american dreamer is a casino - style game . in american dreamer , players wager on their ability to guess the next card that the dealer pulls from the deck . there are two key physical elements to american dreamer : ( 1 ) a standard deck of 54 playing cards and ( 2 ) the specially designed tabletop . american dreamer can be played with between one to eight decks of standard playing cards . the deck used should have 54 cards total : 13 spades or spade cards , 13 hearts or heart cards , 13 clubs or club cards , 13 diamonds or diamond cards and 2 jokers . the table the game is played on shall be any size ( length , width and thickness ) and any weight . the tabletop surface can be of any shape , but a half - circle shape is ideal . ( see fig1 a .) the tabletop or surface has three sections or areas of play , the turn , the river , and the player station ( s ), each containing special markings as seen in fig1 b . section # 1 the river : 5boxes are permanently painted / drawn / printed at the top right of the table close to where the dealer would stand . this combination of five boxes is to be known as the ‘ river ’. each box should at minimum be equal to the height and width of a standard deck of playing cards . these boxes should also be equal to each other in dimensions . the term ‘ the river ’ or ‘ river ’ is written / drawn / printed on the table near this group of boxes to label them . section # 2 the turn : 1 box is permanently painted / drawn / printed at the top left of the table , separate from the ‘ river ’. this box is known as the ‘ turn ’ and should at minimum be equal to the height and width of a standard deck of playing cards . the term ‘ the turn ’ or ‘ turn ’ is written / drawn / printed on the table near this box to label it . a line is drawn on the table separating the river from the turn . see fig1 b . section # 3 : the player station is labeled with the term ‘ player station ’, or ‘ player ’ followed by a number , permanently printed at the top of the section . the player station should be located opposite the turn and river sections as seen in fig1 a . the player stations is comprised of two subsections : ( a ) the ‘ pre - bet ’ and ( b ) the ‘ in play ’. the pre - bet subsection consists of two boxes of equal size , side - by - side positioned directly under the term ‘ player station ’. see fig1 c . each box is permanently printed on the tabletop . the term ‘ joker ’ or a drawing of a joker from a standard deck of playing cards is permanently printed inside each box . the term , ‘ river ’, is printed horizontally to the left of the box on the left . this is meant to refer to cards played in the river . the term , ‘ turn ’ is printed horizontally to the right of the box on the right . this is meant to refer to cards played in the turn . casinos may choose to print a pay schedule near this group of boxes . the pre - bet section should be enclosed by a box permanently painted on the playing surface as seen in fig1 c . the ‘ in play ’ subsection of the player station is located directly under the ‘ pre - bet ’ subsection and consists of three tiers . ( 1 ) the first tier is the group of markings at the bottom of the tabletop , closest to the player . this tier is comprised of four symbols , spade , heart , club and diamond , or the like , each representing a suit in a standard deck of playing cards , permanently drawn on the tabletop . each symbol is enclosed separately in a box also permanently drawn on the tabletop . each box is drawn side by side on the tabletop . the boxes should be of equal size . the symbols within the boxes should be proportionate to the box in which they are enclosed . see fig1 c . casinos may choose to print a pay schedule near this group of boxes . ( 2 ) the second tier is a group of markings directly above the first tier . the second tier is comprised of three boxes . the box at the far left should be labeled ‘ a - 4 ’. the middle box should be labeled ‘ 5 - 9 ’. the third box should be labeled ‘ 10 - k ’. the labels represent the values in a deck of standard playing cards . see fig1 c . casinos may choose to print a pay schedule near this group of boxes . ( 3 ) the third tier is a group of markings directly above the second tier . the third tier is comprised of four boxes , labeled , ‘ a ’, ‘ k ’, ‘ q ’, and ‘ j ’ respectively . see fig1 b . the ‘ a ’ represents the ace of any suit in a standard deck of playing cards . the ‘ k ’ represents the king of any suit . the ‘ q ’ represents the queen of any suit . the j represents the jack of any suit . the boxes should be of equal size and should sit side - by - side . casinos may choose to print a pay schedule neat this group of boxes . multiple player stations may be painted on the same tabletop or playing surface . if multiple player stations are used , these stations should line the bottom and sides of the tabletop as appropriate allowing adequate room every player to reach his / her individual player station . see fig1 a . the term ‘ player ’ or ‘ player station ’ is written near each player station . see fig1 b . to play