Each succeeding player, including and ending with the [34] dealer, has, in his turn, the same privilege. He must either reject his cards and not play until the next deal, or accept them and stake a sum at least equal to that staked by his predecessor.
It is not advisable for any player to increase the stake on this first round, since to do so would probably cause succeeding players with moderate hands to reject their cards and not stake. The dealer or last player frequently, however, raises the stake with the object of inducing ante, who may hold a weak hand, to relinquish his initial stake.
Ante is the last to look at his cards, or in other words, has the last say.
If he pass, i.e. elect not to play, he throws his cards, face downwards, on the table, and retires from the game until the next deal, losing his original stake. If he accept his cards and elect to play, he must make his stake at least equal to that of the player on his right.
If the ante has been straddled, the player to the left of the straddler (or of the last straddler, if there be more than one) has the say, i.e. has the option of beginning the betting before the draw. He may, after looking at his cards, either
(a) Throw them, face downwards, on the table, and elect not to play. (b) Accept them and “open the game.”
If he open the game, he must stake a sum at least equal to double the ante and straddles together, and he may also, if he choose, stake a further sum not exceeding the limit. Whichever he elect to do, the say afterwards passes to the player at his left hand, who has a similar option; and so on round the table. The last straddler has thus the last say.
Beginning with ante, or with the first player on the left of the dealer, each player may then exchange all or any number of the cards he holds for others from the remainder [35] of the pack. He must first throw on the table, face downwards, the number of cards he wishes to exchange (this is called “discarding"), and the dealer then gives him an equal number from the top of the pack. Before exchanging any of his cards, however, each player must make his stake equal to that of ante, or of the last player.
It is not compulsory for a player to exchange all or any of his cards; but he must exercise or relinquish the privilege of doing so when his turn comes, once for all; and he cannot afterwards modify his choice, nor take back any card or cards he may have discarded.
Whether he exchange any of his cards, or whether he retains the hand first dealt out to him, each player must make his stake equal to that of ante, or of the last player, so that when all players have been supplied with, or refused, new cards, the stakes are all equal, and are all placed in the pool.