This video tutorial will teach you how to play the card game Canasta. More information can be found at including. Canasta for Two. By Masque Publishing. Now you can go head to head as you create melds of cards of the same rank and then go out by playing or discarding all the cards in your hand.
Allan Lipman, the editor of these tips, has gleaned them from canasta players who are much better players than he is. He is a retired attorney who authored many texts and law articles over his 60 years of practice.Hopefully these tips we be of more practical value than his past endeavors.
Enjoy this game for free, plus hundreds more free of ads and in-app purchases, with a Google Play Pass subscription. Try free for 1 month. Classic Canasta game featuring: - Single player and online multiplayer. Challenging computers. Several decks, including special Canasta decks. Change a color style of the game. Canasta prototypes such as: 'Comet', 'Ronda', and 'Manila' were already in existence in the eighteenth century. The rules for canasta were first written in 1939 in Uruguay. Its popularity then spread throughout the countries of South America, and in the 1950s, gained immense popularity in the United States. The thorough Canasta manual explains how to play Canasta online and offline. If a term seems odd to you, quickly look it up in our alphabetical glossary. Find out more about the origins of Canasta in the Canasta history. Canasta Lessons. This is the place to delve into Canasta – with useful tips concerning tactics, for example.
Canasta Familiar En Argentina
Every player must at least know all the basic rules. Some rules vary from venue to venue. If the rules that you follow deviate from the rules upon which these tips are based, you will have to modify them accordingly. Here are the rules.
THE BASICSCanasta is played with two standard decks of cards and four jokers. The object is to accumulate 8,500 points. A revolving plastic tray that has two sections is placed in the middle of the table. One section is for the fresh pile and the other is for the discards. Player on the left of the dealer cuts the cards, and then places eight cards in the fresh card section and crosses the ninth card. The dealer takes the remaining cards and deals them out in four piles of 13 cards in a clock wise manner and places the balance of the cards in the fresh card section of the tray on top of the nine cards. The person opposite you is your partner.
The object of each hand is to have as many canastas as possible and preventing your partner from making canasta. The more pure canastas, the better. Having incomplete melds on the table are of only minor value. Going out, is only of minor value. Preventing your opponents from picking the pack is a top priority because it generally leads to more canastas. Great if your side picks the pack first, but best to play defensively. When you pick the pack there are some negative consequences as well as potential benefits. If you picked a card instead, you might pick up a 2 or big joker or a three or a helpful cardand remember when you pick the pack, you give up the right to discard a 7, an ace or a card where there is a closed canasta.
When does a hand end? A hand is completed (with some exceptions) when the fresh pile is depleted or when a team makes two or more canastas and either player on that team is able to dispose of all cards and still have a discard or when a player on a team that has not melded has a special hand of 14 cards.
How does a player make a canasta? The usual seven card canastas are made with 4s,5s,6s,8s,9s,10s,jacks, queens, kings. If all the same, they are natural and worth 500 points. If they have one or two wild cards they are unnatural or mixed and are worth only 300 points.
How does a player make a canasta of 7s? A canasta of 7s may never have a wild card. If completed worth 2500 points. If not completed, team is penalized 2500 points.
How does a player make a canasta of aces? A canasta of aces may be made with or without wild cards. If started out without wild cards, it must be completed without wild cards and if made is worth 2500 points and if not made there is a 2500 penalty. The only time an ace canasta may have wild cards is when a player uses them as an opening meld.With wild cards, an ace canasta is worth 300 points.
How does a player make a wild card canasta? A wild card canasta consists of seven wild cards. If seven 2s worth 3000 points, if four big jokers 2500 points and any other combination, 2000 points. If a wild card canasta not completed, penalty is 2,000 points. Until completed , cannot use a wild card, on any other meld.
Cannot go out if any incomplete wild card canasta, incomplete 7s or incomplete pure canasta of aces.
