Faro (card-game)
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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".