Face cards
The jacks, queens and kings, the cards with a face on them; the ace is not one.
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- What it means
- A deck has 12 face cards: a jack, a queen and a king in each suit. The ace has no face, so it is not a face card, although in poker it is the highest card and can also play low in A-2-3-4-5.
- How it is calculated
- In poker a face card matters only for its rank: a king beats a queen whatever is drawn on it. Poker players more often talk about broadway cards, the ten to the ace, which take in all the face cards.
- Worked example
- K♠ Q♦ is two face cards, and A♠ K♦ is one, the king. There are 12 × 11 ÷ 2 = 66 ways to be dealt two face cards out of 1,326 starting hands, about 5.0%.
- Why it matters
- The question of whether an ace is a face card comes up in home games and side bets. At the poker table, think in ranks: the ace is above the king, and that is all that counts.
See also: Broadway, Hand rankings, Kicker