Suited to play
By Charleston Mercury Staff
The Tuck Pouch features hand-stitched Italian leather.
After losing a hand in Texas Hold ’Em to an exceptionally talented friend, Ryan Faucher did what most poker players do: He began plotting a strategy to reclaim his losses. What occurred to him was not related to the chips changing hands but instead had to do with the cards being played.
Literally, the cards (and their casing).
“I’ve been collecting interesting brands of playing cards for some time,” said the College of Charleston graduate, “and it occurred to me that even fine cards came in cardboard tuck boxes, which everyone knows rip quickly. Shouldn’t high-end cards come with high-end packaging?”
Thus, the Suited™ Tuck Pouch was born.
Step one in the idea was to design the playing cards, which he entrusted to local graphic designer Nick Samuels. Together they decided on a modern take on classic English playing cards, and the result is a look found nowhere else.
For the production of the cards, Ryan chose Shuffled, Inc., headquartered in Orlando.
“Suited playing cards are made of the highest quality linen stock available,” said Ryan. “I chose that stock because, like American currency, the combination of traditional paper and linen results in a product that stands up to heavy use. We then apply a water-repellent coating and emboss each card in a windowpane pattern using 310 gsm pressure; that’s what gives the textured feel and vintage thickness to our cards.”
The Tuck Pouch is what makes Suited so utterly unique. For that task he turned to Boysterous Couture located here in Charleston. Boysterous handcrafts and stiches each pouch using leather from a small family-run tannery called Conceria Nuova Grenoble, in Ponte a Egola, Italy. As a final step, they laser emboss each unit with a Suited logo and insignia.
“Playing cards is all about showing confidence,” said Ryan. “When a player sits down and pulls out a Suited Tuck Pouch — something so refined the other players actually notice — well, that’s a good way to get in the other players’ heads before the first hand.”
“Response has been good,” added Ryan. “Eight-time World Series of Poker champion Cory Binks recently took a Suited deck with him to a tournament in Las Vegas — I’m confident that will result in some sales among the high-roller crowd.”
Originally from Chicago, Ryan moved to Charleston in 2011 and graduated from the College of Charleston with a dual degree in Spanish and international business. He works as a property insurance broker for Cypress Insurance. Further information about the cards can be found at SuitedLtd.com.
