The PlayPlay proceeds clockwise. One player volunteers to start the first round and five cards are dealt to this player only. The player examines his hand without showing it, and declares a poker hand (
see below for details of the possible declarations). The second player (the player to the left of the first player) has two options:
he may accept it, saying "OK", or "yes", or "I'll take it", etc.
he may challenge it, saying "liar!", or " I doubt it!", or "bullshit!", or "go to hell! " etc. (Most often he will accept at this early stage of the game)
If the second player challenges, there are two cases:
The first player's declaration was genuine in the sense that his hand contains the combination he declared. He proves it by showing sufficient of his cards to everybody to prove that he has what he claimed. The doubter loses one point.
The first player's declaration was fake, in the sense that his hand does not contain the cards he claimed, so he surrenders by giving his hand back to the dealer, and loses a point. Like a player who "folds" at real poker, he is not required to show his hand.
If the second player accepts the declaration, the first player passes the hand to him, of course without showing it to the other players. The second player examines the hand, and may try to improve it by exchanging from 0 to 4 cards, just as in Draw Poker, by discarding that number of cards, and receiving replacement cards from the dealer. Then he must declare a poker hand higher than that previously declared, whether it was genuine or not (
see below for details of what counts as higher). The third player (the next player in rotation) may either accept this declaration by saying "OK", or challenge it by saying "liar".
The round continues clockwise as long as players say "OK", with the cards being passed around the table and the declarations going always up and up. When a round is interrupted by a player doubting, the player who loses the point has the advantage of starting the next round; the cards are shuffled and a new five card hand is dealt to this player. The player who starts a round may not draw cards at his first turn - he must immediately declare a hand.
The game continues until one player has reached an agreed number of penalty points, and loses.
Shuffling