Put (Card Game)
Encyclopedia
Put is an English tavern trick-taking card game
first recorded in the 16th century and later castigated by 17th century moralists as one of ill repute. It belongs to a very ancient family of card games and clearly relates to a group known as Trut, Truque, also Tru, and the South American game Truco
. Its more elaborate version is the Spanish game of Truc
, which is still much played in many parts of Southern France and Spain.
, it depends in a great measure upon the boldest player, and by assuming a superiority in hand, either by your look, or by any other means your antagonist is apt to be intimidated.
", or acrostic
, probably written by a Royalist
in the thrilling interval between the resignation of Richard Cromwell
on May 25, 1659 and the restoration of Charles II
, crowned at Westminster Abbey
on 23 April, 1661. It expresses in enigmatical terms the designs and hopes of the King's adherents, under colour of describing a game of "Put". The initial letters of the seven verses are an anagram
, and indicate the number of cards shared between the two players in the game. S, X, I, C, R, A, T, make SIX CART, or six cartes (six cards). Six cards, also, are expressly mentioned in the riddle itself, namely: "the Knave" (line 2), "a King" (3), "Heart" (5), "Trey", "Quarter" or quatre, and "the Buck" (7). "The Buck", probably one of the picture-cards, or the ace, inferior to "Trey", which is the best card in the game of put; therefore "Trey" comes "to pull down the Buck".
"The Buck" is an old English synonym for the Coarse Appellation, intended, no doubt, for a Puritan
, or for the Puritan party.
"Pulling down the Buck", is also an allusion to hunting.
If non-dealer throws up his cards, he loses 1 point; if he plays, and the dealer does not lay down another to him, he scores 1 point; but should the dealer either win the same, pass it, or lay down one of equal value, forming what is styled a tie, non-dealer is still at ease to Put, that is, play or not, and his opponent then only scores 1 point; then if both parties agree to go on, whoever wins all the tricks, or two out of three, scores 5 points, which is the game. If each player obtain one trick, and the third is a tie, then neither party scores.
When a good trump is turned by any of the party, he should be allowed time to sell it before another card is discovered. On turning knaves and fives of any suit, a counter is to be paid into the pool for each, by the possessor of the hand in which they happen to be.
It is customary to purchase cards before they are turned, when they happen to be among the last, and no high trump already discovered. Speculations are frequently profitable; but if you turn a good card, it is generally advisable to sell it if you can obtain a fair price, particularly if there are many cards to turn. A cautious player sometimes sells his hand before it is dealt, or before turning any of his cards, if he can get more for H than his stake in the pool.
This game is sometimes a little varied by dealing a spare hand, which is not to be looked at till all the hands are discovered, and if it should contain the best trump dealt, the pool remains for the next deal, in addition to the usual contributions of each player, thus doubling the amount.
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
first recorded in the 16th century and later castigated by 17th century moralists as one of ill repute. It belongs to a very ancient family of card games and clearly relates to a group known as Trut, Truque, also Tru, and the South American game Truco
Truco
Truco is a variant of Truc and a popular trick-taking card game originary from Valencia and Balearic Islands and played in Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Italy , Uruguay, southern Chile and Venezuela...
. Its more elaborate version is the Spanish game of Truc
Truc
Truc, pronounced try, is a 15th century bluff and counterbluff trick-taking card game which has been reasonably likened to Poker for two. It is played in Occitania, Sarthe , Poitou and the Basque Country , and is still very popular in the Valencia region...
, which is still much played in many parts of Southern France and Spain.
Analogy
The name Put, pronounced "u", like the name of the English village of Putney, derives from "putting up your cards in cafe", if you do not like them, or from "putting each other to the shift". It is so easy to learn and fun to play that it would be a pity to omit it from the core curriculum of card game learners. It is essentially a game of bluff rather than calculation. Like the game of BragThree card brag
Three card brag is a 16th century British card game, and the British national representative of the vying or "bluffing" family of gambling games...
, it depends in a great measure upon the boldest player, and by assuming a superiority in hand, either by your look, or by any other means your antagonist is apt to be intimidated.
"The Buck"
The game of Put appears in a "riddleRiddle
A riddle is a statement or question or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: enigmas, which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or allegorical language that require ingenuity and careful thinking for their solution, and...
", or acrostic
Acrostic
An acrostic is a poem or other form of writing in which the first letter, syllable or word of each line, paragraph or other recurring feature in the text spells out a word or a message. As a form of constrained writing, an acrostic can be used as a mnemonic device to aid memory retrieval. A famous...
, probably written by a Royalist
Royalist
A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of government, but not necessarily a particular monarch...
in the thrilling interval between the resignation of Richard Cromwell
Richard Cromwell
At the same time, the officers of the New Model Army became increasingly wary about the government's commitment to the military cause. The fact that Richard Cromwell lacked military credentials grated with men who had fought on the battlefields of the English Civil War to secure their nation's...
on May 25, 1659 and the restoration of Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
, crowned at Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
on 23 April, 1661. It expresses in enigmatical terms the designs and hopes of the King's adherents, under colour of describing a game of "Put". The initial letters of the seven verses are an anagram
Anagram
An anagram is a type of word play, the result of rearranging the letters of a word or phrase to produce a new word or phrase, using all the original letters exactly once; e.g., orchestra = carthorse, A decimal point = I'm a dot in place, Tom Marvolo Riddle = I am Lord Voldemort. Someone who...
, and indicate the number of cards shared between the two players in the game. S, X, I, C, R, A, T, make SIX CART, or six cartes (six cards). Six cards, also, are expressly mentioned in the riddle itself, namely: "the Knave" (line 2), "a King" (3), "Heart" (5), "Trey", "Quarter" or quatre, and "the Buck" (7). "The Buck", probably one of the picture-cards, or the ace, inferior to "Trey", which is the best card in the game of put; therefore "Trey" comes "to pull down the Buck".
