collectors. Some people even only collect this type of JOKER.
2. JOKER. There are many variations of JOKER in the brand, and different products have different JOKER. This type of JOKER usually prints content related to products or trademarks. Some of these cards have very unique designs and are very popular among collectors.
3. The JOKER of suit poker (Note 2). This type of JOKER has more changes, and the contents of the two JOKERs are generally different. But it would be a pity to remove the JOKER from a deck of poker cards and ruin the entire deck. Not many JOKERs are used for exchange.
Extra cards in other cards are also called Extra Joker (Extra Joker), mainly bridge score cards, poker manufacturer trademarks, etc. Some people also collect these cards, but they are not not much.
Most standard poker JOKERs have a clown pattern, but the clown pattern itself has many variations and can be divided into different types. For example, clowns holding musical instruments and playing music can be divided into one category, clowns with animals can be divided into one category, clowns holding pokers can be divided into one category, clowns holding magic wands can be divided into one category...
Individual animal patterns also occupy a certain proportion in standard poker JOKER. For example, a poker factory in Nanjing has produced a series of animal JOKER, including rabbits, squirrels, butterflies, etc., which are very popular among foreign JOKER collectors. Common domestic animal JOKER also has various patterns such as elephant, lion, tiger, deer, camel and so on.
In recent years, JOKER with cartoon image has also become very popular. For example, JOKER with Mickey Mouse pattern appears in many types of poker.
Non-clown character patterns can be seen from time to time, such as JOKER in the image of a western cowboy holding a gun in Pirate Poker, and the two brothers holding poker cards back to back in Brothers Poker, can all be included in this category.
Standard poker JOKER can be divided into multiple types, so I won’t list them all here.
There are 13 cards of each suit, in order: A, the first point; K, the king; Q, the queen; J, the warrior, and 10 to 2. The portraits in the playing cards are all historical figures. The king in K of Hearts is Charlemagne, who founded the Charlemagne Empire. He is the only king in poker who does not have a beard. The king in the square K is Caesar of ancient Rome. Although he did not publicly call himself king at the time, later generations still called him Caesar the Great.
The portrait in Plum Blossom K is of Alexander, a Genghis Khan-like figure in ancient times who single-handedly created the Alexander Empire that spanned three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa. The portrait in the K of Spades is David, the father of King Solomon of Israel in the 10th century BC. He was good at playing the harp and wrote many hymns in the Bible, so this card often has a harp picture.
The Queen of Spades is Pallas Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and war. Among the four queens, this queen is the only one holding a weapon. The Queen of Hearts is named Jules. She is a native of Bavaria, Germany, and married Charles I of the Stuart dynasty of England. Later, he was sentenced to death for his brutal rule, and Jules remarried and moved away. The plum blossom Q symbolizes such a story: the British royal family of Lancaster is symbolized by red roses, and the royal family of York is symbolized by white roses. After the Rose Wars, the two royal families reached reconciliation and tied their roses together. So the queen held roses in her hands. The Queen of Diamonds is Queen Leker, she is Jacob's daughter.
Jacob was the father of Joseph in the Old Testament. He had 12 sons and established 12 tribes in Israel.
The Jack of Spades is Hokla, a Dane who served Charles I. The Jack of Hearts is Lahaia, the palace attendant who served Charles VII. The jack of clubs is Lancelot, the famous knight in the story of King Arthur. The Jack of Diamonds is Lorraine who served Charles I. These character systems were gradually accepted by various countries and have been followed to this day.
The 52 cards except the king and the king represent the 52 weeks in a year. Among the other two, one is the big king, representing the sun; the other is the small king, representing the moon. The four seasons of the year, namely spring, summer, autumn and winter, are represented by spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs respectively. Among them, hearts and diamonds represent day, and spades and clubs represent night. There are exactly 13 cards in each suit, which means that each quarter is basically 13 weeks. The total value of these 13 cards is 91, which corresponds to the 91 days in each quarter. The sum of the points of the four suits, plus Xiao Wang's point, is exactly 365 days in a year. If you add the king's point, it will match the number of days in a leap year. There are 12 JQK*** cards in poker, which means there are 12 months in a year; it also means that the sun goes through 12 weeks in a year.
In addition, the four colors of playing cards have different meanings: spades symbolize olive leaves, which means peace; hearts are heart-shaped, which means wisdom; black clover of clubs comes from clover; diamonds Diamonds represent wealth and express people's best wishes.