Roaké (a.k.a. Shalém): a consummate card game involving high-stakes bidding and strategy-savvy playing. Many people who have grown up playing other (inferior) card games immediately convert--drawn in by the competitiveness that bidding arouses and the criticism that bad play evokes. A game that everyone can learn, Roaké has become the staple recreational game in my last two communities: Gainesville and Ottawa.
 

How to Play Roaké

“Roaké is a game of unending appeal; of wit, courage, and patience”

Object: To reach 750 points with your partner before the other team

Team: You play with the same partner, who sits across from you, the entire game against another team sitting to your left and right.

Rank of cards: A standard pack of 52 cards is used. The cards, in each suit, rank from highest to lowest: A, K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. Three cards have special point values: the 5s (worth 5 points), the 10s (worth 10 points) and the Aces (worth 15 points).

Deal: The first dealer is chosen by continuing to place cards, clockwise and face up, in front of everyone until the first Ace is drawn at random. The turn to deal rotates. The cards are shuffled and then dealt in sets of 4 with the remaining 4 cards put in the middle of the table. Everyone should have 12 cards.

Bidding: The player to the left of the dealer bids first. There are 185 points in the game, with 5s, 10s, and Aces worth 5, 10, and 15 points respectively and each round of 4 cards you win, a.k.a. book or trick, is an additional 5 points. The lowest you can bid is 100 points (or pass). There is no definitive way to access the value of your hand except that long suits are good if you want to win the bid, and strong, short suits are helpful to stop the other team from making their bid or to help your partner make hers. The bidding goes around increasing in increments of 5 until everyone has passed. Once you have passed you cannot re-bid. The bidding usually ends around 120-135.

Winning the Bid: Once the bidding has stopped, the person who has bid the highest picks up the 4 cards in the middle and decides which 12 of the 16 cards he now has he wants to keep. It is generally advised to discard at least one suit. The 4 cards that are chosen for disposal are put face down on the table and represent the first trick that the bidding team has won (and gets points for). A rookie mistake is to put aces in this pile or to overzealously shove 10s and 5s in here. The goal is more to strengthen 3 of your strongest suits by eliminating the lowest cards than lock up sure points.

Leading: Once the 4 cards have been put down, the person who won the bid must lead any card of the suit that they want to be the cut suit a.k.a. trump. 90% of the time you want to lead (pick as trump) the suit you have the most of.

Play of the Hand: Each player, in turn, clockwise, must follow suit if able; if unable to follow suit, the player may play any card. A trick containing a card of the cut suit (trump) is won by the highest cut suit played; if no trump is played, the trick is won by the highest card of the suit led. The winner of each trick leads the next card. If your partner’s card seems like it will win the trick, you should ‘feed’ him by playing a 5 or 10 of that suit, or if you don’t have that suit, playing a 5 or 10 of another suit.

Scoring: Once all 12 rounds have been played the team with the fewest cards is typically the team that counts their points, although this doesn’t matter since there is always 185 points in total. Remember that each trick (group of 4 cards) is worth 5 points and the 5s, 10s, and Aces are worth additional points. If the bidding team gets at least what they bid, they make the amount they actually made, but if not, they go negative the amount they originally bid. The non-bidding team simply gets as many points as they make during the game.
If the bidding team makes all of the points and books, instead of just getting 185 points, they get 300, and everyone gives each other hugs and high-5’s since this rarity requires both luck and skill.

End: Once a team reaches 750 points, or any pre-agreed upon score, the game is deemed over.

Penalties: If a player does not follow suit, playing a different suit than the one called for when indeed he could have, and this is discovered after the hand is finished, the game is annulled and 185 points is either awarded to the victimized team or penalized from the offending one, based on the preference of the victims.


 

Hints

Bidding Conventions: Some of the more sophisticated players rely on a helpful bidding convention. Bidding conventions must be disclosed to the other team before the game and explained if requested. Here is a successful introductory convention.
 

* Helping hand: Balanced hand with about 3 of each suit. High cards and possibly aces, 10s, and 5s. Also known as a stopping hand since this is the ideal distribution to stop the other team from making their bid.

** Winning hand: A 6+ card suit or two 5-card suits with high cards. Having a singleton (one of a suit) is beneficial.

Basically, if the bid is not too high already, you indicate to your partner how string your hand is with the following bidding technique. Knowing this info will help you both decide how to bid.

 Conservatism: Often times players will lose control of their egos and ‘Ayafor the bid’ a.k.a. bid too high. This is to compensate for other issues in the machismo department and is always to your advantage. On average, stopping the other team is 2.2 times more beneficial than winning the bid in terms of the point spread. This is the secret of consistent winning did ye but recognize. You will also notice that as the calibre of playing increases, the bidding decreases as both teams markedly improve. 

Trump Suit Bidding Convention

Click here ( or or jpg ) to download the grand daddy of all bidding conventions, the one fit only for professionals! This can determine what is your partner's strongest suit, how many of your trump he has, the strength of his hand, the distribution of his hand, and more!

Ottawa Rankings

     These rankings should not offend anyone. It is just a reflection of how much skill I’ve seen demonstrated in the time I’ve seen everyone play. As you play more, and your name gets out there, your ranking as such will surely increase. Therefore, be eager to prove these rankings wrong and advance quickly, rather than whining and crying, which will accomplish absolutely nothing. The rankings are slightly biased away from actual playing success and lean more toward demonstrated skill and ability. And yes, I am prepared to lose friends over this.