Solo Whist
Solo Whist is a trick-taking game for four players. Whereas Whist is a strategic partnership game, Solo Whist provides a more relaxed, accessible, non-partnership alternative.
Solo Whist gained popularity as a Whist alternative in the late 19th century. Solo Whist was particularly popular on the commuter rail of the era, where its structure made it possible for travelers to easily join and drop out of the game as they boarded or departed the train.
Although Solo Whist is sometimes just called Solo, there is another game by that name: Solo (Ombre), which derives from the French game Manille, rather than Whist.
Object of Solo Whist
The object of Solo Whist is to successfully estimate the strength of one’s hand and accurately place a bid for the hand. If one doesn’t successfully win the bidding, the object is to stop the winner from completing the bid.
Setup
Solo Whist is played with a standard 52-card deck. While you could use any manner of 52-card deck out there, if you want a deck that’s durable enough to last through any game, always use Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards.
Solo traditionally handles scoring through counters of some form, such as poker chips. If the players desire, each counter can be purchased in an initial buy-in and represent some amount of real money. Otherwise, the counters can serve as valueless MacGuffins. Score can also be kept with pencil and paper.
Shuffle and deal thirteen cards to each player in sets of three, with the thirteenth card being dealt by itself. The dealer’s thirteenth card, the last card in the deck, is turned face-up. The suit of this card is considered the default suit for this hand.
Game play
Bidding
Each hand begins with a bidding round, with the player to the dealer’s left opening the bidding. Players may make any of the following bids, from lowest to highest:
- Prop (1 credit): Player makes a proposal to join in a temporary alliance with any other player in an attempt to capture eight tricks. So long as no higher bid has been made, any other player may respond with “Cop”, accepting the proposal and joining the alliance, should the bid not be overcalled. The default suit becomes trump.
- Solo (1 credit): The player will win five tricks, playing alone. The default suit becomes trump.
- Misère (2 credits): The player will lose all thirteen tricks, playing alone. There is no trump.
- Abundance (3 credits): The player will win nine tricks, playing alone. If the bid is successful, the player will name any suit desired as trump.
- Abundance in Trump (3 credits): The same as an abundance, but using the default suit as trump.
- Misère Ouverte (4 credits): The same as a misère, but the player must play with their hand exposed after the first trick.
- Slam (6 credits): The player will win all thirteen tricks, playing alone. There is no trump, and the player leads to the first trick.
A bid may only be overcalled by a higher bid. Players may also elect to pass; upon passing, a player cannot rejoin in the bidding for this hand. (There is one exception: if the player to the dealer’s left passes, the next player bids Prop, and the remaining players pass, the player to the left of the dealer has the option to call “Cop”.) Bidding continues as long as necessary: until there has been both a Prop and a Cop, or any higher bid, and all other players pass.
If all four players pass, the hand is abandoned and a new hand is dealt by the same dealer. If a player bids Prop and no other player accepts the bid by calling “Cop,” the bidder has the option to change their bid to any higher bid. If they decline, the deal is abandoned.
The successful bidder or bidders become the declarer(s), and the other players become the defenders. The defenders’ goal is to prevent the declarers from fulfilling their contract.
Play of the hand
After bidding concludes, the dealer takes their thirteenth card into their hand, and the player to the dealer’s left leads to the first trick, unless the bid was slam, in which case the declarer leads. Players must follow suit unless they are unable, in which case they may play any card, including a trump. Tricks are won by the player who played the highest card of the suit led, or if the trick contains a trump, the highest trump. Collected tricks are not added to the player’s hand, but are placed face-down in a won-tricks pile in front of the player, with succeeding tricks placed at right angles to one another to allow them to be counted later. (If the contract is Prop, the declarers may stack their tricks in a single pile in front of one of the partners, rather than maintaining separate stacks).
After the first trick is concluded, but before the second trick begins, the declarer must spread their hand face-up if the contract is Misère Ouverte.
