An example deal is shown in the illustration. Dealer is South. None of the players has a very strong poker hand, but East, with prospects of making four tricks himself (with ♥ K, Q, J, and ♠ A, and a possible small trump on a diamond lead) and also of taking the cachette, decides to take a chance and double. South does No-Trumps redouble.

West, assuming that his partner holds ♥ A, is tempted to lead the Joker immediately and score his side 25 points, but luckily decides it would be more prudent to wait until he knows his partner is certain to win a trick.

So he can do no better than lead an unadventurous spade. In view of North’s spade holding, this works beautifully for East, who is able to score a Quint on the first lead.

Play proceeds as follows:

East’s double was fully justified, as by making sure of the last trick he picked up the cachette, making seven tricks to six in his side’s favour. The last poker trick also contained a Quint, the ♣ 5. Eight Quints were scored. To East/West: Joker; ♥ 5; ♣ 5; ♠ 5; ♦ A, 4; ♠ A; 4; total 80 points. To North/south : ♦ 5; ♣ A, 4; total 25.

So on the first hand, East/West, with tricks worth ten points each, made a total of 150 points to North/ South’s 85.

QUINTO FOR THREE PLAYERS

Quinto is one four-handed game which can be played very well by three: indeed some people prefer the game with three. Two players play in partnership against a third. Dealer is decided by the method described above, and the first dealer is the player with the dummy, and he remains the player with the dummy for the whole game.

The dummy is the hand opposite him, his occonents sitting either side of him and dummy. After the first hand, the deal passes clockwise.

The dealer, on the first hand, must look at his dummy hand first, and can double or redouble either of his opponents on the strength of it. He cannot double or redouble on his own hand, because he will by then have seen both his online poker hands.

Similarly, when one of his opponents deals, the player with the dummy must look first at the hand which will lead to the first trick, and can double on it but any doubling or redoubling must be completed before the player with the dummy looks at his second hand.

Before the lead to the first trick, the dummy is displayed on the table, and the player with the dummy operates both his hands.

Because the player with dummy is regarded as having an advantage, his opponents are given a start of 25 points towards game. Each game is regarded as separate (i.e. rubbers are No-Trumps played ) and it is usual to play poker games in sets of three, so that each player has a turn to have the dummy.