Brag

Brag is one of the ancestors of Poker, and still remains very popular in Britain. There are many forms and variants, but basically the game is like three-card Poker with no draw.

a) One standard pack of 52 cards;
b) Betting chips or cash.

A hand at Brag contains only three cards. Originally only triples and pairs scored, but today, through Poker influences, all the following are generally recognised (with the highest listed first).

a) Prial, Pryle or Prile: Three cards of the same denomination. Sometimes three 3s is counted as the highest hand, ranking above three Aces.
b) On a bike run: Three cards in sequence from the same suit.
c) Run: Three cards in sequence.
d) Flush: Three cards of the same suit.
e) Pair: Two cards of the same denomination and one unmatched card.
f) High card: Three unmatched cards.

The cards rank in normal order, with Ace high, except:
a) Ace can rank low to make a 3, 2, Ace run or on a bike run — which then counts as the highest hand of that rank, beating A, K, Q.
b) For prials only, a specified denomination varying with the game played (e.g. three 3s) is ranked above three Aces.

Today Brag is usually played with no wild cards, or sometimes with 2s (deuces) wild. The traditional wild cards for the game, however, listed in order of rank, are: A, J, 9.

These are valued according to the denomination of cards used, as in Poker. For two special cases, see Rank of Cards above. Otherwise:
1) for prials, on a bike runs, flushes, and high cards, the hand with the highest denomination card wins;
2) for pairs, the hand with the higher denomination pair wins or, if these match, the hand with the higher ranking odd card wins.

A hand using wild cards is valued in the usual way (with the wild card valued according to the card it represents). A hand using wild cards, however, loses to a hand that uses none. Note that a pair using a wild card loses to the same pair in natural cards, even if the wild card hand has the higher odd card.

1) Choice of first dealer is by low cut.
2) Shuffle and cut are normal.

This is the basic form of the game.

From three to twelve.

The objective on each deal is to win the pool by holding the best ranking hand on a showdown, or by having all the other players drop out of the betting.

These are agreed beforehand. Typical limits are:
1) Maximum one unit bet or raise;
2) One to five, or one to ten, units bet or raise.

Sometimes rules specify that, before each deal, each player must contribute one unit to the pool.

The dealer deals one card face down to each player, including himself, beginning with the player to his left, and going clockwise, and continuing until each player has three cards.

Players look at their hands, and bet accordingly, beginning with the player to the dealer's left, and going clockwise. Bets are placed in a central pool. Players may bet on any hand; bluffing is unrestricted.

There is only one betting interval. a player cannot pass, and stay in the game; he must bet or drop out. If all the players but one drop out, the remaining player wins the pool.

Otherwise, betting continues until there is a showdown, when the player with the best hand wins. A showdown is not allowed until all the players but two have dropped out.

Dealt cards are placed at the bottom of the pack, face down. The cards are reshuffled for the next hand, only if a prial has just appeared on showdown.

There are several alternatives:
a) Round the table;
b) Bet or raise;
c) Poker betting.

Each time it is his turn to bet, a player must bet one unit, or drop out.

This continues, even when there are only two players left. Then, either player, in any of his turns, may pay a double amount to see. Both players then show their cards without further betting.

In this system, limits are agreed beforehand, and affect only the opening bet and raises.

In the betting interval, betting is as for the round the table system, but, in any turn, a player may choose to bet more than one unit. All active players must then bet exactly the same amount each time their turn comes around, or must drop out or raise again.

Raises are, therefore, not like the raises in Poker. Instead of players just having to call, they set a new minimum contribution to the pool per turn. Each player must contribute at least that full amount in subsequent turns, regardless of his previous contributions to the pool, or must drop out.

Each time the bet is raised, only the increase is limited. The total bet of a player in a turn can, therefore, exceed the limits.

As in the round the table system, this can continue when only two players remain, until one of them pays double the amount at that time to see.

