Cards review (4 Viewers)

Regarding the Grand Victorians, send a PM to Jason @desjgn here. Shipping for just one set up of cards is a bit steep, but he's sent me four set ups at a time well packed in a flat rate envelope.

I gifted a set up of these cards to each of my regulars this past holiday season and they've gotten awesome reviews. In games that someone else has hosted, we've used desjgn cards at their insistence. Mission accomplished there :D ;)

I'd recommend desjgn's cards out of all of the Dal Negro cards I have, bar none. The Grand Victorians are made on Dal Negro card stock, I believe.

The Poker Monkey and Liberty back cards I have are the same stock and have the same pips, only difference is card back design. The stock on those cards is smooth if you don't like the grainy textured backs. Give me the textured backs any day of the week though!

Is the card stock on the Classic Victorians the same stock that is in the other design decks like the bridge Baroque and 4 color bridge ?
 
Is the card stock on the Classic Victorians the same stock that is in the other design decks like the bridge Baroque and 4 color bridge ?
Not even remotely close. IIRC, the two Victorian runs have Modiano and Dal Negro stocks for the first and second iterations, respectively for the poker size cards. I have no idea what stock was used for the bridge four color circle backs, Baroques and Casino back runs.
 
I was let know that bridge cards plus Victorians are DalNegro stock. Only orange and brown Victorians are Modiano era survivors.
 
There are actually three versions of the Classic Victorians that I am aware of.

v1 Red / Blue
These have different graphics for the Aces and some cards (eg 9 is a 3x3 grid). I do not know who made them.

V2 Orange / Brown and Purple / Green
Standard non-face cards and the custom Aces. Modiano stock. There was also a relatively rare red/blue combo on Modiano stock. I gave mine away, and missed out when they were resold here a few years ago. I'm still kicking myself over that one.

V3 Red / Blue and Yellow / Black.
Same as v2 but on Dal Negro stock.
 
Wow. I had no idea. Glad you all were able to cast some light on this. I have the 4 color and baroque set ups which now makes me want to get a Classic Victorian set up given it's slightly different. @desjgn really worked out all the angles in making these cards crazy unique (thank you Jason)!

Per your breakdown, if I were to purchase a set of the Yellow/Black Classic Victorian on thepokerstore.com, I would be buying Version 3 which is printed on Dal Negro card stock?
 
Per your breakdown, if I were to purchase a set of the Yellow/Black Classic Victorian on thepokerstore.com, I would be buying Version 3 which is printed on Dal Negro card stock?

That's my belief. If my understanding is incorrect, I kinda hope @desjgn corrects me. I'm basing my knowledge on my purchases (I own or have owned all the CV's I mentioned).
 
Wanted to give a review of the Bullets, as I know there was some previous talk about them. A group of guys I play with started using them several games ago, and they have worn and faded worse than any other deck I’ve played with. The black dye of the clubs and spades has almost become unreadable. Just a heads up in case anyone was thinking of buying them.

A quick review that I posted in another thread.
 
Alright folks, I had a lot of inquiries about how the cards I got from China handled and felt, I've jotted some thoughts down below:

GYT Plastic Playing Cards: Poker Size, Jumbo Index, 100% PVC plastic
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Manufacturer:
It appears to be JSC Printing, which is a subsidiary of Jinyi Stationary Co. based in Yangzhou, China, by doing a bit of detective work.
I purchased the cards from aliexpress here.

The link to the printing company is here. They seem to only deal in high MOQ's. May be an option for a GB down the road, but I digress.

Price: Just a hair under $15 shipped per two deck setup of one red and one black backed deck.

Feel: They feel better than I thought they would. I was highly disappointed in some of the Chinese stocks that were really textured on the back and glossy and with absolutely no texture on the face of the card that made the card an absolute mess. The card backs are smooth to the touch and the faces of the cards have a bit of texture to them. The product description of the cards by the manufacturer advertises a new "double frosted coating" finishing technique that intrigued me enough to buy the cards. It feels pretty nice.

The cards are definitely thick. Definitely more on the spectrum of the Dal Negro than Kem. As a matter of fact, the card stock thickness feels very similar to the King Australia cards I last reviewed. It is close enough that it would not surprise me if they shared the same manufacturer. The finishes of the cards were just different. The Kings had a slightly textured back and a totally matte finish on the face that is not at all glossy feeling. Both the Kings and these cards offer the feeling of a paper card (though I know it's plastic) rather than a cheap, plastic feel of other Chinese stocks.