When can a player go down with a special 14 card hand?Any seven pairs(except 3s).If you have a pair of 2s or jokers (you cannot have both) you must have a pair of 7s and a pair of aces. A pairs hand is worth 2500 points. A straight is 14 cards that have one of each and is worth 3500 points. Neither can be used if you or your partner has melded. Your partner does not get penalized for anything in his hand. Your 3s do not count. Your opponents have same points as if normal hand had ended.
When can a player initially meld? In order to go down,that player must have the required number of points and it must include a clean triple. After that first player melds, that player discards, and then picks four additional cards. When the opponents later go down they pick three additional cards. But neither can pick any cards from the last eight cards in the fresh pile. (called the talon). If you neglect to pick up additional cards, you cannot pick them up later.You cannot pick the pack of discards unless your team has previously melded. Same player cannot both meld and pick the pack on the same turn. After a team has gone down they can pick the pack of discards if they have a pair in their hand identical to the one discarded by the opponent on the right. Must pick up the entire pack of discards.
How many points to initially meld? If up to 2999 points, need 125 points to go down, if 3000 to to 4,999 need 155 points, 5,000 or more need 180 points.
Card Values4s,5s,6s five points8s to kings ten pointsAces and 2s 20 pointsJokers 50 points.
How much are 3s worth at the end of a hand? One 3 is 100 points, two 3s of same color300 pointsthree 3s of same color 500 pointsfour 3s of same color 1000 points. Lose points if no canasta, no points if one canasta, full points if two canastas.
Scoring if no canastas, then all points on board and cards in hands are subtractedif one or more canastas than all points on board count and cards in hand are subtracted. If three or more aces or 7s in hand,team is penalized 1500 points. If both 3,000 points.
Other rules: if miscount and any open cards to meld, the required count to meld increases by 10 points.
You cannot discard into an open tray a 7, ace or a dead card. A dead card is a card of the same number that is in a complete canasta.
Cannot pick the pack if your side has a meld of five or more cards of the same number.
Cannot meld if your opponents have closed a canasta of the same number.
You cannot only look back three cards.
You must put down 3s immediately unless you are going for a garbage hand.
Can not put 3 on table unless there is card to pick. IF there is no card to pick, must keep 3 in your hand and counts as 5 points against you.
You can ask partner only once if you can go out.
Cannot go out if you have incomplete meld of 7s, pure aces or wild cards.
How many points does a player receive for going out? 100 points for going out.
Now that you know the VR rules as I understand them, go to the Tips at the top left of this blog. The tips also contain additional rules as well as strategy.
TIPS GAINED FROM THE CARDS DISCARDED BY THE OTHER THREE PLAYERS
At the end of each hand, if both sides have gone down, and if no one has gone out, there will be about 36 cards in the discard pile and each player will have had about nine turns to discard. Canasta players can generally be divided into three skill sets: “ A” players who can remember all of the cards in the discard pile, “C” players who cannot usually remember the number of 7s and Aces, and “B” players who fall somewhere in between. Here are some new tips on how “C” can become “Bs” and “Bs” closer to becoming “As”
It will be easier to remember the discards, if you focus on their importance in playing the hand.
TIPS GAINED FROM CONCENTRATING ON THE DISCARDS
1) Before your opponents go down with their initial meld, it is likely that the card discarded by the opponent on your left will be a singleton and he will not have a remaining “like” card. This is apt to be a safe card for you to discard after your opponents have gone down so they cannot take the pack.
2) Before your opponents go down with their initial meld, it is likely that the card discarded by your partner will be a singleton and he will not have a remaining “like” card. If you also have the same card as a singleton and you discard it as well, you are likely to have a better match with your partner’s cards when one of you initially melds. This is because you have discarded the mismatches.
3) When one of your opponents discard a 7, ( especially if your side has not initially melded) it is likely that it is a signal to his partner, that he has two more that he will retain until (or close to) the end of the hand and that his partner should discard any 7s he has or picks up and will not keep any 7s in his hand.Remember the opponent that first discarded the 7. Near the end of the hand if you must discard a 7 you will have a better idea if the opponent on your left has two 7s and may pick the pack of discards. If he was the one who first discarded a 7, he likely has two more. If the opponent on your right discarded the first 7, you are probably safe in discarding the 7 if you have to do so.
