Rules of Faro

Faro is a card game, which was very popular specially in France and England during the 18th century, and in the 19th Century in the U.S. It went out of fashion since then. Its name is a variation of pharaoh, and refers to the French playing cards which at that time showed egyptian motif.

Faro was played with the complete 52 card deck, and admits any number of players called punters, and a banker.

The table for playing Faro had a betting layout consisting of one card of each denomination pasted to the table. (Traditionally, the spades suit was used for this layout.) Each player laid his stake on one of the 13 cards on the layout.

The banker held a whole pack of cards, from which he drew one card for himself, placed at the right, and other for the players, called the English card, placed on the left. A mechanical shoe was normally used to prevent manipulations of the draw.

The banker had to pay double the sums staked on the card on the left, and won all the money staked on those on the right. In modern betting terms, the payoff on these winning wagers was "2 for 1", which is the same as odds of "1 to 1", also called "even money".

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. In a fair game, this provided the house edge. If the banker drew for the players the last card of the pack, he was exempt from doubling the stakes deposited on that card.

A player could "copper" their bet by placing a penny on top of it. This reversed the meaning of the win/loss piles for that bet.