Belle, Flux et Trente-et-Un, is an historical,

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

that was widespread in France and Germany during the 17th and 18th centuries. As a relative of Brag and

Poch Poch, Pochen or Pochspiel () is a very old card game that is considered one of the forerunners of poker, a game that developed in America in the 19th century. An etymological relationship between the game names is also assumed. Games related to P ...

, from which the game of

Poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

developed, it is of cultural-historical interest. The game is also called Les Trois Jeux ("The Three Games") or, in German, Dreisatz ("Triple Stake") or Belle, Fluss und Einunddreißig ("Belle, Flush and Thirty One"). Meanwhile Parlett records it as Best, Flush and Thirty-One.

Rules

The following rules are taken from Lacombe (1800):Lacombe (1800), pp. 7–8.

Overview

The game is played by two to twelve players with a pack of 52

French playing cards French-suited playing cards or French-suited cards are playing cards, cards that use the French Playing card suit, suits of (clovers or clubs ), (tiles or diamonds ), (hearts ), and (pikes or spades ). Each suit contains th ...

; in addition three coin dishes are needed for the three stakes. Before the start of the game, players agree how many deals or how long they will play for. Then each player puts an agreed amount of money into each of the three baskets (''paniers''). Like Poch, Belle, Flux et Trente-et-Un is a compound game of 3 parts, hence the names ''Dreisatz'' ("Triple Stake") and ''Les Trois Jeux'' ("The Three Games").

Belle

Once the stakes have been placed, each player is dealt 2 cards, face down, and 1 card, face up. The player who has the highest upcard, the so-called ''Belle'', wins the first deal and the contents of the first basket. The ranking of the cards is as in

Écarté Écarté () is an old French casino game for two players that is still played today. It is a trick-taking game, similar to whist, but with a special and eponymous discarding phase; the word ''écarté'' means "discarded". Écarté was popular in ...

with the

Ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or a club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ...

between the

Jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, incl ...

and Ten: :King – Queen – Jack – Ace – Ten – Nine – ... – Two If two or more tie with the highest cards, there is no winner and the stakes remain in the basket for the next deal.

Flux

In the second deal, ''Flux'', the winner is the player who has the highest-value flush. A flush is a hand of three cards of the same

suit A suit, also called a lounge suit, business suit, dress suit, or formal suit, is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles generally worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt su ...

. In this phase, the Ace is the highest card. If two or more players have a flush, the card points are added and the highest-value flush wins. For this, the Aces counts as 11 points, the

court card A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and administer justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law. Courts gene ...

s 10 each, and the

pip card Pip, PIP, Pips, PIPS, and similar, may refer to: Common meanings * Pip, colloquial name for the star(s) worn on military uniform as part of rank badge, as in the British Army officer rank insignia or with many Commonwealth police agencies * The s ...

s score from 2 to 9 depending on their natural value. If there is a tie, or if no player has a flush, the stakes remain in the basket for the next game. Unlike the game of Poch, there is no betting on the highest combination, as subsequently became typical for Poker. There is also no option to

bluff Bluff or The Bluff may refer to: Places Australia * Bluff, Queensland, Australia, a town * The Bluff, Queensland (Ipswich), a rural locality in the city of Ipswich * The Bluff, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a rural locality * Bluff River (New ...

Trente-Un

Finally, in the third deal each player attempts, by exchanging cards if necessary, to score 31 points, or to get as close to 31 points as possible (cf.

Vingt-et-Un Twenty-one, formerly known as vingt-un in Britain, France and America, is the name given to a family of popular card games of the gambling family, the progenitor of which is recorded in Spain in the early 17th century. The family includes the cas ...

, and the third round of Brag). The player who comes closest to 31, wins the contents of the third basket. If there is a tie, the stake is carried forward to the next deal. The modern casino game of Black Jack was developed from this contract via '' Trente-et-Un'' and ''

''.

Notes

References

Literature

*''Meyers Konversationslexikon'' of 1888 *''Brockhaus Konversationslexikon'' 1894/96 *Friedrich Anton: ''Encyklopädie der Spiele'', Leipzig, 1889 *Jacques Lacombe: ''Encyclopédie méthodiques. Dictionnaire des jeux'', p. 7 , 1800 *

Parlett, David David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association. Life David Sidney Parlett was bo ...

(1990). ''The Oxford Guide to Card Games'', Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York * Ludovici, Carl Günther (1735). ''Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon aller Wissenschafften und Künste.'' Vol. 9 (F). Halle and Leipzig: Johann Heinrich Sedler. * {{Historical card games 17th-century card games Gambling games French card games German card games French deck card games Vying games