So, I feel lucky to have come across an unboxed deck of Angel, plastic playing cards from the Aria Casino Resort. The rubber-banded deck was bundled with 2 other decks of cards, a sealed pack of Bicycle Prestige cards (in a heavy-duty box), and a sealed, cellophane-wrapped, single deck by Classic Games. I have added all 3 decks to my collection of cards, but Casino Decks is my principal collection interest for playing cards.
I have read here on PCF that Aria plastic playing cards by Angel are only used in their poker room, as opposed to table games; however, I did not note what sized decks are used in the poker room, but assume it must be poker-sized vs bridge-sized, as this deck is poker-sized. But I would like confirmation, please.
Also, does anyone have a scan or pic of the Angel Joker that would have accompanied this deck (if jokers were included)?
And, does anyone know if these decks come to the casino in a tuck box... or?
And, if in a tuck box, does anyone have a picture?
Thank you in advance for any input!
Jim
I don’t believe these are plastic Angel cards. These look like plastic coated paper cards used on table games like blackjack. The plastic cards used in casino poker rooms almost always come in two deck sets and in either a paper box with a lid or maybe a plastic box…usually paper. Paper cards are never used in casinos for poker. It’s always plastic.
It’s been 2 years since I played at Aria but I have seen many poker vlogs at their tables. Like almost every casino poker room in the US, Aria uses Kem plastic (specifically cellulose acetate) playing cards. Most major casinos in AC and Vegas specifically use either branded or non branded Kem “circle back” designed cards. They are almost exclusively bridge sized cards in a casino poker rooms across the US. I’m sure there’s some small card room somewhere that may use Poker size cards, but I’ve never seen or heard of it. Definitely not in Las Vegas Atlantic City.
This Kem design is not sold to the public but can be picked up used. I don’t recommend buying them as they are often severely worn out and curled. Broken Arrow does make some cards that look like them if you wanna try those.
Like Kem, Angel casino cards are also cellular acetate, come in bridge sized, and have the soft luxurious feel Kem are known for. They also make a PVC card similar to a lot of other manufacturers in bridge sized. In my experience Angel Acetates don’t need to be stored in a certain way to prevent warping that can happen to Kem cards.
I own a lot of Kem cards I accumulated over the last decade and a half and I’ve kept them a certain way that they remain flat. I do not recommend them anymore because they are now extremely expensive and like I said need proper care. But outside Angels is acetate Casino cards, there nothing it feels as good IMO.
I would recomend the Angels but they are currently nearly impossible to find. I bought two set ups from the Japanese
Amazon website two years ago and I’ve not seen them for sale since. They were almost $30 to set up. They are specifically sold in the green paper double box and only come in bridge standard index. Years ago they didn’t have a jumbo index, but I missed out on that.
Here are some pics below I took showing the different cards so that you understand the differences. In my casino table pics can see they are all Kem Cards in bridge size. Aria is shown
Anything you are getting in Poker size and Tuck boxes are almost definitely paper cards from table games and not the ones they use for Poker.
they may be able to confirm better since you haven't seen any response on this yet
