The Penguin Book of Card Games: Everything You Need to Know to Play Over 250 Games (184 page)

Ties are broken in favour of the hand containing the highest

point-count. For this purpose, each rank counts as fol ows:

rank 7 6 A 5 4 3 2 K,Q,J

value 21 18 16 15 14 13 12 10

each

If stil equal, the deal is annul ed and the pot carried forward to

the next. (Variant: Flushes and fifty-fives may be decided on a best-

suit basis: hearts highest, then diamonds, clubs, spades.)

Example Aldo declares a primiera: K Q 4 3. Bruno counters

with a fifty-five: 7-6-A A. This is beaten by Carlo’s flush, 7-2-Q-

J. Dino, however, sweeps the pool with 16-5-4-3, counting 60 to

Carlo’s 53. (You are, of course, unlikely to see four such hands in a

single, honest deal.)

Draw If nobody wins outright, each in turn makes one ormore

discards and is dealt replacements from the top of the pack. Players

may agree to stake again at this stage. If there is stil no claim, there

is a showdown, and the pot goes to the player with the best point –

the highest value of cards in one suit. For example: 7-4 A K,

counting 35 in hearts, beats K-Q-4 7, counting 34 in diamonds.

In some schools, the period between the draw and final

showdown sees a round of Poker-style vying, or further draws may

ensue until a win is claimed or not enough cards remain.

Variant Though pairs and sequences don’t count, three or four of a

kind is often rated as a primiera.

Primero

The game played by Elizabeth I and (according to Shakespeare) her

father, Henry VI I, is almost certainly identical with the original

Primiera described by Cardano. Here, the winning hands from

highest to lowest are: chorus (fours), fluxus (flush), supremus (fifty-

five), primiera, and numerus (point).

Poch (Pochen, Glic)

3-8 players, 32 or 52 cards

This popular German family game is one of the oldest known,

being first mentioned at Strasbourg in 1441, and appearing shortly

afterwards in France under the name Glic (English Gleek). It has

always been subject to variation, but its most constant feature is a

distinctively tripartite structure. The first stake is won by whoever is

dealt the highest cards, or certain specified cards; the second by

successful y vying or bragging asto who holds the best combination;

and the third for drawing cards to a point value of 31 – or, in a

later development, by being the first to play al one’s cards out to a

sequence, as in Newmarket. The same structure underlies many

other historic games, including the earliest version of Brag. The

second element, that of vying or bragging, has since become

isolated as the sole mechanism of modern Brag and Poker. The

word pochen, literal y meaning to hit or knock, metaphorical y

means to boast, brag or vie. Poker, therefore, gets its name from its

defining method of play, derived ultimately from German pochen

via French poque.

Preliminaries Poch involves a circular board of traditional design

containing several staking compartments, one for each winning card

or combination. From two to four players use a 32-card pack

ranking AKQJT987. More than four use 52 cards.

Part one: best cards Players dress the board by placing chips in the

first seven of eight compartments label ed Ace, King, Queen, Jack,

Ten, Marriage, Sequence, Poch. Deal five cards each and turn the

Ten, Marriage, Sequence, Poch. Deal five cards each and turn the

next for trump. The stakes for Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten go

respectively to the players dealt those particular trumps. That for

marriage goes to the holder of both King and Queen of trumps, in

addition to the individual stakes for King and Queen. Sequence is

won by anyone dealt the 7-8-9 of trumps. Unclaimed stakes are

carried forward to the next deal.

Part two: best combinations Players vie, Poker-style, as to who

holds the best combination. A quartet beats a triplet, a triplet a

pair, and a pair an unpaired hand, with ties determined by the

highest card. The first to bet places a stake in the poch

compartment, saying ‘Ich poche eins’ (‘I bet one’, or however

many). Each in turn thereafter must either match the best or drop

out of this phase of play. The opener may raise it again next time

round. If not, there is a showdown, and the best hand wins the

contents of the Poch compartment.

Part three: playing out The cards are played out in sequences.

Whoever won the previous round starts by playing the lowest card

of their longest suit; whoever holds the next higher card of the same

suit fol ows on; and so on. The sequence ends either when the Ace

is played, or when no one can fol ow because the required card has

not been dealt. The player of the last card then begins a new

sequence, and, in some circles, receives one chip from each

opponent. This continues until someone wins by playing out their

last card. The others pay that player one chip for each card left in

their own hands.

Bouil otte

4 players, 20 cards

Reportedly devised by a commit ee of the French Revolutionary

government as a substitute for the of icial y prohibited game of

Brelan, Bouil ot e may be named after the heroic Geof rey de

Bouil on, though it also happens to be the French for hot-water

bot le. It became popular in nineteenth-century America before

Poker won out.

Preliminaries Four players use a 20-card pack, ranking AKQ98 in

each suit, and play to the left. Each starts with a cave (stack) of 30

chips, five each of reds and whites, a red being worth five whites.

The deal and turn to bet pass always to the right. Deal three cards

each in ones and turn the next face up.

Play Dealer opens the pot for a previously agreed amount. Each in

turn may then fold, straddle, or open. Straddling is equivalent to

checking, but involves matching the dealer’s ante or previous

player’s straddle, plus one white. If al pass, the pot is carried

forward and the the same dealer deals again. If a straddle is

fol owed by three passes, the straddler wins the pot without further

play. If the dealer straddles, eldest must open or fold. If he folds,

the next in turn has the same option; and so on.

A player may open for any amount. Each in turn thereafter must

either fold, cal , or raise. Equalizing the bets does not prevent

another round of raising until only two players remain, when a cal

forces a showdown.

Showdown The best hand is a brelan (three of a kind). If tied, the

best is one that matches the rank of the turn-up (making a brelan

carre, or ‘brelan squared’). If none matches, that of highest rank

wins. Any player with a brelan receives a side-payment of one chip

– or two for a carre – from each opponent.