Editing Card game (section)

==Typical structure of card games==
{{Unreferenced section|date=June 2018}}

===Number and association of players===
[[Image:Paul Cézanne, 1892-95, Les joueurs de carte (The Card Players), 60 x 73 cm, oil on canvas, Courtauld Institute of Art, London.jpg|thumb|''[[The Card Players]]'', 1895 by [[Paul Cézanne]]]]
[[File:Card game, circa 1930s.jpg|thumb|Historically, card games such as [[whist]] and [[contract bridge]] were opportunities for quiet socializing, as shown in this 1930s [[magic lantern]] slide photo taken in [[Seattle, Washington]].]]
Any specific card game imposes restrictions on the number of players. The most significant dividing lines run between one-player games and two-player games, and between two-player games and multi-player games. Card games for one player are known as ''solitaire'' or ''patience'' card games. (See [[List of solitaire card games]].) Generally speaking, they are in many ways special and atypical, although some of them have given rise to two- or multi-player games such as [[Spite and Malice]].

In card games for two players, usually not all cards are distributed to the players, as they would otherwise have perfect information about the game state. Two-player games have always been immensely popular and include some of the most significant card games such as [[piquet]], [[bezique]], [[sixty-six (card game)|sixty-six]], [[klaberjass]], [[gin rummy]] and [[cribbage]]. Many multi-player games started as two-player games that were adapted to a greater number of players. For such adaptations a number of non-obvious choices must be made beginning with the choice of a game orientation.

One way of extending a two-player game to more players is by building two teams of equal size. A common case is four players in two fixed partnerships, sitting crosswise as in [[whist]] and [[contract bridge]]. Partners sit opposite to each other and cannot see each other's hands. If communication between the partners is allowed at all, then it is usually restricted to a specific list of permitted signs and signals. 17th-century French partnership games such as [[triomphe]] were special in that partners sat next to each other and were allowed to communicate freely so long as they did not exchange cards or play out of order.

Another way of extending a two-player game to more players is as a ''cut-throat'' or ''individual'' game, in which all players play for themselves, and win or lose alone. Most such card games are ''round games'', i.e. they can be played by any number of players starting from two or three, so long as there are enough cards for all.

For some of the most interesting games such as [[ombre]], [[Tarot card games|tarot]] and [[skat (card game)|skat]], the associations between players change from hand to hand. Ultimately players all play on their own, but for each hand, some game mechanism divides the players into two teams. Most typically these are ''solo games'', i.e. games in which one player becomes the soloist and has to achieve some objective against the others, who form a team and win or lose all their points jointly. But in games for more than three players, there may also be a mechanism that selects two players who then have to play against the others.

===Direction of play===
The players of a card game normally form a circle around a table or other space that can hold cards. The ''game orientation'' or ''direction of play'', which is only relevant for three or more players, can be either [[clockwise]] or [[counterclockwise]]. It is the direction in which various roles in the game proceed. (In [[real-time card game]]s, there may be no need for a direction of play.) Most regions have a traditional direction of play, such as:

* Counterclockwise in most of Asia and in Latin America.
* Clockwise in North America and Australia.

Europe is roughly divided into a clockwise area in the north and a counterclockwise area in the south. The boundary runs between [[England]], [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]], [[Netherlands]], [[Germany]], [[Austria]] (mostly), [[Slovakia]], [[Ukraine]] and [[Russia]] ([[clockwise]]) and [[France]], [[Switzerland]], [[Spain]], [[Italy]], [[Slovenia]], [[Balkans]], [[Hungary]], [[Romania]], [[Bulgaria]], [[Greece]] and [[Turkey]] (counterclockwise).{{Specify|How about Belgium?|date=March 2021}}{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

Games that originate in a region with a strong preference are often initially played in the original direction, even in regions that prefer the opposite direction. For games that have official rules and are played in tournaments, the direction of play is often prescribed in those rules.

===Determining who deals===
Most games have some form of asymmetry between players. The roles of players are normally expressed in terms of the ''dealer'', i.e. the player whose task it is to shuffle the cards and distribute them to the players. Being the dealer can be a (minor or major) advantage or disadvantage, depending on the game. Therefore, after each played hand, the deal normally passes to the next player according to the game orientation.

As it can still be an advantage or disadvantage to be the first dealer, there are some standard methods for determining who is the first dealer. A common method is by cutting, which works as follows. One player shuffles the deck and places it on the table. Each player lifts a packet of cards from the top, reveals its bottom card, and returns it to the deck. The player who reveals the highest (or lowest) card becomes dealer. In the case of a tie, the process is repeated by the tied players. For some games such as whist this process of cutting is part of the official rules, and the hierarchy of cards for the purpose of cutting (which need not be the same as that used otherwise in the game) is also specified. But in general, any method can be used, such as tossing a coin in case of a two-player game, drawing cards until one player draws an ace, or rolling dice.

