Russian playing cards some famous Russian writers, particularly Alexandre Pushkin who wrote "The Queen of Spades". Because the 6 is the lowest card of the Russian deck, Russian slang uses the derogatory word "shestyorka" meaning "underling, lackey". Russian playing cards Russian playing cards are cards that used predominantly in Russia and in the former Soviet Union. Unlike the internationally known standard French 52-card deck, most Russian card games employ either the 36 card (games such as Durak) or the 32 card (particularly Preferans) decks. Playing cards were first introduced into Russia at the beginning of the 17th century from Western and Central Europe
Jack (playing card) As early as the mid-16th century the card was known in England as the knave (meaning a male servant of royalty). Although "jack" was in common usage to designate the knave, the term became more entrenched when, in 1864, American cardmaker Samuel Hart published a deck using "J" instead of "Kn" to designate the lowest-ranking court card. The knave card had been called a jack as part of the terminology of the game All Fours since the 17th century, but this usage was considered common or low class. However, because the card abbreviation for knave was so close to that