talkmagic.co.uk

on a slightly more topic based note... it turns out that fournier 505's arent fully xpertable after all.... sorry for the misdirection (but thats what we do so im not that sorry... hehe)

i recieved a deck of "Streamline poker" by the US Playing card co and a deck of "Hoyle Poker" by Hoyle funnily enough (which is a part of you guessed it.... the US playing card co!) the streamline poker are plastic coated cards which handle quite nicely actually just the right amount of slippiness...
the Hoyle deck is the same type of finish as bikes, bees and tally ho's etc but it seems to be "flimsier" than bikes ... about the same feel as Bee's, but in saying that they handle ok but the face card designs arent as well detailed or coloured (ok im just being picky now... hehe)as others in the USpcc range

i prefer fournier for these reasons:

much more firm ( for DL, counts, other sleight...)
gaffed decks ( stripper invisible, marked...) made of very good quality.
same price , in europe) than bikes

they have just one flaw... it is difficult to fan them!

Mandrake wrote:...(Does anyone use Bikes for actually playing card games - you know, the proper usage - Poker, Rummy Patience etc?!)

I do. Just the other day, in fact, I was playing Rummy with my wife and her sister. I like to use Bicycles for "normal" purposes whenever I can as I like to think that exposing potential victims... er, I mean "spectators", to Bicycles can only be a good thing, especially when I produce the ID, for example. It tends to make them less grabby, which always helps.

My preferred brand, as you may have guessed, is Bicycles. Everyone has already gone into the reasons why, so I won't repeat here. But I have to say I am also very fond of Tally Ho decks. I have not used them that much over the years, but I think the quality is on a par with Bicycle and I love the back design. I understand Dai Vernon used Tally Ho quite a lot.

Incidentally, does anyone know the difference between the various finishes? (Air cushion, Linoid, etc.)

Tally Ho Cards are far superior to Bike cards in terms of quality. the finnish is different and the name doesn't really refere to anything. One has a different corelation of dimples to the other. the finer the better as it helps the cards to flow.

Steve Dela