Are you an admirer of poker games and love to play them in your free time? then, you must be familiar with the term ‘ Suicide king’ in poker games. do you know why it is termed as suicide king and what is the story behind this? This article will unveil all the suspense about this card. stay with the article.
What is the suicide king card in poker games?
A poker game is nothing but associated with traditional card games where a suicide king card refers to the king of hearts in a standard pack of 52 playing cards. The card gets its name suicide king from the appearance that the heart king exhibited on the card horned himself in the head with his own bayonet.
However, the Suicide King nickname is a prime name in poker, the story behind this nickname of the modern-day king of hearts goes back for years. Additional facts are going on with the Suicide Kings cards than you might think.
so, let’s reveal the story of the card and how the heart of a king turned up to be a suicide king.
Details of king cards in poker game
When you start a poker game, you will find 4 different king cards in a standard pack of 52 playing cards. There are 4 different suits and each suit has a king card, named as – king of clubs, king of diamonds, king of spades, and king of heart. In these cards, the spades and clubs king cards are in black while the diamond and heart king cards are in red. All these kings cards are also known as face cards.
All four kings of a standard pack hold a sharp weapon of some sort. however, the remaining three king cards (clubs, spades, and diamond) just hold the weapons, but the Suicide King ( i.e. king of the heart), probably looks like he’s piercing the weapon himself in the head, and even more, he has his bayonet drawn and ready to strike.
History of the suicide king card
Moving back to the dynasty of playing cards, it appears that the original purpose of the King of Hearts was to display a king with a weapon at hand who was ready to go to battle. The modern era, standard face cards, suits, and hand rankings we encounter at the poker table in the 21st century are derived from the 18th-century French playing cards showcasing the “Paris Pattern.”
The Paris Pattern of playing cards integrates the deck of 52 cards that are seen at modern-day poker tables. In this deck of cards, there are four different suits, face cards (kings, queens, and jacks), and the ace counting as both the highest and lowest card of the deck. in France, a 32-card version of the Paris Pattern deck (with twos through six removed) is still the most popular purchasing playing card deck.
A combating French playing card pattern that is also known as the Rouen pattern was developed in the 15th century. This intriguing pattern was imported by England and became the standard version of English playing cards.
In the 15th and 17th centuries, the Rouen Pattern of playing cards became more common and was produced mainly by the English. Without the modern technology to make exact reprints of the original templates, the face cards that circulated near England by the end of the 17th century appeared quite different from what the Rouen Pattern (designed by Pierre Marechal of Rouen) originally displayed.
The Rouen Pattern created the king of hearts with an axe, but modern-day playing cards assume to show the suicide king piercing himself in the head with a dagger. Historians don’t have an answer about this transformation, why the king of hearts went from appearing ready to go to battle with an axe, turned into the suicidal-looking face card that we aware today.
Simon White,a renowned author on the world of playing cards site, presents this evolution of the king of hearts into a suicide king, from 15th-century French cards through late 19th-century English playing cards.
Conclusion
As per facts, it appears that the English reprints of the Rouen pattern are responsible for the present-time Suicide King card and you will glade to know that it is very much popular.
