20. The ante shall be staked by the player to the left of the dealer
before the cards are dealt.
21. The right to straddle shall belong to the player to the left of ante.
If he does not straddle, no other player shall, do so; but if he does
straddle, the succeeding players shall have, in turn from right to left,
and ending with the dealer, the right to increase the straddle in every
case by the amount of the ante.
22. The ante shall not be straddled by a player, or by successive players,
to an amount exceeding one-half the limit.
23. If the ante be not straddled, the player to the left of [50] ante
shall have first say after the deal, and ante shall have the last say.
24. If the ante be straddled, the player to the left of the straddler
(or of the last straddler, if there be more than one) shall have first
say after the deal, and the last straddler shall have the last say.
_The Play_.
25. The turn to say shall pads from right to left, and the player who
has first say after the deal shall, if he open the game, stake a sum
at least double the amount of ante.
26. Each succeeding player shall, if he play, at least make good his
stake to that of the preceding player.
27. If a player pass, he shall place his cards, face downwards, on
the table, and shall not again take them into his hand, and he shall
forfeit unconditionally his stake and his right to play in that game.
28. A player who retires from the game shall not divulge the cards nor
the value of the hand he has thrown down.
_The Jack-pot_.
29. If the game be not opened by any player, the ante and straddles,
if any, shall remain in the pool, and the next game shall be a Jack-pot.
30. In a Jack-pot every player shall pay into the pool a sum equal to
the ante, and the game shall not be opened by any player unless he have
two knaves, or better, in his original hand.
31. If a Jack-pot be not opened by any player, each player shall again
pay into the pool a sum equal to the ante, and the next game shall be a
Jack-pot, and shall not be opened by any player unless he have two queens,
or better, in his original hand.
[51]
32. A third successive Jack-pot shall not be opened with less than two
kings, and for successive Jack-pots the series of two knaves, two queens,
two kings shall be maintained as the minimum hands with which the games may
severally be opened.
33. If a player open a Jack-pot and win the stakes, he shall show his hand
(notwithstanding any law which in ordinary circumstances permits him to
keep it concealed) before he shall claim the pool; and if he have not two
knaves, or the minimum hand with which the game may be opened according to
the above laws, or a better hand, he shall not claim the pool, and he shall
pay into the pool, as penalty, a sum equal to double the ante, and the
next game shall be a Jack-pot as if the previous game had not been opened.
_The Draw_.