Another problem with poker package

Question

First, let me apologize for reviving the topic - I've found a couple of posts here mentioning the experimental poker package, but I still can't work it out.

Going through all the posts I came up with a MWE that should work:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{report}

\usepackage[pdf]{pstricks}
\usepackage{auto-pst-pdf}
\usepackage{poker}
\setkeys{poker}{inline=symbol}

\begin{document}
  \begin{cards}
    \crdtenh
  \end{cards}
\end{document}

However... well - it doesn't.

I've tried three ways of compiling the code:

1. xelatex Though it works fine, I lose all the fonts, which is ok for the MWE, but totally useless in any application (e.g. a book or article). All the fonts get substituted and default to a single one.

2. latex -> dvips -> ps2pdf That fails at the last step (ps -> pdf) wih the following error:

   Dictionary stack: --dict:1198/1684(ro)(G)-- --dict:0/20(G)-- --dict:176/200(L)-- --dict:198/300(L)-- --dict:85/200(L)-- Current allocation mode is local Last OS error: No such file or directory Current file position is 333209 GPL Ghostscript 9.18: Unrecoverable error, exit code 1

3. pdflatex -shell-excape This was said to be a silver bullet fixing my problems, but unfortunately no good. pdflatex fails with the following error:

! LaTeX Error: \begin{pspicture} on input line 12 ended by \end{cards}.

I guess the commands get invoked incorrectly. I've checked the code in poker.sty and all should work fine. Well... again - should.

I think I'm missing something here - could anyone help me with the problem ?

EDIT (as suggested in a comment, I provide more info about the package and other topics I found)

"poker" is an experimental package that can be found here:

• doc: http://web.mit.edu/foley/games/Arcadia/sr/poker/poker-doc.pdf
• sty file: http://web.mit.edu/foley/games/Arcadia/sr/poker/poker.sty

Other topics I mentioned:

• getting whole package + using latex -> dvips -> ps2pdf: https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/207960/125651
• I was advised to search for "pstricks pdf export"; found this How to convert a LaTeX file with pstricks code to pdf? but didn't work either
• There's one topic here covering one of the cases I mentioned: ! LaTeX Error: \begin{pspicture} on input line 11 ended by \end{cards} though it's left without an answer.

UPDATE: as suggested I switched to using poker2, but this still doesn't work for a more complicated example found in the package's doc:

\begin{cards}
    \crdpair{\crdKs}{\crdtenh}%
    \crdflop{\crdsevd}{\crdsevc}{\crdQd}%
    \crdKc\crdKd%
\end{cards}

The error remains the same:

! LaTeX Error: \begin{pspicture} on input line 12 ended by \end{cards}.

To be honest I'm perfectly fine with the ability to render single cards - now I'm only wondering if there's anything I could do to make it only better and work it out with groups of cards.

Answer 1

Use the current pst-poker.sty if you want to use auto-pst-pdf:

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{report}
\usepackage{auto-pst-pdf}
\usepackage{pst-poker}
\psset{inline=symbol}
\begin{document}

\begin{postscript}
\crdtenh
\end{postscript}

\end{document}

The environment cards is not really needed.

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{report}
\usepackage{auto-pst-pdf}
\usepackage{pst-poker}
\psset{inline=symbol}
\begin{document}

\begin{postscript}
    \crdtenh
\end{postscript}

\begin{postscript}
    \crdpair{\crdKs}{\crdtenh}%
    \crdflop{\crdsevd}{\crdsevc}{\crdQd}%
    \crdKc\crdKd%
\end{postscript}

\end{document}

Answer 2

It is not enough to install only the sty. The package contains also various eps-graphics.

With xelatex and latex->dvips->ps2pdf it works if you remove auto-pst-pdf and the pdf-option of pstricks.

\documentclass[11pt,a4paper]{report}

\usepackage{poker}
\setkeys{poker}{inline=symbol}

 \begin{document}
  \begin{cards}
    \crdtenh
  \end{cards}
\end{document}

Imho a compilation with pdflatex and auto-pst-pdf would only work after some rewriting of the package -- it hides the end of some environments in commands and this confuses the preview package.

Answer 3

I've just noticed something that might work as a cheap walkaround:

• Running pdflatex -shell-escape fails, but it generates an auxiliary pdf with all the cards.
• Using that I can generate a pdf containing all the cards (52 + back side + jokers).
• Then I can create my own library that puts a required image from the pdf into my document. The usage would be exactly the same as in the original package, though some functionality would be lost (I'm fine with that for now).

Is there any obvious flaw in my reasoning ?