Faro Casino game: how to play, what strategy, setup, instructions and rules. Online

Summary
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, where it was practiced by 'Faro dealers' such as the infamous Doc Holliday. It has since fallen completely out of fashion. Its name is a corruption of pharaoh, and refers to the Egyptian motif that commonly adorned French playing cards of the period.

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, it gave the appearance of being very fair, and, lastly, it was a very quiet, quick game, and could be played discreetly.

Faro was played with an entire pack of cards, and admitted of an indeterminate number of players, termed 'punters,' and a 'banker.'

The Faro table had a betting layout consisting of one card of each denomination pasted to the table. (Traditionally, the spades suit was used for this layout.) Each player laid his stake on one of the 13 cards on the layout.

The banker held a complete 52 card deck, from which he drew cards, one for himself, placed on the right, and the other, called the carte anglaise, or English card, for the players, placed on the left. A mechanical shoe was normally used to prevent manipulations of the draw.

The banker won all the money staked on the card on the right, and had to pay double the sums staked on those on the left. 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 a penny on top of it. This reversed the meaning of the win/loss piles for that bet.

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 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.

Faro was undoubtedly one of the most popular card games of the 18th century, especially among the lower classes. 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.

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 shoes that allowed the banker to manipulate the draw of the cards after observing the players' bets.

Faro bankers were alleged to employ 'gentlemen' to give a very favourable report of the game to the town, so that the games would be allowed to transpire without further inquiry. See three card monte.

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.

Detailed Reference
Howard, M. "Bucking the Tiger" - The Traditional Game of Faro. Barbary Coast Vigilance Committee. 08 June 2004

Mr. Howard provides more history on the game, describes the rules and equipment in detail, and further discusses the aspect of cheating involved in the game (due to its very limited house edge). The article provides many photographs.

Play Faro Online
Sean Gleeson provides a playable version of Faro at his web site Wichita Faro.

Anecdote - The Suicide Table
The dealer is the banker as well as the card dealer for the game of Faro.

A Faro dealer risks personal fortune, as may be seen in the case of Black Jake:

According to R.C. Bell, Black Jake was the owner of a Faro table in Virginia City, Nevada in the 1860s. He lost $70,000 in one night and shot himself.

A second owner of the table ran it for one night, but could not make good on his losses. He also shot himself.

The table was stored until the 1890's, when it was made into a Blackjack table at the Delta Saloon.

One snowy night, a drunken gold miner, after losing heavily at another saloon, came into the Delta. He wagered a gold ring for $5 and won. He went on to win $86,000, some horses, and a gold mine, wiping out the dealer's possessions. This led to the third suicide, after which the table was never used again.

Read more about the "suicide table" in a newspaper story from The Las Vegas Review Journal of October 23, 2000. The story also describes an active Faro game in Virginia City, Nevada, as recently as the 1980's.

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