Poker betting is sometimes used. In this system the interval ends when bets are equalised. Unless modified, however, Poker rules can leave more than two active players at showdown. This can be accepted, or the following rules may be observed:
a) When there are three or more active players, a player may not call, if this equalises all players' bets (he must raise or drop out);
b) If a player drops out, and so equalises the bets between the remaining three or more active players, the last player to raise must raise again.

It is sometimes ruled that a player may bet without looking at his cards. In this case, any player, who has looked at his cards, must in each turn pay double the blind bettor, if he is to stay in. When only two active players are left an open bettor cannot double his stake to see a blind bettor. To remain in the game, he must continue to bet until the blind bettor doubles his bet to see him. When the last two active players are both blind bettors, either of them can pay double to see the other.

If a player runs out of money during a betting interval, he places his hand face down on the pool. Subsequent bets by other players are then placed in a side pool. Showdown is then between three players: between the last two active players for the side pool, and between these two and the player who covered the kitty for the main pool.

Variants

Seven-Card Brag

This version is for two to seven players.

Before each deal, players contribute equal amounts to a pool.

Each player then receives seven cards, looks at them, discards one face down, and visibly splits the remainder into two unexposed three-card Brag hands.

When all are ready, each player in turn exposes one hand, beginning with the player to the dealer's left. Then each player in turn exposes his other hand, beginning with the player whose first hand was highest. A player has complete discretion on how he splits his cards between the two hands, but he must expose the best hand first.

The rank of cards is as in three-card Brag, except that the highest pryle is three 7s, followed by three Aces. (Three 3s rank normally, below three 4s and above three 2s.)

If the same player has the highest hand both times, he wins the pool. Alternatively, a player, whose original seven cards contain four cards of the same denomination, wins the pool, if he declares this at once, without discarding. Otherwise the pool is not won, but players still contribute again before the next deal.

A deal is usually one card at a time, face down. It may, however, be three cards to each player, followed by another three, and then by a single card. In the latter case, dealt cards are usually not shuffled between hands, but placed face down at the bottom of the pack with no shuffle or cut.

This is similar to seven-card Brag. A maximum of five can play, because nine cards are dealt to each player.

The deal is usually in ones, but sometimes in threes.

Players divide their cards into three Brag hands, exposing the highest hand first. Any player with the highest hand in all three exposures wins the pool (or, under some rules, the pool is won by a player with two out of three highest hands). Alternatively, as in seven-card Brag, the pool is won immediately by a player with four cards of a kind.

The rank of hands is as in three-card Brag, except that the highest prial is three 9s, followed by three Aces. (Three 3s rank normally-below three 4s and above three 2s.)

If no one wins the pool, players still contribute again before the next deal. Sometimes a pool may not be won for many hours, by which time it can be very large.

This British students' game is a variant of three-card Brag.

All players start with an equal number of betting chips.

An additional three-card hand, the dummy, is dealt face up onto the table.

In play, each player in turn may exchange one card in his hand for one from the dummy. The discarded cards go into the dummy face up. This continues until one player does not wish to alter his hand.

All players then show their cards, and the lowest hand pays a previously agreed amount into the pool (e.g. five units).

Further hands are played until only one player has any chips remaining. He then wins the whole pool.

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

Basically the same as textbook or Classical Brag, except that all Jacks and all Nines are braggers (wild cards). A hand with one or more braggers beats an otherwise equal hand with fewer or none; so, the highest possible hand consists of three braggers. No bragger is better than another; so, ties are more frequent.

Brag equivalent of Whisky Poker. All players contribute equally to a pool. Dealer deals three cards to each player, and a spare hand face up. Each player in turn must exchange either one or all three of his cards with one or all of the spare hand — not two.

When a player thinks that he has the best hand, he knocks. The others may stick, or exchange once more. Best hand wins the pool.

Dealer shuffles, and deals three cards each. A prial beats a pair, and a pair beats three unrelated cards. Runs and flushes do not count. There are three wild cards called braggers, each of which may be used by its holder to represent any desired card: they are A, J, 9. Of two competing hands of the same type, that with the greater number of braggers wins; if still equal, high card decides.

