Truco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Truco is a popular trick-taking card game played in South America. It is played using a reduced Spanish deck (only 40 cards are used, 8s, 9s and jokers are removed from the deck), by two, four or six players. When played by four or six players, they are divided into two teams.
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[edit] Overview
Each player is dealt three cards from a subset of the deck consisting of the numbers 1 to 7 and figures sota (jack, worth 10), caballo (equivalent to a queen, worth 11) and rey (king, worth 12).
The most common form of the game is the four-player version, in which there are two teams of two players, who sit opposite each other. For six players, there are two teams of three players, with every second player on the same team.
The game is played until a team (or player if played by 2) finishes a game with 30 points or more. The 30 points are commonly split into two halves, the lower half called malas (bad) and the higher half called buenas (good). Therefore a team with 8 points would be ocho malas (8 malas), and a team with 21 points would be seis buenas (6 buenas). However, because both teams can score points in one round, it is possible (but very rare) for both teams to go over 30 points in one round. Usually as soon as one team goes over 30 points, the game is ended, to stop there being a tie situation. However, sometimes the winner is the one with more points, otherwise another hand is played, until the tie is broken.
The exciting part of the game comes from the bidding process. Each type of scoring can be bid on to score your team more points. Bids can be accepted, rejected or upped. Bluffing and deception is an integral part of the game.
[edit] Card Ranking
- Ace of spades (Ancho de espadas)
- Ace of clubs (Ancho de basto)
- 7 of spades (Siete de espadas)
- 7 of gold (Siete de oro)
- 3s
- 2s
- 1 of cup and 1 of gold (Anchos falsos)
- Kings (12s)
- Knights (11s)
- Sotas (10s)
- 7 of cups and 7 of clubs (Sietes falsos)
- 6s
- 5s
- 4s
[edit] Mano and Pie
In Truco, there are two concepts concerning which player begins the round and who is the last. The mano ("hand") is the one that plays first and the pie ("foot"), the dealer, is the last to play. The mano is always the player on the right of the pie. The turn to deal is then passed counterclockwise, so the mano of the first round is the pie of the second and so on. If playing in teams, partners sit opposite each other.
Mano and pie can also refer, when playing in teams of two, which player of the partnership plays before and which after. This has no significance in the game, as the playing is always done anticlockwise. But it has strategic significance since the pie of a team is traditionally considered the "captain" of the partnership during that round.
[edit] Structure of the game
Players can earn points in three different ways. These will be further developed below in special sections for each one.
- Truco: points can be earned by winning in the playing of the cards (the "tricks").
- Envido: points can be earned by having the best combination of two cards of the same suit or a single card.
- Flor: points may be earned by having all three cards of the same suit.
The score won by a player is added to his team's score (when playing in teams). Any bet, win, loss, or surrender by a player also affects his partner/s. For this reason, partnerships are usually formed by mutual arrangement between two players who know each other very well. As in bridge, it is not rare for partners to share information using preestablished signs and gestures.
[edit] The Truco
The playing of the cards is done thus: the mano leads to the first trick (each round has three tricks) by playing one card. Then, anticlockwise, each other player plays one card. The player with the highest card (according to the ranking shown above) wins the trick. The cards remain face-up on the table until the round is finished.
Sometimes it happens that there is no single highest card, but a tie between two or more cards. If these tied cards were played by the same team, that team wins the trick. If that is not the case, the trick is called a draw, parda. The same mano then leads the next trick.
By winning two of three tricks, one wins a round, equivalent to one point. If a team wins the first two tricks, the third is not played. But if one of the games ended in a parda, the team that won the earlier of the other two tricks wins (e.g. If trick 1 was won by A, trick 2 was won by B, and trick 3 was a draw, A wins the round for having won the earlier trick. If trick 1 is drawn and trick 2 is won by B, the winner of the round is B and a third trick is not played). In the case of two pardas, the winner of the remaining trick wins the round. In case of three pardas, the mano wins the round.
During play, there are multiple opportunities to raise the stakes of the round.
- Truco: Any player can call truco at any stage of the round to increase the value of the round to 2 points for the winner team. To accept the bet, the challenged team says quiero. If not, no quiero, and the round ends there, so the challenger team wins one point and a new round begins.
- Retruco: The team that answered quiero to the truco can call retruco to increase the value of the round to 3 points. It may be said immediately after truco or after having accepted the bet. The other team must answer with quiero or no quiero. If the answer is no quiero, the round ends there and the team that called retruco wins 2 points.