When all thirteen tricks have been played out, the declarer counts their tricks to determine whether the contract was made or broken. If it was made, all defenders pay the declarer the amount of their contract (for a made Prop bid, a defender must pay one credit each to both of the declarers). If the declarer(s) failed, they must pay the amount of their contract to each defender. (If keeping score with pencil and paper, simply score the amount of the contract under each declarer if successful or under each defender if not successful.)
Celebrating one year of blogging
At the end of last April, we posted for the first time on our brand-spanking-new blog, sharing the rules to Thirteen. Over the past year, we’ve been pretty busy—we’ve posted the rules to 48 different card games! You can find a list of them on our new Game Rules Index page, which you can access at any time from the link on the blog’s right sidebar.
Here’s to another year of blogging!
President
President (also known under a number of colorful titles, such as Bum, Scumbag, and Asshole) is a game of Asian origin, bearing some similarity to Thirteen. Like Thirteen, the object of the game is to get rid of all of your cards, and play progresses with each player playing progressively higher ranks of cards (some group them together as climbing games). President has the novel feature of assigning each player a rank based on how well they did in the last round and having them rearrange themselves according to the ranking.
President is best for three to seven players.
Object of President
The object of President is to avoid being the last player to hold cards.
Setup
President uses the standard 52-card deck. You can use any deck of cards, but if you use Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards, you’ll definitely appear a lot more presidential.
You will need to establish a rank system, with one rank for each player. The top rank is something suitably impressive or positive and the last rank is typically something derogatory. One example for a six-player game would be President, Vice President, Governor, Lt. Governor, Citizen, Asshole. You could also use military ranks, ranks of nobility, job titles from your workplace—use your imagination. For the purposes of illustration, we will use the ranks just mentioned whenever the ranking system comes up.
You also need to establish chairs for each rank. The President should have the nicest and most comfortable chair, with the next-nicest sitting to the left and being occupied by the Vice President, and so on around the table to the Asshole, whose chair is to the President’s right and is the most unpleasant seat available—like a wooden crate, a backless stool, or the like. Some players also prefer to have silly hats that the holder of each rank is required to wear.
Shuffle and deal the cards as far as they will go. Some players may receive more cards than others. They’ll just have to deal with that, though.
Card ranking
President uses the same unconventional card ranking that Thirteen does. Aces rank high, but twos rank even higher than the ace. That means that the lowest card in play is the three, giving us a rank progression of (high) 2, A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 (low). Unlike in Thirteen, however, suits do not matter.
Game play
The player with the 3♠ goes first. That player plays it face up to the table, either singly, or with any number of additional threes. The next player to the left plays the same number of cards of a higher rank (e.g. if the first player laid down a pair of 3s, the next player would have to lay down a pair of 4s or higher). The number of cards must match exactly with what the first player set down (so a pair must be followed by a pair, and not three of a kind, etc.). If a player cannot or doesn’t want to play on a particular turn, they pass, although they can still elect to play the next time it’s their turn.
Each player continues playing cards of ascending rank until all players pass except the last person to play. This player is then permitted to lead off, playing any number of cards of the same rank that they choose to.
The game continues in this manner until one player runs out of cards. This player is declared to be President, and play continues with the player to the left, as normal. This President-elect takes no further part in the hand. As more and more players run out of cards, they too receive titles and sit out of the game. Finally, the last player to run out of cards gets the last good rank, and the player stuck with cards becomes the Asshole.
Players now “take office” for the next hand, rearranging themselves to sit in the seats assigned to their new rank. The Asshole is required to perform the game-running duties for the next hand, including clearing the cards away from the last hand, shuffling, and dealing. The Asshole is also required to surrender their highest-ranked card to the President, who chooses any card they wish from their hand and passes it back to the Asshole. The next round begins, with the President playing first, leading with any card they wish.
See also
Omaha
After Texas Hold’em, Omaha is the next most popular variant of poker in modern play. Omaha was once known as Omaha Hold’em, and shares a lot of similarities with Texas Hold’em, including the use of five board cards and four betting rounds. However, Omaha uses four hole cards instead of two, giving more opportunity for strategic play. While Texas Hold’em is often played no-limit, Omaha is usually played at pot limit (often referred to as PLO—pot limit Omaha).
Object of Omaha
The object of Omaha is to form the best five-card poker hand from a combination of two of the four cards in your hand and three of the five shared cards (called board cards), or to bet in such a way as to convince your opponents that you have the best hand.
Setup
Omaha uses a standard 52-card deck. As always, we recommend using plastic playing cards, specifically Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards.
Prior to game play, establish whether the game is limit or no-limit and the minimum bets. You should also agree on the amount of a buy-in, that is, how much each player’s initial stake will be, and whether you will allow players to deep stack (i.e. buy in for a greater amount).
All players either ante or post blinds, although Omaha is typically played with blinds. Shuffle and deal four cards to each player. These cards are called the player’s hole cards.
Game play
Players inspect their initial hand, and then the first betting round, known as the pre-flop betting round, occurs. The first player to act is the player to the left of the dealer, unless blinds have been posted, in which case the player to the left of the big blind (referred to as being under the gun) has first action. The betting follows the usual pattern of betting in poker. If, at any time, all players but one fold, the pot is awarded to the last remaining player, and the hand ends. No further cards are dealt to “see what would have happened”, and the winning player is not required to reveal their hand.
After the betting round has concluded, the dealer discards one burn card face down and deals three cards face up to the center of the table. (See “Dealing the flop, turn, and river” for more information on how this is performed). These three cards, called the flop, are the first three of the five board cards, and can form part of every player’s hand. After the flop, another betting round occurs, with first action going to the player to the left of the dealer (the player who posted the small blind).
When the flop’s betting round is resolved, the dealer burns one card and deals another card face up, called the turn. As before, another betting round is conducted, after which another card is burned and the fifth and final board card, the river, is dealt. One final betting round is conducted, and then each player reveals their hand.
The player who has the best five-card poker hand, using five of the seven cards available to them (three of the five board cards and two of their four hole cards), wins the pot. It must be emphasized that a player must use exactly three board cards and two hole cards. A player may not use all four hole cards, nor can they use one hole card and four board cards, nor can they “play the board” (use all five of the board cards as their hand).
Texas Hold’em
Texas Hold’em is the most popular variant of poker in play today. The vast majority of games spread in casino poker rooms are either limit or no-limit Hold’em, and over half of the events at the World Series of Poker are some form of Hold’em. At the turn of the 21st century, Texas Hold’em quickly gained popularity over older forms of poker like Five-Card Draw because Hold’em offers more betting rounds, increasing the amount of betting action in the game, and the presence of shared cards in the middle of the table adds allows for more strategic play than many other poker variants.
Object of Texas Hold’em
The object of Texas Hold’em is to form the best five-card poker hand from a combination of the two cards in your hand and five shared cards (called board cards), or to bet in such a way as to convince your opponents that you have the best hand.
Setup
Texas Hold’em uses a standard 52-card deck. Most casino poker rooms, and an increasing number of home poker games, use plastic playing cards to ensure game integrity and reduce the number of deck changes required. We, of course, recommend Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards.
Prior to game play, establish whether the game is limit or no-limit and the minimum bets. You should also agree on the amount of a buy-in, that is, how much each player’s initial stake will be, and whether you will allow players to deep stack (i.e. buy in for a greater amount).
All players either ante or post blinds, although Hold’em is more often played with blinds. Shuffle and deal two cards to each player. These cards are called the player’s hole cards.
Game play
Players inspect their initial hand, and then the pre-flop betting round occurs. The first player to act is the player to the left of the dealer, unless blinds have been posted, in which case the player to the left of the big blind (referred to as being under the gun) has first action. The betting follows the usual pattern of betting in poker. If, at any time, all players but one fold, the pot is awarded to the last remaining player, and the hand ends. No further cards are dealt to “see what would have happened”, and the winning player is not obliged to reveal their hand.
