#1 - DEAL-ABILITY - In other words, how much attention do I have to pay to dealing? Can I pitch these things one at a time without even thinking about it? Or are they more like the worst offenders on the planet in that regard...
Faded Spade. The finish coating on
FS decks seems to make them want to hang together like they have their own gravity fields. Coming off the top of the deck 2 (& sometimes even 3) at a time with regularity. Separating the top card from it's neighbor is sometimes a more difficult process than taking my dog's favorite toy away. Which sucks, because I genuinely love the unique design & the index font.
On that note, many of my favorite decks in this department also suffer from the biggest pet-peeve of many.... "top card float". As a dealer, I LOVE decks where the top card just floats off the top. Those are the decks where pitching 2 cards at a time accidentally is pretty much a non-existent event.
#2 - POKER SIZE JUMBO INDEX - Jumbo index because I'm on the north side of 50 & still like to be able to read the upcards of the guy in seat #2 when I'm in seat #7 or #8 while playing Stud. Poker size because I own a ShuffleTech & love it. Again, being on the north side of 50, I now no longer have to OD on Aspirin to keep my hands from cramping from a long night of shuffling.
#3 - FLEX - This has slipped to #3 on the list since I became a ShuffleTech owner. That said however, it seems that even the shuffler doesn't care much for stiff/heavy cards. Also a gripe with
Faded Spade as they're amongst the stiffest cards on the planet as well. With
Bullets being not too far off that particular crime.
Of course a more flexible card isn't going to have the "snap" many of the cork-sniffer lot tout as being a great quality. Snap shamp, what the h*ll is "snap" worth? Does the d*mn thing still return to flat after repeated hole card peeking? If the answer to that question is "yes", then who gives a flying you-know-what if it goes "snap"? I'm not paying a Cellulose Acetate price for a cheap, thick, heavy piece of PVC just because it goes "snap". An equally priced CA deck will last twice as long. And, is easier to shuffle & deal to boot. I've got 10 year-old Desjgn decks that are still playable today. Oh, but they don't go "snap"... what a shame.
#4 - GENERAL FEEL/FINISH - It's no big secret my favorite finish is what I call "linen". Mostly because linen finish decks tend to be the best at category #1 - Deal-ability (also usually the best/worst in "top card float"). Lesser finishes tend to be on the slickery side of things, then quickly progressing to getting sticky. (
Ace, Cartamundi Classic, Ritz, Royal) While thicker/coarser finishes just feel weird & tend to lead to deal-ability issues.
#5 - DURABILITY - Simple.... how long is that deck going to last? On that note, cellulose acetate beats the snot out of PVC as a general rule. But then, CA does come at a price. It's simply a more expensive material than toilet plumbing. PVC is also a harder material than CA, which means it's also more brittle. Try to match the flex of a CA card with PVC (ala:
Copag) & you need to make the base stock so thin this becomes an issue (which also explains the occasional paper-cut).
Covered a couple of them above, but also on the "Pet Peeve" list.....
The Italian Fat Spade.
This seems to be something unique to the two Italian brands, but why on earth they're carbon-copies of each other in making a spade look like its in dire need of an intervention from Jenny Craig I have no idea.
Unlike some players at the WSOP, I've never mistaken a
Modiano or
Dal Negro spade for a club or vice-versa. However, that said I can see how it might happen (especially playing Stud) if using a standard index deck & you don't look carefully.
This is really a shame too. Because
Modiano's "Texas Poker" line would be among my favorite decks if it weren't for that. (Which is the stock the old Desjgns were produced on).
4 color is awesome once you get used to it for multi-tabling online.... However, I also don't care much for it live. Looks hokey.
I'm so over Red/Blue as a combo if I can get another color combination I usually get that. Or, I'll get 2 sets, separate red & blue, & pair 'em with another color.
I concur.
Also not a fan of the "peek" decks with the extra microscopic corner indexes.
Not necessarily. "Glossy", yes, usually always real slick. And also, tend to get sticky shortly thereafter.
Also "textured", if over-done (
Faded Spade) can make dealing a chore.
While
Cartamundi's Belgium-made "Casino" line has a "matte" finish that most would probably call "smooth" yet they deal out like a dream.
