• The basic rules of poker can be picked up relatively quickly while bridge may seem a mystery for a considerable length of time. This also has an effect on the way in which the two games are played. In poker, boldness and calculated risk-taking will sometimes pay off, while in bridge, it’s wiser to take a more measured approach.
• The bridge cards are 3.5 inches long and 2.25 inches wide. On the other hand, the poker cards are also 3.5 inches long but 2.50 inches wide. In simple terms, the poker decks are a little wider than the bridge decks. These days, a majority of playing cards are available in the size of the poker deck.
• Poker is relatively an easy game to learn even for beginners. On the other hand, bridge is quite complicated for starters and it takes a lot of skill in order to master it completely. Poker also popularized the term bluff. This bluff element in fact has paved way to today’s poker related terms like poker face, among others.

One question that comes up a lot (at least on this website) is: What is the difference between poker playing cards and bridge playing cards?

Nowadays, poker is one of the most popular card games in the US, but back in the 1940s, it was bridge. At the time, the Association of American Card Manufacturers (AACM) revealed that bridge was played by 30% of men and 47% of women. But what exactly is bridge?

Let’s start with discussing first what isn’t different. Both poker and bridge decks have 52 cards, plus a joker or two. So you could play poker with bridge cards, or bridge with poker cards. Generally speaking, you could play any card game that requires a standard deck of cards (unlike, say, pinochle) with either a bridge deck or a poker deck.

The difference between bridge cards and poker cards is simply one of size: poker cards are wider than bridge cards. This makes sense, if you think of how many cards you have to hold in your hand to play bridge.

Before we give the standard dimensions, we want to offer a word of caution. Playing card sizes can vary from accepted standards. If you use our dimensions for anything other than reading pleasure, you do so entirely at your own risk. As an example, if you construct a thousand playing card boxes and then find that your favorite playing cards don’t fit in them, we’re not responsible.

With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s see what we’ve got: