Gaming Skat In Casino
SKAT
An American Skat League was established
by a solemn congress of enthusiasts at St. Louis in 1898. Such an organization
had been flourishing in Germany for more than a decade. The game itself
seems to have been developed in a card club at Altenburg, near Leipzig,
about 50 years earlier. Its ingredients were k borrowed from Tarok, Schafkopf
and Kalabrias, the first two of which remain popular in the Western world
without having been formalized as ceremoniously as Skat. We shall get to
them presently. Skat is described first because it is perhaps more widely
played in the Western Hemisphere than other games of its type. Also, whoever
familiarizes himself with its exotic terminology will find the going easier
when the other games are discussed.
PLAYERS AND DECK
A game for three, using a stripped
32-card deck, with no card lower than a seven. The suits rank downward:
clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds. The jacks of those suits are the four
highest trump, ranking in the same order. Thus, the ace of trump is the
fifth-highest card in its suit. Side cards rank in the usual order, from
A down through 7 and the J, of course, omitted.
Like other games of what may be regarded
as the Euchre family, this one involves trump, the taking of tricks, the
use of a widow (called the skat), and—unlike most of the games reviewed
previously—requires the player to capture certain cards for their point
values. If four players are involved, the dealer gets no cards. With five,
the dealer and the third player to his left remain out of the hand.
CUT, SHUFFLE AND DEAL
Low card deals. If cards are of the
same rank, suit rank decides. Dealer’s right-hand opponent cuts. Each player
gets ten cards in batches of three, four and three. After the first helping
of cards is dealt, two cards go face down as the skat, then dealing proceeds.
First hand to dealer’s left is called leader (Vorhand), next comes middlehand
(Mitteihand) and then endhand (Hinterhand). Whichever of these becomes
highest bidder is known as the player, and the other two team up as the opponents.
BIDDING
Middlehand is first to speak. If
he chooses not to pass, he must name a number of points ranging upward
in even intervals from ten. The evaluation of the hand and the size of
the bid depend on the points that can be won in various types of play and
by holding or capturing certain cards. These values are given below.
If middlehand bids, the response
comes from leader, who says “Yes” or “Stay” if he feels that he can equal
or exceed middlehand’s bid. When this happens, middlehand must increase
the bid. This continues until one of them passes, whereupon endhand enters
the bidding against the survivor. If both middlehand and endhand pass,
leader is required to name the game (see below) and play the hand, even
though he may prefer to pass.
NAMING THE GAME
The player can choose to play with
or without a trump suit, with or without using the skat, or by using only
the four jacks as trump. He can contract to win all the tricks in process
of achieving the score he has bid. Or he can contract to win no tricks
at all. And he can attempt various combinations of the foregoing propositions.
Whatever plan he chooses has a specific name and is worth a specific number
of points. The final value of his hand (should he succeed) is based on
that established value multiplied by other values that derive from the
kinds of cards held and captured and the number of tricks taken. We shall
itemize the multipliers below, when we discuss scoring.
Here are the basic games: Tourn?e:
The jeux casino
player looks at the top card of the skat, concealing it from his opponents.
If its suit pleases him, he displays it to identify trump. He then puts
it into his hand with the other skat card (which he keeps concealed). If
he dislikes the suit of the first card, he puts it in his hand without
exposing it. He then must turn up the second skat card, which establishes
trump. This passt mir nicht tourn?e—as traditionalists of the game call
it in their Franco-German patois— costs the player double penalties if
he fails to make his bid. In the United States, this play is known as second turn.
Having picked up the skat cards,
the player discards any two cards from his hand. These later are used in
calculating his score. If the exposed skat card is a jack, the player has
the right to play grand tourn?e. In this and all the other Skat games called
grand, the four jacks are the only trump. Player picks up both skat cards
and discards two other cards.
Solo: Without looking at the skat,
player names a trump suit. He then plays the hand in that suit, without
using the skat. However, the values of the skat cards are later included
in his score. Player also may elect to play grand solo—playing with only
the jacks as trump, and without looking at or using the skat cards. Guckser:
Known in most games as gucki grand, this begins when the player picks up
both skat cards at once. After he discards, jeux
casino proceeds as in all grand games, with jacks as trump.
Nullo: When he declares nullo or
null, player contracts to lose every trick without looking at the skat.
The hand is played without a trump suit.
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