The aim is to arrange your 13 cards into three poker hands – two of five cards and one of three cards – which will beat the corresponding poker hands made by the other players.
There are four players, each playing for themselves. A standard 52 card pack is used.
Before playing it is necessary to agree on a stake.
Each player must divide their 13 cards into a “back” hand of 5 cards, a “middle” hand of 5 cards and a “front” hand of 3 cards. Considered as poker hands, the back hand must be better than the middle hand, and the middle hand must be better than the front hand. The standard poker ranking is used – so the hand types from high to low are: royal flush, straight flush, four of a kind, full house, flush, straight, three of a kind, two pairs, one pair, high card (see the page on ranking of poker hands). There are no wild cards.
Since the front hand has only 3 cards, only three hand types are possible: three of a kind; one pair; high card. There is no value in having a front hand with three consecutive cards or three cards of the same suit: “straights” or “flushes” in the front hand do not count.
Players place their three hands face down in front of them, the front hand nearest the centre of the table and the back hand nearest themselves.
When everyone is ready, all the players expose their three hands and each pair of players compares the corresponding hands. In the simplest system of payments, you win one unit for each corresponding hand of another player that you beat and lose one for unit each hand that beats you. When the hands are equal you neither win nor lose.