===Hands, rounds and games===
<!-- [[Elder hand]], [[Eldest hand]] and [[Hand (card games)]] redirect here. Please update these 3 redirects, if the title of this Section changes. -->
A ''hand'', also called a ''deal'', is a unit of the game that begins with the dealer shuffling and dealing the cards as described below, and ends with the players scoring and the next dealer being determined. The set of cards that each player receives and holds in his or her hands is also known as that player's hand.

The hand is over when the players have finished playing their hands. Most often this occurs when one player (or all) has no cards left. The player who sits after the dealer in the direction of play is known as [[eldest hand]] (or in two-player games as [[elder hand]]) or [[Forehand (card games)|forehand]]. A ''game round'' consists of as many hands as there are players. After each hand, the deal is passed on in the direction of play, i.e. the previous eldest hand becomes the new dealer. Normally players score points after each hand. A game may consist of a fixed number of rounds. Alternatively it can be played for a fixed number of points. In this case it is over with the hand in which a player reaches the target score.

===Shuffling===
{{main|Shuffling}}
Shuffling is the process of bringing the cards of a pack into a random order. There are a large number of techniques with various advantages and disadvantages. ''Riffle shuffling'' is a method in which the deck is divided into two roughly equal-sized halves that are bent and then released, so that the cards interlace.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Why Do Math?|url=https://www.whydomath.org/Reading_Room_Material/ian_stewart/shuffle/shuffle.html|access-date=2020-10-12|website=www.whydomath.org|archive-date=December 27, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191227235253/http://www.whydomath.org/Reading_Room_Material/ian_stewart/shuffle/shuffle.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Repeating this process several times randomizes the deck well, but the method is harder to learn than some others and may damage the cards. The ''overhand shuffle'' and the ''Hindu shuffle'' are two techniques that work by taking batches of cards from the top of the deck and reassembling them in the opposite order. They are easier to learn but must be repeated more to sufficiently randomize the deck. A method suitable for small children consists in spreading the cards on a large surface and moving them around before picking up the deck again. This is also the most common method for shuffling tiles such as dominoes.

For casino games that are played for large sums it is vital that the cards be properly randomized, but for many games this is less critical, and in fact player experience can suffer when the cards are shuffled too well. The official [[skat (card game)|skat]] rules stipulate that the cards are ''shuffled well'', but according to a decision of the German skat court, a one-handed player should ask another player to do the shuffling, rather than use a [[shuffling machine]], as it would shuffle the cards ''too'' well. French [[belote]] rules go so far as to prescribe that the deck never be shuffled between hands.

===Dealing===
The dealer takes all of the cards in the pack, arranges them so that they are in a uniform stack, and [[shuffle]]s them. In strict play, the dealer then offers the deck to the previous player (in the sense of the game direction) for ''[[cut (playing cards)|cutting]]''. If the deal is clockwise, this is the player to the dealer's right; if counterclockwise, it is the player to the dealer's left. The invitation to cut is made by placing the pack, face downward, on the table near the player who is to cut: who then lifts the upper portion of the pack clear of the lower portion and places it alongside. (Normally the two portions have about equal size. Strict rules often indicate that each portion must contain a certain minimum number of cards, such as three or five.) The formerly lower portion is then replaced on top of the formerly upper portion. Instead of cutting, one may also knock on the deck to indicate that one trusts the dealer to have shuffled fairly.

The actual ''deal'' (distribution of cards) is done in the direction of play, beginning with eldest hand. The dealer holds the pack, face down, in one hand, and removes cards from the top of it with his or her other hand to distribute to the players, placing them face down on the table in front of the players to whom they are dealt. The cards may be dealt one at a time, or in batches of more than one card; and either the entire pack or a determined number of cards are dealt out. The undealt cards, if any, are left face down in the middle of the table, forming the ''stock'' (also called the talon, widow, skat or kitty depending on the game and region).

Throughout the shuffle, cut, and deal, the dealer should prevent the players from seeing the faces of any of the cards. The players should not try to see any of the faces. Should a player accidentally see a card, other than one's own, proper etiquette would be to admit this. It is also dishonest to try to see cards as they are dealt, or to take advantage of having seen a card. Should a card accidentally become exposed, (visible to all), any player can demand a redeal (all the cards are gathered up, and the shuffle, cut, and deal are repeated) or that the card be replaced randomly into the deck ("burning" it) and a replacement dealt from the top to the player who was to receive the revealed card.

When the deal is complete, all players pick up their cards, or "hand", and hold them in such a way that the faces can be seen by the holder of the cards but not the other players, or vice versa depending on the game. It is helpful to fan one's cards out so that if they have corner indices all their values can be seen at once. In most games, it is also useful to sort one's hand, rearranging the cards in a way appropriate to the game. For example, in a [[trick-taking game]] it may be easier to have all one's cards of the same suit together, whereas in a [[rummy]] game one might sort them by rank or by potential combinations.