Etienne de Vignolles, called La Hire, a French military commander who fought alongside Joan of Arc, happened to be a card craftsman. He was so impressed with the legendary maid’s heroism that he replaced the knight in a deck of cards with a dame. Catholics had no objection to depicting human form on cards, decorating cards with Judeo-Christian motifs. The King of spades was King David, with the trophy sword in hand and his sling on the bottom of the card. King of clubs was Charles the Great, King of diamonds was Julius Caesar, and King of hearts was Alexander the Great. The four kings represented the four sources of western civilization.

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It is not uncommon to see professionals regularly playing medium stakes adopt the sulky bully persona. With the somber shades-and-cap, unsmiling, untalkative Tulkinghorn image you are not only likely to attract other and better skilled shadow-warriors, but, looking like a scarecrow, you are likely also to scare away those players who would otherwise constitute the bulk of your overall income.

For the amateur will, for the most part, prefer a table where he thinks he can have a good time, whether he wins or looses. For him the game is not a way of making a living, but quality time. The sociable, successful businessman happy to get out of the office or to have a bit of fun before the foreign meeting, the brilliant computer scientist who likes once in a while to play a real game as opposed to online poker: these people, cruising around the room, are looking for a table where players are relaxed and friendly. They will listen for laughter and scan smiles before they at all try to observe the players’ actual poker skills, and will finally go for those tables where people seem to enjoy themselves.

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