The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (183 page)

Three-Stake Brag

The original ‘Bragg’, as described in 1721, was a three-stake game

structural y identical with Bone-Ace (= French Bon As) and Post &

Pair, described in The Compleat Gamester of 1674, and with a

continental game cal ed Best, Flush and Thirty-One (Bel e, Flux, et

Trente-Un, etc.). Its defining feature was the recognition of one or

more wild cards cal ed braggers, of which the first was imported

from the game of Loo, where it was cal ed Pamphilus or Mistigris.

Players made three stakes and received two cards face down and

one face up from a 52-card pack. The first pot went to the player

with the best upcard (Ace highest), or the eldest such player if

equal – unless anyone was showing A (bon Ace), which won

regardless of position. The second went to the winner of a round of

vying as to who held the best pair or prial. For this purpose J

was a bragger (wild card), and in some circles so also was 9. A

hand containing one or more braggers was beaten by its equivalent

natural hand. Players then revealed their cards and could draw as

many more as they wished, the third stake going to the hand

counting closest to 31 without exceeding it (Ace 1, numerals face

value, courts 10 each).

Mus

4 players (2 × 2), 40 cards (Spanish)

Widely played throughout the Spanish-speaking Old and New

Worlds, Mus is an extraordinary game of Basque origin and

terminology. The uniqueness begins with its basic structure, for,

terminology. The uniqueness begins with its basic structure, for,

even though it is a gambling game and includes vying, it is

normal y and best played as a partnership game for four. Not only

that, but partners are permit ed to indicate the nature of their hands

by means of conventional signals – a procedure that would not be

countenanced in the wildest of Dealer’s Choice Poker. Though

simple in structure, it is complicated in detail, making it necessary

in the fol owing account to concentrate only on the broad picture.

Ful details are available from the Pagat website, from which you

can link in to playing it on-line.

Scoring and equipment Although a vying game, Mus is played up to

a fixed target of 40 points over as many deals as necessary, and a

match is the best of three games. Points are represented by piedras,

‘stones’, of which 22 are initial y placed in a central container such

as a saucer. As stones are won, they are taken by, and stored in

front of, one member of the partnership that wins them. For every

five stones his side wins, he returns four to the pool and passes one

to his partner. This one is cal ed an amarraco (apparently from

hamarreko, the Basque for a clutch of ten, presumably reflecting a

historical y earlier method of scoring). Thus, at any point in the

play, each side’s score is readily ascertainable as being five times

the number of stones being kept by one partner, plus exactly the

numberof stones kept bythe other. When the amarraco-keeper has

seven of them, he returns them to the pool and announces this fact,

as a warning that his side needs only five more stones to win.

Cards The cards of the 40-card Spanish pack rank from high to low

and have face values as fol ows:

rank King Three Caballo Sota Seven Six Five Four Two Ace

value 10 3

10

10 7

6 5

4

2

1

However, in the most widespread version of the game al Threes

count as Kings and al Deuces as Aces, as to both rank and value.

The game is therefore said to be played with eight Kings and eight

The game is therefore said to be played with eight Kings and eight

Aces.

Deal and mus (draw) The player to the dealer’s right is eldest hand,

and al procedures pass to the right. Deal four cards to each player

and stack the rest face down. Each in turn announces ‘Mus’ if he

wishes to change some or al of his cards, or ‘No hay mus’ if

satisfied with his hand. If everyone cal s ‘Mus’, they must then al

discard from one to four cards and be dealt replacements from the

top of the stock. Further rounds ensue until someone eventual y

says ‘No’. If the stock runs out before al draws are completed, a

new one is formed from the shuf led discards.

Bet ing intervals The draw (if any) is fol owed by four rounds of

possible bet ing and vying, each for a particular class of

combination. These four classes are fol owed in a fixed and

invariable order, no cards being revealed until al four rounds have

been gone through (unless the game is curtailed by the ‘sudden

death’ bid of Ordago).

