Two contestants competed against each other on all versions of Card Sharks. Each contestant was assigned a row of five oversized playing cards. Each contestant had a standard 52-card deck; the ace ranked highest and the deuce (two) ranked lowest. The champion played the red cards on top, stood on the red side of the podium and wore a red nametag, while the challenger played the blue cards on the bottom, stood on the blue side of the podium and wore a blue nametag. In case of two new players, a coin toss was used to determine who played red and who played blue. Hosted by Bob Eubanks.