User:Bermicourt/Card games/Färbeln

Färbeln or Einundvierzig ("Forty-one") is a banking game, similar to Poker, which comes from the Styria in Austria. It also goes under the names of Spitz, Zwei auf – zwei zu ("Two Up-Two Down") or Zwicken, not to be confused with a similar game of the same name played with three cards and different rules.

It appears to be the Danubian (Austro-Hungarian) equivalent of Hungarian Ferbli, Upper Saxon Grobhäusern and Silesian Scherwenzel.

History
Färbeln is mentioned as early as 1696 when it was one of a number of card games banned under a Viennese act.

Rules
Casinos Austria put together the following casino rules from various forms of the game; the traditional version appears not to have the combination of Points.

General
Einundvierzig is played by three to seven people using a 32-card French or Double German pack.

The pip cards from Seven to Ten count 7 to 10, the court cards Jack/Unter, Queen/Ober and King count 10 each and the Ace, 11.

During the course of a game, each player is dealt four cards. The aim is to score the highest card combination or, by skillful play, to persuade the other players to go out (as in Poker).

Card combinations
The combinations in Färbeln rank in the following order beginning with the highest:


 * Quartet. Four cards of the same rank. The highest hand is four Aces, followed by four Kings, etc.
 * Four Card Flush. Four cards of the same suit. If two players have a hand of four cards of the same suit, their card values are the decider. The highest possible hand is 41 points, from which one of the names of the game is derived. If a player has 41 points, he receives a special payment from the house.
 * Prial. Three cards of the same rank. The highest triplet is three Aces, followed by three Kings and so on.
 * Three Card Flush. Three cards of the same suit. If two players have a hand of threecards of the same suit, their card values are the decider. The value of the fourth card is immaterial.
 * Points. If a player has none of the aforementioned combinations, he adds the points of cards of the same rank or same suit. For example, if a play has A –  9 –  9 –  8, he can either score his hand based on the two Nines (18 points) or the two Hearts (20 points). Clearly, he will choose the higher point value.

If two players have the same combinations, the one nearest to forehand (left of the dealer) wins.

Ante
Before the game states each player placed an ante in the Pot, e. g. € 2.-. Forehand also places a stake corresponding to the split limit (€ 5 / € 10) that equals the amount of the lower limit (€ 5).

In a casino game, the cards are always dealt by a croupier, the role of forehand rotates clockwise after each deal. The player who is forehand is indicated by a triangular counter called a Spitz, similar to the dealer button in Texas Hold’em.

In private games the role of dealer rotates clockwise and the player immediately to the left of the dealer is forehand.

First round
Each player is dealt two cards, face down, and, beginning with the player left of forehand, decides whether to stay in the game and hold the stake of the preceding player or to fold. In the latter case he lays his cards face down and drops out of the current deal (c.f. Seven Card Stud – Betting or any of the Rams group games). A player can also raise the stakes by the amount of the lower limit. In one round of betting the stake may be raised a maximum of three times.

Second round
All players who choose to stay in the game (mitgegangen), are now dealt two more cards, face down, and, after inspecting their cards, place two of their four cards face up on the table, hence the name "Two Up-Two Down". A second round of betting follows in the manner of the first round.

Show down
If a player pays the stake without raising it, although entitled to do so, or if it has been raised three times with more than two players remaining in the game, there is a showdown (see Seven Card Stud - Showdown). The players reveal their cards, the croupier determines which is the highest hand and pushes the pot to the winner.

In a round of betting, if all but one drop out, the remaining player wins the pot and does not have to reveal his hand.

Tax
The casino takes a 'tax' of 5% from every pot, not exceeding a maximum limit adjusted to the respective split limit.

Note
The above description is based on the gaming rules of Casinos Austria that were extant at the time when the game was offered. However, these instructions are somewhat imprecise in terms of the exact handling of the betting rounds, the reference to Seven Card Stud - betting rounds is actually an interpretation of those rules.