Loo Rules

Loo is not poker. It is a trick-taking gambling game whose name comes from the 17th-century Lanterlu. It was widely played in England and America into the late 19th century, when it gave way to Nap in Britain and to poker in America. A five-card form still turns up in some poker groups.

A standard 52-card deck is used. In each suit, cards rank from ace (high) down to two (low).

Three-card Loo, the main form described here, plays best with five to eight players.

Play and the deal pass clockwise. The first dealer is chosen at random and the deal passes to the left after each hand.

Traditionally chips of two values are used, a red chip being worth three white chips, so that a pool of red chips can be divided in thirds. One player acts as banker, selling chips at the start and buying them back at the end.

Before dealing, the dealer puts three red chips into the pool.

If the pool was empty before the dealer's payment, it is a simple pool. If chips remained from earlier deals, it is a double pool.

The dealer deals three cards to each player, one at a time.

Simple pool. No extra hand is dealt, trumps are not yet known, and every player must play.

Double pool. The dealer also deals a spare hand of three cards, called the miss, immediately to their left, and turns up the next card of the stock. Its suit is trumps. Each player in turn from the dealer's left then chooses to:

2.5(a) stand: play the hand they were dealt;

2.5(b) pass: throw in their cards, risking nothing and winning nothing; or

2.5(c) take the miss: exchange their hand for the miss, after which they must play whatever it holds.

In a double pool:

2.6(a) if everyone passes to the dealer, the dealer takes the pool without play;

2.6(b) if exactly one player stands and the rest pass, the dealer must stand, take the miss, or defend the pool by playing the miss on behalf of the pool, neither winning nor paying anything personally;

2.6(c) if exactly one player takes the miss and the rest pass, the dealer may play or may pass and give the pool to that player, but may not defend the pool.

Simple pool. The player to the dealer's left leads any card. Players must follow suit if they can and must beat the highest card played if they can. A player who cannot follow may play any card.

In a simple pool, trumps are fixed only when a player first fails to follow suit: the dealer then turns up the top card of the stock, and its suit is trumps. If a trump was played to that trick, the highest trump wins it; otherwise the highest card of the suit led wins.

Double pool, and a simple pool once trumps are known. A player on lead shall lead a trump if they have one. A player holding the ace of trumps (or the king, if the ace is the turned card) shall lead it.

Each player shall follow suit if able and beat the highest card if able. A player who cannot follow suit shall play a trump that wins the trick if they can; otherwise they may play any card.

A trick is won by the highest trump in it or, if there is none, by the highest card of the suit led. The winner leads to the next trick.

Each trick is worth one third of the pool. After the three tricks, each player receives one third of the pool for every trick they took.

A player who played but took no tricks is looed and pays three red chips into the next pool. Those payments make the next pool a double pool.

Defending the pool. When the dealer defends the pool, the opponent takes one third for each trick they win and the rest stays for the next deal. If the defender wins no trick, the opponent takes the whole pool. If the defender wins all three, the opponent is looed.

Five-card Loo plays best with five or six players. The dealer antes five chips, deals five cards to each player and turns up the next card for trumps.

The jack of clubs, called Pam, is the highest card in the deck and beats every trump. Pam may be played to any trick, whatever was led, with one exception: when the ace of trumps is led and its player calls "Pam, be civil", Pam may not be played unless it is its holder's only trump.

Each player in turn stands or passes. If only one player stands, they take the pool without play. Otherwise each standing player may exchange up to five cards from the stock. The turned trump card belongs to the dealer.

A flush is five cards of one suit, or four of one suit plus Pam. A player with a flush wins the whole pool without play, and every other player who stood is looed. A Pam flush beats a five-card trump flush, which beats a five-card flush in another suit.

Otherwise five tricks are played. The first lead must be a trump if the leader has one, and players must follow suit when able, but there is no duty to beat the highest card. Each trick earns one fifth of the pool, and a standing player who takes no trick is looed and pays five chips.