"The Buck" is an old English synonym for the Coarse Appellation, intended, no doubt, for a Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
, or for the Puritan party.
"Pulling down the Buck", is also an allusion to hunting.
The game
The game of Put is played generally by two people, sometimes by three, and often by four, with a 52-card pack with cards ranking 3-2-A-K-Q-J-T-9-8-7-6-5-4 in each suit. The game is won by the first player to score 5 points over as many deals as necessary, or by the player who wins a majority of three tricks played in any deal.The deal
The player drawing the highest Put card (Three high, Four low) deals first, and the deal alternates. Shuffle thoroughly and deal three cards to each player in a clockwise mode, one at time. The turn to deal always passes to the left.The play
Tricks are played to unusual rules. Any card may be led, and the other player may also play any card: there is no need to follow suit and there are no trumps. The trick is taken by the higher card, and the winner of one trick leads to the next. If cards of equal rank are played e.g. two Threes, two Aces, or whatever, the trick is tied and belongs to neither player. In this case it is put to one side, and whoever led to it leads to the next.If non-dealer throws up his cards, he loses 1 point; if he plays, and the dealer does not lay down another to him, he scores 1 point; but should the dealer either win the same, pass it, or lay down one of equal value, forming what is styled a tie, non-dealer is still at ease to Put, that is, play or not, and his opponent then only scores 1 point; then if both parties agree to go on, whoever wins all the tricks, or two out of three, scores 5 points, which is the game. If each player obtain one trick, and the third is a tie, then neither party scores.
Putting & Throwing
Either player, when about to lead to a trick, may do one of three things:- Throw his hand in, thus conceding the deal and 1 point to the opponent.
- Lead a card without saying anything. His opponent must then play.
- Say "Put", which is short for "I put it to you that you should throw your cards in while you have the chance". If the opponent follows this advice, the deal ends and the putter scores 1 point. If not, putter leads and the other must play.
Score
The game is won outright, regardless of points scored, by the player who winds two tricks in a deal, or one trick if the other two are tied. If each player wins one trick and one trick it tied, the result is a draw by "trick and tie" and there is no score for that deal. If neither wins outright, the winner is the first player to score 5 points for concessions.The laws of Put
- If the dealer accidentally discover any of his adversary's cards, the latter may insist upon a new deal.
- If the dealer discover any of his own cards in dealing, he must abide by the deal.
- When a faced card is discovered during the deal, the cards must be reshuffled and dealt again.
- If the dealer give his adversary more cards than are necessary, the adversary may call a fresh deal, or suffer the dealer to draw the extra cards from his hand.
- If the dealer give himself more cards than are his due, the adversary may add a point to his game, and call a fresh deal, or draw the extra cards from the dealer's hand.
- No bystander must interfere, under penalty of paying the stakes.
- Either party saying "I put", that is, "I play", play cannot retract, but must abide the event of the game or pay the stakes.
Variants
The game becomes more interesting if you shorten the pack to 32 cards by stripping out all the lower ranks from Four to Nine.Put le Truc
There is, indeed, an equivalent French game called le Truc-‘the Knack’, which is played with a 32-card pack ranking 6-7-A-K-Q-J-T. The winning of two tricks, or one and two ties, scores 1 point. However, each player may offer, or threaten, to double the value of the game when about to play to a trick, allowing the other to throw his hand in to prevent the double from taking effect. The first to reach 12 points wins the game, and the first to win tow games wins the rubber.Speculation
This is a lively and amusing round game, and is played with a pack of fifty-two cards, which rank in the same order as at Whist. Each player deposits a certain number of counters in the pool, from one to three, and the dealer double the number of the others. Three cards are dealt, one at a time, to each player, and one turned up for trumps, which the dealer may sell to any one who will purchase it, either before or after it is turned up. The highest trump card dealt out is entitled to take the pool, but the cards are not to be looked at except in this manner: The elder hand turns the uppermost of his three cards; if not trumps, or if lower than the dealer's turn-up, it is of course of no value: but if higher, he may sell it to any one who chooses to speculate, and the price offered should bear some proportion to the chance of the card being the best trump in the deal, and likewise to the number of counters in the pool. This is done by asking who will buy ; and if two or more offer a price, the seller of course accepts the highest bidder's offer, if he considers it adequate to the value of the card. If a sale is not effected, the next in hand turns the uppermost of his cards, and if it is a saleable png, proceeds to sell it as above described. When a, car4 is sold, it .is h? buyer, who places it before him, and .does HQt turn any of his remaining cards till a higher trump appears, his left-hand neighbor becoming eider hand, and turning the next card. In this way the playing goes on, till all the cards are turned, when, as before stated, the holder of the best trump, whether by purchase or otherwise, wins the pool.When a good trump is turned by any of the party, he should be allowed time to sell it before another card is discovered. On turning knaves and fives of any suit, a counter is to be paid into the pool for each, by the possessor of the hand in which they happen to be.
It is customary to purchase cards before they are turned, when they happen to be among the last, and no high trump already discovered. Speculations are frequently profitable; but if you turn a good card, it is generally advisable to sell it if you can obtain a fair price, particularly if there are many cards to turn. A cautious player sometimes sells his hand before it is dealt, or before turning any of his cards, if he can get more for H than his stake in the pool.
This game is sometimes a little varied by dealing a spare hand, which is not to be looked at till all the hands are discovered, and if it should contain the best trump dealt, the pool remains for the next deal, in addition to the usual contributions of each player, thus doubling the amount.