JLJL77 Card Values: Why the Same Card Counts Differently

Card values are the first thing to learn before any table game, because the same king is worth zero in one game and ten in the next. Get the count wrong and every decision after it is wrong too. The multiplayer card games guide pillar maps the cards lane; this page lines up the counts for the games you are most likely to meet there and in the live lane.

Card values side by side

Read across a row and you see why players carry habits from one game into another and lose hands for it. Each title’s rules screen is the final word on its count.

Baccarat and Pok Deng: only the last digit counts

Both games add the cards and keep only the last digit of the total.

1. 7 and 8 make 15, which counts as 5.
2. King and 9 make 9, the best two-card total in baccarat.
3. 6, 6 and queen make 12, which counts as 2.

That is why a ten or a picture card is called a zero: adding it never changes the last digit. Pok Deng, listed in the cards lane from Kings Poker, counts the same way, and its rules screen sets the extra hand rules it adds.

Blackjack: tens are ten and aces bend

Blackjack adds the full value of every card and aims for 21 or as close as possible without going over.

Niu Niu: make ten, then score the rest

Niu Niu deals five cards. You look for three that add up to a multiple of ten, and the remaining two give your score.

1. Hand K, 3, 7, 5, 4: the king, 3 and 7 make 20, a multiple of ten.
2. The other two, 5 and 4, make 9, so the hand scores niu 9.
3. If the last two make 10 or 20, the hand is niu niu, the top ordinary score.
4. If no three cards make a multiple of ten, the hand has no niu and scores lowest.

Picture cards count ten here, unlike baccarat. Banker Niu Niu and Joker Niu Niu appear in the cards lane from Baison Poker; read each title’s rules screen for its special hands and payouts.

Shedding games: ranks instead of points

In Pusoy Dos and the 13-card games, cards are compared by rank rather than added.

1. Pusoy Dos runs 3 at the bottom up to king, then ace, then 2 at the top.
2. The 13-card arrangement games usually rank the ace highest, as in poker; the title’s rules screen confirms it.
3. Between equal ranks, the table’s suit order decides. The ranked Pusoy combinations build on that order, and the 13 cards row rules use the same poker hands in three rows.

Words such as soft hand, banker or natural are defined in the casino terms at a card table glossary.