Argentine Truco Rules
The most popular card game in Argentina, with its unique rules and fascinating strategies.
Introduction
Argentine Truco is a traditional card game played mainly in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and some regions of Bolivia, Chile and Brazil.
It is one of the variants of the original Truco from the Valencian Community, Spain, and was introduced to South America during colonial times.
It is characterized by combining strategy, deception and betting, similar to poker, but with its own rules and a very particular card hierarchy system.
History
In colonial times, Truco in Argentina could be played with or without a 'muestra' (show card), a special card that modified the value of others in the envido, truco or flor.
The variant with muestra is preserved in certain regions of the Argentine Littoral and has similarities with Uruguayan and Venezuelan Truco.
It is also popular in Galicia thanks to the Galicians who returned from Argentina bringing the game to Spain.
Game Objective
The objective of the game is to win a 'match' by reaching a predefined score before the opponent, usually 9 or 15 points (without buenas), 18 or 30 points (malas and buenas).
When playing to 18 or 30 points, the game is divided into 2 halves: from 0 to 9, or from 0 to 15 points are the malas, and from 10 to 18, or from 16 to 30 points are the buenas, respectively.
Points are obtained by winning hands or making the opponent reject truco, retruco or vale cuatro challenges.
It is a game where luck, skill, cunning and strategy all play a role. The one with the best cards doesn't always win, but rather the one who knows how to play them better.
Game Modalities
One on one: 1 vs 1.
Pairs: 2 vs 2.
Pica pica, tres puntas or sexto: teams of three players.
Pata de gallo: three players, one against two, with special rules.
Destantado: variant of three players where you win by running out of points.
Game Setup
A Spanish deck of 40 cards is used (without eights, nines or jokers). For games of two or four players, tens can also be removed, although this is not common.
When there are 2 players, they sit facing each other; when there are 4, they sit in facing pairs; when there are 6, they sit alternating between team and rival.
Before starting, the player who deals shuffles the cards, asks for the 'cut' from the player to their left and deals three cards to each player one by one counterclockwise, starting with the player to the right of the dealer.
There is a special cut where the 'mano' player only touches the top card of the deck. In this case, the 3 cards are dealt consecutively to each player.
The player who deals is the 'pie' and the player to the right of the dealer is the 'mano' and starts the match.
How to Play
• A match consists of several hands. Each hand has up to three confrontations or tricks, and the winner is whoever achieves two of them or whoever makes their rival reject a truco, retruco or vale cuatro challenge.
• In each confrontation, one card is played per player, starting with the player to the right of the dealer and following counterclockwise. The player or team with the highest card wins the confrontation.
• During the first turn, a player can play a card directly or, before doing so, 'sing' envido, real envido, falta envido, flor and/or truco.
• If the player has already played their first card, they can no longer sing envido or flor, but they can sing truco or respond to the envido or flor singing (see envido and flor rules and strategies).
• Envido and flor can only be sung in the first turn of the hand, and if envido is sung, it must be resolved before truco.
• Envido can be 'wanted' or not, and envido, real envido, or falta envido can also be sung again, altering the original bet value.
• The double singing can only be done by the player or team that must respond to the original singing, never by the same one who sang the initial envido.
• Accepting or not accepting the envido does not end the hand. It continues unless, with the points added, the match is won.
• If playing with flor, it is mandatory to sing it. If the player doesn't sing it before playing their first card, the points cannot be claimed. This adds the 3 points directly and invalidates the envido (see envido and flor rules and strategies).
• Truco can be sung at any time during the hand, but if it's done in the first trick, the rival can sing envido or flor if their turn hasn't passed yet, and this must be resolved before the truco.
• The player or team that wins the current trick is the one who starts playing the next trick.
• In truco, just saying the word truco, envido, flor, etc., is already considered to have been sung and the rival's response must be awaited. (see tricks and strategies)
Special Modes
Pata de Gallo
• It is played with 3 players and there are no fixed teams. In each hand, one player, the 'gallo', plays alone against the other two players, who form a team temporarily.
• The one who deals the cards is the one who plays alone and is the 'gallo' during the hand.
• Points are not scored by team, but individually for each of the three players.
• The two players who are not the gallo are considered a team in that hand. They can talk and help each other, and the points they obtain are scored individually for each one.
• The player who deals is given four cards instead of three. Before starting to play, they must discard one of them according to their choice. This is an advantage for the gallo, as it allows them to build a stronger hand.
Destantado
• Variant of three players where you win by running out of points.
• In this mode, each player is on their own and they start with 10 points each.
• Hands develop normally and if one of the three players says 'envido', the other two can accept or not.
• In case only one of them accepts and loses to the one who sang, the winner passes two (2) points from their pile to the loser; consequently, the envido winner is left with eight (8) points and the loser with twelve (12).
