Seka♠

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Context and selected variant

Seka is known across Georgia and the Russian-speaking world under several names. There is no universal rulebook or verified single inventor. We select the Georgian profile described by Tamashebi:36 cards, no wild card, all equal-rank triples above ordinary totals, two-player showdown and a carried-pot svara. Other Seka forms count triples numerically, use 7♣wild or rank 666 highest; those are different profiles. Accounting units here cannot be cashed out and may be negative.

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Pack and complete ranking

Use 36 cards,6 through A. A=11, K/Q/J/10=10, numerals face value. A seka is any three of one rank and beats EVERY non-seka hand. Sekas rank A K Q J 10 9 8 7 6, so three sixes still beat a suited 31. Three aces are highest.

Without a seka, two aces count 22 regardless of suit. Otherwise take the greatest sum of cards from ONE suit; one isolated card may be the best sum. Ordinary maximum 31 is ace plus two ten-value cards of one suit. Equal totals tie irrespective of card ranks or suits; do not use a poker kicker or suit tiebreak.

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Deal and betting

Choose first dealer randomly, then rotate clockwise. Shuffle, cut and deal three singly to each participant; unused cards stay hidden. Everyone posts ante 1 before an ordinary fresh pot. Dealer’s left starts; look privately at your hand. There is no drawing, exchange, trump or trick play.

Our complete table settings are opening stake 1, maximum bet 10 and no blind play. At each turn fold, or pay a FRESH amount at least the previous bet and no more than 10; raising must exceed the previous amount. This is not matching cumulative contributions as in poker. Folded contributions remain in the pot. Repeat around surviving players. A lone survivor wins without showing.

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Heads-up showdown

Only with two players left may either demand a showdown by paying the previous bet once. Both reveal and the stronger hand takes the pot; the other cannot refuse. Equal strength creates svara, not a win for the caller or automatic split. We permit a heads-up showdown as soon as a previous bet exists. Nobody can force a multiway showdown.

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Full svara replay and re-entry

Freeze the carried pot P when the tie is declared. The two tied players automatically remain. Every previously folded participant may choose to re-enter by adding P/2; compute all entry prices from the SAME frozen P, not from the growing pot. Fractions are recorded exactly. Outsiders who were not participants do not join. This snapshot/outsider detail is our explicit table clarification.

Reshuffle the whole deck and deal three NEW cards to the tied players and accepted entrants. The pot carries in full; there is no new ante. Move dealer clockwise among participants; betting resets to 1 with the same ceiling 10. Play the same fold/raise/heads-up-show procedure. A new tie starts another svara with its new frozen pot and new eligible folded entrants. Continue until a single uncontested winner is found. We do not choose the optional equal split.

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Worked carried pot

Four ante 1: pot 4. A pays 2, B pays 2, C and D fold: pot 8. A pays 2 to show: pot 10. Both hold two aces, each 22, and tie. C re-enters for 10/2=5; D declines: carried pot 15.

In the replay, A pays 1, B pays 1, C folds; A then pays 1 to show: pot 18. A has 10♦–8♦–6♦=24; B has A♥–A♠–7♦=22. A wins 18. Across both deals, A contributed 7, so net+11; B contributed 4, C 6, D 1:11−4−6−1=0. Svara payments increased the pot, not hand strength.

← On a small screen, scroll the diagram horizontally. →

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Session and alternatives

Our session ends after eight RESOLVED ordinary pots; their svara replays do not consume extra slots. Highest unit balance wins, shared exact ties. The eight-pot length is a teaching agreement. Blind play, wild cards, numerical triple scoring, multiway private challenges and optional split-svara belong to separately agreed regional rules.

Common questions