Barry Rigal

The variety of card games means that you can find one to suit most any situation. Most card players are familiar with some type of poker, though they may need to be reminded of how the hands are ranked. You can play some card games as long as all the players are happy to continue; others end at a particular score, and all are made more enjoyable when players adhere to card-game etiquette.

At the end of a hand of Canasta, as soon as one player goes out, the scoring starts. Add up the points for the bonuses and melds and subtract the negative points from that score.The bonuses you may be eligible for are as follows: You get a 100-point bonus for going out. You get a 200-point bonus for going out concealed, which means going out without first putting down any melds.

One reason for canasta’s widespread popularity is its use of wild cards, which make the game high scoring and unpredictable. Canasta is also one of the few partnership games (other than Bridge and Euchre) where the players can work in unison, although it also functions perfectly well as a two- or three-handed game.

Canasta has some unique rules, but it's still a fun, competitive card game. Just like other aspects of the game, there are special rules that pertain to winning (or finishing) a Canasta game. Here's what you need to know to end a game. Going out You can’t get rid of all your cards and go out until your team makes a Canasta.

Discarding is a critical part of how you play Canasta; if the discard pile grows large, one false discard can be disastrous. Err on the side of caution by throwing out what you’re sure your opponents don’t want. Do so by watching what they throw away and by what they don’t pick up from the discard pile. Unfreezing the deck with the initial meld The discard pile is automatically frozen for your side at the start of the game until your team makes its initial meld; that does not mean you can’t use it — but you can only use it under specific circumstances.

Poker may be the best-known card game, and if you’re going to play, you need to know how the hands rank. The following details the various Poker hands from the highest-ranking to lowest, along with the odds of catching such a hand: Royal straight flush: The top five cards (A-K-Q-J-10) in one of the four suits.

War is a great card game for young children. The object is to acquire all the cards, which you can do in different ways. To play War, you need the following: Two players A standard deck of 52 cards Start by dealing out the deck one card at a time, face-down, so that each player gets 26 cards. Keep your cards in a pile and don’t look at them.

Hearts is a game of skill — to a certain extent. You rely on luck to get good cards dealt to you, but strategic playing and a good memory make an enormous difference in this game. Keeping track of the cards played in each suit helps you to master this game, and practice and experience have no substitute. Hearts is a cutthroat game, meaning that you normally don’t play in partnerships, no matter the number of players involved.