Vegas Poker Blog

Pan poker, or officially panguinque poker, is really an offbeat variation of the standard game. Its origins are in the Orient, and its popular in both Florida and California. Very few casinos offer it and there are few online sites yet, but with poker gaining in popularity, youre bound to start seeing this one.

If you like gin rummy, this variation should satisfy because its all about melds.

Youre going to need eight decks of cards for this one ¦thats right, eight. First thing you do is take all the spades out of one deck. Then, you remove all the 8s, 9s, and 10s. You will have a total of 310 cards. That ought to be enough for a long night of poker, right?

Each player receives ten cards and then the rest of the deck is put in the middle of the table for draws. Each player can then decide to keep their hand and play, or slough their hand and sit it out.

Then each player in turn takes the top card of either the discard pile. A player can take from the discard pile only if the card was drawn from the stock by the preceding player, and can be immediately melded with the cards in the taker’s hand. When a player draws from the stock, he must meld the card or discard it. After a draw and before the discard, a player can meld as many sets as he holds or add to his existing melds. A player must drag a drawn card to his meld zone before any cards from his hand can be added to the meld zone. If a player uses a drawn card to build one or more melds, he must end his turn by discarding a single card from his hand. This is done by dragging the desired card from his hand to the discard pile. If he has no remaining cards in his hand to discard and has all 11 cards in valid melds, the hand is finished.

A few rules:

- A set consists of 3 or more cards of the same rank that are of only one suit or of at least three different suits

- Ace’s and King’s are an exception to this rule, which only need three of any suit

- Certain melds are conditions. On melding a condition, a player immediately collects chips from every other player. All 3’s, 5’s, and 7’s are called valle cards. The conditions are: A set of three same ranked but different suite valle cards collects a chip from each player. A set of three valle cards of a single suit collects 2 chips, 4 chips if the suit is spades. Also, 1 additional chip is collected for each additional valle card of the same suit added beyond the initial three cards,2 chips if the suit is spades. A set of three non-valle cards of a single suit collects 1 chip, 2 chips if the suit is spades. Also, 1 additional chip is collected for each additional non-valle card of the same suit added beyond the initial three cards, 2 chips if the suit is spades. A sequence starting with an Ace or ending with a King, e.g. (3, 2, A) or (K, Q, J), collects 1 chip, 2 chips if the suit is spades.

- A meld can be halfed by adding cards if each half forms a meld. If splitting a meld creates a condition, payment is collected. A player can take a card from a meld to complete a new meld, provided he leaves a valid meld. Example: From 7, 6, 5, 4, either the 7 or 4 may be borrowed, but not both.

- If the top of the discard pile can be added to a meld of a person playing in turn, he must take the card and meld it. The finish is when a player shows 11 cards in melds (10 cards plus his final draw card), he collects the value of all his conditions, plus two chips from each player and collects the tops pot.

- After the pot has been won, all the players put in chips for the next hand. The winner of the previous hand goes first.

This is an interesting game, and one, which would seem a very good candidate for online play. I suspect well start to see it more and more since the popularity for it is growing wildly. So stock up on decks and have a go at it!