Streak
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Best
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The card game of Argentina, Uruguay and much of South America, played one on one to fifteen points. Three cards each from the forty-card Spanish deck, two tricks out of three to win the hand — and on top of the cards, the calls: truco to raise the stakes, envido to bet on your suit, and the bluff that makes a weak hand win.
Each hand you and the rival get three cards from a forty-card Spanish deck of swords, clubs, gold coins and cups, numbered one to seven and ten to twelve. Take turns playing one card to each of three tricks; the stronger card wins the trick, and whoever wins two tricks takes the hand. The hand is normally worth one point, and the first to fifteen points wins the match.
Card strength follows a fixed ladder instead of the numbers: the ace of swords, then the ace of clubs, the seven of swords, the seven of gold, then all threes, all twos, the other two aces, twelves, elevens, tens, the other two sevens, sixes, fives and fours. The four strongest cards carry a star. Two cards of equal strength tie the trick. If the first trick ties, the second decides the hand; if you won the first trick, a tie later still gives you the hand.
At any moment on your turn you can call truco, which makes the hand worth two points. The rival accepts, refuses — giving you the one point the hand was worth — or raises to retruco for three, which you can raise again to vale cuatro for four. Only the side that accepted the last raise can raise next. Folding hands the rival whatever the hand is currently worth.
Envido is a separate bet, allowed only during the first trick before you play your card. Your envido is twenty plus the values of your two best cards of the same suit, where tens, elevens and twelves count as nothing; with no pair of a suit it is your highest single card. Calls can be raised with a second envido, real envido or falta envido, which is worth whatever the leader needs to win. Answer a truco with an envido and the envido is settled first. Win a match to add to your streak.
Count your envido the moment the cards arrive. The bet only exists until you play your first card, and it is decided by numbers you can work out instantly: two cards of a suit give twenty plus their values, so a seven and a six of the same suit make thirty-three, the best possible. Around twenty-seven is a fair hand to call on; above thirty, raise. Remember that face cards count as nothing, so a king and a knight of cups is only twenty.
Your hand in the truco is worth more than its cards. Winning the first trick means a tie in either later trick still gives you the hand, so an early win with a middle card is often better than saving it. When you hold one of the four starred cards, you can usually afford to call truco after the first trick has gone your way.
Bluff with purpose. The rival sees only your calls, so a truco from a weak hand can take a point when they fold, but a refused raise also hands them the previous value. The best moment is when you have already won a trick and your remaining card is poor: the rival has to beat it twice to take the hand, and many will not risk it.
Watch the score before you raise. Near the end of a match a falta envido can win the game at once, and a refused retruco at thirteen points gives away the match. Play small risks early and keep the big bets for hands you have read clearly, because one match lost ends the whole streak.