Kai, Dennis - yes, a Kickstarter project is a godsend and a nightmare at the same time. It's an opportunity you would never have otherwise had to get your designs made, BUT at the same time you're beholden to MANY, MANY people, and in some ways it can actually increase the cost of getting your deck made than if it was privately funded.
Paul (Encarded) raised a very good point - there were a lot of godsawful deck projects that came and went in recent months, the vast majority of which never got funded. This doesn't mean your decks are terrible in any way - but it does mean you have stiff competition, more so than probably at any previous time on Kickstarter. You need to make your project truly shine and you need to do a lot of legwork promoting your deck.
Dennis - as far as I know, the minority of such projects actually pay for advertising. Whether that's a smart move or not remains to be seen and is for you alone to determine. It does, however, increase your costs and cut into your profits, without a doubt. Do some legwork on your own; be a PRESENCE on the card forums, both this type and the type that cater more to the poker playing crowd. Promote the deck to anyone who bought your KWCR poker chips - they're a natural choice for your deck.
Kai - well, as long as you don't let up, I think you're well on your way to getting funded. But this doesn't mean you should be resting on your laurels. The more you promote, the more pledges you get, the more successful your project becomes - and the better the overfunding goals you can set and reach. Not to mention making a profit!
Remember one thing about Kickstarter - it's just what the name implies, a kick start into the world of making whatever it is you're making, be it cards, artwork, tchotchkes, whatever. It's meant more as a launching point than a crutch. Find ways to make your projects insanely successful, and you'll have enough funding to make your one deck project into a deck design house, no longer dependent on getting backers, small or large. Circle City Card Company is an excellent example - they still throw some projects on Kickstarter, but they're also getting some done with no attachment to Kickstarter at all. Why? Because they've been VERY successful with their projects and they've made the maximum number of people aware of it, particularly those with an interest in playing cards of their type.
I suspect that for companies like CCCC that do return, it's more a matter of expanding their customer base as Kickstarter continues to grow from some cool, hip thing your artist friends told you about to something that your parents discuss over after-dinner drinks together, then finally to something even your grandparents are using. It might seem less cool or hip when that happens, but so what? It's been YEARS since eBay was "cool", but it's frickin' HUGE now and practically everyone you know has at least heard of it, if not used it to buy or sell items. Same thing for brands like Amazon, Google, Travelocity...the list goes on, longer by the year.
More competition is a very good thing. It means that the crap decks of the recent past are far less likely to raise their heads, or gain any positive attention if they do, because so many fantastic deck projects make theirs look shabby by comparison. It forces people to do their best or fall by the wayside. But even if you fail, it would not be the first time a deck project failed, only to come back revived and improved, succeeding where the first effort didn't. Best example that comes to my mind is the Deck of the Living Dead, by Bent Castle Workshops. If nothing else, the experience becomes a life lesson - but I'm sure you would prefer it becoming a big success instead!
Guys, go forth, spread the word, let every potential donor know your project is just that much more special than the others - and become successes!
(I'm starting to feel like the Gipper...)
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