Playing Card Dimensions: Standard Size & Deck Measurements

Standard playing cards come in two common sizes: poker size, which measures 2.5 by 3.5 inches (63.5 by 88.9 mm), and bridge size, which measures 2.25 by 3.5 inches (57 by 88.9 mm). Both are 3.5 inches tall; the only difference is width. These are the playing card dimensions you will find in almost every retail deck, and they have been the global standard for more than a century. This guide gives the exact measurements in both inches and millimeters, compares the two standard sizes, covers less common formats like tarot and mini cards, and explains the size of a full deck so you know precisely what to expect.

Standard Playing Card Dimensions

The standard size of a playing card is 2.5 x 3.5 inches (poker size), or 2.25 x 3.5 inches for the slightly narrower bridge size. The table below lists the most common playing card sizes with their measurements in both inches and millimeters.

Poker-Size Playing Cards

Poker-size cards measure 2.5 x 3.5 inches (63.5 x 88.9 mm) and are the most widely used playing cards in the world. When someone refers to a "standard" deck without specifying, they almost always mean poker size. The extra width compared with bridge cards makes them easier to handle and gives more room for the pip layout and any artwork. Poker size is the default for casual play, magic, cardistry, and the vast majority of decks sold at retail, which is why it is the size most people picture when they think of a playing card.

Bridge-Size Playing Cards

Bridge-size cards measure 2.25 x 3.5 inches (57 x 88.9 mm) — the same height as poker cards but a quarter-inch narrower. That narrower width exists for a practical reason: in games like bridge and many rummy variants, players hold a large number of cards in one hand, and slimmer cards fan out more comfortably. Because the height is identical, bridge and poker cards look very similar at a glance, and both fit the same general card storage; the difference is only really noticeable when you hold a wide spread.

How Big Is a Standard Card in Inches?

A standard poker playing card is 2.5 inches wide and 3.5 inches tall. A bridge card is 2.25 inches wide and 3.5 inches tall. So whichever standard you use, a playing card is 3.5 inches in height; only the width changes, by a quarter of an inch, between the two formats. In centimeters, poker size is roughly 6.35 by 8.89 cm. These figures describe the card face; the rounded corners are cut to a small radius (about 0.25 inches / 6 mm) that does not change the overall dimensions.

Is a 5x7 a Standard Card Size?

No — 5 x 7 inches is not a standard playing card size. A 5 x 7 is a common size for greeting cards, photo prints, and invitations, but it is far larger than any playing card. Even jumbo or large-print playing cards top out around 3.5 x 5 inches, and tarot cards are about 2.75 x 4.75 inches. If you are looking at a 5 x 7 card, you are almost certainly dealing with stationery or a photo format, not a playing card.

Are Playing Cards A5 or A6?

Playing cards do not match the ISO A-series paper sizes. An A6 sheet is about 4.1 x 5.8 inches and A5 is about 5.8 x 8.3 inches, both considerably larger than a standard 2.5 x 3.5-inch card. The A-series is a paper standard built around a specific aspect ratio, while playing cards follow their own poker and bridge conventions. So a playing card is neither A5 nor A6 — it is smaller than both, with its own dedicated sizing.

Playing Card Thickness and Deck Size

An individual playing card is thin — typically around 0.012 to 0.013 inches (about 0.3 mm) thick, depending on the card stock. Stacked into a full 52-card deck (plus two jokers), the pack stands roughly 0.6 to 0.7 inches (15 to 17 mm) tall. A standard tuck box that holds a poker deck measures approximately 2.5 x 3.5 x 0.75 inches, just large enough to enclose the cards with a little room to slide them in and out. These deck measurements are useful if you are designing storage, a card holder, or packaging.

How Many Cards Are in a Deck?

A standard deck contains 52 playing cards, divided into four suits of thirteen cards each. Most packs also include two jokers, bringing the physical pack to 54 cards, though the jokers are set aside for most games, including Solitaire. Within the 52 cards there are twelve face cards — the Jack, Queen, and King in each of the four suits — and forty number cards (Ace through ten). The breakdown below shows exactly what a standard deck holds.

