CALABRASELLA
CALABRASELLA is played with what is now usually called the Spanish pack of 40 cards, but which was also the Italian pack, and the game might have come originally from the province of Calabria, in the extreme south of Italy. It is a game usually played for stakes.
NUMBER OF PLAYERS
Calabrasella is for three players, although four often play poker in rotation, the dealer giving no cards to himself, and sitting out the hand.
CARDS
The Spanish pack of 40 cards is used, made from the standard pack by discarding the 10s, 9s, and 8s. The remaining cards rank in the order 3,2, ace, King, Queen, Jack, 7,6,5,4. In the game the Ace is worth three points, the 3,2, King, Queen , Jack one point each.
Players draw for deal, the lowest dealing first. The deal thereafter passes in rotation of the left. Dealer deals 12 cards to each hand in twos. The four cards remaining are set aside face down to form a widow.
THE PLAY
The objects is to make containing poker cards of a counting value (see above). Players study their hands, and the player to the left of the dealer announces either ‘I play’ or ‘I pass’. Should he pass, the next player has the same option, and if he passes, the dealer. Should all pass, the hand is abandoned, but if any player announces ‘I play’, the play begins.
The player electing to play is called the player. He first specifies by suit any 3 not held in his hand. If either of the other players hold that 3 he must pass it to the Player, who may exchange for it any card he wishes from his own hand, not showing it to the third player. If the Player holds all four 3s, he may specify any 2, and so on. If the card he specifies is in the widow, no exchange takes place.
The Player next discards face down any number of cards from his poker hand from one to four (he must discard at least one). The widow is then exposed, and the player selects from it sufficient cards to restore his hand to 12 cards. The remainder, plus the Player’s discards, are set aside, and are later claimed by the winner of the last trick.
The game now becomes a trick-taking game, with the other two combining in a temporary partnership against the Player. He to the left of the player makes the opening lead, and may lead any card he likes.
The others follow in a clockwise direction, and are obliged to follows suit to the card led if able; if unable to they may discard. There are no trumps. The winner of a trick leads to the next.
The winner of the last trick takes the four cars not used in the poker tricks taking phase, and is also awarded a bonus of three points. As there are eight points in each suit, the total points available in each deal is 35.
The side which wins the majority of the points (18 or more) collects from the other side the difference in the two totals. If the player scores 20 points and his opponent 15, the Player receives five units from both opponents.
If the opponents, each would receive five units from the Player. The amount to be paid per point must obviously be agreed beforehand. The game can be played for recreation only by keeping a running profit and loss score with pencil and paper.
Calabrasella offers opportunities for skill. Much depends on the decision whether or not to play of prime importance are stoppers in all suits. Should one of the opponents be able to run off a long suit, the other will be able to discard high-scoring cards (Aces) on it.
Should the Player win all the cards in one suit, he might score only eight point from the tricks, whereas an opponent with the same cards will get scoring discards from his partner. The poker player can gain the advantage of calling in a 3, but should not relay on much from the widow.
In order to keep guards in each suit, he might not be able to discard more than two cards. It is important for him to remember which cards he discards, since only the Player knows which cards are not in play, and the thus which suits are short.
The disadvantage of playing against two players is a big one, and the commonest mistake is to play with too weak a hand.