How to play Kitti

You win at Kitti by winning two of the three rounds, which takes the pot. You split nine cards into three hands of three. Everyone's first hands meet in round 1, second hands in round 2 and third hands in round 3. Win all three for a salami. If nobody wins two, it's a kitti and the pot is dealt again.

Everyone buys in for the same stack of chips and puts the same ante into the pot before each deal. The host sets the ante and what a buy-in costs, which fixes what a chip is worth. Your stack carries over from game to game.

Dashain never handles money and is not a gambling site. When the table closes, the end screen shows who owes whom, and players settle up among themselves.

If your stack falls below the ante, you can't be dealt in. Between games you can buy in again or sit out, and the host can cap buy-backs or allow none.

You get nine cards, and two to five people can play. One 52-card deck without jokers is enough: five players use 45 cards. Everyone who can cover the ante puts it in, then the cards are dealt one at a time from the dealer's left. The deal passes one seat to the left each game.

Two hands settle a deal the moment it is dealt, before anyone arranges. Four of a kind, all four cards of one rank, wins the pot outright: it is shown to the table and the host pays it out, so nobody plays that deal. If two players are dealt four of a kind, the higher rank wins, with aces highest.

Four pairs, four ranks with two cards each, means the cards are dealt again: the same players and the same pot, with no new ante. A trail is not a pair, so a trail with three pairs is played as dealt. Four of a kind beats four pairs dealt in the same deal.

• K♠ K♥ K♣ K♦Four of a kindWins the pot
• A♠ A♥ 9♣ 9♦ 6♠ 6♥ 3♣ 3♦Four pairsDealt again

You split your nine cards into three hands of three, strongest first: your first hand must be at least as strong as your second, and your second at least as strong as your third. Equal hands are allowed. There are no turns. Everyone arranges at once, and nobody sees anyone else's cards until the showdown.

Say you are dealt these nine:

• A♠ A♥ K♦ Q♦ J♦ 9♣ 7♠ 4♥ 2♣Your nine cards

One good split puts the run of diamonds first, the aces second and the rest third:

• J♦ Q♦ K♦FirstPure sequence
• A♠ A♥ 9♣SecondPair of aces
• 2♣ 4♥ 7♠ThirdHigh card

On Dashain, three panels named First, Second and Third open over the table.

1. 1Drag a card from your hand into a panel, or tap the card and then the panel.
2. 2A panel holds three cards. Drop a card onto one of a full panel's cards to swap them.
3. 3Each full panel names its hand (Trail, Pair and so on) and turns red if the order is wrong.
4. 4Press Lock in once all nine cards are placed, or Fold.

Locking in commits your three hands, and folding gives up the pot. Locked hands can't be changed and stay face down until the showdown. A folded player's ante stays in the pot.

There is no betting, so locking in and losing costs you the same as folding, unless someone wins all three rounds: a salami charges only the players who locked in. If everyone else folds, the one player locked in takes the pot without showing. If everyone folds, it's a kitti.

Once everyone has locked in or folded, the hands are compared in three rounds, and the best hand wins each round.

On Dashain the hands turn face up one player at a time, a card at a time. Round 1 goes round the table from the dealer's left, and then its winner is highlighted. When everyone has seen it, the host shows the second hands, and then the third; if the host doesn't, each opens by itself after 10 seconds. Round 2 starts with the round 1 winner, and round 3 with the round 2 winner.

From best to worst, the three-card hands are trail (also called a trial or trio), pure sequence (a double run), sequence (a run), colour, pair (a jut) and high card, the same order as in Teen Patti. Aces are high, so A♠ A♥ A♦ is the best hand.

A-K-Q and A-2-3 both count as runs, and by default A-K-Q is the top one. The host can put A-2-3 on top instead. Two hands of the same kind and the same values are an exact tie.

You take the pot by winning two of the three rounds, and winning all three is a salami. Any two rounds count, unless the host has turned on Two in a row.

With the salami rule on (the default), every other player who locked in pays the winner one more ante, or whatever they have left. Players who folded pay nothing more. Taking the pot because everyone else folded is never a salami.

A kitti is a deal in which nobody wins two rounds, so nobody takes the pot. That needs three different round winners, so at least three players in the showdown. It is also a kitti when everyone folds, or, with Two in a row on, when one player wins only rounds 1 and 3.

Everyone first sees why it was a kitti. Then the host presses Deal again: everyone antes again into the same pot, folded players included, and gets nine new cards. The pot grows until someone wins two rounds.

Anyone who can't cover the ante sits out the rest of that pot. If fewer than two can, or after 20 re-deals of one pot, the pot is shared evenly among the last deal's players; odd chips go to the first player after the dealer.

An exact tie goes to the player who showed first in that round. Suits never break a tie. Round 1 is shown from the dealer's left. In rounds 2 and 3 the last round's winner shows first, so they win any exact tie. If you won round 1, and you and a friend both play 9-10-J in mixed suits as your second hand, you win the tie.

The host can change the stakes and these rules.

• Ante: 1, 5, 10, 20, 50 or 100 chips (10 by default).
• Buy-in: its price, and a stack of 25 to 200 antes. Together they set what a chip is worth.
• Buy-backs: unlimited, up to 1, 2, 3 or 5, or none.
• Salami: on or off. Off, winning all three rounds pays the same as winning two.
• Two in a row: the two winning rounds must be back to back, so rounds 1 and 3 alone make a kitti.
• Best run: A-K-Q above A-2-3 (the default), or A-2-3 on top.
• Seats: two to five.
• Arranging timer: off, 15, 30 or 60 seconds. It is only a reminder.

Arrange to win two rounds, not to build one big hand. A trail wins one round, but with two weak hands behind it you still lose the pot.

• Try more than one split: nine cards make three hands in 280 ways. With 5♥ 6♥ 7♥ 7♠ 7♦, you could play a trail of 7s, or a pure sequence and a pair of 7s. Your other four cards decide which is better.
• Give your second hand real strength. Your first hand is your likeliest round, so your second often has to win the other.
• With Two in a row on, you must win round 2.
• Fold a weak nine if you fear a salami: a folded player loses only the ante already in, while everyone who locked in pays another ante when one player wins all three rounds.

These are the words you'll meet at a Kitti table.

Ante

The chips everyone puts in the pot to be dealt in, and again after a kitti.

Hand (or set)

Three of your nine cards, played together in one round.

Lock in

To commit your three hands, which can't then be changed.

Fold

To give up the pot. Your ante stays in it, and you pay no salami.

Salami

Winning all three rounds. With the salami rule on, everyone else who locked in pays you one more ante.

Kitti

A deal where nobody wins two rounds. The pot stays and the cards are dealt again.

Trail

Three cards of the same rank, the best hand in Kitti. Also called a trial or trio.

Four of a kind

All four cards of one rank in your nine. It wins the pot as soon as it is dealt.

Four pairs

Four ranks with two cards each in your nine. The cards are dealt again into the same pot.