Miscellaneous Card Games

In this chapter I have included various partnership poker games which are rather difficult to place in any particular category. Many of them are of foreign origin.

PARTNERSHIP TRESSETTE

Tressette derives its name from the fact that it has both seven–and three-card melds. It is the most popular partnership game among the working and middle classes in Italy. (Bridge is the favorite card game of Italy’s upper classes.) Tressette is often played for big stakes, small stake, and for refreshments (most often wine). It has countless devotees in the United States, particularly in the small political and social clubhouses in every big town and city with a high concentration of foreign born Italians. Tressette retains a secure hold on the affections of its millions of adherents as a deceptively simple game that seldom fails to provide much amusement, arguments, and conversation after the play of each hand or game. It is a most strategic card game .
Requirements

1. Four players, two against two, as partners.
2. A 40-card Italian deck, that is, a standard 52-card deck from which the eights, nines, and tens have been removed.
3. The cards rank as follows: three (high), two, ace, king, queen, jack, seven, six, five, and four (low). The suits have no relative rank.

Object of the Game. For a partnership to win the game scoring 31 points or more before the other partnership does. The side which first scores 31 points or more announces “Game” and the hand in play ends immediately. The reward for winning is stipulated before the start of the game.

Point Value of Cards Won in Tricks. Aces, 1 point each; threes, twos, kings, jacks, and queens, 1/3 point each. Eleven is the maximum number of card points that can be scored in a hand. if a partnership’s odd trick is valued at 2/3 point, the side is credited with 1 point. If a partnership’s odd trick is valued at 1/3 point, the side is credited with zero (0).
Melds or Napoletanas. After each player has played to the first trick, the winner announces his meld or melds. Then, each player, in a clockwise rotation starting at the dealer’s left, must do likewise. Each player or partner must announce for himself. These matched sets are not melded or placed on the table. They are announced, shown to all players, and returned to the hand. the sequence melds called napoletana are four in number: ace, two, and three of each of the four suits, valued at 3 points for each meld. Example: When a player announces a sequence group which is comprised of ace of diamonds, two of diamonds, and three of diamonds, he calls “Diamond napoletana,” or “Diamond sequence,” etc. In addition to the napoletana, there are three valuable group melds, which are aces, deuces, and threes. Three aces are valued at 3 points, four aces 4 points, three threes are valued at 3 points, four threes 4 points, three twos are valued at 3 points, four twos 4 points. If a player holds one or two (aces, deuces, or threes) they do not count as points.
If a player holds three sequence melds (napoletana)-ace, two, and three all diamonds ace, two, and three all spades; and ace, two and three all hearts he scores 3 points for each napoletana for a total of 9 points. In addition he gets 9 points for the three group melds, three aces, three twos, and three threes, for a total of 18 points. If the tenth card were an ace, two, or three, the online poker player would score 19 points, the highest possible number of points in one hand. Twenty-one points is the maximum number of possible points in all hands.
How to Select Partnerships. Partnerships are determined by prearrangement or by cut- ting. Rules to determine cards by cutting are as follows:

1. The four players seat themselves at four places around the table. Where they sit is for the moment irrelevant.
2. Any player may shuffle the deck and offer the deck to any other player for a cut.
3. For the purpose of cutting for partners and seating positions, the cards rank as stated earlier for this game.
4. Each player cuts a portion of cards from the deck, immediately exposing to the others the bottom card of his group.
5. Players cutting the two high cards become partners. So do the players cutting the two low-ranking cards.
6. Players (partners) who cut low cards have the privilege of seating themselves at any side of the table, providing they sit opposite each other. The other two players take the remaining seats.
7. Either player of the partnership which cut the high cards starts the game by dealing the first hand. Thereafter on the completion of each hand, the deal passes to the player at the previous dealer’s left.

