Liberty Playing Cards roots in the casino field, right? They've been around since 1970. It stands to reason that Liberty Playing cards are good playing cards for use playing with in games many shuffles etc. They're a thin stock that is springy, stiff and resilient in short they hold up to the abuse. I suspect it's part of the design of the stock and why they use it. They don't fan well but they play well. MPC's fan better edges of the cards are smooth like glass from the laser, Liberty's play much better the resiliency of the stock is great. While the Liberty edges are cut with steel and feel on the rougher side they don't fan so well. They're not Game Crafter bad by any stretch of the imagination. Those are wretched and in my opinion the worst because their die is, I'm pretty sure, actual crap. My Liberty's are centered very well. I'll grab a photo for you from one of the probably 900 shuffles by now decks.
It's not necessarily true that Liberty's roots are in casino decks. They were just a small custom-deck printing company, founded as you said in 1970 - how much of that was casino work and how much of that was other private-label work is not known. In the 1980s, they bought all the playing cards assets of Western Publishing, the most notable of which being the Whitman brand. More recently, they were purchased by Gambler's Warehouse and relocated from their original home in Chicago to GW's home outside of Dallas. So whatever they were making before almost doesn't matter - they're in a wholly different plant.
I would be leery about having my own playing cards printed - I can't imagine getting anywhere near Copag quality. But I've never really compared just how good customized cards really are.
Good luck, nutn
First, welcome to the forum - this being your first post.
If it wasn't for custom-printed playing cards, this forum wouldn't exist! You really need to get out there and see some of the great custom work that's being done by artists and printers. Thousands of card collectors on this forum can't ALL be wrong, can they?
BTW: it remains to be seen for how much longer Copag's quality will remain where it is. I know they have a solid reputation as a card maker, especially among poker players for their plastic decks, but as of 2005, they're part of Cartamundi - which around here has a reputation for making some really poor quality paper decks. If Cartamundi is smart, they'll leave Copag alone and let them run independently, but who knows what the future will hold for them.