Ace in the Hole

The ace is the most powerful card in the poker deck. Even though the ace sometimes ranks as a 1 in poker, and in other games (such as blackjack, where it can be a 1 or an 11), it is usually “better” than a king. This was not always the case.

The word ace comes from Middle English (where it first appeared in print in the 14th century) as or aas, which comes from Anglo-French, and in turn from Latin, where it meant unit or unity. The word probably originated as the name of a small Roman copper coin.

When it entered the English language, ace was used for the side of a die with only one pip, before it became a term for a playing card. (The name persists in dice contexts, and is also used for the single-pip domino.) Since this was the lowest roll of the die, the term was traditionally linked in the Middle Ages with bad luck. Now that the ace is often the highest playing card, its meaning has changed to be synonymous with high quality and excellence, and in addition to being a noun, it has become a verb and adjective. If you ace a test, you have done very well. Any accomplished person in any field is called an ace; for example, a computer ace. An adept team-sports participant is often referred to in the newspaper as an ace, while in military parlance, an ace is a combat pilot who has brought down at least five enemy airplanes. In tennis, serving such that your opponent can’t return the ball is called an ace. If you are an ace reporter, you are well-regarded in your field.

The standard 52-card deck has four aces. Each ace has a single suit symbol (spade, heart, diamond, club) in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, particularly the A, which also often bears the name or emblem of the deck’s printer.

The A is special. What follows comes from the-playing-card.com:

What is the reason for the ace of spades’ size? Taxes. In the past, European governments placed heavy taxes on packs of cards. A deck could not be sold unless it had an official tax stamp, which showed that the duty had already been paid. Playing-card manufacturers placed the tax stamp onto the ace of spades, the highest available card in a deck.

Even after the tax stamps were no longer used, the manufacturers continued to design the ace of spades larger and different from the other cards because players had become used to the large size of the highest-ranking card. Besides poker cards, the ace of spades is the most selected playing card of collectors. The tradition has carried on until today, and the ace of spades usually has a different design from the rest of the deck, along with the name of the manufacturer.

Originally, the ace was the lowest-value card in the deck. This still holds in many popular European games. (In fact, most European decks do not use an A index, but a numeral 1, instead.) However, in most popular games in English-speaking countries, the ace has the highest value of all the cards in a suit. Many games, such as poker and blackjack, allow the player to choose whether the ace is used as a high or low card. This duality allows players in some other games to use it as both at once. For example, some variants of rummy allow players to form melds like K-A-2 and the like. This is known as “going around the corner.” An around-the-corner straight exists in high draw poker; it’s a special straight, a nonstandard hand that’s sometimes given value in a private or home game; it’s five cards in a series in which the sequence of cards is considered to continue from king through ace, as, for example, J-Q-K-A-2. Sometimes the hand ranks between three of a kind and a “normal” straight; sometimes it ranks between a “normal” straight and a flush. In high-low split poker games, an ace can be both high and low at the same time. For example, in an 8-or-better game, the hand 7 4 3 2 A is both an ace-high flush and a 7 low.

The ace started out being the lowest card, so how did it become the highest?

Some historians say the hierarchy may have come about as a result of the French Revolution. With the rise of Napoleon, the lowest number card was changed to the highest card in the deck, supposedly to represent the victory of the common man over King Louis XVI.

Other theories posit that the ace was promoted on its own merit for being, literally, “number one,” a term that is synonymous with a winner — that is, the best, in most languages and cultures. The game of three-card brag, popular around the time of the American and French Revolutions and that some say evolved into poker, used the ace-high ranking, probably based on this “number one” concept. The popularity of this and similar games may have led to ranking changes in other card games.

There are interesting discussions of these and other questions on the trivia page of the International Playing Card Society website.

As have many poker terms, expressions involving the ace have entered the English language.

From The Official Dictionary of Poker:

ace in the hole: (n phrase) In a stud game, having an ace as one’s downcard or one of one’s downcards. This being a desirable condition, the expression has moved from poker to general usage with the wider meaning of an advantage or resource kept in reserve until needed.

ace out: (v phrase) To win (perhaps by bluffing) while holding an ace-high hand (that is, a relatively worthless hand, at least in draw poker, since it doesn’t contain even a pair). This expression has moved from poker to general usage with the meaning of winning by deception or just barely beating someone in some venture. (If your opponent holds a totally worthless hand, an ace-high hand would just barely beat him; that is, you would ace him out.)

ace up the sleeve: (n phrase) Describing the situation in which a cheater has withdrawn an ace from the deck and hidden it in his sleeve to be introduced into the game later, or, more generally, has taken some unfair advantage. The expression has moved from poker to general usage to describe the situation in which someone is hiding some most likely unfair advantage. Compare with ace in the hole.

Michael Wiesenberg has been a columnist for Card Player since 1988. He has written or edited many books about poker, and has also written extensively about computers. His crossword puzzles are syndicated in newspapers and appear online and in national publications. Send accolades, approbation, and aspirations to [email protected].