Editing Stripped deck

{{Short description|Playing cards}}{{About|a deck of cards from which some cards have been removed|trick decks with tapered cards|Trick deck#Stripper deck}}
A '''stripped deck''' or '''short deck''' (US), '''short pack''' or '''shortened pack''' (UK), is a set of [[playing card]]s reduced in size from a full pack or deck by the removal of a certain card or cards.{{sfn|Arnold|2011|p=294}} The removed cards are usually [[Pip (counting)|pip]] cards, but can also be [[court card]]s or [[Tarot playing cards|Tarot cards]]. Many [[card game]]s use stripped decks, and stripped decks for popular games are commercially available.

==History==
When playing cards first arrived in Europe during the 1370s, they had the same format as the modern [[standard 52-card deck]], consisting of four [[Suit (cards)|suits]] each with ten pip cards and three [[face card]]s. During the late 14th and 15th centuries, the [[Spanish playing cards|Spanish and Portuguese decks]] dropped the 10s while the [[German playing cards|German]] and [[Swiss playing cards|Swiss]] packs removed the [[Ace]]s to create 48-card decks.  It is far easier to print 48 cards using two woodblocks than 52 cards. While the removal of the above cards was motivated by manufacturing considerations, later expulsions are the result of trying to speed up card games to make them more exciting. [[Trappola]] is the first known card game to be played with a deck that was stripped for game play. It removed all the cards from 3 to 6, inclusive, to create a 36-card deck.<ref name=Dummett>{{cite book|last1=Dummett|first1=Michael|title=The Game of Tarot|date=1980|publisher=Duckworth|isbn=978-0715610145}}</ref>

The most popular card game in 16th-century Europe was [[Piquet]], played with a 36-card deck that dropped ranks from 5 to 2. Around 1700, it dropped the 6s as well to create the 32-card deck, which is now the most popular format in France. 32 and 36-card decks are the most widespread in countries that were once part of the [[Holy Roman Empire|Holy Roman]] (the [[Low Countries]], Germany, and Switzerland), [[Austria-Hungary|Austro-Hungarian]], and [[Russian Empire|Russian]] empires.<ref name=Dummett /> 24 card decks to play [[Schnapsen]] are widely available in central Europe, although it may be shortened to 20 in the future, as that is how the modern variant is now commonly played.

The Spanish, Portuguese, Italians, and Latin Americans use mostly 40-card decks. Unlike the countries above, they drop the higher-ranking numerals so that the 7 is located immediately under the face cards. This was due to the popularity of [[Ombre]], the game that introduced the concept of bidding.

The British and the Scandinavians are the most resistant to shortened packs, having maintained the 52-card format since receiving them in the 15th century. The British have also propagated that pack size through [[whist]], the most popular card game of the 19th century. In the 20th century, this has been followed by [[contract bridge]], [[gin rummy]], [[canasta]], and [[poker]] which all require that deck size. The British prefer games involving four players as opposed to the continental three-player games which use smaller packs.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Parlett|first1=David|title=The Oxford Guide to Card Games|date=1990|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordguidetocar00parl/page/26 26, 29–31]|isbn=978-0192141651|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordguidetocar00parl/page/26}}</ref>

Asian countries also created stripped decks using their traditional playing cards. In contrast to the Western practice of removing ''ranks'', Asians remove ''suits''. During the [[Qing dynasty]], the Chinese [[Chinese playing cards|money-suited cards]] dropped one suit as [[rummy]]-type games became more popular.<ref>Lo, Andrew (2004), "China's Passion for Pai: Playing Cards, Dominoes, and Mahjong". In: Mackenzie, C. and Finkel, I., (eds.), Asian Games: The Art of Contest. New York: Asia Society, pp. 216-231.</ref> In India, the gambling game of Naqsha overtook the [[Ganjifa]] [[trick-taking game]] and many decks were made with only half of the traditional suits.

The opposite of a stripped deck is an expanded deck. Many commercial attempts have tried and failed to increase the standard deck above 52 cards.<ref>McLeod, John. [http://www.pagat.com/class/french.html Games played with French suits] at [[pagat.com]]. Retrieved 18 October 2015.</ref> The most successful addition to the standard deck is the [[Joker (playing card)|Joker]] which first appeared during the [[American Civil War]] as a [[Euchre]] trump card.<ref>{{Cite web|title = The Joker|url = http://www.wopc.co.uk/jokers/index|website = The World of Playing Cards|access-date = 2016-02-19|language = en-GB}}</ref> The [[Joker (playing card)|Joker]] has since been adopted as a [[wild card (card games)|wild card]] in a few other standard playing card games with different values and quantities depending on which game is being played.<ref>{{Cite web|title = playing card|url = http://www.britannica.com/topic/playing-card#ref119120|website = Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date = 2016-02-19}}</ref> [[500 (card game)|500]] is a Euchre offshoot invented by the [[United States Playing Card Company]] (USPCC) during the early 20th century. To play the six-handed version, USPCC created a deck with ranks 11, 12, and 13. 500 decks are now produced by other manufacturers and are sold primarily in English-speaking countries where the game is played.<ref>McLeod, John. [http://www.pagat.com/euchre/500.html 500] at [[pagat.com]]. Retrieved 18 October 2015.</ref> A much older expanded deck is [[tarot]], invented in 15th-century Italy, with an extra suit of [[trump (card games)|trump]]s and an extra rank. [[Tarot card games]] were the most popular card games of the 18th century but have since declined. They are still played in various continental European countries with France having the largest community. Tarot decks are not immune to stripping either. The [[Tarocco Bolognese]], [[Tarocco Siciliano]], [[Industrie und Glück]], and [[Cego]] decks have excised some pip cards.<ref name="Dummett" />

