#How do you play canasta card game how to#
#How do you play canasta card game plus#

The end game comes when you have three red and two black canastas on the table and you can put down or discard your entire hand. You can put them down on the table when you are ready to go out. The big difference this makes is that you can now go out, and lots of black three's in the discard pile is no longer a problem. The second half of the game begins when you pick up your backup. (Deciding when it has become toxic is your call, typically four or more.) When the discard pile gets toxic, it is fine to unload your hand and put as much on the table as you can. It will take too long to discard all the black threes, which means you can't pick up your backup, and someone else could go out while you're still discarding them. If the discard pile gets 'toxic' - filled with lots of black threes - you don't want to pick it up while you are in the first half of the game.

(Note this tactic is the biggest difference between playing solo and playing on a team. Put them on the table in two cases: you are picking up the discard pile, or you are putting them all down so you can pick up your backup hand. In general, hold on to your cards, don't put them on the table. In such cases, discarding a wild card may be a prudent choice. In particular watch out just after they have picked up their backup hand - they have a whole new hand now, with an unknown mix of pairs. Conversely, if they have a fistful of cards in their hand, watch out! They are trying to pick up just like you are. Also, if they have just a few cards in their hand, they aren't going to have many pairs, so picking up anything you discard is unlikely. What they have put down they are unlikely to have more of in their hand, so putting one of those down lessens the chance of their picking up the discard pile. To refine the singles choice even more, check what the player following you has put down on the table. What to discardДЇirst discard black threes, then singles, as your first choices.

#How do you play canasta card game plus#

To get all the cards in your hand on the table you need either triples or pairs plus a wild card. When you discard after your draw, discard solos, not parts of a pair. To pick up the discard pile keep lots of pairs in your hand. When you look at what you have been dealt, keep two goals in mind: picking up the discard pile and getting all the cards in your hand on the table so you can pick up your backup hand. I will start with three player (solo) tactics. O if you can't be the one who goes out, getting as many cards out of your hand and on the table before someone else goes outДoing these well are what the following tactics are about. O getting your backup hand picked up, plus putting down three 'red' canastas, two 'black' canastas, and your hand emptied so you can 'go out' and end this round of the game O getting a lot of cards, as in, picking up the discard pile when it gets thick (but with some qualifications, discussed below) The common keys to doing that in both versions are:

#How do you play canasta card game how to#

So these tactics are about how to acquire points quickly. Something that applies to both styles is the goal of the game: The goal is to get a lot of points before your opponents do, typically ten thousand to win a session. There are different tactics for solo and team play. Note that there are two basic styles of Canasta play: three player, in which you are playing solo and four player, in which you are playing with a teammate. This isn't about the rules, this is about tactics that help you win. What follows are some techniques that I have found work well in playing Canasta. By Roger Bourke White Jr., copyright April 2015 Introduction