View source for Belle, Flux et Trente-et-Un

{{Short description|French-German gambling card game}}
[[File:Suit of Spades-Écarté ranking-52-card pack.jpg|thumb|The suit of spades from a 52-card French pack (Écarté ranking)]]
'''Belle, Flux et Trente-et-Un''', is an<!-- no need to change to "a" as both are grammatically correct --> historical, [[gambling]] [[card game]] that was widespread in France and Germany during the 17th and 18th centuries. As a relative of [[Brag (card game)|Brag]] and [[Poch]], from which the game of [[Poker]] developed, it is of cultural-historical interest.
The game is also called '''Les Trois Jeux''' ("The Three Games") or, in German, '''Dreisatz''' ("Triple Stake") or '''Belle, Fluss und Einunddreißig''' ("Belle, Flush{{efn|''Fluss'' is German for "river", but in card games it meant holding either all the cards of one suit, as in [[Piquet]], or simply holding cards all of the same suit. It is clearly a German rendering of ''Flux'', meaning "Flush". See e.g. Ludovici (1735), p. 1391.}} and Thirty One"). Meanwhile [[David Parlett|Parlett]] records it as '''Best, Flush and Thirty-One'''.{{sfn|Parlett|2008|p=587}}
== Rules ==
The following rules are taken from Lacombe (1800):<ref name=Lacombe>Lacombe (1800), pp. 7–8.</ref>
=== Overview ===
The game is played by two to twelve players with a pack of 52 [[French playing cards]]; in addition three coin dishes are needed for the three stakes. Before the start of the game, players agree how many deals or how long they will play for. Then each player puts an agreed amount of money into each of the three baskets (''paniers'').<ref name=Lacombe/>
Like Poch, Belle, Flux et Trente-et-Un is a compound game of 3 parts, hence the names ''Dreisatz'' ("Triple Stake") and ''Les Trois Jeux'' ("The Three Games").
=== Belle ===
Once the stakes have been placed, each player is dealt 2 cards, face down, and 1 card, face up. The player who has the highest upcard, the so-called ''Belle'', wins the first deal and the contents of the first basket.<ref name=Lacombe/>
The ranking of the cards is as in [[Écarté]] with the [[Ace]] between the [[Jack (playing card)|Jack]] and Ten:<ref name=Lacombe/>
:King – Queen – Jack – Ace – Ten – Nine – ... – Two
If two or more tie with the highest cards, there is no winner and the stakes remain in the basket for the next deal.<ref name=Lacombe/>{{efn|Some rules state that, in the event of a tie in any of the three phases, [[forehand (card player)|forehand]], the player who is next to deal, wins.}}
=== Flux ===
In the second deal, ''Flux'',{{efn|''Flux'', also ''Fluxus'', c.f. [[Flush (poker)|flush]].}} the winner is the player who has the highest-value flush. A flush is a hand of three cards of the same [[card suit|suit]]. In this phase, the Ace is the highest card.<ref name=Lacombe/>
If two or more players have a flush, the card points are added and the highest-value flush wins. For this, the Aces counts as 11 points, the [[court card]]s 10 each, and the [[pip card]]s score from 2 to 9 depending on their natural value. If there is a tie, or if no player has a flush, the stakes remain in the basket for the next game.<ref name=Lacombe/>
Unlike the game of Poch, there is no betting on the highest combination, as subsequently became typical for Poker. There is also no option to [[Bluff (poker)|bluff]].
=== Trente-Un ===
Finally, in the third deal each player attempts, by exchanging cards if necessary, to score 31 points, or to get as close to 31 points as possible (c.f. [[Vingt-et-Un]], and the third round of [[Brag (card game)|Brag]]). The player who comes closest to 31, wins the contents of the third basket. If there is a tie, the stake is carried forward to the next deal.<ref name=Lacombe/>
The modern casino game of [[Blackjack|Black Jack]] was developed from this contract via ''[[Trente-et-Un]]'' and ''[[Vingt-et-Un]]''.
== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}
== Literature ==
*''Meyers Konversationslexikon'' of 1888
*''Brockhaus Konversationslexikon'' 1894/96
*Friedrich Anton: ''Encyklopädie der Spiele'', Leipzig, 1889
*Jacques Lacombe: ''Encyclopédie méthodiques. Dictionnaire des jeux'', p.&nbsp;7 {{Google books|LZ8NAAAAQAAJ|Online|page=7}}, 1800
*[[David Parlett|Parlett, David]] (1990). ''The Oxford Guide to Card Games'', Oxford University Press, Oxford/New York
* Ludovici, Carl Günther (1735). ''Grosses vollständiges Universal-Lexicon aller Wissenschafften und Künste.'' Vol. 9 (F). Halle and Leipzig: Johann Heinrich Sedler.
* {{cite book|last=Parlett|first=David|date=2008|title=The Penguin Book of Card Games|publisher=Penguin|location=London}}
{{Historical card games}}
[[Category:17th-century card games]]
[[Category:Gambling games]]
[[Category:French card games]]
[[Category:German card games]]
[[Category:French deck card games]]
[[Category:Vying games]]