Post and Pair
Encyclopedia
Post and Pair, is a 16th century English gambling card game
based on the same three-card combinations, namely Prial, found in related game of this family. It is much depended on vying, or betting, requiring repeated staking as well as daring on the part of the players. It is considered a derivative on the game of Primero
and closely resembles Put
, having been as popular as Gleek and Noddy
during the Tudor Dynasty
.
. Due to its gaming mechanics and resemblance with Primero and its variants, it is easily implied that Post and Pair evolved into a faster-paced card game with the addition of rules borrowed from neighboring games, like the Tudor game of "Post", attested by the Oxford English Dictionary from the early 16th to the 17th centuries, which may have survived longer in local versions.
Charles Cotton
in his 1674 The Complete Gamester, mentions that Post ad Pair was particularly popular in the west of England, as well as All-Fours
was popular in Kent and Fives
in Ireland. And if Francis Willughby
gives no rules for the game, Holme and Cotton describe it as a three-stake game almost identical to a variation of Brag
called Three-card brag, or Three-stake Brag.
The second stake becomes the property of the player with the best hand. A Pair-royal of Aces is the best hand, and next, a Pair-royal of any three cards according to their value: three Kings, three Queens, three Knaves, etc. If no one has a Pair-royal, the highest pair wins, and next to this, the hand that holds the highest cards.
The third stake goes to the player with the best pair or cards totaling, or most approaching , twenty-one points, that is, two Tens and an Ace, and court cards counting as ten. Any player whose cards fall short of that number is entitled (in due turn) to receive a card or cards from the stock, in the hope of amending his points, but if he overdraws he is out of the game.
The eldest hand may pass and come in again, if any of the gamesters vye it. If not, the dealer may plead it out, or double it..
, a novel written by François Rabelais
in the 16th century.
Shakespeare mentions the name of the game as well in a dialogue between the character Rosaline and the Princess of France in a conversation about Berowne, one of the lords attending the King Ferdinand of Navarre, in one of his lost plays Love's Labour's Lost
, written in the mid-1590s.
In Ben Jonson's Masque of Christmas, the card game of Post and pair is introduced as one of his children, thus characterizing him as a Knave. According to the A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, obsolete phrases and ancient customs of the Fourteenth century, by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, written in 1868, Pur is the name given to the Knave or Jack in the game of Post and Pair. It seems to be formed by an abbreviation of pair-royal corrupted into "purrial", hence pair-royal has since been further corrupted into prial.
Card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games...
based on the same three-card combinations, namely Prial, found in related game of this family. It is much depended on vying, or betting, requiring repeated staking as well as daring on the part of the players. It is considered a derivative on the game of Primero
Primero
Primero, Prime, Primus, Primiera, Primavista, often referred to as “Poker’s mother”, as it is the first confirmed version of a game directly related to modern day poker, is a 16th century gambling card game of which the earliest reference dates back to 1526...
and closely resembles Put
Put (Card Game)
Put is an English tavern trick-taking card game first recorded in the 16th century and later castigated by 17th century moralists as one of ill repute. It belongs to a very ancient family of card games and clearly relates to a group known as Trut, Truque, also Tru, and the South American game Truco...
, having been as popular as Gleek and Noddy
Noddy (card game)
Noddy , Noddie, Nodde, is a 16th century English card game ancestor of Cribbage. It is the oldest identifiable card game with this gaming structure and a relative to the more-complicated 18th century game Costly Colours.- History :...
during the Tudor Dynasty
Tudor dynasty
The Tudor dynasty or House of Tudor was a European royal house of Welsh origin that ruled the Kingdom of England and its realms, including the Lordship of Ireland, later the Kingdom of Ireland, from 1485 until 1603. Its first monarch was Henry Tudor, a descendant through his mother of a legitimised...
.
History
It is generally agreed by every expert and researcher in the field of playing cards that the game of Post and Pair clearly derives from the game of PrimeroPrimero
Primero, Prime, Primus, Primiera, Primavista, often referred to as “Poker’s mother”, as it is the first confirmed version of a game directly related to modern day poker, is a 16th century gambling card game of which the earliest reference dates back to 1526...
. Due to its gaming mechanics and resemblance with Primero and its variants, it is easily implied that Post and Pair evolved into a faster-paced card game with the addition of rules borrowed from neighboring games, like the Tudor game of "Post", attested by the Oxford English Dictionary from the early 16th to the 17th centuries, which may have survived longer in local versions.