With shuffling and bridging, the cards definitely feel thick and heavy and are not as flexible. They're not as stiff as Dal Negro Monkey and Liberty cards, but they're up there. Still, I don't think a 3-4 hour session of shuffling these would result in very much soreness.

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Looks: The card back design is nice. A little bit busy if anything with a rectangular design with a diamond design embedded into it. Still, it looks nice and classy and is distinctive. The card stock is a pretty bright white as well. It is easy to read cards from across the table. No cream colored backs on the number cards, though :( I would score them higher here if they did. The outer borders on the card backs look even and don't appear to be uneven at first glance. The blacks are bold and the red cards are striking. These are a PVC plastic card, we'll see how easily they fade with use.

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Durability: They seem like they would hold up well, but the first few Google results for "GYT playing cards" return marked card websites. I hope that's not a foreshadowing of things to come. We'll leave this one TBD.
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Case: They're packaged well. Comes with a free cut card with each deck of cards, but it's of poor quality. Cards are shrink wrapped and housed by an individual plastic case with a paper sleeve. The packaging is elegant but the plastic housing seems like it is thin and would crack easily.

Now to the score:

Price: 8/10
Feel: 8/10
Looks: 7.5/10
Durability: 6/10
Case: 6.5/10

Overall: 72/100

I wasn't expecting to score these so high, honestly, but I was pleasantly surprised by these. Definitely worth the trouble to get them (only 10 days from order to door from China) if you're interested in a new card to change things up a bit. If you poke around Aliexpress a bit, it seems like the same company has multiple offerings for bridge size, standard index cards in multiple designs, if that's your thing.

Review Scale for Reference:

85-100: My dream, ideal card that I would use every game if I wanted to
74-84: An excellent card that I would buy a couple of extra set ups of when the first set starts to get worn down
64-73: A good card that I would be happy to use with my home game
50-63: A passable card that I would use for a home game if I had no other better options available to me
30-49: A not so great card that I would carry with me in my travel bag that I wouldn't care if it got damaged or lost
0-29: Wouldn't use in any game. Fodder for my 2 year old son to play with and destroy.
 
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It's been a while since I've done one of these.

Manufacturer
Trefl

Price
15 Euro + shipping for a 2 deck set (Thanks @surfik !)

Each deck in the set is comprised of 55 cards (52-card deck, two jokers, and a hand rank card).

Feel
Very similar to Fournier in feel and handling in my opinion. If I close my eyes, I have a hard time differentiating these from my 2818 EPT cards and my Bicycle Prestige Standard index cards. There is a slight pebble texture to both sides of the cards. Flex is similar to Fournier, and they return to flat very quickly. They are very pleasant to shuffle.

Looks
Currently available in red/blue. Graphics are quite nice, and the backs are full bleed, which is a rarity in my experience. The non-face cards have a white background inside "the box" for the pips in the middle of the card. Pip size is jumbo, and about the same size as the Fournier. Larger than Desjgn, smaller than Bicycle Prestige Jumbo. They do have a "fat" spade, but it is not as fat as a Modiano / Dal Negro card. I do not believe there would be any confusion between spades and clubs with these cards. They do not have the dark red "security" ink.

The white on the cards is quite bright. My other cards almost look dirty next to them. It reminds me of Desjgn Classic Victorian v2 and Four52 cards.

Unlike almost every other manufacturer, the Ace of Spades is rather plain. They do have a marketing mark on their Ace of Clubs, which is something I have not seen before.

Durability
Unknown.

Case
They ship in standard single-deck tuck boxes.

Overall
I'm definitely a Fournier fan, but these are very nice. If I was in Europe or had a local supply, these would rank very high on my list. As I prefer cards with the beige background in the centre, they are still below the Fournier's, but they are close. Very close.

Pictures

Trefl1.jpg


Pip Comparison.

Bicycle Prestige Standard Index, Desjgn Classic Victorian v2, Fournier 2818 EPT, Trefl, Bicycle Prestige Jumbo
Trefl3.jpg


Ace of Clubs
Trefl4.jpg
 
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Manufacturer: Piatnik (www.piatnik.com / Austria)
https://www.piatnik.com/en/games/playing-cards/poker/100-plastic-poker

Price
$15 CDN / deck. That was for a PCF group buy a few years ago...I can't find them in stock anywhere as of this posting.

