Now we’re going to deal out some hands and play some Pan. These are typical hands containing the kinds of traps which we fall into if we aren’t careful. Get out your Pan deck and play along.

Rule of EIGHT PLAY; SEVEN WITH PAY shows me seven cards. I count the AH 2H 3H and the four bum sixes -- but I can’t really count the two 3 Clubs -- only one card could help them. I could also count 3H 3C 3C and the four sixes as my seven cards, and even though I wouldn’t have my pay as with AH 2H 3H, I would be close enough with three “bum” valles to play the hand. Five other players join in. My first catch is the 6S. I meld the three 6 Spades in a flash, but even though I could collect another chip for the heart one two three, I don’t meld them. I hold up the pay. The KC is my discard. Why didn’t I take the pay? I might catch a good three, and I would rather meld the three’s than the rope. As we have seen, when comparing three of a kind ropes, more cards help the three of a kind set. Any of the four cards of three would play on good threes, obviously, but only a 4H would play on the rope. I have about four times more chance to hit the threes. The chance I’m taking is that no one will go out before I hit my hand again, but it’s early in the game, so I take that risk. If someone were flat, or had two or three spreads, I wouldn’t take the risk. I would meld the AH 2H 3H along with the sixes.

It looks like I may have made a mistake -- I can’t catch a card, and the player in front of me draws a 3S. But instead of giving it to me, he goes down with 3C 3H 3S for a chip. That hurts two ways -- it costs me money, and it means that he won’t be helping me look for a three. He will use any that he finds. Fortunately for me, I draw a 3D over him, and meld 3D 3H 3C for one chip. I’m not happy about it as I would have been if the player in front of me had a different valle spread. The threes are “slowed up” for me -- he won’t give me any of them. I discard the…Wait a Minute. Let me show you what a cheater might do here -- he might figure that he can draw a 3H or 3C to allow him to get the AH 2H 3H down for another pay. He would “accidentally” discard a 6D! He has three 6’s, remember? He is not entitled to discard a 6. But the cheater will try, because he figures that he won’t be caught. No one pays close attention to the discards, he thinks. He’s wrong. We -- you and I -- would spot it right away. We’re Pan experts. As for me, I would toss away the AH. I would be on board with 3C 3D 3H and 6S 6S 6S. I would have 2S 3C 6D 6D left in my hand. My opponents wouldn’t know that three of my four cards fit with my spreads. That’s good -- I don’t want them to know. I next catch the 6H and throw the 2S. Finally, for a big payoff, the 3C comes my way (I can draw good cards even when the player in front of me has slowed me up). Do you see what the 3C does? It puts me out on a pay card. I paid only four chips out, so here is the rewarding total:

TNPanMan Comment: These examples are from Card Club rules without dealers. In the good old days, many clubs allowed the players to deal for themselves and a collection was taken every half hour from the player and not the Tops -- so a player would receive 8 Chips.

Online Panguingue is different from Card Room Pan since there can be no “Legal cheating.” A player cannot “sluff” a card that plays to their board to hold more useful cards. All cards that play to a player’s board are automatically forced!

Please note that Online Panguingue takes a “Rake” each hand based on the number of players and the Condition -- so a player does not receive 8 Chips for going out. For example: $5 Play Condition would take $3.50 off the top if there are 7 players.

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