The Shuffie, cut, and Deal. The dealer shuffles the cards. Any player may call for the right to shuffle, but the dealer retains the privilege of shuffling last. The player to the dealer’s right cuts, and at least three cards must be left to constitute each cut group of cards. Should the first player to the dealer’s right decline the cut, the cards may be cut by any other player.
After the cards have been cut, the dealer deals each player ten cards face down, five at a time, starting with the player at his left and dealing clockwise.
The Play of the Hand. The leader (the player at the dealer’s left) makes the opening lead. He may play any card he desires. Each player in turn must playa card in the same suit if he is able to do so. If he is unable to follow suit, he may playa card of any other suit. A trick is constituted when each player has played a card to the lead and it is won by the highest card of the suit led by the first player. The poker winner of the trick leads the next play of the hand. This manner of play continues until ten tricks or all cards have been played out.
How to Score melds or Lays. After the first trick has been played, the winner of the trick announces his meld or melds. For example, if he holds ace of diamonds, two of diamonds, and three of diamonds, he announces a diamond napoletana or sequence. If he holds four aces, he announces four aces and 4 points. If he fails to hold a meld, he says “No meld.” Each player in turn announces his meld or melds and enters the melds on the score sheet under his partnership’s name. Each player who has announced a meld must show his melds before play continues. Many Tressette players do not require the showing of melds they just remember them.
Scoring the Hand. At the end of each hand, the score for each partnership is re- corded on the score sheet. Only one player of a side calculates the score while the other verifies the count of the other side’s score. To speed up the arithmetic in scoring, count 1 point for every three cards having a value of 1/3 point.
The partnership that wins the last trick (tenth) receives 1 point.
End of Game. The game ends when a partnership announces game, or 31 points. Should a partnership announce game and their game score is less than 31 points, the opponents are declared the winners. If a player, able to do so, fails to follow the suit led, it is a “renege,” and the penalty to the offending partnership is the loss of the game.

SAMPLE SCORING OF A TRESSETTE PARTNERSHIP GAME

They by passing 31 points wins the game and receives the reward due the winners which in Italy is often a glass or bottle of wine.

Tressette Low Hand

I first witnessed this fine variations poker of Tressette being played’ in Naples many years ago. As a matter of record, all the Tressette rules of play were written by me while visiting Naples. Low Hand Tressette strategy is just the opposite of that of Tressette and it is played exactly as Tressette with the following exception. The object of the game is for a partnership to score less points than the opposing partnership. When a partnership scores 31 points or more, the game ends and the partnership with the lower score wins the game.

Three-Handed Tresselte

This game is played exactly as is Partnership Tressette (or Tressette Low Hand) with the following exceptions:

1. There are three players each playing for himself.
2. The game is won by scoring 31 or more points before any opponent does.
3. The dealer deals four hands as in Partnership Tressette except that one hand is pushed aside as a dead hand and does not come into play.

Two-Handed Tressette

This game is played the same as Partnership Tressette except for the following:

1. Only two players, each playing for himself, are required.
2. The dealer deals each player ten cards and places the remaining 20 cards in the center of the table to form the stock.
3. After the first trick is completed, the players announce their melds and score them. Then the winner of the trick picks the top card of the stock, while his opponent takes the next one. This continues after each trick until the stock has been exhauste. Then the last ten tricks are played out to complete the game.

Mediatore

This game is a form of Partnership Tressette in which there is no melding and the partnerships are not fixed, but are determined by the bidding. The other major differences between Tressette and Mediatore are as follows:

1. Each player antes a set number of chips into the pot, usually five.
2. Nine cards are dealt to each player and the four remaining ones are set aside as the widow.
3. The player to the dealer’s left has the chance to be the mediator (which is an undertaking to win six of the 11 possible points), or he may pass. If he does the latter, the privilege of becoming mediator moves to the player on his left. This procedure continues until a mediator is selected or all the players pass. If all pass, there is a new deal by the same dealer.
4. When a player becomes the mediator, he may decide to play poker alone, or he may call for a specified card the holder of which becomes his partner. The mediator then takes the widow into his hand and discards four cards. If he called for a card and it is in the widow, he must play alone.
5. When the mediator decides to play by himself, he must match the pot, putting in 20 chips. Should he have a partner, they put in ten chips apiece.
6. Playing and scoring (except for melds) are as in Partnership Tressette. Incidentally, the mediator’s discard counts as a trick for him. Should the mediator, or his side, win the majority of the 11 possible points, he takes the pot; if he does not, three is no penalty. But the pot remains and there is another deal without additional contributions from the players. However, a player who becomes mediator must always match the pot, so on the next deal three will be 40 chips in the pot for the mediator (and his partner, if any ) to match.