For the Ace and court cards, this label is the initial letter or letters of the name of that card. Modern playing cards carry index labels on opposite corners or in all four corners to facilitate identifying the cards when they overlap and so that they appear identical for players on opposite sides.

There are also numerous others such as the Berlin pattern, Nordic pattern, Dondorf Rhineland pattern (pictured right) and the variants of the European pattern. The second most common is the Belgian-Genoese pattern, which was designed in France for export and spread to Spain, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, the Balkans and much of North Africa and the Middle East. The most popular standard pattern of the French deck is the English pattern (pictured above), sometimes referred to as the International pattern or Anglo-American pattern. Main article: French-suited playing cards In addition, commercial decks often include anywhere from one to six (most often two or three since the mid-20th century) Jokers, often distinguishable with one being more colourful than the other, as some card games require these extra cards.

Each pip card displays the number of pips (symbols of the suit) corresponding to its number, as well as the appropriate numeral (except 'A' for the Ace) in at least two corners. The card with one pip is known as an Ace. Each suit also includes ten numeral cards or pip cards, from one to ten. Each suit includes three court cards (face cards), King, Queen and Jack, with reversible (double-headed) images. A standard 52-card deck comprises 13 ranks in each of the four French suits: clubs ( ♣), diamonds ( ♦), hearts ( ♥) and spades ( ♠).

Two of hearts cards