Players look at their hands and each in turn may drop out of play, or bet The first player may bet any amount; thereafter each player must increase his stake to at least that of the previous player still in the game, either equalling it or exceeding it (raising). If one player raises, and the others either equalise or drop out instead of raising further, there is a showdown, and the player with the best hand wins all the stakes, including those of players who dropped.

If all players but one drop out, the one left in wins, without revealing his hand.

This is the form of the game perpetuated in most books, but braggers seem generally to have dropped out with the introduction of runs and flushes.

A contemporary pub game involving Brag hands; but not a betting game as such.

An older form of the game, disregarding runs and flushes, and counting only prials and pairs.

Before the deal each player puts up three separate stakes. Players are then dealt three cards each, two face down and the last face up.

The player with the highest faced card wins the first stake, which, in the event of a tie, goes to the player nearest the dealer's left (himself being farthest from his own left).

Next, the other cards are taken into hand, and a normal round of Brag betting ensues, the second stakes going to the player with the best hand. For this purpose braggers are included (A, J, 9 being wild cards).

Finally, all cards are exposed, and the third stake goes to the player whose cards most nearly total a combined pip count of 31, counting Ace as 11, pictures as 10, and other denominations at face value. The total may be under or over; only the difference counts. A player whose cards total under 31 may draw another card, but, if this brings him to over 31, he loses. Ties are decided as for the high card round.

Ancestral games based on the same betting principles and similar combinations include the following.

This is a game of Italian origin, popular in eighteenth-century France. It is played by two to seven players with a 40-card pack (no Eights, Nines, Tens).

Four cards are dealt to each player, with a betting interval after each two.

Rank of hands, from the highest down: fredon = four of a kind, flux = flush, iricon = three of a kind, prime = straight, point = pair.

Persian game, said to have been played by four players with 20 cards. Five cards are dealt to each player. Straights and flushes are not recognised.

('Bouillotte' means hot water bottle!) It is a revised form of Brelan, which emerged in early nineteenth-century Paris to over-come prohibitions on that game.

It is usually played by five players, with 28 cards (Eight low), or by four players, with 20 cards (lacking Tens and Jacks).

It is a Spit game, with three cards dealt to each player, plus a communal up card.

(From Berlan) This games dates from the sixteenth century. It is played by three to five players, with a 32-card pack.

Three cards each were dealt, and the best hand was three of a kind, with Jacks beating everything.

An old French game similar to Brelan.

This was a curious three-handed game, played in seventeenth-century England, with 44 cards (lacking Twos and Threes). It involved tricks as well as Poker-like betting.

Its name is possibly derived from Glic, a French game mentioned in the sixteenth-century, and said to have been played as late as the nineteenth-century. See Cotton's Compleat Gamester.

This was a German member of the family, played by three to six players, with a 52-card pack.

After staking to compartments labelled A, K, Q, J, T, marriage, sequence, poch, players received five cards each, and a trump was turned.

The contents of A, K, Q, J and T compartments went to the holders of those trumps, or were carried forward if no one claimed. The holder of the King and Queen of trumps collected for the marriage as well, while the sequence went to the holder of the longest sequence, trumps winning if equal. Anyone with a pair or better then stayed in to compete for poch, with raising, staying or dropping, as at Poker. The best three of a kind won, or the best pair, if there was no three of a kind.

This was an Italian game, described by Cardano in the sixteenth century as 'the noblest of them all'. It was popular in England under Henry VIII and Elizabeth I (both keen players), and is said to be still played by Italian Americans.

Four play, with a 40-card pack carrying point values thus: Two = 12, Three = 13, Four = 14, Five = 15, Ace = 16, Six = 18, Seven = 21, court cards = 10 each.

Each player received four cards. Hands originally ranked from high to low: chorus = four of a kind, fluxus = flush, supremus = A-6-7 of one suit, primero = one card of each suit, numerus = two or three cards flush. As between equal hands, the one with the highest point count won.

Modern accounts describe play like Commerce, and omit the highest and lowest of the combinations described above.

