Teen Patti Basic

This document will attempt to explain the basics of the game of teen pati also know as flush in some circles. This document can be called ‘Teen Pati for Dummies’ or ‘Varun’s Teach Yourself Teen pati in 30 minutes’.

The basic simple game without any variations or complications is called the ‘royal’ game. All other games are built upon this basic game. Now, in this game each player is dealt 3 cards. Then turn by turn players can bet some money in the center depending on how good their game is. Now, how to decide which game is better?
First, on the individual card level what is the order of priority amongst the cards?
The following is the order of cards Ace being the highest and 2 being the lowest:
Ace, King Queen, Jack, 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2
Further, the suits also have an ordering amongst them i.e. Spades is the highest followed by diamonds followed by clubs followed by hearts. Thus ace of spades is a higher card than ace of clubs. Ace of spades is the highest individual card possible and 2 of hearts is the lowest possible.
Now, that the individual card level is dealt with, we will look at the different combinations of games and their ordering.
The following are the different levels of games in decreasing order of priority i.e the higher priority games win over the lower priority ones:

Highest priority
• Trio i.e. all 3 cards of the same number i.e. 3 aces, or 3 kings
• Color Sequence i.e. 3 cards of the same suit and in sequential order e.g. 6, 7, 8 of spades.
• Simple Sequence i.e. 3 cards in sequential order but not necessarily of the same suit e.g. 6 of hearts, 7 of diamonds, 8 of clubs
Amongst sequences the highest sequence is Ace, 2 and 3. the next highest is Ace, King and Queen. After this are all sequences is order of the cards i.e. next is King, Queen and jack and then is Queen, Jack and 10 and so on.
• Color i.e. 3 cards of the same color (i.e. same suit), but not in sequential order e.g. 4, 6 and 8 of spades. Amongst the suites, as mentioned earlier the order is spades followed by diamonds followed by clubs followed by hearts
• Pairs i.e. 2 of the three cards of the same number e.g. 2 aces and a 7. The ordering here is based on the order of the paired card which is based on individual card ordering as described above. (i.e. when two ‘pair’ games are to be compared, then the one with the higher pair wins)
• Simple top card: if the cards have none of the possibilities above i.e. neither color nor sequence nor pair, then it is a simple ‘top card’ game i.e. the game is rated by the top card of the game i.e. an ‘ace top’ game is better than a ‘king top’ game. If the 2 top cards are same then the second highest card of the games is compared.
Lowest priority

This describes how to decide which 3 card game is higher in the ‘royal’ game.
Now to discuss some other rules like betting, blind , show and side-show.
Once the cards are dealt to each player, they have the option of either seeing their cards and betting money accordingly or betting money ‘blind’ i.e. without seeing their cards. The players who have seen their cards have to bet double the amount what the players who are blind are betting. At any time players can raise the stakes currently being bet e.g. if the current stake is 2 counters for seen, then a player can raise the stakes by betting 4 counters which means that the going stake will now be 4 counters and every subsequent player will have to play 4 counters if seen and 2 counters if blind. The option of playing blind is often a useful strategy, especially in some of the variations. There is certain limit set on how high the stakes can be raised. Usually, the max stake is 5 counters for blind and 10 counters for seen. There is also a limit how many rounds a player can go blind. Usually, the max number of blind rounds is 3, after which the players must see their cards.
How does the game terminate?
Players who do not want to play either because their game is bad or because the stakes are too high can ‘pack’ at any time which means quitting the game. Finally if there are only 2 players left either of them can call for a ‘show’ at their turn after putting the required money in the center as per the current stakes. At this point both the players show their cards and the player with the higher game wins and takes the money in the center. At the start of each game, the dealer has to put 2 counters in the center and every other player has to put one counter in the center. If there are 2 or more players still playing and none of them are saying ‘show’ or ‘packing’ then the rule is that after 3 rounds of no change in the stakes being bet, a table show is initiated. If 2 or more players have exactly equal games (this can happen is some variations if both players have all jokers) then it is up to the players to decide how to split the tie: the 2 usual options are to either share the money or have a ‘open flush’ that decides the winner. An open flush is nothing but a simple royal game, but there is no additional betting involved, each player is given 3 cards open on the table. In many joker-based variations, the way we played is a game of all 3 jokers is considered higher than all 3 pure aces. This is because more number of jokers means the variation was fully exploited. Another rule is something called ‘side-show’ where the player can ask for a side-show with the player immediately after him in the playing order…the next player may or may not agree to this side-show. If he agrees, then the two players compare their games and the player with the lower game will have to pack. None of the rest of the players get to see their games. In a side-show, normally the player asking for a side-show pays the current stake and then calls for a side-show. However, if the 2 players agree they can both split the stake between by both paying half and half of the current stake and then comparing their games. Also, the tricky thing about calling for a side-show is that in case the 2 players have exactly equal games, then the player who called for a side-show has to be the one to pack his game.