Raspisnoy poker rules
Raspisnoy poker is a trick-taking card game for 3–5 players: every round you bid how many tricks you will take, and you score for the accuracy of that prediction. It is the Russian and Ukrainian member of the Oh Hell family — in Russian it is called «расписной покер», and also Odessa poker, student poker or simply «Joker».
This page is the raspisnoy.com edition of the rules: it is what the online game and the scorekeeper implement. Different groups and regions play their own variants — we cover them honestly in Variants and names.
Deck and objective
The game uses a 36-card deck: six through ace in four suits. Rank order from low to high: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A. The seven of spades is the joker, a special card with rules of its own (see below).
The goal is not simply to win tricks but to take exactly as many as you bid. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins, and points are awarded above all for the accuracy of your forecast.
Dealing and the hand-size cap
The number of cards dealt changes from round to round. The maximum hand size (M) depends on the number of players:
| Players | Max cards (M) |
|---|---|
| 3 | 12 |
| 4 | 9 |
| 5 | 7 |
Formula: M = 36 ÷ number of players, rounded down. The deal passes clockwise after every round.
Choosing trump
- Normally: after the deal, the top card of the remaining deck is turned face up — its suit is trump for the round.
- Maximum deals (all 36 cards in hand): the dealer shows one card from their own hand — its suit is trump; the card stays in the dealer's hand.
- If the joker (7♠) is turned up, the round is played without trump.
- No-trump rounds have no trump by definition; in misère and golden rounds trump is chosen as usual.
Round sequence
A full game runs through these phases (N = number of players, M = maximum hand size):
| Phase | Cards dealt | Rounds | Trump | Bids |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ascending | 1, 2, 3, … M | M | yes | yes |
| Descending (by agreement) | M−1, … 1 | M−1 | yes | yes |
| Normal repeats | M | N−1 | yes | yes |
| No-trump | M | N | no | yes |
| Blind | M | N | yes (hidden until bids are in) | yes, blind |
| Misère | M | N | yes | no |
| Golden | M | N | yes | no |
Why N−1 normal repeats rather than N? The ascending phase already contains one round at M cards — so every player deals the maximum hand exactly once.
Example for 3 players (no descending phase): 12 ascending rounds + 2 normal + 3 no-trump + 3 blind + 3 misère + 3 golden = 26 rounds. For 4 players the same arithmetic gives 28 rounds.
Bidding and the dealer constraint
The player to the dealer's left bids first, then clockwise. The dealer bids last. A bid may be anything from 0 to the number of cards dealt.
The dealer constraint: the dealer may not choose a number that would make the sum of all bids equal to the number of cards dealt. So at least one player is guaranteed to miss every round — that is the whole conflict of the game.
Example. Three players, five cards dealt, the third player deals. The first bids 2, the second bids 1 (3 in total). The dealer may not bid 2 (the total would become 5) — 0, 1, 3, 4 or 5 are allowed.
Playing tricks
The player to the dealer's left leads to the first trick. Each following trick is led by the winner of the previous one. The order is mandatory:
- If you hold the suit led, you must follow suit.
- If you have no card of the suit led, you may play any card, including a trump.
The trick goes to the highest card of the suit led — unless somebody played a trump. Any trump beats any non-trump card: the six of trumps outranks the ace of a plain suit.
Example (trump ♥): the first player leads K♦, the second must follow with a diamond and plays 9♦, the third has no diamonds — they play 6♥ and take the trick with a trump.
The joker (7♠)
The joker is the strongest and most flexible card. When you play it you must announce a mode out loud.
If you are following someone else's lead
- "Take" — the joker beats everything and wins the trick.
- "Discard" — you name a suit; the joker counts as a card below the six of that suit and is guaranteed to lose. Indispensable when you do not want the trick.
If you lead with the joker
- "Highest trumps" — everyone must play their highest trump (players with no trump play any card). The joker wins the trick.
- "Highest [suit]" — you name a suit and everyone must play their highest card of that suit. The joker wins the trick.
