HOW TO PLAY?

Truco is a popular card game played in Southamerica. Of the several variants known of Truco, this is the Argentinean way of playing it. Each player gets three cards per deal, and plays them out in tricks.

The main objective of the game is to win 30 points. There are three ways of scoring points:

Flor, which is a hand of three cards of the same suit; If no one has Flor, points may be scored for Envido - a combination of two cards in a suit, or failing that, a single card;

In addition to Flor or Envido, points are scored for the Truco, which involves taking the majority of the three tricks, or the first trick if one trick is possible for a player who has Flor to pick his best two cards and bet on Envido instead of Flor, on the chance of getting more points. Bets on Flor or Envido are made during the first trick, while bets on Truco can be made at any time. If a player has no interest in the Flor or Envido can immediately bet on the Truco.

However, if another player wants to bet on the Flor or Envido, they will have to do so before answering the Truco bet.

The player who has to call the bet, in order to win more points or get the opponent to fold in the following terms, can raise bets:

Flor: When a player bets on flor (3pts) the opponent has the chance to answer Contra Flor (6pts), or Contra Flor al Resto, worth the points the player who is ahead in the game needs to get to 30. If the answering player raises to Contra Flor (6pts), the first one might raise to Contra Flor al Resto. 

Envido: Players who are to call a bet on envido, can raise the bet by betting Real E eating envido (2 extra pts. for each repetition), and Falta Envido, which are the points the player who is ahead in the game needs to get to 30;

Truco: when answering to truco a player can raise by betting Retruco (3pts), which allows the first player who bet on truco to raise to Vale Cuatro (4pts). 

In Envido, the first bet can be Envido as well as Real Envido or Falta Envido. In Flor the first bet must always be flor, although the answering player might raise directly to Contra Flor al Resto. However, in truco the first bet must always Truco, which can only be raised to Retruco and then Vale Cuatro.

When a player folds to a bet, the other player gets a point, and if the bet has been raised, the player loses the points worth the previous bet accepted; ie.: Retruco, he loses Truco (2pts); in Envido raised to Real Envido, he loses Envido points. It usually takes several deals to reach 30 points or more, which mark the end of the game.

The ranking of the cards is, from highest to lowest, the following: