The US Playing Card company, maker of Kem and Bicycle playing cards, has unveiled their new PokerPeek cards, set to debut this year at the World Series of Poker. From the WSOP website-
Professional and serious players were consulted during development, and the United States Playing Card Company’s casino division tested actual decks with PokerPeek in selected casino poker rooms. Average consumers were also shown PokerPeek cards during consumer testing in 2006.
In late 2006, USPC began collaborating with World Series of Poker (WSOP) officials to develop cards for the 2007 tournament. One of the primary concerns was table security, and the PokerPeek face style was instantly adopted as an idea to be evaluated.
The then-current PokerPeek decks were sent to members of the WSOP Players Council in January for evaluation. Feedback noted that the corner markings were just a bit small, and the larger markings in the middle of the card were too close to the corner markings.
USPC revised the faces based on this feedback and came back with three prototype decks for evaluation. These concepts all included larger corner markings, but designed in a way to take up less overall space in the corner. The three designs included an angled corner mark, a horizontal corner mark, and a mark that integrated the number with the suit designation. In all three examples, the corner markings were included in all four corners and the large middle markings on the card were moved down to the middle of the card.
Based on player feedback USPC eliminated all but the angled corner design, removed the extra corner markings, and moved the larger side marking further down on the card to protect the top one-third of the card edge from “flashing†to other players at the table.
THE PRODUCT
Tournament cards used at the WSOP will be the exclusive KEM® brand with the PokerPeek face and a Bicycle branded card back design.
Bicycle Pro, USPC’s retail version of PokerPeek, is slightly different than the version that will debut on the table at the 2007 WSOP. The design of the Bicycle Pro playing cards includes the 4-corners design to offer amateur player additional options for peeking their cards. It is also a benefit to left handed players.