After the betting round has concluded, the dealer discards one card face down (called burning a card) and deals three cards face up to the center of the table. (See “Dealing the flop, turn, and river” for more information on how this is performed). These three cards, called the flop, are three of the five board cards, and are considered part of every player’s hand. After the flop, another betting round occurs, with first action going to the player to the left of the dealer (the player who posted the small blind).
When the flop’s betting round is resolved, the dealer burns one card and deals another card face up, called the turn. As before, another betting round is conducted, after which another card is burned and the fifth and final board card, the river, is dealt. One final betting round is conducted, and then each player reveals their hand. The player who has the best five-card poker hand, using five of the seven cards available to them (the five board cards and their two hole cards), wins the pot.
Betting in poker
Poker without betting is hardly poker! While there are some varieties of poker that don’t involve betting—like Knock Poker—it is a feature of the vast majority of them. Most poker games include one or more betting rounds (Texas Hold’em and Omaha, for instance, have four betting rounds before the showdown). Fortunately, once you get used to how the betting in poker operates, the knowledge transfers pretty well to every other variety of poker.
This post describes some of the rules governing cash or ring games—that is, non-tournament games. Tournament games have special rules because they are played with chips that have no cash value; real money is only given out when the tournament is over. Also, while the rules of poker are fairly standard, there are some variations and extra bets that some players and cardrooms add to spice up the game. If you’re joining an unfamiliar game, it’s best to ask about the rules before you play!
Basic betting actions
- Check. The simplest betting action is to check. This is option is only available when no bets have been placed in the current betting round (even blinds are considered a bet in this instance). A check declares that you wish to keep the current bet at zero and not wager any additional money. If all players check, the betting round ends with no more money being added to the pot.
- Raise. A raise increases the current bet. If all other players have checked, a bet of any amount is a raise. If another player has bet, a raise is betting an amount more than what the previous player bet.
- Fold. To refuse to match a raise. In so doing, the player surrenders their cards and takes no further part in the game until the next hand.
- Call. Matching whatever the current bet is. If a previous player bet $5, a call is also betting $5. Note that any amount previously wagered does not have to be re-matched; if you bet $5 and the next player raises to $10, you need only wager $5 more to call. When all active players have called, the betting round ends.
Table stakes
Most poker games include table stakes rules. A player is limited to the money they have in front of them on the table at the beginning of the hand. They cannot exchange money from their pocket for chips midway through a hand. This is done to allow a player to limit their risk and to prevent players with more money from bullying less-wealthy players out of the game. If a player wishes to rebuy, that is, buy more chips to bet with, they must wait until in between hands.
Once a player has chips in front of them, whether by exchanging cash for them or by winning them from other players, they cannot take a portion of them off the table or cash them in; they must remain in play. If a player wishes to cash out, they must leave the game and take their entire stack of chips. While it is possible to leave the game immediately after scoring a huge pot, it’s considered good etiquette to stay in the game for at least a few more hands to allow other players a chance at winning some of the money back.
Minimum bets
When discussing what type of poker game is being spread, the game is usually quoted as the minimum bets for the table, whether it is limit or no-limit, and the type of game (if multiple types of poker are being spread; otherwise, Texas Hold’em is usually assumed). One of the most popular games in casino poker rooms, for example, is $1/$2 no-limit Hold’em.
The two amounts given as the minimum bets are in effect at different points in the hand. In Texas Hold’em and Omaha, the first two betting rounds (pre-flop and the flop) are conducted with the minimum bet at the first, lower rate. The last two betting rounds (the turn and river) have minimums equal to the second amount, which is called the big bet and is usually double the smaller bet.
Limits (or not)
No-limit poker
Most poker games are said to be either “limit” or “no-limit”. No-limit games are simpler: you can bet almost any amount at any time, including your entire chip stack! There is usually a restriction that a raise cannot be followed by a smaller raise, so if the first player to act raises $50, you cannot raise after them by $1.