• With the truco hand or 'rabón', the same procedure is followed.
• In case any of the three sings envido or truco and it is not accepted by their contenders, the point won goes to a common pot that has no value.
• If both contenders decide to accept the bet, the winner of the round (of envido or truco) passes the same amount of points as they won to each of their rivals. Example: if envido is won, it's two points for each of the losers (in case both have accepted), meaning they get rid of four (4) points.
• In this modality, 'falta envido' is only worth six (6) points; the rest of the points are the same as common truco.
• As the name of the game indicates, the first one to get rid of all the points is the winner of the match.
• The player who wins the hand is the one who starts playing the next hand.
Pica Pica
• Pica pica is a special variant of truco that is played mainly when four or six players participate. It must be indicated that pica pica is being played.
• It is generally only played in the second round of the match, whenever the losing team requests it or if it is agreed upon from the start.
• In pica pica, each player plays one on one against the rival they have in front, adding points individually for their team.
• Each duel scores their points normally, including truco, envido and flor if playing with flor.
• At the end of the duels, all the points obtained by each team are added up and added to the general scoreboard.
• The objective of pica pica is to break the normal dynamics of the game and allow the losing team to quickly close the gap.
• To play pica pica it must be indicated before starting the match. It is done from the second round onwards and until reaching 'las buenas'.
Hand Resolution
The winner of the match is whoever has won 2 confrontations or tricks, or whoever makes their rival reject a truco, retruco or vale cuatro challenge.
The first trick or confrontation is the one that counts the most, and different scenarios can happen in each hand.
If a team or player wins the first trick and the second trick is 'tied', the team or player who won the first trick wins.
If a team or player wins the first trick, the rival wins the second trick, and the third trick is 'tied', the team or player who won the first trick wins.
If the first trick is tied or 'emparda', the second trick must be played 'kill or die'. This means that the player or team who wins the second trick wins the hand.
If the first and second tricks are tied or 'empardan', the hand will be won by the player or team who wins the third trick.
If all three tricks are tied or 'empardan', the hand is won by the player or team who is 'mano', or the one who started playing.
Envido
Envido is a bet that is made at the beginning of the hand, before truco, and is won by whoever has more points.
The envido score is added according to the value of the cards. If you have two or more cards of the same suit, the score equals the sum of the score of two cards of the same suit chosen by the player plus twenty points.
If you don't have two cards of the same suit, the envido is worth whatever the highest card is worth.
The highest value you can have in envido with 2 or 3 cards of the same suit is 33 points (a 6 plus a 7 plus 20 points).
The lowest value you can have in envido with 2 or 3 cards of the same suit is 20 points (2 black cards plus 20 points).
The highest value you can have in envido with all cards of different suits is 7 points (a 7, in this case the 20 points are not added).
The lowest value you can have in envido with all cards of different suits is 0 points (a black card, in this case the 20 points are not added).
Keep in mind that the value of the cards for truco and envido is different (see card values or use our envido and flor calculator).
If the players or teams have the same envido score, the one who is 'mano' or the one who started playing wins.
If the envido, real envido or falta envido is accepted and won, the player must show their cards at the end of the hand. If they lie or don't show their cards, the points are awarded to the rival.
There is envido, real envido and falta envido. If the latter is sung, the bet can no longer be raised.
Scores
Envido: if wanted, 2 points; if not wanted, 1 point (The bet can be raised).
Real Envido: if wanted, 3 points; if not wanted, 1 point (The bet can be raised).
Falta envido: if wanted, **; if not wanted, 1 point (The bet cannot be raised).
Envido + Envido: if wanted, 4 points; if not wanted, 2 points (The bet can be raised).
Envido + Real Envido: if wanted, 5 points; if not wanted, 2 points (The bet can be raised).
Envido + Falta Envido: if wanted, **; if not wanted, 2 points (The bet cannot be raised).
Real envido + Falta envido: if wanted, **; if not wanted, 3 points (The bet cannot be raised).
Envido + Envido + Real Envido: if wanted, 7 points; if not wanted, 4 points (The bet can be raised).
Envido + Envido + Falta Envido: if wanted, **; if not wanted, 4 points (The bet cannot be raised).
Envido + Real Envido + Falta Envido: if wanted, **; if not wanted, 5 points (The bet cannot be raised).
Envido + Envido + Real Envido + Falta Envido: if wanted, **; if not wanted, 7 points (The bet cannot be raised).
After Real Envido, you can only raise with Falta Envido, you cannot raise with Envido or Real Envido.
** Falta envido: if wanted and both are in the malas, it's the match. If one team or both are in the buenas, it's the points they need to win for whoever is first.
Use our envido and flor calculator to know how many points you have.
