DuraFlex 100% Plastic Playing Cards by Bicycle - 2 Decks

Excellent quality cards. I needed two decks to play classic Canasta.
I chose Bicycle cards because of their consistently high quality.
I would recommend them to serious card players.

La compagnie « Bicycle » fabrique les meilleures cartes qualité-prix !

Seulement les bons amateurs de cartes doivent se les procurer !

I bought these cards because I kept bending or kinking my cards as I tried to learn card handling. As described, these cards indeed do feel papery and look like bright paper, not plastic.

However the cards are slipperier than expected. If you hold it tightly by the top and bottom of the deck on one edge the middle of the deck is liable to go flying out of your hand and onto the floor. The good thing is that they are sturdy enough to handle the abuse, but it's still annoying.

As for the sturdiness, I once caught a card (that had slipped out of my hand) and bent it pretty severely. It straighten itself out and looked good as new. I've never tried to crease any of these cards, so can't say how they could stand up to that. (I wouldn't want to try it at the price anyway.)

I'm sure with proper card handling and care these "slip-ups" could be minimized or eliminated, but it's still something to think about if you are familiar with the feel of standard playing cards.

One very nice point was there was no break in period for the cards. I could riffle and waterfall shuffle the cards with ease on the first cut, so that was very nice. Of course, the second time I tried it the cards went flying everywhere, but I was alone at the time.

The card carrying case is made out of textured black cardboard, not plastic as it looks on the preview. It comes with a thick paper label that wraps around the box that you'll want to keep as it is what keeps it from sliding open in a pocket or loose bag. Without something like a rubber band or this slipcover the cards could push the lid off as you take it out.

On aesthetics: The design is okay, but the white strips on the back isn't my favourite. I don't remove a star or anything for this because it's a personal preference.

All and all, these seem like sturdy playing cards. Some other reviews (on amazon.com) say that the cards can be chipped if thrown. I've yet to throw them so cannot comment.