That structure is the same in every standard deck worldwide, which is why a single 52-card pack can be used for hundreds of different games. If you want to see the four suits in action, every deal on our free Solitaire game uses exactly this 52-card composition.

Inches vs Millimeters: Quick Conversions

Because card sizes are quoted in both imperial and metric units, it helps to have the conversions on hand. One inch equals 25.4 millimeters, so poker size (2.5 x 3.5 inches) is 63.5 x 88.9 mm, and bridge size (2.25 x 3.5 inches) is 57 x 88.9 mm. In centimeters, that is about 6.4 x 8.9 cm for poker cards and 5.7 x 8.9 cm for bridge cards. Manufacturers in different regions tend to favor one unit or the other, but the physical cards are the same regardless of how the size is written.

Why Are There Two Standard Sizes?

The two standard sizes exist to balance handling against hand size. Poker-size cards are wider and easier to shuffle, deal, and read, which suits games where you hold only a few cards at a time. Bridge-size cards trade a little width for a more compact fan, which matters in games where a player may hold thirteen cards or more at once. Over time these two formats settled in as the global defaults, and nearly every commercial deck is produced in one of them. Specialty sizes — tarot, mini, and jumbo — fill niche needs but never displaced the two mainstream standards.

Choosing the Right Card Size

For general play, poker size is the safe default: it handles well, reads clearly, and fits the widest range of games and accessories. Choose bridge size if you regularly play games that involve holding many cards, or if you simply prefer a slimmer card. Consider mini or patience-size decks for travel and tight spaces, jumbo or large-print decks for visibility, and tarot size only for the specific games that require it. For anyone playing online, of course, card dimensions are purely cosmetic — the cards scale to fit your screen — but knowing the physical standards is still useful whenever you pick up a real deck.

The Anatomy of a Playing Card

A standard playing card is more carefully designed than it first appears. The four corners are rounded to a radius of roughly 0.25 inches (about 6 mm), which prevents the corners from fraying and makes the cards comfortable to shuffle and fan. Around the printed face there is usually a white border, and within that border sit the central design, the pip pattern, and the corner indices that show the rank and suit. Printers also build in a small "bleed" — a margin of artwork that extends past the cut line — so that no white edges show if the cutting is slightly off. All of this fits within the same 2.5 x 3.5-inch footprint, which is why two decks from different makers stack together perfectly.

Card Stock, Thickness, and Finish

While the width and height of cards are standardized, the thickness depends on the card stock. Most quality cards are made from a paper core with a hidden black layer in the middle that stops light passing through, so opponents cannot read a card from behind. A typical card is around 0.3 mm thick, but premium and casino decks can be slightly thicker for durability. The finish — a fine textured coating applied to the surface — affects how smoothly the cards slide and shuffle, and is the reason a fresh casino-grade deck feels so different from a cheap one. None of this changes the standard 2.5 x 3.5-inch dimensions; it only changes how the deck feels and how long it lasts.

Standard Card Sizes Around the World

The poker and bridge sizes are genuinely global standards, used across North America, Europe, Asia, and beyond, which is part of why card games travel so easily between countries. Some regional traditions do use their own dimensions — certain European patience and skat decks are a little narrower or shorter than the poker standard, and traditional Italian, Spanish, and German regional decks come in their own sizes with their own suit systems. For the everyday 52-card French-suited deck that dominates worldwide, though, you can expect poker or bridge dimensions almost everywhere you go.

How Big Is a Tarot Card?

Tarot cards are noticeably larger than playing cards, typically around 2.75 x 4.75 inches (70 x 120 mm), though tarot sizing varies more than playing-card sizing. The extra height gives room for the detailed illustrations tarot decks are known for. Some oversized card games and certain board-game card components borrow this larger format too. If you have ever felt that a tarot deck is awkward to shuffle compared with a normal deck, the size is the reason — those cards are built to be looked at as much as played with.