- "Discard" — the joker is led as the lowest card of the named suit and is guaranteed to lose. A classic move in misère.
Example. The first player leads Q♦, the second plays the joker saying "discard, diamonds" — the joker counts as a "five of diamonds" and loses; the third plays 8♦. The first player takes the trick: Q♦ is the highest card of the suit led.
Special rounds
No-trump (beskozyrka)
There is no trump suit. Bids and scoring are as in a normal round, but nobody can "overtake": only the suit led counts.
Blind (tyomnaya)
Bids are made before looking at your cards or the trump — blind, like a blind bet in poker. Once everybody has bid, hands and trump are revealed and play proceeds by the normal rules. The dealer constraint still applies.
Misère (mizer)
No bids: everyone's goal is to take no tricks at all. Zero tricks scores +100, every trick taken costs 20.
Golden (zolotaya)
No bids: the goal is to take as many tricks as possible. Every trick scores +20, and zero tricks costs 100.
Scoring
Normal, no-trump and blind rounds
| Result | Points |
|---|---|
| Exact bid (> 0) | +10 × bid |
| Exact zero | +5 |
| Undertrick | −10 × tricks short |
| Overtrick | +1 × trick taken |
A worked round:
| Player | Bid | Took | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 3 | 3 | +30 | exact bid: 10 × 3 |
| B | 0 | 0 | +5 | exact zero |
| C | 2 | 0 | −20 | undertrick: −10 × 2 |
| D | 1 | 4 | +4 | overtrick: 1 per trick |
Misère and golden
| Round | 0 tricks | Each trick |
|---|---|---|
| Misère | +100 | −20 |
| Golden | −100 | +20 |
After all rounds, the player with the highest total wins. The scoring formulas on raspisnoy.com were verified against records of real games.
Cheat sheet
- Deal the cards, turn up the trump.
- Bids: from the dealer's left, the dealer last and under the constraint (no bids in misère and golden).
- Play: follow suit if you can; trump beats everything; the joker plays by its announced mode.
- Points for bid accuracy (or for tricks in misère/golden).
- The deal moves clockwise — next round.
- End of game — the highest total wins.
FAQ
How many people do you need?
3–5 players is ideal (that is what raspisnoy.com supports). Folk variants exist for anything from 2 to 6+ players — usually with a 52-card deck.
How is Raspisnoy poker different from regular poker?
In almost every way: it is a game of tricks and bids, a relative of whist and preferans, not a game of hand rankings and betting. It was called "poker" in the USSR most likely because of the joker and the blind bids.
How does it relate to Oh Hell?
It is the same family: bid the exact number of tricks, get punished for missing. The Russian branch adds the 36-card deck, the 7♠ joker with its announced modes, and the four special round types — no-trump, blind, misère and golden.
Why may the dealer not "close" the bids?
If the bids add up to the number of cards, in theory everybody could make their bid. The constraint guarantees at least one player misses — the game stays a fight.
Must I play a trump when I cannot follow suit?
In the raspisnoy.com edition — no: with no card of the suit led you may discard anything, including a trump. In many folk variants trumping is compulsory when you cannot follow — agree on your rules before you start.
What if the joker is turned up as trump?
The round is played without trump (a one-round no-trump).
Can we play with a 52-card deck?
Folk variants do, often with dedicated jokers. The raspisnoy.com online game uses the classic 36-card deck with 7♠ as the joker.
Variants and names
The game has no single "official" rulebook — it was passed on by word of mouth, so every courtyard, dormitory and city settled on its own details. The most common differences: whether trumping is compulsory, which special rounds are played, the value of an exact zero, a 36- or 52-card deck, and how the joker behaves.
- Odessa poker (Russian) — the most common alternative name for the same game.
- Joker (Russian) — the name many groups know the game by; the closely related Georgian game "Joker" belongs to the same family.
- International relatives — Oh Hell, Up and Down the River, Romanian Whist: the same idea of bidding the exact number of tricks.
Check the rules at the table
The best way to learn is to play. The bots will demonstrate whatever did not fit into the text.