- Vale cuatro: The team that answered the retruco can say this immediately after the retruco or after accepting it. This makes the round worth 4 points and is the highest bet made in Truco. If the challenged team refuses the bet, the team that called vale cuatro wins the round and scores 3 points.
Truco must be accepted explicitly: if truco is said, the only way to accept it is by saying quiero. To call retruco immediately, it is necessary first to say quiero (and the same is true when calling vale Cuatro).
[edit] Envido
Before playing the first card, any player can call for an Envido bet, which gives points to the team (or player, in case playing between two players) that has the highest pair of cards of the same suit. There are three types of Envido bets: Envido (2 points worth), Real Envido (3 points worth) and Falta Envido (it is worth the amount of points the leading team or player needs to win the game).
It is important to know that Envido bets have precedence before Truco bets. If one team calls Truco, and then the other calls Envido, the last must be completed (accepting, increasing or declining it) before the Truco.
When Envido is said, the challenged team/player can answer in any of these ways:
- Quiero: accepts to take the bet.
- Envido: accepts the 2 points of the first Envido and proposes to raise the bet by 2 points.
- Real Envido: accepts the 2 points of the first Envido and proposes to raise the bet by 3 points.
- Falta Envido: accepts the 2 points of the first Envido and proposes to raise the bet into the amount of points the winning team/player needs to reach 30 points (= 15 buenas).
- No quiero: refuses to take the last bet. Thus, the challenger team/player earns 1 point if there were no raisings, or the amount of points that were accepted (e.g. Envido-Real Envido-No quiero is 2 points worth).
For Real Envido, the answers are the same, excepting Envido (because it would "lower" the bet). For Falta Envido, the answers are also the same as in Envido, excepting Envido and Real Envido (that leaves only Quiero and No quiero).
Quiero and No quiero close the bet and after one of that, no other Envido bet can be opened. In the cases where the bet is ended with Quiero, a comparison of the pairs (puntos de envido = "score of envido") is performed to see which team/player has the highest and wins the bet. The puntos de envido are calculated according to these rules:
- The score of a pair of the same suit is the sum of the values of the cards + 20, but considering that the King (12s), the Knights (11s) and Sotas (10s) are worth 0.
- If the player has no suit pair, then his puntos de envido is the value of his highest card, wth Kings, Knights and Sotas worth 0.
- If playing without Flor, in case of having three cards of the same suit, the puntos de envido are those of the highest pair of the hand.
The puntos de envido are told from the mano to the dealer player anticlockwise. In case of a tie between two or more players, the earliest (i.e. the one most on the left among the tied players) has preference. Any player, in case of having a bad envido can surrender without revealing information of his cards to the other team/player by saying Son buenas ("They're good"). To say this when playing in teams, is to surrender on behalf of the team. It is usual that when playing in teams, while telling the puntos de envido, the partner of the player that had said the highest envido can remain silent unless someone of the other team says a higher envido. Then, that player that remained silent will have to say either his score for the envidos (if his/her is higher) or Son buenas to recognize the defeat.
[edit] Flor
In Argentina, Truco is usually played without Flor "flower" (called Sin Flor, or Sin Jardinera "without gardenmaid").
To have a Flor is to have three cards of the same suit in the hand. When playing with flor, any player having one must be announced or a penalty (see below) is risked. The player having the best Flor wins 3 points for each Flor announced. On the other hand, if a player has no Flor, that player cannot announce a Flor (on the contrary to Envido, where any player having or not the pair of the same suit can announce it).
The call for Flor can only be made before playing the first card, by simply saying Flor. Then, any other player having flor must announce his own (the playing of cards is suspended, so players without flores should wait until the bet is over), going anticlockwise and by saying any of this possible answers:
- Flor: A simple announcement. If nothing more is said, the team having the best Flor scores 3 points for each Flor announced this way or by an accepted Contraflor (see below).
- Con flor me achico: You announce you have Flor, but surrender on behalf of the team. The Flor bet is closed and the opponent team scores 3 points for their Flores and 1 for your surrender.
- Contraflor: You announce your Flor and challenge the opponent team to answer (see below).
- Contraflor al resto: You announce your Flor and propose to raise the bet to the amount of points the leading team needs to win the game plus 3 for each Flor.
After calling Contraflor, the challenged team must answer by one of these:
- Con flor quiero: the challenged team confirms that each Flor will be three points worth.
- Con flor me achico: The same as above, when answering a simple Flor.
- Contraflor al resto: See above.
After Contraflor al resto, the answers are:
- Con flor quiero: Accepts to raise the bet to the amount of points the leading team needs to win plus 3 per each Flor.
