Brag is an 18th century British card game, and the British national representative of the vying or "bluffing" family of gambling games. It is a descendant of the Elizabethan game of Primero and one of the several ancestors to poker, the modern version just varying in betting style and hand rankings. It has been described as the "longest-standing British representative of the Poker family."
History
The rules of Brag first appear in 1721 in The Compleat Gamester where it is referred to as "The Ingenious and Pleasant Game of Bragg", but in fact, it originates in an almost identical game called Post and Pair which is recorded as far back as 1528 (as Post) and which, in turn, was descended from Primero. However, Brag introduced a key innovation over Post and Pair: the concept of wild cards known as 'braggers'. Initially there was just one, the Knave of Clubs; later the Nine of Diamonds was added. In parallel with this early three-stake game, in 1751 Hoyle describes a version of Brag with a shortened pack that only had a single phase – the vying or 'bragging' round – with special powers for certain Jacks and Nines, thus anticipating the modern single-stake game. In 1825, an early American account of Brag describes a much more elaborate single-stake game with a complex vying procedure. Not until 1860 are rules for both variants published in one compendium, whereby "Three Stake Brag" is virtually unchanged from the earliest rules and the version of "Single Brag" described is less complicated than its American cousin.
In a 1981 survey by Waddingtons, Brag was the fourth most popular card game in Britain. In 1992, Parlett stated that the classic three-stake variant (see Classic Brag below) was defunct; nevertheless, its rules were still being published in 2001.
Classic Brag
The earliest published rules for any form of Brag appear in Richard Seymour's 1721 revision of Charles Cotton's The Compleat Gamester. They are less than complete, but with the aid of later descriptions, can be reconstructed. The following is based on Seymour, supplemented by The New Pocket Hoyle (1810).
Classic Brag is a three-stake game and players ante 3 stakes, one for each phase of the game. Eldest hand deals 3 cards to each player in turn, turning the last card dealt to each player face up. The game phases are: Best Card In the first phase the player with the highest face-up card won the stakes, cards ranking in their natural order from Ace downwards, except that the A outranked the other Aces. Bragging In the second phase, players passed or vied. The procedure is not detailed, but based on the 1810 Hoyle, beginning with elder hand, players would pass or say "I brag" and place a stake. If a player bragged, he could be challenged by another player matching or raising the stake. If two players wished to challenge, the elder took precedence. Vying continued between the two players until one passed or said "I'll see you" or the equivalent whereupon both revealed their hands. A prial (or pair royal) beat a pair which beat a single card. Two pair royals were decided by their ranking; likewise two pairs and so on. The was a wild card, which could represent any other card, but a natural hand beat a 'wild' hand i.e. one with the Knave of Clubs. Some circles also admitted the as a wild card. Thirty One In the third phase, players scored their hands and the first player to reach exactly 31 or, if no-one did, was closest to 31, won the stakes. To that end, courts and Aces scored 10 and pips their face value. Players could improve their hand by drawing a card from the stock, but if they 'drew out', i.e. exceeded 31, they lost. If two or more scored the same, they drew again until a winner was established.
American Brag
In 1825, the first American account of Brag appeared in a New York edition of Hoyle's Games Improved. This was a far more elaborate variant based solely on the bragging phase of classic Brag.
Modern Brag
Modern Brag, often called Three-Card Brag to distinguish it from its variants, is a single-stake game. Everyone antes, and players are each dealt three cards face down. There is a single round of betting, with action starting to the left of the dealer. Each player has the option of betting or folding. If there was a previous bet, the player must contribute at least that much more to the pot. (Unlike usual poker betting, a player's previous money contributed to the pot is ignored.) This betting continues until there are only two players left, at which point either player may double the previous bet to see his opponent. At this point, the two hands are revealed, and the player with the better hand takes the entire pot. If there is a tie, the player who is seeing loses.