Flor
Flor is an optional rule that must be agreed upon before starting the match.
It is obtained when a player has three cards of the same suit and adds 3 points.
It must be sung in the first trick before playing the first card. If the rival also has flor, the points are compared as in envido and whoever wins takes the 3 points.
If a player doesn't sing flor and it's discovered they had it, the points are conceded to the rival.
If both have flor, 'contraflor' can also be sung, and in this case the winner takes 6 points, or 'contraflor al resto', and in this case the winner takes the points needed for the rival to win the chico.
Flor points are added according to the cards' own value without adding the 20 envido points.
Scores
Flor: 3 points.
If both have flor, the one with more points wins 3 points.
Contraflor: if wanted, it's 6 points; if not wanted, it's 3 points.
Contraflor al resto: it's the points they need to win for whoever is first; if not wanted, it's 3 points.
Truco, Retruco and Vale Cuatro
Truco, retruco and vale cuatro are bets to win more points in the hand.
It can be sung at any time during the hand, following the singing order: truco, retruco and vale cuatro.
The team or player who sings must wait for the rival's response. If they accept or raise the bet, the hand continues; if they don't accept, the hand ends at that moment.
If truco is not accepted, the hand ends at that moment, only if envido or flor hasn't been sung yet, which can be sung and must be resolved before truco.
The team or player who sings truco cannot raise to retruco or vale cuatro, they can only wait for the rival's response.
If the rival raises the bet by singing 'retruco', only then can it be raised to 'vale cuatro'. If not wanted, the hand ends.
Possible responses to truco: 'Quiero' (accept), 'No quiero' (reject, the hand ends), 'Quiero retruco' (increase the bet).
After a 'retruco', you can respond: 'Quiero' (accept), 'No quiero' (reject, the hand ends), or 'Quiero vale cuatro' (increase the bet).
After a 'vale cuatro', you can respond: 'Quiero' (accept) or 'No quiero' (reject, the hand ends).
The 'vale cuatro' is the maximum bet that can be made in the hand.
Scores
Truco: 2 points if wanted and 1 point if not wanted and the hand ends.
Retruco: 3 points if wanted and 2 points if not wanted and the hand ends.
Vale cuatro: 4 points if wanted and 3 points if not wanted and the hand ends.
Cards and Values
In truco there is a card hierarchy where some are more important than others, and values for envido that serve to add points.
To see the different values, go to the values page.
Signals
When playing as a team, signals can be used to communicate with teammates.
The idea of these signals is that the player who receives them knows what they should do in the next play.
When you make signals, you must do them without the rival seeing you, or maybe you want them to see you and give false signals, since if they see you it's not considered cheating and is part of the cunning.
Common and general signals already exist, although you can create your own, but this is not common.
To see the most common signals, go to the signals page.
Glossary
Cantar: to enunciate and propose to the opponent to play for envido or truco.
Matar: to play a higher card.
Ir: to play a low hierarchy card.
Poner: To play a high hierarchy card. (pongo, vení a mí, vení a tu casa, etc.).
Empardar: to tie.
Hacer primera or Primera en casa: To secure the first hand.
Mazo: to withdraw from the hand.
Pie: last player to receive cards.
Mano: first player to receive cards.
Rabón: synonym for truco.
Buenas: having 10 - 16 or more points according to the game mode.
Malas: having less than 10 - 16 points according to the game mode.
No haber pie: The pie doesn't have high cards to make primera.
Estar cargado: To possess valuable cards.
Estoy ciego: I don't have valuable cards for truco.
Paso: I no longer play in this hand (the player places the cards they haven't played yet face down).
Strategies
Play low cards at the beginning to save the strong ones for the second or third hand and confuse the rival.
Force the rival to spend high cards by playing a medium-high card to provoke them to use a key card.
Count cards and suits to deduce what options the rival has left, especially when envido or flor has been sung, and use that information to play.
Sing envido or flor strategically, maybe you decide that instead of flor you'll get more points playing envido, or you prefer not to give clues about your cards.
Go unnoticed and save a strong card to deliver the final blow in the last hand.
When you have regular cards, but the 'macho' or 'hembra', try to 'tie' the first trick, knowing that in the next one you'll win the hand.
Tricks
Sing truco without having strong cards (bluff) to make the rival believe you have an unbeatable hand.
Delay the play by analyzing the hand to make the rival nervous and doubt.
Use gestures and tone of voice to feign confidence or doubt and manipulate the opponent's response.
Make signals between teammates (if the table rules allow it) to warn about cards.
Simulate confusion before playing a winning card.
Make comments or jokes to distract the rival from their point calculation.
A very common trick is to throw a card face down with the next one, making the rival make a mistake, thinking that the card they see corresponds to the trick being played.
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