Of course, no-limit games also offer a substantial degree of risk to the players—a player can be forced to call a hand with every chip they have on the table! Some players, especially newcomers, may not feel comfortable playing no-limit games.
Limit poker
Limit poker is often preferred by less confident players, but it is also slightly more complicated. All raises must be equal to the minimum bet for the round. For example, in a $3/$6 limit Hold’em game, during the first (pre-flop) round, each raise is $3. So, if blinds are used, the big blind will be $3, and the first raise will be an additional $3. The next player can either call for $6, or raise another $3, bringing the bet to $12, etc. This continues until a cap, a fixed number of raises, is reached. For example, three raises may be allowed before the betting is capped. When the cap is reached, no further raises are allowed; players may only call or fold.
Pot-limit poker
Pot-limit poker is kind of a compromise between limit and no-limit poker. In pot-limit games, the maximum bet is equal to whatever the pot currently contains. This amount includes whatever was in the pot at the beginning of the betting round, plus any raises or calls that have taken place, plus however much it would cost the current player to call. So, if the pot had $100 from antes and prior betting rounds, and a previous player on this betting round raised to $50, the current player could raise by up to $200 ($100 + $50 from the previous player + $50 call from the current player).
Unlike limit games, however, you are never compelled to bet the maximum (called potting it); you may bet any lesser amount that you wish (although raises must usually at least equal the amount of any previous raises). There is also no cap on the number of times players may bet the pot on any betting round.
Going all-in
When a player ends up with their entire chip stack in the pot, whether they called an amount that exceeded their stack, or because they raised by the total amount of their stack in a no-limit game, the player is said to have gone all-in. An all-in player is allowed to keep their cards and participate in the showdown at the end of the hand, but cannot take part in any further betting rounds, because they don’t have the money to do so. Therefore, any further betting that takes place by other players is kept in a separate side pot. The all-in player cannot win this side pot. If additional players end up going all-in at later stages of play, additional side pots can be created.
At the end of the hand, if the first all-in player has the best hand overall, they are awarded the main pot, and each side pot is awarded to the player eligible for it with the best hand. If a non-all-in player has the best hand overall, they get the main pot, plus all the side pots.
Rank of poker hands
No matter which variant of poker you play, the rank of poker hands always stays the same. The hand ranking was determined over a hundred years ago, with each hand’s rank roughly corresponding to the likelihood that a particular hand will occur (unlikely hands are ranked higher), although the exact odds for each hand will vary between different types of poker.
We now offer a Rank of Poker Hands poster (image at right) that can be displayed in your game room to help your newer players learn the hands and the order they rank in. It’s an excellent way to head off questions about what outranks what that can reveal to other players what might be in the newbie’s hand.
The standard rank of poker hands is:
- 1. Five of a kind
- This is technically the highest-ranked hand, although it is only available in games involving wild cards. Five of a kind consists of all four of a particular rank of card, plus a wild card (example: 9-9-9-9-2 in a deuces wild game). Ties are broken by the rank of the cards (five nines beats five eights).
- 2. Royal flush
- This is the highest-ranked traditional poker hand. A royal flush consists of A-K-Q-J-10 of the same suit. Competing royal flushes split the pot.
- 3. Straight flush
- A straight flush consists of five cards of the same suit in sequence (example: 4-5-6-7-8♠). Ties are broken by the highest card; competing straight flushes with the same top card split the pot.
- 4. Four of a kind
- Four of a kind consists of all four of a particular rank of card (example: 5-5-5-5-J). Ties are broken by the rank of the cards (four 6s beats four 5s).
- 5. Full house
- A full house consists of three of one rank of card and two of another (example: 7-7-7-3-3). Ties are broken by the rank of the three matching cards (Q-Q-Q-9-9 beats 10-10-10-K-K).
- 6. Flush
- A flush consists of five cards of the same suit, not in any particular order (example: 5-6-9-J-K♦). Ties are broken by the rank of the highest card, then by the next highest if necessary, and so on until the tie is broken.