Each deck in the set is comprised of 55 cards (52-card deck, three jokers).

Feel
They are very close to Fournier, but I would rank them as a bit more stiff. They do have a light texture so they have a very nice feel to them. In terms of thickness, they are 1 card thicker than my Fournier EPT v2 setup.

Looks
The back design is nice, with a white border. The corners of the cards are more rounded than other brands. The non-face cards have the off-white centers, which I love. The white is brighter than that found on Fourniers. It's closer to the white on Four52 or Desjgn Classic Victorian v2 cards.

The red is the lighter non-security ink, and the different suits are easy to identify from the far end of an oval table.

The pips are quite large, though (larger than Fournier). I no longer own Bicycle Prestige jumbos, so I do not know if they are as large as those. In any event, I found myself turning the cards sideways and sliding them to view the pips instead of bending them to reveal the hand due to the amount of the card that needed to be bent to view the pip.

Durability
Unknown. The cards were freshly unwrapped for this game, and at some point, one of the cards picked up a noticeable bend (it did not lay flat). I was able to coax it back to flat, but I was disappointed that it picked up a bend so easily. I have not experienced that with other brands in their first usage.

Case
Single deck cardboard tuck boxes.

Overall
These are nice cards, but as they have a premium price point, I would still rank these below Fournier.

Overall view. Yes, I put the blue box and used the red deck. Ah well...I'm not setting up the table again for a reshoot.
Piatnik1.jpg


Thickness comparison to Fournier EPT v2. Fournier on the left, Piatnik on the right.
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PIP comparison. Left to right:
Bicycle standard, Desjgn Classic Victorian v2, Fournier EPT v2, Piatnik
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Pip Comparison #2. Same order.
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I would like to compare the jumbo index of Desjgn with that of Fournier, Copag and KEM.

Could someone help me with one or more photos? I specify that I am looking for the index of cards in bridge format and not poker.

Thank you!
 
I would like to compare the jumbo index of Desjgn with that of Fournier, Copag and KEM.

Could someone help me with one or more photos? I specify that I am looking for the index of cards in bridge format and not poker.

Thank you!
The best way is to place cards next of each other...
If you have pictures made by different people with different cameras you may get the wrong perspective...
 
2. Mondiano Platinum (poker size/regular index/red & blue)

Manufacturer: MODIANO
Modiano has been making smooth, durable playing cards since 1868 (+ 135 years of experience). 100% made in Italy, only KEM, Dal Negro & Mondiano (Platinum) use acetate for producing playing cards (and not PVC).


Price
$25-$30 (USA) / 25-30 € (EU) for 2 decks, depending on the vendor. They are among the most expensive cards available.


Feel
Modiano Cards are thicker and heavier than any other 100% plastic playing cards in the market today. A very substantial feel to them, absolutely no flimsy light weight cards !


Handling & shuffling the cards is a bit harder to get used to, but I do like the texture & grainy feel of the Platinum's. They are hard to bend and shape retention is excellent. These cards are loved or hated…not much in between.

Looks
The decks come in red and blue and have the specific acetate design. The faces are nice, again nothing special less detail (vs. KEM) but I like the colors (safety ink).

They are available in poker size, regular & jumbo index

Durability
These modiano platinum are build like a tank !
Reviews of Dal Negro acetates are horrible (breaking & chipping) but the Modiano platinum don't seem to have these issues. No troubles with my set...


Packaging
Black plastic case with a lit that seals well, with a nice golden logo


Reviewers Comments

This is a difficult one, I like the grainy feeling & texture of the cards, but the stiffness of the cards put me off a bit... Excellent cards, durability is awsome but this would not be my first or only choice @ a decent table.

Pictures:


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Do you refer to these Dal Negro ? Is there any specific product to avoid from them ?

Among these, are there that are considered not durable ?

https://shop.dalnegro.com/prodotto/ramino-torcello/

https://shop.dalnegro.com/prodotto/texas-poker-monkey-blu/

https://shop.dalnegro.com/prodotto/ramino-long-life-ntp-pvc/

https://shop.dalnegro.com/prodotto/bridge-iris-ntp/

https://shop.dalnegro.com/prodotto/poker-floreale-rosso-ntp-pvc/

https://shop.dalnegro.com/prodotto/poker-blu-long-life-pvc/
 

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