Playing card as these 52 cards, commercial packs often include between one and six jokers, most often two. Decks with less than 52 cards are known as stripped decks. The piquet pack has all values from 2 through 6 in each suit removed for a total of 32 cards. It is popular in France, the Low Countries, Central Europe and Russia and is used to play piquet, belote, bezique and skat. It is also used in the Sri Lankan, whist-based game known as "omi". Forty-card French suited packs are common in northwest Italy; these remove the 8s through 10s like Latin suited
King (playing card) In the Ace-Ten family of games such as pinochle and schnapsen, both the ace and the 10 rank higher than the king. The king card is the oldest and most universal court card. It most likely originated in Persian Ganjifeh where kings are depicted as seated on thrones and outranking the viceroy cards which are mounted on horses. Playing cards were transmitted to Italy and Spain via the Mamluks and Moors. The best preserved and most complete deck of Mamluk cards, the Topkapı pack, did not display human figures but just listed their rank most likely due to religious prohibition.