A standard deck of cards
A standard deck has 52 cards in 4 suits, with 13 cards in each suit. Half the cards are red and half are black, and 12 of them are face cards. This page counts every kind of card and shows the whole deck.
How many cards are in a deck
A standard deck has 52 cards. They come in 4 suits of 13 cards each. Jokers are extra cards and are not part of the 52.
| What | How many |
|---|---|
| All cards | 52 |
| Suits | 4 |
| Cards in each suit | 13 |
| Ranks, the kinds of card from ace to king | 13 |
| Cards of each rank | 4 |
| Red cards | 26 |
| Black cards | 26 |
| Face cards | 12 |
| Aces | 4 |
| Number cards, 2 through 10 | 36 |
The groups add up to the whole deck: 4 aces, 36 number cards and 12 face cards make 52.
Suits and colors
The four suits are spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs. Hearts and diamonds are red. Spades and clubs are black. That makes 26 red cards and 26 black cards.
| Suit | Color | Cards | Face cards | Number cards | Aces |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ♠ Spades | Black | 13 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
| ♥ Hearts | Red | 13 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
| ♦ Diamonds | Red | 13 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
| ♣ Clubs | Black | 13 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
| All four suits | 26 red, 26 black | 52 | 12 | 36 | 4 |
There are 13 hearts, 13 diamonds, 13 clubs and 13 spades. Some decks print the suits in four colors, such as blue diamonds and green clubs, so they are easier to tell apart. The deck is still the same 52 cards.
Ranks and names of the cards
A rank is the kind of card: ace, 2, 3 and so on up to king. There are 13 ranks, and each rank has 4 cards, one in each suit. A card is named by its rank and suit, such as the ace of spades or the 7 of diamonds.
| Rank | Marked on the card | Kind of card | Cards in the deck |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ace | A | Ace | 4 |
| 2 | 2 | Number card | 4 |
| 3 | 3 | Number card | 4 |
| 4 | 4 | Number card | 4 |
| 5 | 5 | Number card | 4 |
| 6 | 6 | Number card | 4 |
| 7 | 7 | Number card | 4 |
| 8 | 8 | Number card | 4 |
| 9 | 9 | Number card | 4 |
| 10 | 10 | Number card | 4 |
| Jack | J | Face card | 4 |
| Queen | Q | Face card | 4 |
| King | K | Face card | 4 |
How many face cards are in a deck
A deck has 12 face cards. A face card is a jack, a queen or a king, and each suit has one of each. They are also called court cards. The ace and the number cards are not face cards.
Spades
Hearts
Diamonds
Clubs
The rules for the games on this site use the same meaning. When a game says that face cards count 10, it means the jack, queen and king.
How many aces are in a deck
A deck has 4 aces, one in each suit. The ace is the card with a single suit symbol and the letter A in the corner. It stands for one. Whether it counts as the highest card or the lowest depends on the game.
Aces
Every card in the deck
Spades
13 cards, black
Hearts
13 cards, red
Diamonds
13 cards, red
Clubs
13 cards, black
Is the ace high or low
It depends on the game. In most modern games that rank the cards, the ace is the highest card, above the king. Some games make it the lowest card, below the 2, and some let you use it either way. Check the game before you start.
| Game | The ace is | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| War | High | The ace beats the king, and the 2 is the lowest card. |
| Hearts | High | In every suit the ace is the highest card. |
| Spades | High | In every suit the ace is the highest card. |
| Cribbage | Low | Ace, 2, 3 is a run. Queen, king, ace is not. |
| Gin Rummy | Low | Ace, 2, 3 is a run. Queen, king, ace is not. |
| Rummy | Low | Many groups also let it be high. |
| Kings in the Corner | Low | Nothing can be played on an ace. |
| Rummy 500 | Either | It can start a run (ace, 2, 3) or end one (queen, king, ace). A run cannot go king, ace, 2. |
| Speed | Either | The ace sits between the king and the 2, so it can follow either of them. |
Poker is one more case. The ace is usually high, and it can also be low in a straight. See the poker hand rankings for how that works.
Jokers
Jokers are extra cards that belong to no suit. They are not part of the 52, so a standard deck has 0 jokers. Many boxes include 2 or 3 of them, and with 2 jokers a pack holds 54 cards. Some games need to tell the jokers apart, so they are often printed in different colors or with different pictures.
What a joker does depends on the game. In some versions of poker and in many rummy games it is a wild card, which stands in for any card you need. In some trick-taking games the jokers are the highest trump cards. It can also replace a card that has been lost or damaged.
Most card games on this site use the 52 cards with the jokers taken out. Canasta plays with 2 decks and 4 jokers, 108 cards in all.
