Expounding Jackpots

Jackpots, differ from the Ante and Straddle game in various important respects:

Each player contributes to the 'pot', the money being placed, before the deal, in the center of the table.

In clubs, there is usually a circle marked out in the center of the table.

The contributions to the pot are placed therein, and the dealer is supposed to be responsible for seeing that everyone has subscribed to the pot before the deal begins.

The contributions exacted from vary from club to club.

Let us assume, for the purposes of the analysis which follows, that the initial contribution from each player is 2 chips.

There are thus 14 chips in the pot before the deal. In other clubs, there may be a fixed amount which, in the course of a round of pots--- seven deals if there is a full table--- each player puts up a turn.

If a deal is passed out, the cards are re-dealt--- in some clubs, by the same dealer; in others, by the player to his left--- and the pot is refreshed or 'sweetened'.

Now let us assume that, in this event, each player contributes another half chip to the pot; it would then, before the deal, be worth 17 and a half chips.

No one can play till the pot has been 'opened'. And no player can open the pot unless the hand dealt to him contains a pair of Knaves or better.

The opener may be driven out of the pot before the final bet is called, but in that case he will be called upon to show that he had 'openers'.

The penalties for opening a pot where, in fact, the opener's hand lacks the necessary qualifications vary from once club to another.

A player who has passed before the pot has been opened is still entitled to play. The player who speaks first is A, on the dealer's left. If A, B, C, D, E, F all pass, and G, the dealer opens, A has now the opportunity of playing, as have each of the other players in turn.

In principles of play, a player who has a pair of Jacks or better is not obliged to open the pot. Indeed, neither of the first two players to speak--- A and B--- should open the pot if he has only a pair of Jacks.

Why is this so? Because this is to transgress the rule that one should not open a pot unless one has a hand which, theoretically, is likely to be the best hand at the table.

And, with five or six players who have not spoken, a pair of Knaves is more likely than not to be inferior to one of the other players' hands.

This is considered a perfectly sound principle which, in most clubs, is more honored in the breach than in the observance.