From 'The Penguin Book of Card Games'
© David Parlett 1979

High-Card Brag is more a hand-ranking system than a game. As such, it can be applied to the games of Brag or Poker, in many of their forms or betting systems. The actual rules of play should be decided upon by the players beforehand.

The High-Card Brag hand-ranking system utilises a special pack of cards that offers a much wider range of scoring hands than in regular Brag or Poker. Consequently, there is a greater likelihood of more than one good hand being held by the players. This makes the betting more interesting, and increases the chances of a good hand winning a reasonably valuable pot.

a) One pack of 48 cards, consisting of Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten, 9, 8, 7 from a standard pack, plus an extra suit of Diamonds and Clubs. There are therefore six cards of each denomination: one in Spades, one in Hearts, two in Diamonds and two in Clubs;
b) Betting chips or cash.

A hand at High-Card Brag contains five cards. Spades and Hearts are the major suits; Diamonds and Clubs are the minor suits. Because there are twice as many Diamonds and Clubs as Spades and Hearts, scoring hands in the minor suits are more common, and therefore rank lower than their counterparts in the major suits.

There are thirty ranking hands, as shown in Table 1.

Because a Brag hand consists traditionally of three cards, the names of the hands assume a three-card hand, unless stated otherwise, e.g. Straight flush means a straight flush with three cards; Straight 4-flush means a straight flush with four cards; Straight 5-flush means a straight flush with five cards.

Rank	Name	Description	Example
1	Double prial flush	5 cards of same rank, with 2 doubles
2	Five of a kind	5 cards of same rank, (with 1 double)
3	Straight 5-flush (major)	5 cards of same major suit in sequence
4	Straight 4-flush (major)	4 cards of same major suit in sequence
5	Double double	2 doubles of same rank
6	Flush four of a kind	4 cards of same rank, 3 of same colour
7	5-flush (major)	5 cards of same major suit
8	Straight flush (major)	3 cards of same major suit in sequence
9	Double four of a kind	4 cards of same rank, with 1 double
10	Straight 5-flush (minor)	5 cards of same minor suit in sequence
11	Prial flush	3 cards of same rank and colour
12	Four of a kind	4 cards of same rank
13	4-flush (major)	4 cards of same major suit
14	Double prial	3 cards of same rank, with 1 double
15	Straight 4-flush (minor)	4 cards of same minor suit in sequence
16	Double pair	2 doubles of different ranks
17	Flush (major)	3 cards of same major suit
18	Prial	3 cards of same rank
19	Straight flush (minor)	3 cards of same minor suit in sequence
20	5-flush straight	5 cards of same colour in sequence
21	5-flush (minor)	5 cards of same minor suit
22	Double	2 identical cards
23	4-flush straight	4 cards of same colour in sequence
24	4-flush (minor)	4 cards of same minor suit
25	Flush straight	3 cards of same colour in sequence
26	Straight 5	5 cards in sequence
27	Flush (minor)	3 cards of same minor suit
28	Straight 4	4 cards in sequence
29	Straight	3 cards in sequence
30	Highest card(s)	Highest individual card(s)

Table 1                                Rank of hands in High-Card Brag

A three-card hand together with a double ranks above any three-card hand of the same class. For example,
(straight flush (major) with double) beats
(straight flush (major) without double).

Note that pairs have no value as a scoring hand in High-Card Brag. This is because it is no rarer to hold a pair than not to hold a pair. The lowest possible hand is therefore:

The cards rank in normal order, with Ace high, except that Ace can rank low to make a 3, 2, Ace straight. Unlike standard Brag, this counts as the lowest straight.

If two winning hands tie, the tie is broken by the next highest scoring combination that can be formed. For example,
beats
.
Both these hands are a straight flush (minor) of the same rank (A, K, Q). The next highest scoring combinations, however, are a 4-flush (minor) and a highest card respectively.

In the unlikely event that the denominations in the tying hands are identical, the major suits rank above the minor suits. For example,
beats
, because the Ten of Spades (major suit) ranks higher than the Ten of Diamonds (minor suit).

If the tying hands cannot be distinguished by any of these means, they share the pot.

© Steve Avery 1965