Who Deals?
The Basset dealer (called Tallere), who kept the bank, had considerable privileges such as the sole disposal of the first and last card, so he had a much greater prospect of gaining than those who played. The king of France ordered that the privilege of a talliere, should only be allowed to the chief cadets, or sons of noblemen.
Valuable Terms:
Here are the most important terms used in Basset:
-
Talliere: the banker, who laid down a sum of money to answer every winning card which might turn up.
-
Croupiere: the assistant of the tallere, standing by to supervise the losing cards.
-
Punter: any player
-
Fasse: the first card turned up by the talliere, by which he gained half the value of the money laid upon every card of that sort by the punters or players.
-
Couch: the first stake that every punter laid upon each card.
-
Paroli: the player won the couch, and intended to go on for another advantage, without being paid the value.
-
Masse: venturing more money on the same card after winning the couch.
-
Pay: receiving money when winning the coach.
-
Alpieu: when the couch was won by turning up, or crooking, the corner of the winning card.
-
Sept-et-le-va: when the player had won the couch, then made a paroli and his winning card turned up again. Sept-et-le-va paid seven times the initial wager.
-
Quinze-et-le-va: when after Sept-et-le-va, the player wagered once again on the same card without receiving the money. Quinze-et-le-va was paid 15 times the initial wager.
-
Trent-et-le-va: fourth paroli won in a row wagering on the same card. Trent-et-le-va paid 33 to 1.
-
Soissante-et-le-va: fifth win on the same card without receiving the pay, which paid 67 times the initial wager. Soissante-et-le-va is the highest winning combination in Basset.
How is Basset Played?
Each player receives 13 cards and turns up as many of then as he wants, placing stake money upon them. Then the tallere turns up the first card called fasse. Players who have wagered on a card of the same sort as fasse receive half of their wager from the tallere. The following card goes for the players.
Whoever has a card of the same sort can either receive the pay or go on to Sept-et-le-va. If the third card wins for tellere, everyone who wagered on the same card will lose. If the Taller turns up two cards at a time, the first one will win for the player and the second one for the tallere, and so on until the last card in the deck, which will go to the advantage of the tallere. Although a player might have one of the same sort, still it will be allowed to him for no charge.
Options like sept-et-le-va, quinze-et-le-va and more tempted players and converted Basset to one of the most exciting games around And thus in Britain, a royal edict prohibited the large public to play Basset with more than a franc or two-penny bank, but people wagered what they liked, staking one hundred guineas and more on a card.
