POKER PATIENCE.
This game, which has recently come into favour among card-players, consists essentially of the task of laying out twenty-five cards face upwards on the table, in five rows of five cards each. A full whist pack of 52 cards is shuffled and cut, and the cards are dealt by the player, one by one, in order from the top.
Each card, after the first, must be laid down, as it is dealt, next to one already on the table, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. That is to say, it must be placed immediately above, or below; to the right, or to the left; or corner to corner. The resultant oblong is considered as comprising ten Poker hands (of five cards each), five hands being reckoned horizontally (which we will call the rows) and five vertically (which we will call the columns). The object is to lay out the cards so that the aggregate total score of the ten Poker hands shall be as large as possible. The score-table is as follows (for definition of terms, see page 124):—
| Straight flush | 30 | Threes | 6 |
| Fours | 16 | Flush | 5 |
| Straight | 12 | Two pairs | 3 |
| Full | 10 | One pair | 1 |
(It will be noticed that the relative values differ from those in Poker proper.)
The game may be played by two or more players, each against all. Each player is provided with a separate pack. One is appointed dealer; his pack is shuffled and cut in the ordinary way. The packs of the other players should, for convenience, be sorted out previously into suits. As a card is dealt, the dealer names it aloud; each of the other players then selects the same card from his own pack. Every one uses his own judgment as to the laying-out of the cards; and when the twenty-five are all played, and the tableaux are complete, the total scored by each player is added up, and the losers pay the winners on an agreed scale.
Supposing five players have scored as follows.—
A, 87; B, 81; C, 78; D, 78; E, 65. A is paid 6, 9, 9, 22 points by B, C, D, E respectively. B is paid 3, 3, 16 points by C, D, E respectively. C and D are each paid 13 points by E. Thus A, B, C, D win 46, 16, 1, 1 points respectively; and E loses 64.
Or we may proceed by adding all the scores together (making 389), multiplying each player's score by 5 (the number of players), and paying for the differences, above or below the total. If we multiply each player's total, as given above, by 5, we get A, 435; B, 405; C and D, 390; E, 325. The differences (by excess or defect) between these and 389 give the same result as before.