Each player begins with an agreed number of units, usually three. The dealer deals one card face downwards to each player. The object of the game is to avoid being left with the lowest card.

The player on the left of the dealer begins the game. He may either retain his card or offer it to his left-hand neighbor with the command ‘Change’. There is no choice about it. The player so commanded must exchange cards with his right-hand neighbor unless he holds a King, when he says ‘King’, and the game is continued by the player on his left.

When an exchange has been made, the poker player who has been compelled to do so may pass on the card he has received in the same way, and so on, clockwise round the table, until the card is brought to a half either by a King or by a player receiving a high card in exchange, so that he has nothing to gain by passing it on.

Any player giving an Ace, 2 or 3 in obedience to the command ‘Change’ must announce the rank of the card.

The dealer is last to play, and if he wishes to exchange his card, he does so by cutting the remainder of the pack and taking the top card of the cut.

If in doing this he draws a King he loses the hand and contributes one unit to the pool. If he does not draw a King, all the players expose their cards and the one with the lowest contributes one unit to the pool. If two or more tie for lowest card, all contribute to the pool.

When a player has contributed all his units to the pool, he retires from the poker game. The others continue, and the game is won by he who is left with at least one unit in hand.

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Games for Five or More Players