Foster's Complete Hoyle: An Encyclopedia of Games / Including all indoor games played to-day. With suggestions for good play, illustrative hands, and all official laws to date

by R. F. Foster

25. Incorrect Dealing. Should the dealer give any player more or fewer cards than he asks for, and the player discover the error before taking them up or seeing any of them, the dealer must withdraw the surplus card, and place it on the top of the pack. Should the dealer give a player fewer cards than he asks for, he must supply the deficiency when his attention is called to it, without waiting to supply the other players. Should the dealer give cards to any player out of his proper turn, he may correct the error if none of the cards have been seen; not otherwise.

26. The Last Card of the pack must not be dealt. When only two cards remain, and more than one is asked for, they must be mixed with the discards and abandoned hands, and the whole shuffled together, and presented to the pone to be cut. Discards of those who have yet to draw must not be gathered.

27. After the cards have been delivered by the dealer, no player has the right to be informed how many cards any player drew; and any person, bystander or player, volunteering the information, except the player himself, may be called upon to pay to the player against whom he informs an amount equal to that then in the pool. Any player who has made good the ante and drawn cards may, before making a bet, ask how many cards the dealer drew, and the dealer must inform him.

28. Betting After the Draw. The first player who holds cards on the left of the age must make the first bet, whether he has straddled or not. If he declines to bet he must abandon his hand. The fact that the age is not playing makes no difference, as his privilege cannot be transferred to any other player. Bets may vary in amount from one counter to the betting limit. If no player will bet, the age takes the pool without showing his hand; or, if he has passed out before the draw, the last player on his right who holds cards wins the pool.

29. Raising the Bets. Should any player make a bet, each player in turn on his left must either bet an equal amount or abandon his hand. Should any player bet an equal amount, he has the privilege of increasing the bet to any further sum within the betting limit. The players on his left must then either meet the total amount of the original bet and the raise, or abandon their hands. Any player meeting the amount already bet has the privilege of increasing it to any further amount within the limit, and so on, until no further raises take place. Any player whose bet has been raised must abandon his hand or meet the raise, with the privilege of raising again in return. Should one player make a bet or raise which no other player will see, he takes the pool without showing his hand, and the cards are shuffled and cut for the next deal.

30. Calling the Bets. As long as one player raises another’s bets, he gives that player the privilege of raising him again; but if a player who has made a bet is not raised, the others simply betting an equal amount, the first bettor is called, and all betting must cease. The players must then show their hands to the table, in order to decide which wins the pool.

31. Bets must be actually made by placing the counters in the pool, and no bet is made until the player’s hand has been withdrawn from the counters. Any counters once placed in the pool, and the owner’s hand withdrawn, cannot be taken down again, except by the winner of the pool.

32. Betting Out of Turn. Should any player bet out of his turn, he cannot take down his counters again if he has removed his hand from them. Should the player whose proper turn it was raise the bet, the player who bet out of turn must either meet the raise or abandon his hand, and all interest in that pool.

33. Mouth Bets. Any player stating that he bets a certain amount, but failing to put up the actual counters in the pool, cannot be called upon to make the amount good after the hands are shown, or the pool is won. If the players opposed to him choose to accept a mouth bet against the counters they have already put up, they have no remedy, as no value is attached to what a player says; his cards and his counters speak for themselves. Any player wishing to raise a mouth bet has the privilege of raising by mouth, instead of by counters; but he cannot be called upon to make the amount good after the hands are shown, or the pool has been won.