What do you think? Rule of EIGHT PLAY: SEVEN WITH PAY always first. Eight cards play out of the ten; the three two’s, the pair of three’s, and the “pat” rope, 7D JD QD. That means Go. Five other players are on, making a high total of six playing the hand. We can’t afford mistakes now! Look what happens if we get a black Queen. We have seven working cards out of ten -- not eight. We create an extra discard for ourselves. If we keep the 7D JD QD rope together we have the KC and the QH to discard. If we take a black Queen, we have three discards -- the KC, the JD and the 7D. First mental note on this hand -- don’t slow it up by taking a black Queen.
Second mental note -- don’t meld the 7D JD QD when a good 2 or 3 comes along -- best to hold it up unless the KD, a pay card, shows up. I would sure hate to throw my 3’s away when I hit the bottom of the rope with the 6D and the 5D and if I put the diamond rope down, I have to take those cards if they come.
So, here we go. First hit is a 2H. Hello there! One Chip, please, for three 2’s of one suit. I keep the rope concealed, as I planned, and I also hold the 2C in my hand. I expose only the minimum necessary to collect my pay. Discard? KC -- that’s easy. And here’s my second hit -- the 2D. I sure wish it had been the 3D -- I’d get those three’s down for money. My discard is the QH. Now, if I can catch a red 3, I bust out for five lovely chips. I now have one spread, 2D 2H 2H 2H and I have six good looking cards in my hand -- 2C 3C 3S, 7D JD QD. Ready for the third hit? It’s another 2D. That wasn’t in the script -- I was supposed to get a red three. What now? I can’t discard the 2C; it plays on my spread. I certainly don’t break up the 7D JD QD -- its foolish to tear up a good spread. In this case it would create three extra discards. So it is one of those 3’s that must go. Do you grab the one closest to your thumb or do you check to see if it matters which one you discard? Take a close look. First, the Spade: Does it fit with the 2’s? Can you make a spade rope using 2C 2D 2D 2H 2H 2H? Obviously not. But the 3C is another matter. The 2C works with this card, and a AC or 4C will put us out. Discard the 3S. Look at this next draw -- 4C -- and we are out. The AC would have put us out on a good one, but let’s not be greedy -- we did win the hand after all. Three chips, please. Five players competed against me, and assume that each of them got down for a one-chip pay. Here’s how we came out on the hand:
We collected 1 from each player for the 2H’s and three when we went out……........................................................................................20 Chips
We paid out 1 chip ante + 5 chips to the players……................6 Chips
We collected 8 antes………………………..................................8 Chips
22 Chips net gain on the hand.
