01_599100 ffirs.qxd 8/31/05 8:12 PM Page i Card Games FOR DUMmIES‰ 2ND EDITION by Barry Rigal Card Game Writer, Journalist, and World-Famous Bridge Author Foreword by Omar Sharif Bridge Columnist and Academy Award–Nominated Actor 01_599100 ffirs.qxd 8/31/05 8:12 PM Page i 01_599100 ffirs.qxd 8/31/05 8:12 PM Page i Card Games FOR DUMmIES‰ 2ND EDITION by Barry Rigal Card Game Writer, Journalist, and World-Famous Bridge Author Foreword by Omar Sharif Bridge Columnist and Academy Award–Nominated Actor 01_599100 ffirs.qxd 8/31/05 8:12 PM Page ii Card Games For Dummies®, 2nd Edition Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc. 111 River St. Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774 www.wiley.com Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana Published simultaneously in Canada No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permit- ted under Sections 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400, fax 978-646-8600. 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Library of Congress Control Number: 2005927627 ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-9910-1 ISBN-10: 0-7645-9910-0 Manufactured in the United States of America 10987654321 2O/SQ/QZ/QV/IN 01_599100 ffirs.qxd 8/31/05 8:12 PM Page iii About the Author Barry Rigal was born with a deck of cards in his hand. Having started with the children’s games, Whist, Rummy, and Solitaire, he moved on to Bridge at the age of 12. After graduating from Oxford University (where he captained the Bridge team), he worked in accountancy. Highlights of his work career were learning how to play Piquet and Clobyosh in the Tax Department of Thomson McLintock. After four years with Price Waterhouse, supervising the partnership’s Bridge team, he went into the world of business, working seven years in the Oil Taxation department of Conoco. During that time he began a career as a journalist and commentator on card games. Over the course of the last two decades he has writ- ten newspaper and magazine articles and six books on Bridge. Barry lives in the United States and is happily married to Sue (despite the fact that she is a far more successful player than he). Dedication This book is dedicated to my wife Sue, who made the whole pro- ject (and indeed everything else) worthwhile and has saved my life on countless occasions by fixing all my computer problems. Author’s Acknowledgments My principal vote of thanks goes to Technical Editor John McLeod, who has provided invaluable assistance for just about every chap- ter in this book. John gave me essential information when I asked him, and he never got tired of my stupid questions. (You can visit his site at www.pagat.com.) In addition, I have used the assistance of many others who have created Web pages about card games, and who have been generous with their help and advice. Thanks are also due to the following people: Katie Sutton (for help on Canasta); Matt Schemmel and Erin O’Neil (Euchre); Melissa Binde (Fan Tan); Matt Ginsberg and Umesh Shankar (Setback); Richard Hussong, Jeff Goldsmith, and Bruce McCosar (Eights); David Dailey (Pinochle); Bruce Blanchard (President); Ernst Martin, Billy Miller, Tysen Streib, and Andy Latto (Poker); Michael Fosse, Dave Wetzel, and Pat Civale (Spades); John Hay, David Barker, and Alan Hoyle (Hearts); Carter Hoerr and David Parlett (exact trick games); Phil Gordon and Willy Ehlers (Omaha); Billy Miller (Hold ’Em). To everyone who answered my questions, thank you. And anyone I’ve accidentally omitted — sorry for not including you here! Special thanks to Carolyne Krupp and Mikal Belicove for getting me started on this project, and to Brian Kramer, my Project Editor, for helping me finish it. A tip of the hat also to my excellent Copy Editor, Josh Dials. 01_599100 ffirs.qxd 8/31/05 8:12 PM Page iv Publisher’s Acknowledgments We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registration form located at www.dummies.com/register/. Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following: Acquisitions, Editorial, and Composition Services Media Development Project Coordinator: Maridee Ennis Project Editor: Brian Kramer Layout and Graphics: Carl Byers, Andrea Dahl, (Previous Edition: Mary Goodwin) Lauren Goddard, Joyce Haughey, Acquisitions Editor: Mikal Belicove Barry Offringa, Julie Trippetti Copy Editor: Josh Dials Proofreaders: Leeann Harney, Dwight Ramsey, TECHBOOKS Production Services Technical Editor: John McLeod Indexer: TECHBOOKS Production Services Editorial Supervisor and Reprint Editor: Carmen Krikorian Editorial Assistants: Hanna Scott, Nadine Bell, Melissa Bennett Cartoons: Rich Tennant (www.the5thwave.com) Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies Diane Graves Steele, Vice President and Publisher, Consumer Dummies Joyce Pepple, Acquisitions Director, Consumer Dummies Kristin A. Cocks, Product Development Director, Consumer Dummies Michael Spring, Vice President and Publisher, Travel Kelly Regan, Editorial Director, Travel Publishing for Technology Dummies Andy Cummings, Vice President and Publisher, Dummies Technology/General User Composition Services Gerry Fahey, Vice President of Production Services Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services 02_599100 ftoc.qxd 8/31/05 8:19 PM Page v Contents at a Glance Foreword...................................................................xvii Introduction ................................................................1 Part I: Discovering Card Games ....................................7 Chapter 1: Card Game Basics ...........................................................................................9 Chapter 2: Solitaire ..........................................................................................................21 Chapter 3: Children’s Games ..........................................................................................45 Part II: Getting Rid of Cards .......................................61 Chapter 4: Rummy ...........................................................................................................63 Chapter 5: Canasta ..........................................................................................................85 Chapter 6: Eights ...........................................................................................................103 Chapter 7: Fan Tan ........................................................................................................111 Part III: Taking Tricks ..............................................119 Chapter 8: Whist ............................................................................................................121 Chapter 9: Oh Hell! and Other Exact Bidding Games ................................................135 Chapter 10: Euchre ........................................................................................................151