4) If either you or your partner discards a 7 and it is the first 7 from your side, ( especially if your opponents have not initially melded) it means the partner discarding, promises to generally retain two 7s until (or close to) to the end of the hand and that the other will discard all 7 he then has or picks up.
5) If there is not a meld of at least two aces on the table, and your opponents have not gone down, and your partner discards an Ace, it generally means that he has two more Aces and promises to retain them, until the end of the hand or either side has a meld of aces on the table.
6) If you are both at the 125 point level, and a card with a value of more than five is discarded during the first or second turn, it is a clue that the player so discarding may be going for pairs.
7) Knowing what is in the discard pile will assist you in deciding whether or not to pick the pack of discards if you have the opportunity to do so. For example: Even if I am stuck with three 7s or three aces, will that be sufficiently offset by the extra canasta I will make if I pick up the pack?
8) If the opponent on your left picks the pack of discards, and you remember the cards in the discard pile, you are less likely on a subsequent turn to allow him to again pick the pack.
9)If a player needs a fifth Queen and a wild card to complete a queen canasta,and the opponents already have a meld of two Queens and a wild card, if you can recall that there are already two queens in the discard pile and that therefore there cannot be two queens elsewhere you can make a more informed decision as to what to do in some situations. For example, when given the choice as to whether a wild card should be added, in the hope that a queen canasta will be made, if you know there are two queens in the discard pile, you will realize it is futile to do so and you should put the wild card elsewhere.
THE ABOVE ARE ONLY A FEW REASONS WHY IT IS SO IMPORTANT FOR YOU TO REMEMBER WHAT CARDS HAVE BEEN DISCARDED. EVEN IF YOU CANNOT REMEMBER ALL OF THEM, REMEMBER AS MANY AS YOU CAN. IT IS VITAL THAT YOU ALWAYS REMEMBER THE NUMBER OF 7s AND ACES THAT ARE IN THE DISCARD PILE. YOU MUST NOT LET YOUR OPPONENTS MAKE A CANASTA OF EITHER.IF YOU OR YOUR PARTNER KEEP TWO OF EITHER, THEY CAN NEVER DO SO. IT IS GREAT IF YOUR SIDE CAN MAKE A CANASTA OF EITHER OR BOTH. YOU ARE MUCH MORE LIKELY TO DO SO, IF YOU ALWAYS KNOW HOW MANY ARE IN THE DISCARD PILE.
Canasta Kitchen
Now look at the 100+ additional tips in the 17 categories in the upper left side of this screen.
Canastas Chicken
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ABOUT THE 100+ TIPS IN GENERAL
Canasta Restaurant Alameda
REMEMBER, FOR EVERY TIP THERE ARE LIKELY TO BE ONE OR MORE EXCEPTIONS DEPENDING ON THE POINTS NEEDED TO MAKE AN INITIAL MELD,WHETHER YOUR SIDE OR YOUR OPPOSITION HAS ALREADY MELDED, THE RESPECTIVE SCORES, THE NUMBER OF CANASTA ALREADY MADE BY BOTH SIDES, THE NUMBER OF 3S EACH SIDE HAS,THE LIKELIHOOD OF PAIRS OR A GARBAGE HAND,HOW MANY TURNS ARE LEFT, HOW MANY CARDS EACH PLAYER HAS,THE SKILL OF THE OTHER PLAYERS,WHETHER YOU OR YOUR OPPONENTS ARE ATTEMPTING A WILD CARD CANASTA, WHAT CARDS ARE IN THE DISCARD PILE AND WHO DISCARDED THEM AND OTHER FACTORS.
THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT IF YOU THINK ABOUT THE REASONS BEHIND EACH TIP, THE EXCEPTIONS THAT APPLY BECOME A MATTER OF COMMON SENSE.
WHO SAID CANASTA IS AN EASY GAME?
HAVE FUN! Canasta is a great, challenging game. ENJOY!
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