- 7. Straight
- A straight consists of five cards of any suit in sequence (example: 4♦-5♣-6♣-7♠-8♥). If all cards are the same suit, it becomes a straight flush. Ties are broken by the highest card; competing straights with the same top card split the pot.
- 8. Three of a kind
- Sometimes called trips or a set, three of a kind consists of three cards of the same rank and two non-matched cards (example: 7-7-7-3-A). Ties are broken by the rank of the three matching cards.
- 9. Two pair
- Two pair consists of two matching cards of one rank and two matching cards of another rank, with a fifth unmatching card (example: 7-7-3-3-10). Ties are broken by the higher pair, then the lower pair, then the unmatched card.
- 10. One pair
- A pair with three unmatched cards (example: A-A-5-7-9). Ties are broken by the pair, then the highest unmatched card, then next highest, and so on.
- 11. High card
- Five unmatched cards (example: 4-5-7-9-10). Ties are broken by the highest card, then the next highest, and so on.
How to shuffle the casino way
Shuffling is one of those things that people often learn at a young age, when they first start playing card games. Usually, though, whenever your parents taught you how to shuffle cards, they didn’t teach you the way that the casinos use. And that’s a bad thing—most players shuffle cards in a way that threatens game integrity, by exposing cards while they shuffle or not adequately randomizing the cards. If you host regular card game nights—especially poker nights—learning to shuffle correctly is a valuable skill that will ensure that your games go smoothly.
How to shuffle
The standard casino shuffle consists of the following procedure:
- A wash (for the first hand of the game)
- Three riffle shuffles
- A strip shuffle
- One more riffle shuffle
- The cut
The wash
A wash or scramble is typically only used in a casino at the beginning of a game, when the deck of cards is still in the order it was packaged in. In a home game, you should, at the very least, perform a wash at the beginning of the game or whenever the cards have been recently verified. You should consider performing a wash more frequently when playing a game like Crazy Eights that tends to result in the cards ending up in some sort of identifiable pattern. In a game with quick hands and frequent shuffling, like poker, you should skip the wash for most shuffles to avoid bogging down the game.
The riffle shuffle
The riffle shuffle is the element of shuffling that most people are familiar with, and forms the bulk of the actual shuffling procedure. Yet it’s the element of shuffling that most people get wrong. Many people shuffle too dramatically, with exaggerated movements that unnecessarily expose cards.
The number one key to avoiding the exposure of cards is to keep the cards low to the table. The cards should never be more than an inch or so off the table. The intuitive method by which someone squares up, say, a pile of papers is to lift it off the table and tap its edges against the table. Keep yourself from falling into this habit when dealing with cards. It shows off the bottom of the pack to anyone who cares to look, and many of the other cards sticking out at odd angles will expose their indices. Develop the habit of squaring up the pack with your fingers without picking it up off the table.
The riffle shuffle begins by splitting the pack into two. Hold the bottom half of the pack in landscape orientation (long edge parallel to the edge of the table closest to you), keeping it flat against the table and secure with one hand. Then slide the top half of the pack off with your other hand, keeping it close to the other half of the pack, and pulling it in the direction of the long edges of the pack, until you have two half-decks sitting side by side next to each other.
Next, orient the two half-decks in an inverted V (the point of the V pointing away from you). Move the decks toward one another, keeping them square with your index fingers on the short edges of the deck opposite you, your thumbs on the long edges of the deck inside the V, and your other fingers on the long edges of the deck on the outside of the V. Then, perform the actual riffle by arching the corners of the cards closest to one another, bending them between your index fingers, which are moved to rest on top of the deck in the corners of the cards, and your thumbs, which remain in the same position. Gradually release the pressure from your thumbs, which will cause the cards to begin falling off the bottom of the deck, pressed past your thumbs by your index fingers. If the two packs are close enough, their corners should interleave. With practice, the cards will naturally alternate between the two packs, thoroughly intermixing the two packs.
