The Complete Canasta - With The Official Rules and Play

By Ralph Michaels

This vintage book contains a complete guide to learning and mastering the game of canasta. With historical information, a description of the rules, useful diagrams, and a wealth of handy tips, this volume will be of considerable value to anyone who wishes to learn or master canasta. Contents include: “How It All Began”, “A Brief History of Canasta”, “How To Play Canasta”, “Ralph Michaels”, “The Deal”, “Definitions”, “Point Values”, “The Draw”, “The Meld”, “The Discard”, “Scoring”, “Concealed Hand”, “Forcing”, “Timing”, “Three-Handed”, “Four-Handed”, “Asking Permission”, “Prize Pile and Signals”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern edition complete with a specially commissioned new introduction on card games.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Read Books Ltd.
• Release date: Jan 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781447483915

Book preview

Tournament

INTRODUCTION

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

A Brief History of Canasta

The usual games of rummy have always been widely played in South America, though, strangely enough, neither GIN nor OKLAHOMA had much acceptance. In Argentina one form of the rummy game LOBA, a direct descendant of COONCAN, is still the great favorite of the internationally known Jockey Club, and of the Circulo de Armas, Buenos Aires’ most exclusive men’s club. In these, as well as in other clubs and homes in the city, the hours between 6:00 P.M., when offices close, and 9:30 P.M., the Argentine dinner hour, are devoted chiefly to diversions and social obligations. Many Argentines fill these hours with stimulating card games and are continually seeking new and more thrilling twists of the old stand-bys.

About seven years ago, in order to make the play of rummy more exciting, variations were introduced. Red treys were given a value of 100 points—counted against a player caught with one in his hand, and for him when included in a meld of three cards of the same rank (three treys regardless of color) or in a consecutive run of three cards of the same suit. Another significant development was the scoring of a set of six cards of the same rank at double the face value. This version of rummy, known as TRES COLORADO (Red Trey) became tremendously popular.

In Uruguay, four years ago, TRES COLORADO experienced a further important mutation: the red trey was exposed alone, not in a meld, but counted as before, in favor only after the meld of a run or three of a kind; a minimum required count for the initial meld was introduced (the same as is now used in CANASTA); and, most significant of all, a set of seven cards of the same rank, before melding out, became necessary to complete a Canasta (basket) unless an entirely concealed hand could be melded independently. This, very briefly, was CANASTA URUGUAYA.

In the summer months of December, January, and February many Argentines cross over the River Plate to visit the Uruguayan resorts stretched along the Atlantic coast north of the city of Montevideo from Carrasco to Punta del Este. These vacationers brought back with them the new variations, and, with some elimination and also some addition of Argentine ideas, the game was streamlined into its present form.

While traveling in Argentina in 1946, Ralph Michaels, a young Chicago businessman, and his wife were much taken with CANASTA. They were soon playing topnotch CANASTA with us in Buenos Aires. They took the game with them back to the States and began teaching their Chicago friends. On a subsequent return trip from South America the Michaels’ taught fellow passengers aboard ship, who in turn took the game to other parts of the U. S. Once the game reached New York, it began to spread like wildfire.

Because CANASTA was being popularized by word of mouth and handed down from one player to another, each transition led to slight modifications and improvisations. As postwar travel became more prevalent between Buenos Aires and the States, the interpretations of CANASTA became more varied. It was not long before the methods of play were as many and varied as those of GIN, when that rummy game was first introduced to the card-playing public. Even the aficionados of the various South American groups found that differences of play existed.

It was only logical that official local rules had to be established before the game could be played properly nationally and internationally. In order to standardize the play, Josefina Artayeta de Viel, Argentine card authority and editor of one of the local magazines, was commissioned to compile a standard set of rules and play for CANASTA. These rules were then edited and passed upon by the following committee as the official rules for the play of CANASTA:

ALEJANDRO CASTRO—

International card authority and president of the Argentine Bridge Players Association

DR. JORGE ARTAYETA—

President of the Circulo de Armas, one of Buenos Aires’ most exclusive clubs

DR. PEDRO PALACIOS—

President of Argentine Bridge Club

SRA. DORA BRUSAFERRO DE DODERO—

Eminent Argentine card authority

These were the original rules first published early in 1949 as The Official Rules and Play, with an introduction by Ralph Michaels. So successful was the public’s reception of this booklet that plans were immediately made to bring out a complete book on all phases of CANASTA. Although thousands of miles separated us, all those who have had so much to do with the promotion and play of Official CANASTA have worked together to give you this book. We in Argentina are particularly pleased that the game has become so popular in the United States as to attract our old friend, Charles Goren, one of the world’s greatest card authorities. With the most welcome addition of Goren’s thoughts on the technical strategy of CANASTA, we believe this book contains all there is to be known about the game.

—ROSELYN FREMONT

Buenos Aires

June 28, 1949

Section One

HOW TO PLAY CANASTA

RALPH MICHAELS

For those who think they have tried wild rummy games, let us start by saying wild is only a mild adjective when used in connection with CANASTA. CANASTA embodies the principles of building card combinations as in Gin, the melding of Pinochle, the partnership understanding of Bridge and deception of Poker, plus the offense, defense, and cunning of competitive sports. If you love your neighbor, don’t play CANASTA with him!

If you have played any sort of rummy, CANASTA will not be too difficult for you to learn. One thing is urged, however, beyond all else—do not attempt to play until you have digested all the rules of this book. Once you start to play, you will see the wisdom of this advice. It’s no use learning to take off in an airplane if you don’t also learn to land the contraption. CANASTA is not too different; know all the rules first.

Although CANASTA can be played with two, three, four, or six players, it is particularly exciting as a four-handed game of two opposing partnerships and is also a most deceptive two-handed game.

In CANASTA the individual cards and various combinations of cards have point values. The objective of the game is to amass 5000 or more of these points before your opponents. The quickest and most profitable method of accumulating these points is by melding and building towards Canastas. A Canasta is a set of seven cards of the same rank, regardless of suit (i.e., seven 4’s, seven 5’s, seven kings, etc.). This is not so impossible as it sounds when you realize that CANASTA is played with two standard decks of cards shuffled together with four jokers, and every deuce is a wild card.

In building toward the objective of 5000 points, it will soon be seen that the premiums are greatest for Canastas, hence the emphasis in the play is not so much to meld out (which is so important in Gin), but rather to continue the play to acquire more Canastas. At the same time, however, it is of the utmost importance to prevent the opponent from doing likewise. Thus we have both an offense and a defense.

Like most rummy games, there is both a stock pile (the undealt cards placed in the center of the table face down) and a discard pile (also placed in the center of the table but face up—in CANASTA called up-pile). In CANASTA the value of the cards is insignificant compared with the value of Canastas. Since it takes seven cards to complete a Canasta, the tactics of the game center around control of the up-pile. The player or team in control of the up-pile has the best chance of building Canastas.

It has been known to happen that 5000 points have been reached in the play of only one deal or hand. The more usual, however, is to reach this goal through the play of a succession of hands. Like other types of rummy, a hand is ended when one of the players melds out. Because the value of Canastas so outweighs even the bonus for melding out in any one hand, a player or team on the offensive (i.e., racing ahead toward many Canastas) endeavors to continue the play of a hand. The tactic of the opponent, however, is to block this objective, go out if possible, and deal another hand.

The merciless feature of CANASTA is