You've probably heard the phrase (or something to its tune): "Life's not all fun and games"

We, here at Suited Ltd Co, completely disagree. Tomorrow isn't promised, so why not have fun today? To all the naysayers, we say- grab you a deck or two of our luxury playing cards, a few good friends, a fine bottle of whiskey and let the night speak for itself. Life may be short, but like Suited Ltd Co, memories are made to last forever.

Unless you're the forgetful type. And if so, Suited is here for you. On this page, you will find Suited Certified by-the-book rules to some of our favorite classic card games. Like:

Texas Hold 'Em, Blackjack (21), & Spades

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To begin, each player is dealt two cards face down clockwise; the hole cards. Then, there is a round of betting, during which one decides whether to Check, Bet or Fold. This stage of the game is known as the Pre-flop. Make sure to familiarize yourself with the ranking of the hands in poker prior to engaging.

The Flop comes next. Three cards succeed a single burn card, dealt by this round's dealer.

The fourth card dealt to the table. Followed by another round of betting.

A 5th card and yet another round of betting takes place. Then it's show time, literally (unless everyone else folds).

The objective of the Hold 'Em rendition of Poker is to create the best 5 card hand possible, using any combination of your 2 hole cards & the 5 on the table. This is true even if all 5 cards are on the table.

The finale of Texas Hold 'Em involves either a Showdown, in which the remaining players show their hands after betting on the River card, or everyone else folds and the last man standing takes the pot.

In Summary:

First, you are dealt your hole cards

Then, there is a round of betting

The players remaining see a flop

Then, there is another round of betting

You see the Turn card

Another round of betting

You see the 5th, River card

One last round of betting

Finally, the best five card hand wins

Blackjack is one of the most iconic playing card games to date. And tables can be found in nearly every casino worldwide. The objective is to get as close to 21 as possible without going over, or Busting. The game is played against the dealer.

Your hand value is the total of all the cards you’re holding. Cards 2 to 10 are valued as indicated, face cards are all worth 10 and aces can either be 1 or 11, whichever works for you best in the given scenario.

Each player wagers their bet on the hand. Then 2 cards are dealt to each player.

To request a 3rd or 4th card, say 'Hit'

If you want to remain with the cards in your hand, 'Stand'

To receive just one more card and double your bet, hit ‘Double’

To split a pair, opt for ‘Split’ and get a card on each of your split cards. You can then ‘Hit’ or ‘Stand’ as you'd like on either hand

If you’re dealt an ace and 10 as your first two cards, that’s blackjack. This is an automatic win for you unless the dealer gets the same. If this happens, it’s called a push and no one wins.

Stand
Click on the stand button to keep your hand at its current value. If you are satisfied with your hand, you may choose to stand at any time. Click 'Stand' and when the dealer completes his or her hand, the hands will be compared.

Hit
To be dealt another card, click on 'Hit'. You may continue to deal cards to your hand until you either stand or go bust.

Double Down
After you are dealt your first two cards, you have the option to double-down. One more card will be dealt and then you automatically Stand thereafter. You can even double-down on each hand after splitting a pair, stack permitting.

In the event that you lose the bet, you will forfeit the entire bet amount – the initial bet and the additional amount placed for the double down option.

Split
If you have two cards of the same value, you may elect to Split the cards into two hands and receive two more cards from the dealer. If a Split is elected, you will automatically place an equal bet on the other hand to your original and play them both out accordingly.

Spades, or Call Bridge, is a traditionally 4-Player card game of strategy and luck. Spades uses a standard 52 card deck with Aces high, 2s low, and Spades trumping all. The objective is to win at least as many “tricks” as bid.

Before the game begins an initial dealer must be chosen. To do so, every player is given a card from a shuffled deck and whoever receives the highest card becomes the first dealer. Ties are broken by a repeated deal. The initial dealer shuffles the deck and the player to their right cuts it. The dealer then passes 13 cards one by one clockwise to each of the 4 players.

After everybody receives their cards, bids are made based upon the players’ hand. A bid refers to the players’ expectation of “tricks” they will make in the round. Normally, all players must make a minimum of 1 bid. A trick is given to the player with the highest card in a given round.

After the bids are made, the gameplay begins. The first dealer places any one card down as a lead. In clockwise fashion, each player then places their card down in an attempt to outrank all of the cards in play. A player must only play cards of the same suit as the lead card. If they do not possess cards of the same suit, they may place any of their cards in an attempt to win the trick. The winner of the round becomes the new dealer and the gameplay continues until all cards are dealt.

Note: Players can also rotate the dealer position clockwise instead of making the winner of the trick the new dealer.

Scoring

Points are rewarded in the following fashion- If a player makes their number of bids, 10 points are given to each trick made. Additionally, 1 point is given to each trick made over the initial bids. For example, if a player places 5 bids at the start of the round and makes 6 tricks, the player is given 51 points at the end of the round. 50 points are given for meeting the initial 5 bids and 1 point for the additional trick. 0 points are given to players who fail to win the number of tricks they bid.

Rounds normally continue till a player reaches 500 points to win the whole game.

Variations

Spades can be played in its basic format, as described above, or players can opt to make the game a little interesting with the following variations:

Teams

Instead of every player for themselves, teams may be introduced to create a new playing dynamic. Normally, teams are made by the two people sitting across from each other. At the end of the game, team members' points are tallied together.

Two Players

Instead of the traditional four player game, two people may play Spades in the following way. To deal, players first draw two cards from a faced down shuffled deck. They then decide to throw away one of the cards drawn. Players continue this process until each has 13 cards. Regular gameplay then follows.

Bags

Players can opt to make overtricks (tricks made after the initial bid) into “bags”. Instead of the additional point, if a player makes 10 bags, they are deducted 100 points. The intention of introducing bags is to cause the players to try and win the exact number of tricks they bid.

Face-Up

In the Face-Up variation of Spades, the first 4 cards of the dealt 13 for every player are faced-up. This adds a psychological element to the game as players wonder about the decision process behind every move.

Nil

Some variations of Spades allow the player to bid nil for a round. By bidding nil, the player expects to not be able to make any tricks in the game. If the player successfully makes no bids in the round, they receive 100 points. Players may counterattack a nil bid by playing their lowest cards at the start of the game, possibly forcing the nil bidder to place a higher card and breaking their nil bid.

Joker Trumps

Players can opt to include the two Suited Jokers in the discourse of Spades. If elected, Jokers become the ultimate trump cards. Specifically, the full color Joker out ranks the one color Joker which outranks the Ace of Spades. When players include the Jokers, they must remove the 2’s of Clubs and Diamonds in order to keep the 52 card count.