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blackjack

(Encyclopedia)blackjack, one of the world's most widely played gambling card games; also known as twenty-one or vingt-et-un. Despite contesting claims between the French and Italians, its origins are unknown. Each ...

bezique

(Encyclopedia)bezique bəzēkˈ [key], card game usually played with 128 cards by two players. Bezique developed in France and England in the 1860s and originally required only 64 cards; later there were variations...

fan tan

(Encyclopedia)fan tan, card game for three to eight players using a regular deck. All cards are dealt after each player antes (pays) one chip into a pool. Play rotates to the left and if a player cannot play a card...

poker

(Encyclopedia)poker, card game, believed to have originated in Asia and first played in the United States in the 19th cent. A traditional cutthroat gambling game at first, it is now also an internationally popular ...

Wriston, Walter Bigelow

(Encyclopedia)Wriston, Walter Bigelow, 1919–2005, American banker, b. Middletown, Conn., grad. Wesleyan (B.A., 1941); Fletcher School, Tufts Univ. (M.A., 1942). Widely considered the most important and influentia...

écarté

(Encyclopedia)écarté āˌkärtāˈ [key], card game similar to euchre, played by two persons. The pack has 32 cards, seven through ace in each suit; the king is the highest card, and the ace ranks below the jack ...

cribbage

(Encyclopedia)cribbage krĭbˈĭj [key], card game played by two persons with a deck of 52 cards and a scoring (pegging) device known as a cribbage board. The board contains four rows of 30 holes each (two rows for...

rummy

(Encyclopedia)rummy, card game played by two to six players with a standard deck. The cards usually rank from king down through ace. Seven cards are dealt to each player in the three- or four-hand game, one card is...

hearts

(Encyclopedia)hearts, card game played by three to six players with an ordinary deck. All the cards are dealt to the players. After a card is led, each hand must follow suit if possible. The object is to avoid accu...

whist

(Encyclopedia)whist, card game for four players, those on opposite sides of the table being partners. The full pack of 52 cards is dealt. The dealer's last card is turned up to indicate trump, and after he draws th...