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To the avid blackjack player sitting at a table in a casino, the playing cards that are dealt represent the means to win some money, or lose it depending upon the combinations that find their way in front of each player and the dealer.

Little thought is ever given to how they came about or where they were first used as a vehicle for gambling. Playing cards as we all know an enjoy using today have been in existence for many centuries in one form or another. Their evolution from their earliest incarnations to the standard fifty two card deck that is in use today is steeped in history, so let's look at playing cards and their origins to get a better understanding of why they are the way they are.

The very first version of playing cards were used in ancient China, which makes sense as that is where paper was invented. Their origins have been traced back to at least the 9th century. Their early cards had suits such as strings of coins and also loose coins, which are known today by Mah Jong players as circles and bamboos, or sticks while others were based on dominoes or Chinese chess. It is thought that these early money cards were actually used a form of currency, such was their value.

In Europe, playing cards developed from those used in Islamic countries which travelled from Turkey to Italy, France and Germany while others travelled from Morocco to Spain as early as the late 1300s. In fact, the Egyptian Mameluke deck comprised fifty two cards divided into four suits of ten spot cards and three court cards. Symbols for the card suits included cups, wands or batons, coins or rings and swords, for which the relationship to the tarot deck was not dissimilar.

Tarot cards evolved in the 15th century from the need to include permanent trump suits and decks of 78 cards were created to enable trick taking games for purposes of gambling which was generally outlawed. Several versions of tarot decks were created with differing numbers of cards until they found their way into the English system using French style suits. Trump suits were illustrated with pictures and included a large number in the corner, which became the forerunner of today's corner indices. The original printing presses were invented that same century, which enabled the production of playing cards to evolve from their individually hand crafted origins to a much wider group of players. This also reduced their price, making them available to ordinary people, where before they were only used by the rich and well to do who could afford their high price.

The forerunner of today's standard English deck had fifty two cards in four suits following the Italian style, with three court cards which were depicted by kings, knights and foot servants. The inclusion of the queen to replace the knight was a more recent alteration and in fact even today, standard playing card decks in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Spain do not contain the queen.

The four suits of modern decks were originated from French symbols, which were likely derived from various European suits such as the German acorns becoming clubs; German leaves, or Italian swords becoming spades. Diamond probably stemmed from coins or rings and hearts were a standard suit in the German deck.

It is believed that reason for the Ace becoming the highest ranking card with the two, or deuce as the lowest in many games has its roots during the French revolution. In those times, certain games were played as Ace high, to symbolise the lower classes rising up above the aristocracy.

The joker was never featured in the European decks and appears to be somewhat of an afterthought. In fact the joker was created in America for the game of Euchre, which became the highest trump card above the Jacks.

The overlarge size of the symbol for the Ace of Spades has its roots in a tax imposed on all decks of card produced in England during the reign of James I. He decreed the insignia of that card be proof of the tax having been paid by the manufacturer and included the printer's name. To prevent forgeries to avoid payment of the tax, the government created a standard pre-printed stamp which remained in force until the 1960.

Today in casinos and poker rooms around the world, the standard English deck of 52 cards plus one or two jokers is employed for popular gambling games such as blackjack, baccarat and the several variations of poker. It is also the standard deck for social games such as whist, bridge and rummy amongst others. Something like seventy million decks of playing cards are printed, packaged and sold throughout the world annually, with casinos going through literally hundreds of decks every day as used shoes are discarded for fresh ones. The humble deck of playing cards has certainly come a long way!