Piatnik Club: Poker sized
Where to buy: The Card Collection (The Bond Company)
Bond Agency & The Card Collection Piatnik Club Poker Size Cards & Matching Fakes
Price: £3.50
Initial Impressions: This is a good high quality card that should appeal to those who like a stiff flex and smooth finish. Piatnik clubs were the choice of Tommy Wonder and it goes without saying that he probably knew a thing or two about cards. Overall I am enjoying these cards, and I am sure many of you will as well.
The Look: They do have a nice look to them but sadly the back design is similar in character to some Royal card designs I have seen. Thus, many may look at it and think, “cheap junk,” before bothering to try them out. The court cards are very similar to standard USPCC art. The Ace of Spades is a fairly dull design with a Ferd. Piatnik and Sons banner across the bottom. The Ace of Hearts, actually has another trademark design on it as well. There is a small horse and rider directly under the center heart pip. The jokers are a fairly traditional jester’s head design as well. All in all you won’t buy this deck for looks. It is a basic red/blue card with nothing image wise to set it apart.
Card Construction: This is why you will likely buy a Piatnik. When you pick these up you will feel a good, strong, quality deck of cards that I have come to expect from European brands. The weighed in at 92 gm and had a width of about 15.5mm. These are just about the same width as a Bike 808. They are a smooth finish card and have slightly rounder corners than USPCC cards.
Handling:
Fanning: 8
Out of the box they fan just fine but no where near the smoothness you will get from USPCC. Very few smooth backed cards will match the USPCC pattern in fanning.
Spring Energy: 9.8
In blindfold tests I could not tell a difference between these and the Fournier 605s
Dribble: 7
Like a Fournier, hand strength will play a role in how smooth these dribble for you but, I found them just a tad more clumpy than the 605s.
Crimp Hold/Recovery: 6 hold/ 8 Recovery
This is one area Fournier has them clearly licked. Never the less I have found the OOB crimp tests a somewhat unreliable predictor of how cards age. Only time will tell.
Single Card Glide: 7
They seemed to out perform 808s for bottom card glides but not top card glides. The plusses and minuses seem to cancel each other out so left it at a 7.
2 + Obfuscations: 8
Slightly better performance here than with an 808 which is to be expected with the stiffer stock. The Piatniks are perhaps a bit worse than the Bike in the Hugard/Braue push-off but the Piatnik matched or beat the Bikes in all other moves.
Gaff construction and availability: Several “standard” gaffs can be found at the above listed site.
Who Not Should Buy: Beginners and intermediats who have yet to develop the hand strength necessary to make use of a powerful stock. This one also won’t shuffle smooth enough for people into classic gambling demos.
Who Should Buy: I think anyone who has acquired a taste for stiffer decks might want to check these out. They perform and handle similar to the Anglos and Fourniers and they are a bit cheaper so they might be nice practice decks provided you can find a supplier with affordable shipping. One last group to recommend this to might be Tommy Wonder fans and wannabees.
Final Thoughts: As I write this I have exactly 5 hours logged on this deck. So far so good, there has been a minor drop in the fan likely due to the fact that I have already managed to drop them more time than I care to count. (As soon as you see the video supplement you have a good idea as to why that is!) Overall they are very similar in character and feel to the Fourniers but I have to say that the 605s just “feel” like a higher quality deck. Perhaps one minor detail that makes me like Fourniers better is the size. The Piatniks are just a tad thicker than the 605s and having a slightly thinner stock just seems to make stiffer stock feel more controllable. Overall this is a good deck and I’ll likely enjoy using it but I don’t foresee it knocking any of my top 5s out of their respective spots.
Where to buy: The Card Collection (The Bond Company)
Bond Agency & The Card Collection Piatnik Club Poker Size Cards & Matching Fakes
Price: £3.50
Initial Impressions: This is a good high quality card that should appeal to those who like a stiff flex and smooth finish. Piatnik clubs were the choice of Tommy Wonder and it goes without saying that he probably knew a thing or two about cards. Overall I am enjoying these cards, and I am sure many of you will as well.
The Look: They do have a nice look to them but sadly the back design is similar in character to some Royal card designs I have seen. Thus, many may look at it and think, “cheap junk,” before bothering to try them out. The court cards are very similar to standard USPCC art. The Ace of Spades is a fairly dull design with a Ferd. Piatnik and Sons banner across the bottom. The Ace of Hearts, actually has another trademark design on it as well. There is a small horse and rider directly under the center heart pip. The jokers are a fairly traditional jester’s head design as well. All in all you won’t buy this deck for looks. It is a basic red/blue card with nothing image wise to set it apart.
Card Construction: This is why you will likely buy a Piatnik. When you pick these up you will feel a good, strong, quality deck of cards that I have come to expect from European brands. The weighed in at 92 gm and had a width of about 15.5mm. These are just about the same width as a Bike 808. They are a smooth finish card and have slightly rounder corners than USPCC cards.
Handling:
Fanning: 8
Out of the box they fan just fine but no where near the smoothness you will get from USPCC. Very few smooth backed cards will match the USPCC pattern in fanning.
Spring Energy: 9.8
In blindfold tests I could not tell a difference between these and the Fournier 605s
Dribble: 7
Like a Fournier, hand strength will play a role in how smooth these dribble for you but, I found them just a tad more clumpy than the 605s.
Crimp Hold/Recovery: 6 hold/ 8 Recovery
This is one area Fournier has them clearly licked. Never the less I have found the OOB crimp tests a somewhat unreliable predictor of how cards age. Only time will tell.
Single Card Glide: 7
They seemed to out perform 808s for bottom card glides but not top card glides. The plusses and minuses seem to cancel each other out so left it at a 7.
2 + Obfuscations: 8
Slightly better performance here than with an 808 which is to be expected with the stiffer stock. The Piatniks are perhaps a bit worse than the Bike in the Hugard/Braue push-off but the Piatnik matched or beat the Bikes in all other moves.
Gaff construction and availability: Several “standard” gaffs can be found at the above listed site.
Who Not Should Buy: Beginners and intermediats who have yet to develop the hand strength necessary to make use of a powerful stock. This one also won’t shuffle smooth enough for people into classic gambling demos.
Who Should Buy: I think anyone who has acquired a taste for stiffer decks might want to check these out. They perform and handle similar to the Anglos and Fourniers and they are a bit cheaper so they might be nice practice decks provided you can find a supplier with affordable shipping. One last group to recommend this to might be Tommy Wonder fans and wannabees.
Final Thoughts: As I write this I have exactly 5 hours logged on this deck. So far so good, there has been a minor drop in the fan likely due to the fact that I have already managed to drop them more time than I care to count. (As soon as you see the video supplement you have a good idea as to why that is!) Overall they are very similar in character and feel to the Fourniers but I have to say that the 605s just “feel” like a higher quality deck. Perhaps one minor detail that makes me like Fourniers better is the size. The Piatniks are just a tad thicker than the 605s and having a slightly thinner stock just seems to make stiffer stock feel more controllable. Overall this is a good deck and I’ll likely enjoy using it but I don’t foresee it knocking any of my top 5s out of their respective spots.