A suggestion for poker books: new suit symbols

[bisonbison]

I just got Harrington on Hold'em, and without having opened the book, let me say that it's great so far. However, it reminded me of a thought I had. It's not the best idea, but it's an idea nonetheless.

When I read any poker book, 2+2 or otherwise, I am inevitably slowed and/or confused by the suit symbols in black and white. I think the suits are much easier to remember than suit initials (c, d, h, s), but they could pretty easily be made more readable and distinctive, so that I don't find myself confused between a black heart and a black spade.

I'm wondering if this has been attempted and found wanting or not attempted at all. If black and white is the only option, make the red suits hollow, like so:



Now, obviously that's a little ugly, but I think you get the idea and someone who doesn't suck at art could make those more palatable, but I think they're much more memorable and less ambiguous in black and white when two of the suits are hollowed out.

Thoughts?

[illunious]

[ QUOTE ]
HI GUYS I AM YOUR FIREND.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hahaha...

I think it's a great idea, reading suits the way it's normally printed slows me down too.

[stigmata]

Yeah I've had the same problem. Your solution seems to work, and I think something along those lines should be adopted.

Full marks for Random Thought of The Day.

[Beach-Whale]

I think I have seen this in a bridge book or something. It rings a bell. Anyway, it's a good idea and should be made standard in b/w printed books. Great suggestion. You should PM Mason.

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi BB:

It's not going to happen. There are many reasons for this but one of them is simply that it would cause a great deal of work (plus additional expense) that we don't have time for.

Best wishes,
Mason

[bisonbison]

Mason,

thanks for the response. I sort of suspected that if it were practical and economical, someone would have blazed the trail.

[Kellon]

With all due respect, I'm not sure I see how it's much of a time issue, or even much of an expense. Given that all printing is computerized, and the computers simply use whatever font they're given to use, why isn't this simply a matter of getting two characters changed in the typeface font. Additionally, all current work stored electronically could be udated very simply with a search and replace for the two characters. I understand there may be some expense for the design of the two characters, but it really can't be that much overall, can it?

[Mason Malmuth]

Hi Kellon:

First off, not all our books are "computer to plate." Some are still on film. Second, those books that are on film, while also in computer files were not saved in a form where the type setting has stayed exactly the same. As we change computers and operating systems the wrap on our books in these files has changed. So to make a change like this would require us to retypeset and to re-proofread, which is a lot of work. And third, we don't have a font that makes a different type of symbol in the programs that we use.

Best wishes,
Mason

[Kellon]

Understood. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[Rudbaeck]

You could still do it for future books though.