Now, complete the shuffle by rotating the two interleaved packs so that they are parallel to one another (but still intermixed). Push the two packs together until you can square them up into one shuffled pack. Do not perform the “bridge” maneuver, where the entire pack is arched to push the two halves together, as this can unwittingly expose cards.
Perform three riffle shuffles in this manner.
The strip shuffle
The strip shuffle is, on its own, not a very powerful shuffling technique. In combination with the riffle shuffle, however, it helps to further randomize the deck by rearranging blocks of the deck, helping to break up runs of cards that remained together through the three riffles.
The strip shuffle is, essentially, the beginning of a riffle shuffle. Hold the pack in landscape orientation, then pull the top fifth or so of the deck off the top, keeping it close to the remainder of the deck, and set it down next to the pack. Then do the same with the next fifth of the deck, placing it on top of what was the top fifth, and so on, until the entire deck has been gone through in this way.
After completing the strip shuffle, do one more riffle shuffle, and then you’re ready for the cut. After that, it’s time to deal!
See also
- How to shuffle multiple decks of cards
- HowToShuffle.com, a site with more in-depth shuffling information and videos
Slapjack
Slapjack is a classic children’s game for two to eight players. It’s one of the rare games whose main game mechanic is named in its title—you pretty much slap jacks, and that’s the game. This card-spotting-and-slapping mechanic shows up in a few other games, such as Egyptian Ratscrew. Those games probably inherited it from Slapjack, however.
Object of Slapjack
The object of Slapjack is to collect all of the cards in play by slapping jacks as they appear.
Setup
The usual game of Slapjack uses one standard 52-card deck. A second deck can easily be added for a longer game or to expand the game to more players. It doesn’t matter much if the backs are different. Because Slapjack can be boisterous enough that it’s bad on a deck of cards, using Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards is highly recommended. They’re durable enough to handle even the most excitable players.
Shuffle and deal the entire deck out, starting with the player to the left of the dealer and continuing clockwise, as evenly as it will go. Some players may receive more cards than others, which is okay. Each player squares their cards up into a neat stack. Players may not look at their cards at any time.
Game play
The player to the left of the dealer goes first. They begin by flipping one card face up from their stack and playing it to the center of the table. Since the player would have an advantage if they turned the card up the normal way, since they would glimpse the card before anyone else, Slapjack convention is to grab the card from the far side and flip it up away from oneself. The next player to the left does the same, flipping a card face up and adding to the central pile. Cards played out of turn remain on the pile, and are considered dead cards. Any effect their rank would have on game play is ignored. The player who played them must play again when it becomes their turn. This, in essence, charges them a fee of one card for playing out of turn.
When a jack appears atop the central pile, the first player to slap the jack wins the entire pile of cards. If multiple players slap the jack, the player whose hand is on the bottom, skin in direct contact with the jack, wins the pile. The winner takes the entire pile and places it face down at the bottom of their stack. If a player slaps a card other than a jack, they pay one card, face down, to the player who played the erroneously-slapped card to the pile.
Eliminating players
Players who run out of cards are eliminated for the time being. So long as there are two active players in the game, they may slap a jack and winning the pile as per usual. This is called slapping in to the game. This privilege is revoked if the player makes a false slap, permanently shutting them out of the game. If a jack appears and a player fails to slap it, they are also permanently shut out of the game.
Game play continues until one of the final two players is eliminated from the game. The other player will have all of the cards, winning the game.
Why two decks of cards?
Many sets of higher-end playing cards, including Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards, include two decks of cards—a red deck and a blue deck. But most card games require the use of only one 52-card deck. So why offer two decks?
The answer is simple—it makes your game more efficient! While you are using one deck to deal a hand, the next player to deal can be shuffling the other deck. That way, when the hand concludes, the next hand can be dealt immediately, without having to wait for a shuffle. The backs of the cards are in contrasting colors in case cards from the two decks get intermingled; it is obvious when a deck is incorrect.
The next time you spread a game, try keeping both decks of cards moving around the table if you don’t already. You’ll be happy with how much faster the game moves!