- Con flor me achico: See above.
After the bet has been closed by saying con flor quiero or con flor me achico, players announce the flores. The comparison between Flores is done similarly as in Envido: the values of the three cards are added up plus 20 (Aces to 7 are worth the face value and Sotas, Knights and Kings, 0). When two flores have the same suit, the one of that player playing earlier (counting anticlockwise, as usual in Truco) has precedence. If an earlier player announces a better flor than the one you have, it is usual to say Son buenas, admitting defeat but without unnecessarily revealing infornation about your cards. At the end of the hand, the flores must be shown.
As all bettings in Truco, each Flor (or surrender) is made on behalf of the team.
[edit] Pedir Flor
This is a penalty for those players that, having a Flor, didn't announce it. If a player suspects that another one is hiding a Flor, he/she can challenge this player by saying Pido flor. In the case that the player had actually a Flor, the challenger team earns three points. But, if the challenged player shows at least two different cards, his/her team earns one point.
[edit] Pica Pica
In a game of 6, sometimes Pica Pica is also played. When players get their cards, instead of playing the 2 teams of 3, each confronted pair of players of different teams play a game, adding the resulting points to their teams. Usually Pica Pica played is every other game, but only if a team has 5 or more points, and no team has more than 20. Pica Pica is also known as Punta y Hacha.
[edit] Truco in Brazil
Truco is also a popular game in Brazil, with many regional variations, some similar to the Spanish counterparts, although the most known version features a considerably particular set of rules.
Truco in Brazil is mostly associated to college culture and lifestyle. The custom of students sitting on a table to play the game while drinking alcoholic beverages has become a stereotype itself, in such a way that it has even been featured proeminently in advertising campaigns.
Among the most notable differences, the Brazilian Truco has a maximum score of 12 points, the card ranking puts 3s, 2s and Aces above the 7s, bids are worth 3 points (with rebids being worth multiples of 3). In some regions, only 28 cards are used: Kings, Queens, Jacks, Aces, 2s, and 3s, and the "manilhas" (from lowest to highest, 7 of Gold, Ace of Spades, 7 of Hearts, and 4 of Clubs, also called the Zap). In other regions, 40 cards are used (all except 8, 9 and 10). Other variations include a trumph card being chosen at the start of each round ("Ponto Acima", or "Truco Paulista"; the variation with predetermined manilhas being called "Manilha Velha", or "Truco Mineiro"), being the highest card during its course, when a new one is chosen. A trumph card is also ranked by its suit, meaning that two trumphs in play will never lead to a tie.
[edit] Señas
Señas are gestures that are used among players of the same team to tell the pie (hand captain) their most valuables cards or if they have good score for a potential envido situation. The most generally accepted señas are as follows:
- Ancho de Espadas (Ace of spades) - Both eyebrows up
- Ancho de Bastos (Ace of clubs) - Wink
- Siete de Espadas (Seven of spades) - With lips closed, slightly move the right side to the right
- Siete de Oro (Seven of gold) - With lips closed, slightly move the left side to the left
- Tres (Any three) - Slowly and gently move the lower lip inside and take it back out slightly bitting it with the two front teeth
- Dos (Any two) - With lips closed, move them to the outside as if they were simulating a kiss. The lips remaining closed all the time.
- Ancho Falso (Ace of coup and ace of gold) - Mouth open for few seconds.
- High score for envido - Shrink the middle of the face in such a way that the skin of the nose shrinks too.
- Low or no score for envido - Both eyes closed.
Performing the señas during the game is a skill that takes time to master since the player has to be very careful not to be seen by players of the opposite team.
[edit] Jargon
There are lots of informal expressions that have become part of the art of playing the game. Examples of Jargon are described below:
- Estar cargado (to be loaded) - to have high score for a potential envido or to have a good hand for truco.
- Vení (come) - this is said to a player by the pie (team captain) in order to ask him to play his lowest card.
- Vení acá (come here) - this is said to a player by the pie (team captain) in order to ask him to play his lowest card because he (the pie) supposedly has a good card to win the hand.
- Andá allá (go there) - this is said to a player by the pie (team captain) in order to ask him to play his lowest card because some other player has a good card to win the hand.
- Estoy seco (I'm dry) - this is said by a player to specify that he either has no points for envido or good cards to win the hand.
- No ha venido - This is said in response to an envido when the player wants to refuse it.
[edit] External links
- Truco at Card Games website (a tutorial)
- Another tutorial
- Truco Rules (Spanish)
- From Uruguay - Truco (English)
