Poch

How to play poch

From the book's pages

• Four players and 32 cards: ace, king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight and seven in four suits. The dealer gives eight cards to each. Before the cards are picked up, every player puts a stake in each of the bowls on the board. The dealer looks at the last card he dealt himself and declares its suit trumps.
• First phase: whoever holds the ace, king, queen, jack or ten of trumps, or 7, 8 and 9 of trumps, or both king and queen of trumps, collects the bowl of the same name. King and queen together take the king bowl, the queen bowl and the bowl for both. Bowls nobody wins stay until the next deal.
• Second phase, the poch bowl: the player to the left of the dealer bets one or two chips; the others must put in the same to stay in, or pass — and then lose their chance at the poch bowl, but not at the third phase. Whoever bet first may raise. Then everyone shows their best combination: a pair, three or four of a kind. Most cards win (four eights beat three queens), with the same number the highest value, with equal pairs the pair with a trump wins.
• Third phase, the race: the winner of the poch leads a card. Whoever holds the next card in the same suit plays it — there is no order of play — until the ace is played. The ace is «a stop»; whoever played it freely chooses the next card. Whoever first empties their hand wins, and gets one chip for every card the others are left holding.
• The cards are shuffled and the next player to the left deals; everyone stakes in the bowls again. At least 40 chips each.

My choices

• The order within a suit is 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king, ace. If the next card has already been played earlier in the round, it counts as a stop for whoever laid the last one. The app lays the card you must lay when you tap it.
• The betting: the first player bets 1 or 2, the others meet it or pass, the first player may raise once by 1 or 2, and the others meet it or pass again. Without a pair the highest card wins; if everyone is level, the one nearest the dealer wins.
• The game is over when a player does not have eight chips for the stake; most chips wins. Everyone starts with 40.
• The machines bet by the strength of their hand, with a little chance in it, and lead the card they hold the most consecutive cards from.