Mini, Jumbo, and Large-Print Cards

At the small end, mini or patience-size cards run about 1.75 x 2.5 inches, made for travel, tight tabletops, and the patience (solitaire) layouts that need many columns in a small space. At the large end, jumbo and large-print decks reach roughly 3.5 x 5 inches; some keep standard pip layouts at a bigger scale, while "large-print" or "large-index" decks simply enlarge the corner numbers for easier reading, which is popular for players with limited vision and for group games where everyone needs to see the cards. These specialty sizes serve real needs, but they remain niche compared with the two mainstream standards.

Designing or Printing Your Own Cards

If you are designing custom cards — for a prototype game, a promotion, or a personal deck — sticking to the standard poker size (2.5 x 3.5 inches / 63.5 x 88.9 mm) is the safest choice, because it fits every off-the-shelf sleeve, card holder, and box. Print-ready templates typically add about an eighth of an inch of bleed on each side and keep important artwork inside a "safe zone" away from the cut line, so nothing critical is trimmed off. Working to the established dimensions means your finished cards will mix with standard decks and accessories without any awkward size mismatch.

Card Size, Play Space, and Storage

Card dimensions also shape how much table you need and how you store a deck. A full Klondike Solitaire layout of seven columns, a stock, a waste pile, and four foundations needs a surprising amount of room with physical cards, which is one reason patience-size decks exist. For storage, a standard tuck box of roughly 2.5 x 3.5 x 0.75 inches holds a poker deck snugly, and plastic cases and card holders are all built around the same measurements. Online, none of this applies — the game arranges every pile for you and scales the cards to your display — but it explains why the physical standards settled where they did.

Do Online Cards Have a Standard Size?

Digital cards have no fixed physical size at all — they scale to fit whatever screen you are using, from a small phone to a large monitor. What designers preserve instead is the familiar aspect ratio: the roughly 2.5-to-3.5 proportion of a poker card, so an online card looks correctly shaped even though it might be an inch tall on a phone or several inches on a desktop. Good online solitaire keeps that ratio and enlarges the indices for readability, which is why a hand of cards on a website feels natural even though the actual pixel dimensions change with every device. The standards born from physical cards still guide how the digital ones are drawn.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the standard size of a playing card?

The standard poker-size playing card is 2.5 x 3.5 inches (63.5 x 88.9 mm). Bridge-size cards are 2.25 x 3.5 inches (57 x 88.9 mm) — the same height but a quarter-inch narrower.

How big is a standard card in inches?

A poker card is 2.5 inches wide by 3.5 inches tall; a bridge card is 2.25 by 3.5 inches. Both standard sizes are 3.5 inches in height, and only the width differs.

Is a 5x7 a standard card size?

No. 5 x 7 inches is a standard size for greeting cards and photo prints, not playing cards. Even jumbo playing cards are only about 3.5 x 5 inches, so a 5 x 7 card is not a playing card format.

Are playing cards A5 or A6?

Neither. A6 (about 4.1 x 5.8 inches) and A5 (about 5.8 x 8.3 inches) are paper sizes that are much larger than a 2.5 x 3.5-inch playing card. Cards follow poker and bridge standards, not the ISO A-series.

How thick is a deck of cards?

A single card is about 0.3 mm thick. A full 52-card deck with two jokers stands roughly 0.6 to 0.7 inches (15 to 17 mm) tall, and fits a tuck box of about 2.5 x 3.5 x 0.75 inches.

How many cards are in a standard deck?

A standard deck has 52 cards in four suits of thirteen, usually plus two jokers for 54 in the pack. It includes twelve face cards (Jack, Queen, King in each suit) and forty number cards.

How many face cards are in a deck of cards?

There are twelve face cards in a standard deck — a Jack, Queen, and King in each of the four suits. If you also count Aces as honor cards, there are sixteen, but the standard answer for face cards is twelve.