Bluffing game · Game 266 of 388 ♠
Blef
Is there a full house somewhere among everyone's cards? Bid higher or call the bluff – and every mistake costs you another card.
- Players
- 2–8
- Duration
- 20 min
- Age
- 10+
- Difficulty
- medium
- Cards
- 24 cards (9–A)
- Skill – Luck
- SkillLuck
- Everyone for themselves – Lots of interaction
- Everyone for themselvesLots of interaction
- Simple – Complex
- SimpleComplex
- Quick – Long
- QuickLong
Mood livelylearned in 5 minutes
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Full rules
Overview
Blef (Polish for "bluff") is a Polish party game with poker hands. Everyone holds a few secret cards, and in turn the players bid on a poker hand – for example "a pair of Kings" – that can be made from all the cards dealt to all players together. Each bid must be higher than the last, until someone doesn't believe it and says "Check!". Then all cards are shown: whoever was wrong loses the round and gets one card more in every following round. More cards help you see more, but whoever would need a sixth card is out. The last player left wins. It works much like the dice game Liar's Dice, only with cards.
- Players: 2–4 with 24 cards; 5 or more with a full deck (see Variants).
- You need: one standard 52-card deck. No chips, no paper.
The cards
Take out the 9s, 10s, Jacks, Queens, Kings and Aces – 24 cards. The rest of the deck is not needed.
- Ranks from high to low: A K Q J 10 9.
- Suits also have a rank, from high to low: ♠ spades, ♥ hearts, ♦ diamonds, ♣ clubs.
The bids
A bid names a poker hand and the ranks or suit it needs. It claims that the hand can be put together from all the cards in play – it doesn't matter who holds which of them. From lowest to highest:
| Bid | What must exist among all cards | You name |
|---|---|---|
| High card | at least one card of that rank | a rank: "a King" |
| Pair | two cards of that rank | a rank: "pair of 10s" |
| Two pairs | two of one rank and two of another | both ranks, higher first: "Aces and 9s" |
| Small straight | 9 10 J Q K, any suits | – |
| Big straight | 10 J Q K A, any suits | – |
| Three of a kind | three cards of that rank | a rank |
| Full house | three of one rank and two of another | the three, then the two |
| Flush | five cards of that suit | a suit |
| Four of a kind | all four cards of that rank | a rank |
| Small straight flush | 9 10 J Q K of that suit | a suit |
| Big straight flush | 10 J Q K A of that suit | a suit |
Note that three of a kind ranks above the straights and a flush above a full house – with only 24 cards, these hands are harder to make than in poker.
Within the same kind of bid, the higher rank or suit wins: "pair of Kings" beats "pair of Queens", "flush in spades" beats "flush in hearts". For two pairs and full houses, the first rank counts first: "Kings and 9s" beats "Queens and Jacks", and "three Aces and two 9s" beats "three Kings and two Aces". If the first rank is the same, the second decides: "Aces and 10s" beats "Aces and 9s".
Setup
Choose who deals first. The dealer shuffles and gives one card to each player, face down. Look at your card without showing it. The player to the dealer's left makes the first bid.
A round
The first player of a round must bid (there is nothing to check yet). After that, going clockwise, each player in turn must either:
- bid higher – any bid above the last one, or
- say "Check!" – you think the last bid is false.
You may bid whatever you like – you don't have to hold any of the cards. That is the bluff.
When someone checks, everyone shows their cards:
- If the hand of the last bid can be made from all the cards shown, the bid was true: the player who checked loses the round.
- If it can't, the player who made the bid loses the round.
Example: Anna, Ben and Carla each hold one card. Anna has K♥ and bids "a King". Ben holds 10♠ and bids "pair of 10s", hoping someone else has a 10. Carla holds Q♦ and says "Check!". The cards are K♥, 10♠, Q♦ – only one 10, so Ben's bid was false and Ben loses the round.
Example (later in the game): there are 9 cards in play. Dan bids "full house, three Jacks and two Aces". Anna checks. Among all cards there are J♠ J♥ J♣, A♦ and A♠ – the full house exists. Anna loses the round.
After the highest possible bid, "big straight flush in spades", the next player must check.
Losing a round
Whoever loses the round gets one card more from now on: with one card they get two, then three, and so on. The loser collects all the cards, shuffles and deals the next round – everyone gets their current number of cards. The player to the dealer's left bids first.
Out of the game: in the classic game, five cards is the limit. If a player who already has five cards loses a round, they are out. Traditionally they deal one last time for the others – the pogrzebówka ("funeral round").
Winning the game
The last player left wins.
Tips for beginners
- Start with what you know. A bid on your own card is safe – but it gives the others a hint.
- Count the cards in play. With 3 cards in play, "pair of Aces" is bold; with 15 cards in play, it is almost certain.
- Listen to the bids. A player who bids Queens twice probably holds a Queen.
- Players with more cards know more. Being behind has one advantage: you see more of the cards.
- Don't check too early. With many cards in play, even a flush can be true.
Variants
All optional – agree on them before you start.
- More players: with 5 or more players, use the full 52-card deck with ranks A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 and the usual poker order of hands. A straight is then any five cards in sequence, named by its highest card.
- Bidding on the rest: instead of forcing a check after "big straight flush in spades", the players may carry on bidding on hands among the cards that were not dealt. This is mostly possible late in the game, when almost all cards are in play.
- Out when the pack runs out: play until there are not enough cards left to deal the next round. Then the player with the most cards is out, and the rest carry on. This spreads out the exits, so the game ends with a real duel between the last two.
- Poker order: at some tables, straights rank above three of a kind, and a full house above a flush, as in poker.
Background & history
- Family: Bluffing game (bids on poker hands among all players' cards)
- Origin: Poland; date unknown
- Also known as: Blef ("bluff")
- Related games: Liar's Dice (Perudo, in Polish also Blef), Poker, Cheat, Liar's Post
Blef is a Polish party card game. The Polish Wikipedia describes it as a game "referring to poker" whose great advantage is that almost any number of people can play. Descriptions on Polish game and advice websites agree on the core: a pack of 24 cards from Nine to Ace, one card each at the start, bids on poker hands among all the cards dealt, and one extra card for every lost round until a player reaches the limit. The details vary: the Polish Wikipedia ranks three of a kind above the straights and a flush above a full house, while other descriptions keep the usual poker order and suggest the full 52-card pack for more than four players.
The same idea is much better known with dice. In the dice game Liar's Dice, sold commercially as Perudo, every player rolls five dice in secret and the players bid on how many dice of a number are showing among everyone's dice together – until someone calls the bluff. In Polish that dice game is also called Blef. The card game replaces the dice with cards and the counting with poker hands, and turns the usual penalty around: instead of losing dice, the loser of a round gets an extra card.
Unlike Cheat, where players lie about the cards they are discarding, and our own Liar's Post, in Blef nobody plays cards at all – the bluff is only in the bids.