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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's detractors regarded it as a
dangerous scam that destroyed families and reduced men
to poverty. 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 was played with an entire pack
of cards, and admitted of an indeterminate number of
players, termed 'punters,' and a 'banker.' Each player
laid his stake on one of the 52 cards.
The banker held a similar pack, 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.
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. 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; if he drew
for the players the last card of the pack, he was exempt
from doubling the stakes deposited on that card.
Suppose a person to put down 20s. upon
a card when only eight are in hand; the last card was
a cipher, so there were four places to lose, and only
three to win, the odds against being as 4 to 3.
If 10 cards only were in, then it was
5 to 4 against the player; in the former case it was
the seventh part of the money, whatever it was, £1
or £100; in the latter case, a ninth. The odds
from the beginning of the deal insensibly stole upon
the player at every pull, till from the first supposed
4 per cent. it became about 15 per cent.
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 is played by characters in saloons
on the HBO series "Deadwood".
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