What is a face card? Everything you need to know explained

Face cards are some of the most important when playing a huge variety of casino games. Learn more about these special cards and why you should pay attention to them.

Virtually everyone has at least peripherally heard of poker in some way. If you aren’t familiar with the game or its rules, everything can feel as though it is in a different language. A good place to start is by knowing the values of the cards, including arguably the most important cards in the deck: face cards.

In almost any kind of card game, poker being perhaps the most prominent, it is imperative to know the value of each of the cards. The values will change depending on the game but there is oftentimes one group of cards that has greater importance than the rest. That group is the face cards.

But what is a face card? What do they mean and why are they so important? Before you can start dealing out the cards, you need to know what these cards are, why they are so valuable, and how they can possibly change the course of your next hand.

What is a Face Card?

Whether playing poker, video poker, or even a custom game, there is one clear definition of a face card. Essentially, face cards are the cards in the deck that have a face on them. The face cards include the Jacks, the Queens, and the Kings, each of which comes in the four different suites in the deck.

Because of that, there are 12 face cards in the 52-card deck. More often than not, those face cards are going to be the most valuable (aside from the Ace) in any deck. There is more than meets the eye, so let’s take a deeper look at face cards.

The History of Face Cards

The first appearance of face cards goes all the way back to the 14th century. It is believed that the first face cards, including Queens and Kings, were used in Mamluk Egypt. The very first playing cards only had numbers and suits before the introduction of face cards.

Early theories speculate that the inspiration for face cards goes to Islamic Mamluk characters, though others think that it could relate to Chinese authorities. In any event, these cards expanded rapidly throughout Europe before eventually turning into all four suits as we know them today. The implementation of face cards made them increasingly popular and more strategic than prior decks.

The Role of Face Cards in Poker

In virtually any variant of poker you find, the face cards are right there with aces in terms of importance. In the 10 different hands you can achieve in poker, face cards are often the best possible cards you can achieve.

For instance, in a Full house (a three-of-a-kind and a pair), having higher cards like Jacks, Queens, and Kings will automatically put you in contention to win. Even facing another Full House, face cards will often trump everything else.

Face cards are also important when it comes to “kickers.” A kicker in poker is a card that is meant to break a tie between two of the same hand. For instance, if both players have a pair of aces, the next card (the kicker) would determine who wins. So, if you had a pair of aces with a King kicker and the other person had a pair of aces with a 10, the King would trump the 10.

When playing a card game like poker it can be helpful to understand the probability of getting one of these strong cards. Thankfully, it’s quite easy to do so.

The Best of the Best

In the end, nearly every game of cards features face cards at the top of the food chain. If you have enough face cards in your hand, you can create the ultimate winning hand. It all starts by accumulating those ever-important Jacks, Queens, and Kings.