Charles Cotton
Charles Cotton
Charles Cotton was an English poet and writer, best known for translating the work of Michel de Montaigne from the French, for his contributions to The Compleat Angler, and for the highly influential The Compleat Gamester which has been attributed to him.-Early life:He was born at Beresford Hall...
in his 1674 The Complete Gamester, mentions that Post ad Pair was particularly popular in the west of England, as well as All-Fours
All-Fours
All Fours, also known as High-Low-Jack or Seven Up, is an English tavern trick-taking card game that was popular as a gambling game until the end of the 19th century...
was popular in Kent and Fives
Fives
Fives is a British sport believed to derive from the same origins as many racquet sports. In fives, a ball is propelled against the walls of a special court using gloved or bare hands as though they were a racquet.-Background:...
in Ireland. And if Francis Willughby
Francis Willughby
thumbnail|200px|right|A page from the Ornithologia, showing [[Jackdaw]], [[Chough]], [[European Magpie|Magpie]] and [[Eurasian Jay|Jay]], all [[Corvidae|crows]]....
gives no rules for the game, Holme and Cotton describe it as a three-stake game almost identical to a variation of Brag
Three card brag
Three card brag is a 16th century British card game, and the British national representative of the vying or "bluffing" family of gambling games...
called Three-card brag, or Three-stake Brag.
Game play
Three separate stakes are made by each player. After staking at “Post” and then at “Pair”, and getting two cards, the players stake at “Seat”. A third card is dealt upwards and the best of the cards so dealt entitles the holder to the first stake. The order of priority being as above mentioned.The second stake becomes the property of the player with the best hand. A Pair-royal of Aces is the best hand, and next, a Pair-royal of any three cards according to their value: three Kings, three Queens, three Knaves, etc. If no one has a Pair-royal, the highest pair wins, and next to this, the hand that holds the highest cards.
The third stake goes to the player with the best pair or cards totaling, or most approaching , twenty-one points, that is, two Tens and an Ace, and court cards counting as ten. Any player whose cards fall short of that number is entitled (in due turn) to receive a card or cards from the stock, in the hope of amending his points, but if he overdraws he is out of the game.
The eldest hand may pass and come in again, if any of the gamesters vye it. If not, the dealer may plead it out, or double it..
Hand rankings
- A Pair-royal of Aces.
- A Pair-royal of any three cards according to their value: three Kings, three Queens, etc.
- A Pair of Aces, then a pair of Kings, followed by a pair of Queens and so on in ascending order.
- The highest cards in one hand.
- A pair of cards totalling, or approaching 21 points.
- Court cards value 10 points each and pips their face value.
Post and Pair in literature
Post and Pair was first mentioned in a list of games played by Gargantua of Gargantua and PantagruelGargantua and Pantagruel
The Life of Gargantua and of Pantagruel is a connected series of five novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. It is the story of two giants, a father and his son and their adventures, written in an amusing, extravagant, satirical vein...
, a novel written by François Rabelais
François Rabelais
François Rabelais was a major French Renaissance writer, doctor, Renaissance humanist, monk and Greek scholar. He has historically been regarded as a writer of fantasy, satire, the grotesque, bawdy jokes and songs...
in the 16th century.
Shakespeare mentions the name of the game as well in a dialogue between the character Rosaline and the Princess of France in a conversation about Berowne, one of the lords attending the King Ferdinand of Navarre, in one of his lost plays Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Lost is one of William Shakespeare's early comedies, believed to have been written in the mid-1590s, and first published in 1598.-Title:...
, written in the mid-1590s.
In Ben Jonson's Masque of Christmas, the card game of Post and pair is introduced as one of his children, thus characterizing him as a Knave. According to the A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, obsolete phrases and ancient customs of the Fourteenth century, by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps, written in 1868, Pur is the name given to the Knave or Jack in the game of Post and Pair. It seems to be formed by an abbreviation of pair-royal corrupted into "purrial", hence pair-royal has since been further corrupted into prial.
See also
- Primo vistoPrimo vistoPrimo visto, Primavista, Prima-vista, Primi-vist, Primiuiste,Primofistula, or even Primefisto, is a 16th-century gambling card game fashionable c. 1530-1640...
- PutPut (Card Game)Put is an English tavern trick-taking card game first recorded in the 16th century and later castigated by 17th century moralists as one of ill repute. It belongs to a very ancient family of card games and clearly relates to a group known as Trut, Truque, also Tru, and the South American game Truco...
- BragThree card bragThree card brag is a 16th century British card game, and the British national representative of the vying or "bluffing" family of gambling games...
- PokerPokerPoker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
Literature
- A Woman Killed with Kindness by Thomas Heywood, Adolphus William Ward - 1897
- Games and Gamesters of the Restoration by Charles Cotton, Theophilus Lucas - 1930
- Francis Willughby’s Book of Games – a seventeenth treatise on sports, games and pastimes, p. 275 – Francis Willughby, David Cram, Jeffrey Forgeng, Dorothy Johnston, London, 2003 ISBN 1-85928-460-4
- Gargantua and Pantagruel by Francis Rabelais - 1532