The four classes of combination are bet on in the fol owing order:

1. Grande. A bet that you or your partner hold the highest hand,

or second highest if equal, and so on. Example: K-3-7-6 beats

K-C-S-S, as Threes are equivalent to Kings. If tied, priority goes

to the elder of tied players.

2. Chica. The same, but for the lowest hand. Example K-6-2-A

beats C-4-4-A because, Aces being equal, its second-lowest

card (Two) is lower than the other’s Four.

3. Pares. The same, but in respect of holding the best paired

hand. A pair, worth a basic 1 stone, is beaten by medias (three

of a kind), worth a basic 2, and medias by dobles (two pairs),

worth a basic 3 stones. No special score at aches to four of a

kind, which merely counts as a dobles. Thus K-3-2-A would

beat C-C-C-C because it is equivalent to K-K-A-A, and Kings

beat Cabal os. In this and the fol owing rounds the best hand

beat Cabal os. In this and the fol owing rounds the best hand

wins the basic value plus the value of the last bet accepted –

or, if none, 1 stone.

4. Juego or punto. Juego is a declaration that you hold cards

total ing at least 31 points in face-value, and a bet that you

hold the best point. For this purpose the best point is 31,

worth 3 stones, fol owed by 32, worth 2, fol owed by 40, 37,

36, 35, 34 and 33, al worth 2 stones each. (38 and 39 are

impossible.) If no one announces Juego, the alternative cal is

punto (or no juego). This is a declaration that your cards total

30 or less, and that you have closer to 30 than anyone else.

Thus a point of 30 beats 29, which beats 28, and so on

downwards. The best punto is worth 1 stone.

Procedure On each round players may pass or open for a minimum

of 2 stones. An opening bet may be declined (‘No quiero’), matched

(‘Quiero’), or raised (‘Reenvido’) by either opponent. If declined,

the bidder takes the appropriate bonus from the pool, ‘porque no’.

If raised, it may be raised by any amount, and re-raised by the other

side.

Any player in turn to speak may declare Ordago (from the

Basque for ‘Here it is’). If the other side accepts it, there is a

showdown, and the best hand wins the whole game outright. If not,

the other side wins only the bets made on the hand under

consideration, plus any appropriate bonus.

When al bets are declined or equalized, the next round begins.

On a showdown, no ties are recognized. As between identical

combinations the higher-ranking beats the lower, and, if stil equal,

an elder hand beats a younger.

Partners may signal to each other the holding of certain

combinations, provided they stick to accepted convention. At

grande, for instance, you can show two Kings by biting your lower

lip. (To show four Kings, do it twice!)

Mus is equipped with a tremendous array of protocols, technical

terms, conventional jokes (if an adversary misbehaves, you can

claim a ‘Bonus of one stone for playing properly’), and basic

claim a ‘Bonus of one stone for playing properly’), and basic

Basque vocabulary: bat, biga, hirur, hur, bortz are respectively one

to five, bay ‘yes’, ez ‘no’. There is a version in which the Cabal o of

clubs and Sota of coins are wild cards, known respectively as

‘Perico’ and ‘Perica’, and a non-partnership version for four to eight

players cal ed Mus l ustrada.

Primiera (Primero, Prime, Goffo,

Bambara)

4-8 players, 40 cards

Italy’s national vying game goes back to the sixteenth century.

Girolamo Cardano, ‘the gambling scholar’, knew it as Primiera,

Rabelais as Prime, and Shakespeare as Primero. It is stil played in

central Italy –with Italian-suited cards, of course – under such names

as Gof o and Bambara.

Preliminaries The turn to deal and bet passes to the left. Each

player antes a previously agreed amount and is dealt four cards, in

twos, from a 40-card pack ranking KQJ765432A. Anyone dealt a

winning hand cal s for an immediate showdown, and the best hand

wins the pot.

Winning hands From lowest to highest, the winning hands are:

1. Primiera One card of each suit.

2. Fifty-five Seven, Six, Ace of a suit, the fourth card any.

3. Flush Four cards of the same suit.

Ties are broken in favour of the hand containing the highest