One or more people may play against the house, known as the 'bank' or 'banker', who is the dealer.
Monte uses a deck of 40 playing cards (removing the 10s, 9s, and 8s from a standard 52-card deck). They remained popular through the end of the century particularly in the American West, and even among Native Americans. These games became popular in the United States, specially in Texas, after they were brought back by returning troops from the Mexican–American War in 1848. They were originally played with Spanish playing cards and later with cards made expressly for the game, known as Monte cards, as well as modified standard decks. The two-card version Mexican monte, and the four-card version Spanish monte, are card games played in Spain before coming to Mexico and then the American Southwest. The term 'monte' has also been used for a variety of other gambling games, especially varieties of three-card poker, and for the swindle three-card monte. It ultimately derives from basset, where the banker (dealer) pays on matching cards. Monte Bank, Mountebank, Spanish Monte and Mexican Monte, sometimes just Monte, is a Spanish gambling card game and was known in the 19th century as the national card game of Mexico. John David Borthwick, a Scottish artist portrayed the gambling element of Monte in this lithograph.