What the cards are worth in some games
Many games give each card a value. The jack, queen and king are usually worth the same, and the number cards are worth their number. The ace is the card that changes most from game to game.
| Game | Ace | Jack, queen, king | 2 through 10 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cribbage | 1 | 10 | The number on the card |
| Rummy | 1 | 10 | The number on the card |
| Gin Rummy | 1 | 10 | The number on the card |
| Rummy 500 | 15, or 1 at the low end of an ace, 2, 3 run | 10 | The number on the card |
| 31 | 11 | 10 | The number on the card |
| Crazy Eights | 1 | 10 | The number on the card, except each 8 is 50 |
Some games use only part of the deck. Euchre plays with the 24 cards from 9 through ace, and pinochle uses a special deck of 48 cards with 2 of each card from 9 through ace.
Questions
How many cards are in a deck?
A standard deck has 52 cards. Jokers are not counted. A box that comes with 2 jokers holds 54 cards in all, but only the 52 are used in most games.
How many face cards are in a deck?
There are 12 face cards: the jack, queen and king in each of the 4 suits. The ace is not a face card, and neither are the number cards.
How many hearts are in a deck?
There are 13 hearts. Every suit has 13 cards, so a deck also has 13 diamonds, 13 clubs and 13 spades.
How many red cards are in a deck?
There are 26 red cards, the 13 hearts and the 13 diamonds. The other 26 cards, the spades and clubs, are black.
Is the ace a face card?
No. A face card is a jack, queen or king. The ace is the card with one suit symbol. Some games give the ace its own value, such as 1 in cribbage or 11 in 31.
How many aces are in a deck?
There are 4 aces, one in each suit. Each of the 13 ranks has 4 cards, so there are also 4 kings, 4 queens, 4 jacks and 4 of each number from 2 to 10.
Are jokers part of a standard deck?
No. The 52 cards of a standard deck have no jokers. Many boxes add 2 or 3 extra ones, which some games use as wild cards or as the highest trumps. Most games take them out.
Is the ace high or low?
It depends on the game. In most games that rank the cards it is the highest, above the king. In cribbage and gin rummy it is the lowest, and in Rummy 500 it can be either.
Checked against
The facts on this page are written in our own words from these sources. Sources last checked on October 12, 2026.
- Wikipedia, Standard 52-card deck. 4 suits of 13 ranks, 3 face (court) cards in each suit, black spades and clubs, red hearts and diamonds, jokers as extra cards that are not part of the 52, four-color decks, index letters A, K, Q and J.
- Pagat, Games played with French suited cards. The 52-card pack: ace, king, queen, jack, 10 down to 2 in each of 4 suits; in most modern games that rank the cards the ace is above the king; packs almost always come with at least 2 jokers, often told apart by color; jokers as wild cards and top trumps.
- Wikipedia, Playing card. Commercial packs often include between one and six jokers, most often two; the ace shows a single symbol of its suit.
- Wikipedia, Joker (playing card). The joker as a wild card or top trump, packs with 2 or 3 jokers, and jokers used as informal replacements for lost or damaged cards.
- Bicycle Cards, How to play Rummy. In many forms of rummy the ace may rank either high or low; face cards count 10, aces 1 and other cards their pip value.
What on this page is our own
- All counts (52, 26, 12, 36, 4, 13) are our own arithmetic from 4 suits of 13 ranks with 3 face cards and 1 ace in each suit, and tools/checks.py recounts them from the 52 cards drawn on the page.
- Number cards are counted as 2 through 10, which is 9 per suit and 36 in all. This matches the equipment lists in the game files. One source counts the ace as a pip card too, because it has a single pip; we leave it out so that the ace, number and face groups do not overlap.
- Face cards are the jack, queen and king, 12 in all. We do not count the ace or the joker. The sources define face (court) cards as the three, and the game files use the same meaning.
- Jokers: sources differ on how many a box holds (at least 2 in one, 1 to 6 and most often 2 or 3 in the other), so the page says many boxes hold 2 or 3. ‘54 cards with 2 jokers’ is 52 plus 2. Canasta’s 2 decks, 4 jokers and 108 cards are from data/games/canasta.json.
- Where the ace ranks and what the cards are worth in each game come from that game’s data file in data/games/, not from the sources listed here. The Speed row repeats the Speed page: the ace sits between the king and the 2. That the ace follows the king is our reading, as data/games/speed.json records; its sources state it only for Spit and for the ace and 2. The sentence that poker’s ace is usually high and can be low in a straight is from the poker page’s sources.
- Euchre’s 24 cards and pinochle’s 48 cards are from data/games/euchre.json and data/games/pinochle.json.
- That some games need the jokers told apart is from Pagat. That a joker can replace a lost or damaged card is from the Wikipedia article on the joker; neither Pagat nor the Wikipedia article on the standard deck says it. Black spades and clubs and red hearts and diamonds are from the Wikipedia article on the standard deck; the Playing card article does not say which suits are red or black.
Spotted a mistake? Email [email protected] and we'll check it against the sources.