The Book of Card Games: The Complete Rules to the Classics, Family Favorite and Forgotten Games (4 page)

Pitch opens with the players cutting the deck and the person who cuts the highest number deals first. The dealer deals six cards, three at a time, face down, to each player. Deal then passes to the left for each hand. You start off by going through one round of bidding where you can pass or bid on how many of High, Low, Jack, and Game points you will win during that hand (two, three, or four).

When it’s your turn, you may bid higher than the previous person or pass. The dealer can tie the highest bidder and win the bid. However, if you bid four, you are said to “smudge” and the dealer cannot take that bid from you. If the first three players pass, the dealer is forced to bid two. The highest bidder becomes the “pitcher” and pitches the trump suit by throwing his first card. The suit of that card is trump for that hand.

Play begins with the pitcher leading the first trick. Play continues to the left and players must follow suit if they can, or play any other one card from their hand. The highest card in that suit led wins the trick and that player leads the next trick. If he leads a card from the trump suit, you must follow suit if you can. If he leads a card that is not from the trump suit, you may follow suit or play a trump card. If you can’t follow suit or play a trump, you can play any of the remaining cards in your hand. The highest card in the suit led, or the highest trump, wins the trick, and that player leads the next trick. This continues until all of the players are out of cards.

After the game is over, you view your cards to see who won High, Low, Jack, and Game (and Joker, if you’re playing that variation). If your team had the high bid and scored that many points, you score the number of points that you won (i.e., if you bid two and won three points, you receive three points). If you do not make the bid, you lose points equal to the number that you bid. If you’re the first team to twenty-one points, on a hand that you won the bid, you win the game. If you reach twenty-one points but did not make the bid, you must continue playing hands until you do win a bid, giving your opponents a chance to catch up and win.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Unlimited (players bet on card player and banker)

EQUIPMENT:
One standard deck of fifty-two cards

TIME:
One hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Medium

The game of baccarat is believed to have originated in Italy. It was introduced to the French Court in the fifteenth century and became the favorite game among French nobility. Any number of players can play. The player’s objective is to get a hand that is closer to the value of nine than the hand that the banker is dealt. A standard pack of fifty-two cards is used, with no wild cards. In casinos, it is typical to use six or eight decks. Aces are worth one point, twos are worth two points, and so on. Tens and face cards count as ten points. If your hand goes over ten, you must subtract ten to get a value between zero and nine, and therefore tens are actually worth zero points.

Baccarat is played with only one player (typically the player who placed the highest bet) and the banker, but any number of players can bet on the game. In some casinos the dealer is a player and the banker, while in other casinos the dealer remains the same and the banker rotates among the players. The first banker is the person to the dealer’s right, or in some cases the player with the most money.

There are three bets that you can place in baccarat. You can bet on the player, on the bank, or on a tie between the player and the bank. The banker is not required to bet on the bank—he can bet on the player or a tie if he chooses. After all bets have been placed, the dealer deals two cards, face down, to the participant and the banker. The participant looks at his cards and hands them back to the dealer, who turns them over and declares the card value. The banker views his hand, passes it back to the dealer, and his hand is also declared.

If either hand has a natural (a value of eight or nine), that hand automatically wins. If neither hand has a natural, the player has two options: add a card or stand. If you hold a total of six or seven, you should stand. You should draw a card if you have a total of four or below. With a total of five, you have a choice of standing or drawing, although experts recommend drawing.

TABLE 1   
The Rules for the Dealer in Baccarat

A tie of nines or eights is a push, but a natural (a value of eight or nine with only two cards) beats a three-card hand. After the two hands have been compared, the banker pays out and collects bets around the table for all those players who have bet. Another hand is dealt after any players choose to ante and play again.

When you bet on the player and win, you receive an amount equal to your bet. When you bet on the bank and win, you receive an amount equal to your bet minus a 5 percent commission. When you bet on a tie and win, you receive an amount equal to nine times your bet.

NUMBER OF PLAYERS:
Two

EQUIPMENT:
Two thirty-two-card decks (A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7); bezique markers and scorecards

TIME:
One hour

PARTNERSHIP:
No

COMPLEXITY:
Medium

Bezique originated in France and is thought to be a stepping stone to pinochle. Bezique moved to the United Kingdom and became very popular in the mid-nineteenth century. Custom cards were created for the game around 1862, and bezique markers and scorecards were introduced. Bezique is played with two players who try to score points during play by obtaining and declaring specific cards and groups of cards (as described later). It is played with two shortened decks of thirty-two cards, including the ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, and seven of each suit. The rank of the cards from high to low is ace, ten, king, queen, jack, nine, eight, seven.

A random dealer is selected and deals eight cards, face down, to each player in groups of three, two, and three. The remaining forty-eight cards are placed face down on the table to form the stockpile. The top card is turned over, and the suit of that card becomes the trump suit. If the card is a seven, the dealer scores ten points.

The dealer’s opponent starts the game by leading the first card, laying down any card in his hand. The dealer then plays any card from his cards, and he is not required to follow suit or play a card from the trump suit. If he does not follow suit or play a trump, he automatically loses that round. If he plays a trump or a higher card in the suit that was led, he wins that round (called a “trick”) and places those two cards face-down beside him. Whoever wins takes the top card on the stockpile, his opponent takes the second card, and the next card is turned over and placed on top of the stockpile for the winner of the next trick.

During this stage of the game, you are not obligated to try to win the trick if you do not want the card on top of the stockpile and feel that the second (hidden) card might be of more help to your hand. After winning any trick, you may make a declaration (as described below). The winner of the trick leads the next trick by playing another card from his hand. You continue playing the cards and winning or losing tricks, always keeping eight cards in your hand, until the stockpile is depleted.

After the stockpile is depleted, you and your opponent each have eight cards in your hand and the final eight tricks are played. In these tricks, you must try to win the trick by playing a higher card in the suit led or playing a trump. If you cannot win the trick, you must still follow suit if able, or lastly play any other card from your hand. The player to win the final trick scores ten points. At the end of the hand, you also each score ten points for each brisque (ace and ten) collected in your tricks.

You can score points during play for declaring specific cards and groups of cards. You may only make a declaration after winning a trick, by laying cards from your hand face down on the table. Cards that have been won and placed beside you cannot be used to make declarations.

The available declarations are as follows:

• Seven of trumps: ten points
  
• Common marriage (king and queen of same suit): twenty points
  
• Royal marriage (king and queen of trump suit): forty points
  
• Bezique (Q♠ and J♦): forty points
  
• Four jacks (one of each suit): forty points
  
• Four queens (one of each suit): sixty points
  
• Four kings (one of each suit): eighty points
  
• Four aces (one of each suit): 100 points
  
• Sequence (A 10 K Q J of same suit): 100 points
  
• Royal sequence (A 10 K Q J of trump suit): 250 points
  
• Double bezique: 500 points (two Q♠ and two J♦)
  

If the group of cards that you play is able to score two sets of points, you must declare one set of points after winning one trick, and then, on winning another trick, declare the second set of points. As an example, if you lay down the K♠ Q♠ J♦, you may take forty points for the bezique at that point and then twenty points for the common marriage on a further trick. Declarations, once laid down, are still considered to be part of the eight cards in your hand. You can play those cards on a future trick, and the player that wins that trick adds the cards to his pile of cards won. They are available for play on tricks or to make further groups of cards.