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Hearts, Michigan Rummy, and Poker are three well-known and well-loved games that join together to make up a game called Tripoley.

How Many Can Play?: Two to Nine Players

You begin by dividing all of the chips evenly among the players, unless you are playing for money, in which case the players purchase their chips. At the top of each consecutive round, each player puts one chip on every section of the game board.

Each section of the board is labeled; they are called: Pot, Kitty, 10, Jack, King-Queen, Queen, King, Ace, and 8-9-10 - All One Suit.

The dealer mixes a standard deck of playing cards (without the jokers), and deals the cards one at a time to each player, plus one extra "dead" hand, until all of the cards have been dealt. Depending on how many people are playing, there may be some players who receive one card more than the other players. This is not a big deal, because each player will get a chance to deal a hand and everything will even out eventually. The basic game does not utilize the extra hand. There is one popular variation of this game, however, that does put it into play. The Tripoley Variations section will provide specific information.

Tripoley Hearts Round: In this round, players who are holding the "money cards" can collect all the chips in each of the sections. In this round, hearts are money cards, except for the 8-9-10 combination. So in this round, the player holding the Queen of Hearts will collect the chips in the section labeled "Queen," and so on. There is only one section where there can be a tie -- the 8-9-10 section. In the event of a tie, the players would just split the pot.

Tripoley Poker Round: In this round, each player has to chose the best 5 card poker hand out of the cards they are dealt. To start the round, the dealer places a bet or just checks. The play continues to the left and each player either folds, calls the bet, or raises the bet. When the last player calls, the players reveal their hands, and the player who has the best poker hand wins the pot plus all of the bets. If there is a tie, the winners split the winnings.

Here is a link to some other poker games, and poker rules.

Tripoley Michigan Rummy Round: The players combine their poker hands with the rest of their cards, and the lowest card from the dealer's hand is placed face up on the playing surface. Every player must play the cards in their hand, starting with the next card of the suit that was played. For example, if the dealer puts down the Two of Clubs, then the player who has the Three of Clubs puts it on the table, followed by the player who has the Four of Clubs, and so on. Play keeps going until there is a card missing (because it is in the dead hand), or the Ace of the suit is played. The player who played last must then lay down their lowest card from any other suit than the one that was just played. If the player cannot play a different suit, then the next player to the left must play their lowest card. The person who empties their hand first wins all of the chips in the Kitty section of the board. The remaining players also have to pay the winner one chip for each card they are left holding. The round is then over. The player to the left of the dealer becomes the next dealer, and everyone puts one chip in each section again.

The Tripoley game ends either when the game reaches a predetermined stopping point or when one of the players wins all the chips. If there are any chips remaining, you should deal each player five more cards for a final round of poker. Whichever player has the best hand wins all of the leftover chips.

You now know the fundamentals of Tripoley -- now take a look at the Tripoley Variations so you can add even more excitement to the game.