american dreamer , you will need a dealer or dealing mechanism and a minimum of one player . the dealer always stands opposite the player or player station , facing him or her . at the start of each round of play , a player is allowed to make a wager in the ‘ pre - bet ’ section of his / her player station . a dealer may invite this betting by saying , “ pre - bet ”. in making the pre - bet , a player is wagering that a joker will be dealt into either the turn or river boxes . to wager that a joker will be dealt in the turn , a player places currency ( as determined by the casino ) on the term ‘ joker ’ or the drawing of the joker closest to the term , ‘ turn ’ in his / her player section . to wager that a joker will be dealt in the river , a player places currency on the term ‘ joker ’ or the drawing of the joker closest the term , ‘ river ’ in his / her player station . once all pre - bets have been made , the dealer then signals the end of the pre - bet . the dealer may do this by saying , “ pre - bet closed ”. the frequency with which a dealer chooses to shuffle the cards depends on the number of decks being used in the game . if fewer decks are used , the dealer will want to shuffle more often . the dealer can either shuffle the cards manually or use a shuffling mechanism . players never touch the cards . the dealer places five playing cards from the top of the deck , face - up on the table , in the river , one in each box . the cards should be dealt left to right , all cards facing the players . this is known as ‘ dealing the river ’. using the river cards as guidance , players can now make several wagers . a player can wager whether the suit of the turn card will be spades , hearts , diamonds or clubs . players make this wager by placing currency ( as determined by the casino ) on either the heart , spade , club or diamond symbol displayed at the bottom of their ‘ player station ’ ( see fig1 c ). this is known as betting in the first tier . in addition , a player may wager whether the value of the turn card will be a - 4 , 5 - 9 or 10 - k . this should be done by placing currency in appropriate boxes in the player station as seen in fig1 b . this is known as second tier betting . a player may also bet whether the turn card will be an ace , king , queen or jack . this should be done by placing currency on the a , k , q , or j drawn on the tabletop in the players station . this is known as the third tier betting . once all of the players have placed their bet , the dealer then places a single playing card , face - up , in the turn box . the dealer should then assess the bets that have been made , pay the winners and collect from the losers . ( note : casinos may choose to determine their own pay schedule for winners or may use the one in this document .) players betting in the first tier and correctly match the suit of the turn card win . those players can be paid $ 1 . 00 for every $ 1 . 00 bet or $ 100 % of their bet . players betting in the second tier who correctly guess the value of the turn card ( a - 4 , 5 - 9 or 10 - k ) win and can also be paid $ 1 . 00 for every $ 1 . 00 bet or 100 % of their bet . players betting in the third tier of betting who correctly guess the type of card played in the turn ( a , k , q or j ) win and may also be paid $ 3 . 00 for every $ 1 . 00 bet or 300 % of their bet . players betting in pre - bet who correctly guess that a joker will be played in the river win and may be paid $ 5 . 00 for every $ 1 . 00 bet or 500 % of their bet . a player wins once for each joker that appears in the river and therefor is paid once for each win . players betting in the pre - bet who correctly guess that a joker will be played in the turn win and can also be paid $ 5 . 00 for every $ 1 . 00 bet or 500 % of their bet . winnings are placed on the player &# 39 ; s player station next to his / her bet . this is known as ‘ paying the winners ’. players who guess incorrectly loose , thereby surrendering the money they have bet to the casino or game operator . after any winners have been paid and the bets collected from any losers , the dealer then clears the table of any cards . the dealer may then place those cards to the side , or reintroduce them to the deck and shuffle the deck . play then begins again with the pre - bet .
what is unique about american dreamer is the design of the tabletop or surface on which the game is played . the tabletop is comprised of several sections , two for the dealer and one for the player . the dealer &# 39 ; s sections , ‘ the river ’ and ‘ the turn , are a set of boxes in which standard playing cards , six in total , are strategically placed . the player &# 39 ; s section , ‘ the player station , contains several markings and drawings arranged in such as unique way as to allow the player to make a series of varying types of bets concerning which cards will be dealt into the river and turn sections in each round of play . in addition , american dreamer is one of very few casino - style table card games which utilizing the full deck of 54 cards including the jokers .