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Dealing

The dealer shuffles the 24-card deck, offers it to the player on their right to cut, then deals as follows.

The deal pattern​

For three players, the standard pattern is:

3 + 3 + 3   to each player                (9 cards dealt, 0 in hand)
2 cards     to the talon (face down)
2 + 2       to each player                (15 dealt, 2 in talon)
1           to the talon (face down)
2 + 2       to each player                (21 dealt, 3 in talon)

Result:

  • Each player has 7 cards in hand.
  • Three cards form the talon (also called the widow or prikup), face down in the centre of the table.
  • All 24 cards have been dealt: 3 × 7 + 3 = 24.
Alternative deal patterns

Some tables simply deal 7 cards each in any pattern, then put the remaining 3 cards face down as the talon. Mathematically identical, just quicker. Agree before the first hand which pattern you use.

Dealer responsibilities​

  • The dealer must not look at the talon while dealing.
  • A misdeal — a card revealed, the wrong number of cards dealt, or a card exposed in the talon — moves the deal one seat clockwise so the next player redeals (book: "If a penalty is received during dealing, the redeal is done by the next player"). House rules differ on whether the same dealer redeals without penalty or pays a small flat penalty instead — see House Rules — Misdeal handling.

Cut-deck ritual (optional)​

The reference book describes a cut-and-recut ritual: after the shuffle, the participant counter-clockwise of the dealer cuts the deck. A 9 or J at the bottom is a bad cut — the cutter rotates one seat counter-clockwise and the deck is cut again. After three bad cuts the dealer pays a fixed penalty (book default 120) and the deal proceeds with the current ordering.

Two strategies model the same offence; pick exactly one per template:

  • Bottom-card guard (canonical Russian default, dealing.cut_deck_safety = "on"): the shuffle deterministically swaps a safe partner into the bottom slot whenever a 9 or J would land there. The procedural penalty cannot fire; the cut is invisible to the player.
  • Procedural ritual (dealing.cut_deck_nine_jack_penalty = "on"): the engine opens a pre-auction cut phase. The active cutter calls Cut the deck; a bad bottom rotates the cutter and re-shuffles, a good bottom proceeds straight to the auction. The penalty fires on the third bad cut.

The two are mutually exclusive — combining them produces silent dead code, so the engine rejects the combination at validation time. See House Rules — Bottom-card guard for the toggle wording.

Redeal triggers​

Before the auction begins, a player who was dealt a hopeless hand may be entitled to a redeal. Two are near-universal:

  • Four nines. A player dealt all four nines may demand a redeal — at most tables this is a mandatory right, since holding all four nines means a useless hand (zero card-points, no possible marriage).
  • Three nines. A player dealt three nines may optionally request a redeal. Less universal than the four-nine rule but very common.

Variations also exist for "weak hands" (no marriage, no Ace, no card above 10), and for misdeal handling. See House Rules for the configurable details — different tables enforce different combinations of these.

After the deal​

The auction begins immediately. Forehand (left of the dealer) is the first to bid. See Bidding.

Don't peek at the talon

Until the auction ends, the talon is sacred. Looking at it ends the deal with a penalty equal to a typical contract (commonly 120 points) deducted from the offender's score.