==Piquet deck==
A [[French playing cards|French-suited deck]] of 32 cards, consisting of 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace in four suits each, is used in the two-player game [[Piquet]], which dates back to the 16th century.<ref name="teachyourself">{{Citation
|last=Parlett
|first=David
|title=Teach Yourself Card Games
|edition=revised
|year=2006
|isbn=978-0-07-148258-5
|url=https://archive.org/details/teachyourselfcar0000parl
}}{{Page needed|date=February 2011}}</ref><ref name=parlett>{{Citation
|last=Parlett
|first=David
|title=The Penguin Book of Card Games
|edition=updated
|year=2008
|isbn=978-0-14-103787-5
}}{{Page needed|date=February 2011}}</ref> 
Games played with a piquet deck (or the equivalent German- or Swiss-suited decks) are still among the most popular in some parts of Europe. This includes [[belote]] and [[klaverjas]] (the national games of France and the Netherlands, respectively) and [[skat (card game)|skat]] (the German national game, which is also played with the equivalent German-suited decks in some regions).<ref name=parlett /> [[Bezique]] is played with two piquet decks.<ref name=parlett />

==In poker variants==
Stripped decks are used in certain [[poker]] [[List of poker variants|variants]].  The earliest form of poker was played with only 20 cards.<ref>Parlett, David. [https://www.parlettgames.uk/histocs/poker.html Poker] Retrieved 18 October 2015.</ref> The Australian game of [[Community card poker|Manila]] uses a piquet deck, and [[Stud poker|Mexican stud]] is played with the '''8'''s, '''9'''s, and '''10'''s removed from the deck (and a joker added).  This may require adjusting hand values: in both of these games, a [[List of poker hands#Flush|flush]] ranks above a [[List of poker hands#Full house|full house]], because having fewer cards of each suit available makes flushes rarer.

A hand such as '''6-7-J-Q-K''' plays as a [[List of poker hands#Straight|straight]] in Mexican stud, skipping over the removed ranks.  Some places may allow a hand such as '''10-9-8-7-A''' to play as a straight (by analogy to a [[Wheel (poker)|wheel]]) in the 32-card game, the '''A''' playing low and skipping over the removed ranks (although this is not the case in Manila).  Finally, the relative frequency of straights versus [[List of poker hands#Three of a kind|three of a kind]] is also sensitive to the deck composition (and to the number of cards dealt), so some places may consider three of a kind to be superior to a straight, but the difference is small enough that this complication is not necessary for most games. Similarly, a [[List of poker hands#Full house|full house]] tends to occur more often than a [[List of poker hands#Flush|flush]] in a piquet deck, due to the increased frequency of each playing card rank, creating a change in poker combination ranking.

[[Five-card stud]] is also often played with a piquet deck.  In lively home games it might work better to only strip three ranks ('''2'''s through '''4'''s) with seven or eight players; with only two or three players '''7'''s and '''8'''s could be stripped as well, leaving the same 24-card deck used in [[euchre]].  In any of these cases, a flush should rank above a full house (in a 24-card deck it is actually rarer than [[List of poker hands#Four of a kind|four of a kind]], but is rarely played that flushes are superior to four of a kind).  Stripped deck five-card stud is a game particularly susceptible to cheating by [[Poker collusion|collusion]], because it is easy for partners to signal a single [[hole card]] and the relative value of knowing the location of a single card is higher than with a full deck.

== Other games ==
The game of [[euchre]] is also played with a 24-card stripped deck, consisting of only 9-10-J-Q-K-A of each suit, the 2-8 being stripped from the deck.  The game of [[pinochle]] is played with 48 cards, consisting of a doubled euchre deck (that is, two copies of 9-A of each suit).

In some games, a small number of cards are stripped from the deck to make the deal exact. For example, it is customary to remove the 2{{Clubs}} when three people play [[Hearts (card game)|Hearts]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Rules for Black Maria|url=http://whiteknucklecards.com/games/blackmaria.html|website=White Knuckle Playing Cards|access-date=2 January 2017}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of traditional card and tile packs]]
* [[Card game]]s
* [[Playing card]]s
* [[Tarot]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Works cited===
* {{cite book |last=Arnold |first=Peter |date=2011 |title=Chambers Card Games |edition=2nd |location=London |publisher=Chambers Harrap |isbn=978-0550-10179-2}}

{{Playing cards}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2017}}

[[Category:Poker terminology]]
[[Category:Card game terminology]]