Blucher

This game is named after a German general, who fought against Napoleon. Modified rules are given here.

a) One standard pack of 52 cards;
b) Betting chips or cash;
c) A betting layout, with areas representing each denomination of card (it can be made up of cards from another deck, or may be drawn on paper).

Three or more.

Players aim to bet on a denomination on the layout that is not matched during the hand.

A denomination is matched, when the dealer, having called that denomination, turns up a card of that rank.

Banker is determined by high cut.

Standard.

These are agreed beforehand.

Each player except the banker places as many bets on the layout as he wishes. Each bet must be placed on only one denomination.

The banker turns up cards one at a time from the top of the pack, to form a face-up pile on the table. As he turns the first card up he says "Ace". He says "Deuce" for the second, and so on. For the eleventh, he says "Jack", for the twelfth, "Queen", and for the thirteenth, "King". For each card, if the denomination of the exposed card matches the rank called, the bank collects any bets placed on that denomination on the layout.

For example, if the eighth card is an 8, the banker wins the bets on section 8; if the twelfth card is a Queen, he wins the bets on the Queen's section.

Each time the banker wins a bet on the layout, he is paid an additional equal amount by the player who made that bet.

When the banker has counted to King, he begins again from Ace, still turning up a card from the deck for each rank he calls.

The players may not add to, remove, or change their bets. The banker collects bets as before, if rank and card match.

Play continues in this way until the banker has counted from Ace to King four times. All the pack has then been dealt.

This occurs if at any time the banker counts from Ace to King without any of the 13 cards matching the rank called. The banker must then, with his own chips, double all players' bets that are then on the layout. The bets, however, stay on the layout, and are still at risk.

This doubling takes place only once in a single deal. If the banker counts from Ace to King again without any cards matching, he does not add again to the players' bets.

If the banker wins a player's bet that has been doubled, he wins all the doubled bet plus an equal amount from the player.

Any bets still on the layout at the end of the game are returned to the players who placed them.

The bank and deal pass one player to the left. All the cards are collected for the next deal, and new bets are placed.

From 'The Official World Encyclopedia of Sports and Games'
© Diagram Visual Information Ltd 1979