Faro (card game)

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Faro is a card game, a descendant of Basset. It enjoyed great popularity during the 18th century, particularly in England and France, and in the 19th Century in the United States, particularly on the American Frontier, where it was practiced by 'faro dealers' such as the infamous Doc Holliday. It has since fallen completely out of fashion and is only practiced by dedicated Old West enthusiasts and Civil War reenactors. Its name is believed to be a corruption of pharaoh, and refers to the Egyptian motif that commonly adorned French-made playing cards of the period.

Faro is similar to the contemporary game of Mini-Baccarat.

1 Rules
2 History
3 Literary Appearances
4 Movies
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Rules

The layout of a Faro board.

A game of faro was often called a 'faro bank.' It was played with an entire pack of playing cards, and admitted of an indeterminate number of players, termed 'punters,' and a 'banker.' Chips (called 'checks') were purchased by the punter from the banker or house from which the game originated. Bet values and limits were set by the house. Usual check values were 50 cents to $10 each.

The faro table was square, with a distinguished cut-out for the 'banker.' A board with a standardized betting layout consisting of one card of each denomination pasted to it, called 'the layout,' was placed on top of the table. (Traditionally, the suit of spades was used for the layout.) Each player laid his stake on one of the 13 cards on the layout. Players could place multiple bets and could bet on multiple cards simultaneously by placing their bet between cards or on specific card edges. Players also had the choice of betting on 'the high card' located at the top of 'the layout.'

A deck of cards was placed face-up inside a 'dealing box,' a mechanical shoe used to prevent manipulations of the draw by the banker, and was supposed to assure players of a fair game. Many sporting house supply companies sold gaffed dealing boxes, that were designed so that the banker could cheat. The first card in the dealing box is called the 'top card,' and is "burned" off, leaving 51 cards in play. As the 'top card' is pulled out of the dealing box, it exposes the first card in play, which is called the 'banker's card,' and placed on the right side of the dealing box in the other, called the carte anglaise, or English card, and simply called the 'player's card' in the United States for the players, placed on the left. Simply put, the mechanic of the game is thus: The banker draws two cards. The first is the "losing card", and all bets placed on that card are lost by the players and won by the bank. The second card is the "winning card", and all bets placed on that card are returned to the players with a 100% winning paid by the bank.

The banker collects on all the money staked on the card laid on the right, and had to pay double the sums staked on those on the card remaining on the left (in the dealing box). In modern betting terms, the payoff on these winning wagers was "2 for 1", which is the same as odds of "1 to 1", also called "even money".

A player could "copper" their bet by placing an octagon shaped token called a "copper." Some histories claim a penny was sometimes used in place of a copper. This reversed the meaning of the win/loss piles for that particular bet. An abaccus-like device, called a "case keep" is employed to assist the players and prevent dealer cheating by counting cards. The operator of the case keep is called the "case keeper."

Certain advantages were reserved to the banker: -- if he drew a doublet, that is, two equal cards, he won half of the stakes upon the card which equalled the doublet. In a fair game, this provided the only house edge.

If the banker drew for the players the last card of the pack, he was exempt from doubling the stakes deposited on that card. In most cases, when 3 cards remained, the dealer would offer a specialized bet called "betting the turn." This bet offers a 4 for 1 payout if the players can identify the exact order of the last 3 cards.

[edit] History

Faro was undoubtedly one of the most popular card games of the 18th and 19th centuries. Although both faro and Basset were forbidden in France, on severe penalties, these games continued to be in great vogue in England during the 18th century; apparently because it was easy to learn, quick, and when played honestly, the odds for a player, were the best of all other gambling games. "Our life here," writes Gilly Williams to George Selwyn in 1752, "would not displease you, for we eat and drink well, and the Earl of Coventry holds a Pharaoh-bank every night to us, which we have plundered considerably." Charles James Fox preferred faro to any other game, as did 19th century American con man Soapy Smith. It was said that every faro table in Soapy's Tivoli Club, in Denver, Colorado in 1889 was gaffed (made to cheat). Indeed, the famed scam artist Canada Bill Jones loved the game so much that when he was asked why he played at one game that was known to be rigged, he replied, "It's the only game in town."

Faro's detractors regarded it as a dangerous scam that destroyed families and reduced men to poverty. This reputation is likely due to the use by some bankers of rigged dealing boxes that allowed the banker to manipulate the draw of the cards after observing the players' bets.

While the game became scarce after World War II, it continued to be dealt at a few Las Vegas casino's through the 1970's. Jackie Gaughan, owner of the El Cortez casino in Las Vegas wil occasionally deal a private game for friends and employees.

[edit] Literary Appearances

Faro is the game played in Aleksandr Pushkin's short story The Queen of Spades. (Although the version of Faro played in this story has rules significantly different than those described in this article.)
Faro is also played in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel The Brothers Karamazov.
Faro is referenced throughout Jacques Casanova's autobiography 'L'Histoire de ma Vie', depicting the game as it was played throughout 18th century Europe; it was one of this delightful rogue's primary sources of income.
The title character in William Makepeace Thackeray's The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon, Esq. makes a career helping his uncle cheat professionally at Faro.

[edit] Movies

Faro is played by characters in saloons on the HBO series "Deadwood".
Scenes involving the game of faro (with varying degrees of accuracy) appear in the Hollywood movies Wyatt Earp, starring Kevin Costner, and Tombstone, starring Kurt Russell as Wyatt Earp and Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday.
In the film The Sting, it is said that the gangster (and intended "mark") Doyle Lonnegan (played by Robert Shaw) only plays faro when he goes out to casinos, sometimes 15 to 20 hours, and just him against the house.