Scarne on Card Games

452 Pages·2004·46.477 MB·English

by  John Scarne

r
How
to Play and Win
at Poker, Pinochle, Blackjack, Gin
and Other Popular Card Games
DOVER BOOKS ON BRIDGE AND
OTHER CARD AND BOARD GAMES
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Korean Games: With Notes on the Corresponding Games of China and Japan,
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Daly’s Billiard Book, Maurice Daly. (25724-X)
The Expert at the Card Table: The Classic Treatise on Card Manipulation,
S. W. Erdnase. (28597-9)
Gin Rummy: How to Play and Win, Sam Fry. (23630-7)
A History of Playing Cards and a Bibliography of Cards and Gaming,
Catherine Perry Hargrave. (41236-9)
Tricks and Games on the Pool Table, Fred Herrmann. (21814-7)
Win at Backgammon, Millard Hopper. (22894-0)
Win .at Checkers, Millard Hopper. (20363-8)
Winning Contract Bridge, Edgar Kaplan. (24559-4)
The Art of Card Reading at Bridge, Fred L. Karpin. (21787-6)
Go AND Go-Moku, Edward Lasker. (20613-0)
Defense Strategy in Bridge, Hy Lavinthal. (23010-4)
Games and Fun with Playing Cards, Joseph Leeming. (23977-2)
Bridge Squeezes Complete, or Winning End Play Strategy, Clyde E. Love.
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Handbook of American Indian Games, Allan and Palette Macfarlan. (24837-2)
Favorite Board Games You Can Make .and Play, Asterie Baker Provenzo and
Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. (26410-6)
Bridge for Bright Beginners, Terence Reese. (22942-4)
Master Play in Contract Bridge, Terence Reese. (20336-0)
The Secrets of Winning Bridge, Jeff Rubens. (24076-2)
Win at Poker, Jeff Rubens. (24626-4)
Card Games Around the World, Sid Sackson. (28100-0)
Duplicate Bridge, Alfred Sheinwold. (22741-3)
Games with Pencil and Paper, Eric Solomon. (27872-7)
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SCARNE
On Games
Card
How
to Play and Win at Poker,
Pinochle, Blackjack, Gin
Games
and Other Popular Card
John Scarne
Illustrations by
George Karger
DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.
New
Mineola, York
Copyright
©
Copyright 1949, 1965 by John Scarne
All rights reserved.
Bibliographical Note
This Dover edition, first published in 2004, is an unabridged republication of
the revised, augmented edition of Scarne on Cards, originally published in 1949
by Signet, New York, and revised in 1965.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Scarne, John.
[Scarne on cards]
Scarne on card games how to play and win at poker, pinochle, blackjack,
:
gin, and other popular games / John Scarne illustrations by George Karger.
;
cm.
p.
Originally published; Scarne on cards. Rev., augm. ed. New York Crown
:
Publishers, 1965.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-486-43603-9 (pbk.)
I. Cardsharping. I. Title.
GV1247.S37 2004
795.41—dc22
2004041437
Manufactured in the United States of America
Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y 11501
—
Contents
CHAPTER
Introduction to the Revised,
Augmented Edition vu
Foreword
ix
Part One 1. Introductory 1
2. Card Cheats and Their Methods 5
3. Marked Cards 19
4. The Only Player You Can’t Beat 26
5. Can Luck Beat Skill? 29
Part Two 6. What Is Gin Rummy? 34
7. The Experts Make a Mess of
Things 39
Rummy
8. Rules for Gin 44
9. Variations of Gin 55
10. The Play of the Hand at Gin
Rummy
64
Rummy
11. Cheating at Gin 83
—
12. Other Rummy Games 87
^I
13. Other Rummy Games 101
—
14. Other Rummy Games III 122
Part Three 15. Black Jack or Twenty-one 138
16. The Mathematics of Black Jack 148
17. Cheating at Black Jack 161
18. Faro or Farobank 163
19. Stuss, Red Dog and Other Faro
Variants 173
i
V
CONTENTS
VI
20. Card Craps, Farmer and Other
Games 187
21. Chemin de Fer and Other
Games 200
—
Part Four 22. Poker ^Not According to Hoyle 224
23. Draw Poker and Its Variations 241
24. Stud Poker and Its Variations 258
25. Poker Odds and Probabilities 273
26. Cheating at Poker 283
27. Strategy at Poker 290
28. The Dealer Who Moves With-
out Getting Up 305
— .
Part Five 29. Pinochle General Rules 308
30. Two-Handed Pinochle 318
31. Three-Handed and Four-
Handed Pinochle 332
32. Partnership Pinochle and Other
Variations 364
33. Cheating at Pinochle 388
Pari Six 34. Cribbage 395
35. Pitch or Setback 405
36. Casino 408
37. Kalabrias, Klobiosh, Klabber-
jass, or Klob 414
38. Hearts According to Scame and
Regular Hearts 420
Index 429
INTRODUCTION
io the Revised, Augmented Edition
It is now some 16 years since Scarne on Cards
was first published. In that time it has gone through
nine printings and has provided guidance for many
thousands of card players. But with millions of
Americans playing cards it was inevitable that,
although probabilities and percentages remain the
same, there would be some changes in the popu-
larity of the different card games and also some
changes in rules. It is because by now these changes
are substantial and important that I have prepared
a revision of Scarne on Cards,
The most important change in rules is in Black
Jack, and I have written a whole new section on
this popular game. Also Hearts, Cribbage, Kala-
brias, and Casino have acquired new fans and
new popularity, and therefore I have added full
sections on these classic games. I hope that every
card player will find in this new, revised edition
of my book the guidance he wants on the games of
his choice.
JOHN SCABNE
Fairview, N. March, 1965
J.,
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2017 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https;//archive.org/details/scarneoncardgameOOjohn