After a dealer has been selected, five cards will be dealt face-down to each player. The dealer will deal clockwise until all the players received their five cards. Traditionally, the cards are dealt in pairs of two’s and three’s. Any player who was dealt two cards in the first pass will get three cards in the second pass and vice versa. Example:
1st Player | 2nd Player | 3rd Player | 4th Player(Dealer) | |
First Pass | 3 cards | 2 cards | 3 cards | 2 cards |
Second Pass | 2 cards | 3 cards | 2 cards | 3 cards |
The four remaining cards will be placed face-down in front the dealer, and the top card is turned face up. The stack of cards in front of the dealer is referred to as the kitty. The card turned face-up is called the up-card.