Hoyle's Games, Improved And Enlarged - online book

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( 68 )
COMMERCE.
Of this game there are two distinct methods of playing, the new and the old mode. The new way is played by any number of persons, from three to twelve, with a complete pack of 52 cards, bearing the same import as at whist, only the ace is reck­oned as eleven. Every player has a certain quantity of counters, on which a fixed value is put, and each, at every fresh deal, puts down one for the stake. Sometimes the game is continued, or not finished, till one of the players has lost all the counters given at the commencement; but in order to prevent it from being spun out to an unpleasant length, or concluded too soon, it is often customary to fix the duration to a deter­minate number of tours, or times, so that the whole party shall deal once each completely round.
After determining the deal, the dealer, styled also the banker, shuffles the pack, which is to be cut by the left-hand player; then three cards, either altogether or one by one, at the dealer's pleasure, are given to each person, beginning on the right hand, but none are to be turned up. If the pack prove false, or the deal wrong, or should there be a faced card, there must be a fresh deal. There are three degrees or ranks in this game. The first, which takes place of all others, is what is called the tricon, or three cards of the same denomination, similar to pair royal at cribbage ; the next in rank is the sequence, or three follow­ing cards of the same suit, like tierce at piquet: and the last, the point, being the greatest number of pips on two or three cards of a suit in any one
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