Gambling Guide

Fuck the Dealer is a simple drinking game popular in the Midwest. It is best played by three to six players, although it can be played with more. It is similar to the game Hi-Lo, except that all cards are laid out face up on the table once they've been played.

The rules

Play starts with one person, the 'Dealer', shuffling the cards and placing them face down in front of him.

The person to the dealer's left becomes the first 'Player'. The Player tries to guess what the top card on the deck is. The dealer then looks at the top card and tells him whether or not his guess was right. If the player guesses correctly, the dealer takes five drinks. Otherwise, the dealer tells the player whether the top card is 'Higher' or 'Lower' than his guess. The player then gets one more chance to guess correctly. If he guesses correctly on the second attempt, the dealer takes three drinks. If the player guesses incorrectly, the player drinks the difference between his guess and the card. (i.e. if he guesses a '5' and the card was a really '3', the player must take 2 drinks.)

Card arrangement for "Fuck the Dealer"

In either case, the dealer now places the card face up in front of him. Arrange the cards in an organized fashion, so everyone can see which cards have already been drawn(see image right). When all four of a particular card have been drawn, it is considered to be "closed out". Cards which have been closed out are flipped over to help everyone see that no more of those cards are available.

Now, play continues and the dealer looks at the next person and asks him to pick a card. This continues until two players in a row guess incorrectly. When that happens, the player to the dealer's left becomes the new 'Dealer'.

It is important to note that there are two 'circles' going on - the dealer circle, and the player circle. The next 'Dealer' is always the person to the current dealer's left. Likewise, the next 'player' is always the person to the left of the last player --- The next player does not change just because a new person is made dealer. The next player is NOT automatically the person to the new dealer's left... unless of course the player to the Dealer's left is the next person in line. And of course, the player and the dealer cannot be the same person. But if that situation should ever occur, the 'dealer' circle takes priority over the 'player' circle.

Play continues until the dealer is left with three cards. At that point, the dealer is considered to be 'Fucked' and must do a shot. (Since there are only three cards, the player is guaranteed to guess correctly on the second attempt. Therefore, the dealer is figuratively 'Fucked'! Hence, the title of the game)